z_The Hockey Page - Toronto Star

Leafs vs. the kids

Leafs welcome Sabres tonight at ACC. And though we've known this for a while now, we still do a double take at the standings: with 51 points Buffalo is the fourth seed in the East, and just four points behind Ottawa for tops overall.

Buffalo is 15-1-1 over their last 17; goalie Martin Biron has won 13 straight starts. Leafs fans who cry for the youth movement should look down the QEW for their model. Afinogenov, Briere, Connolly, Kotalik, Vanek, Drury, Campbell, Roy (I could go on) -- all under 30 years of age, all have the wheels and the skills. Not feeling good about tonight's game. But that's fine because I don't get Leafs TV and that's the only place you can watch it, so tonight's a good night to check out our 2-0 junior squad, facing Norway tonight in what should be a scrimmage for our boys.

Paul Hunter takes us through the Leafs infirmary ward, with Steen, Colaiacovo, Lindros, Allison and Antropov hurting. Hunter reports Steen could be back and Wozniewski will replace Colaiacovo.

Gotta say the way Steady Eddie's been playing the Leafs have a chance against anyone. But I have to ask:

What's up with Mats Sundin's linemates?
What happened to Jeff O'Neill? 9 ppg and he's no longer on the first unit?
Could Matt Stajan be the next top two-way specialist?
Should Kyle Wellwood be playing more? With Sundin?
Should Darcy Tucker have been suspended?

Bonus coverage: Damien Cox debuts a new web-only column today on waymoresports, with the news that the Devils could have Patrik Elias back in their lineup in time for Saturday's date with Toronto, thanks to some clever moves by GM Lou Lamoriello. It's a neat read just to see how he worked his roster and the cap to make things fit. (SW)

Ola Raptors

It's official. The Raptors are a hotter team than the Maple Leafs (except Mariusz Czerkawski).

I've decided to truly dedicate this space to the Leafs this week and next. That is, sometimes I'll show up and do a post, sometimes I'll take the day off. Sometimes I'll give a great effort, sometimes not. Maybe next time I'll write a few graphs in Spanish. It just seems appropriate.

"Any time your not typing up to your abilities, you're not going to have a good post," says guy sitting at computer.

Paul Hunter has the excuses story game story.

Tonight is the holiday version of Hockey Night in Canada and again the recommended game is the late one - Flames and Canucks - west coast almost guaranteed to be good hockey. Maybe the Leafs will bounce back at home and crush the Bruins, maybe I'll have a 7 am posting for this blog (okay, that's not likely). I just don't know anymore.

Have a great weekend, happy holiday-of-your-choice. (SW)

More trouble a-Bruin'

McCabe makes Team Canada after all, but that's not the story today. There's not many issues to argue about with the roster, very similar to the one chosen by Star readers in an online survey this week. The one difference is a biggie -- our readers left Todd Bertuzzi off their Team Canada, Gretzky, Lowe and all, not. So we're asking today if Bertuzzi deserves to be on the team. Does he represent Canada's Olympic ideals? Check the website for our yes/no survey. Early returns are about even but the comments are anti-Bertuzzi. Seems our readers don't want this guy on our team.

Leafs and Bruins tonight in one of those home-and-home deals. Back in Toronto tomorrow night.
Boston, 9 points behind Buds, are thinking making up 4 of those points in two days will help.
Hey, that Thornton trade isn't really working out yet, is it? Sturm does have 4 goals since the trade (Thornton has 3 goals and 16 points in 8 games) and is skating with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Boyes (yeah, that guy) on the B's second line.

Mark Zwolinski has the latest on the Leafs injuries, including "good to go" from both Tie Domi and Jeff O'Neill.

But seriously, Todd Bertuzzi? Yes? No?

UPDATE: Damien Cox with some words today on the topic: why including Bertuzzi is not only a mistake, but a political move.

2 minutes: delay of game

Chris hands over the reigns ... and I take a couple days off.

So we'll call it 2 minutes for delay of game. Because everybody's complaining about penalties.

I didn't get to see the Islander shootout up close. Managed to find a a pub after watching a giant ape fight three (three!) T-Rex. But let's just say it was difficult to order a drink, what with the bartender cheering all those goals, studying all those replays of shady Islanders in the crease.

Mark Zwolinski reports today on the Leafs confusion -- in their last two games: 21 minor penalties over 5 periods, resulting in 9 goals against. Read Zoro for the story of how the Leafs are dealing with the officiating issues.

Watched the Ottawa "game" -- Sens 6-for-11 on the PP, Leafs 1-for-6, me falling asleep. The 4-on-4 hockey was okay, I guess. All 20-odd minutes of it. The Oilers-Canucks game that followed on HNIC Saturday was so much better. Rarely get to see western teams play but it always seems to be better hockey.

Again, sorry for no posts this week, we've been busy preparing for today's Team Canada announcement, and putting together Team Toronto Star readers -- at 5 pm we get to see the official roster. One question there. If Canada was down a goal and on a power play with 3 minutes left in the third period of the gold medal game, who would you want shooting from the point?

Comments are always open, please, what the heck is wrong with those two-faced Leafs?

Back tomorrow to set up Bruins and their long list of problems. (SW)

"An issue"

It's 'fessin' up time: For once, this had nothing to do with technical difficulties at my end. Or a stomach bug.
Honest, Mr. Denial -- the computer ate my homework.

Actually, Typepad did. At around 4 a.m. Friday morning Toronto time -- right about the time I turned the computer on, actually, and yes, it's early, but I do it all for you -- it all went kablooey, and then came the message.

"During routine maintenance of our network and storage systems last night, we experienced an issue with our primary disk system where data from published blogs are stored."

That's pretty technical stuff, I know. "An issue" -- that's weighty. The upshot is we lost a day. There goes the Cal Ripken streak, although I'm hoping the Hall of Fame committee will accept this in lieu when it comes time.
Here's the good news: we'll be back on Monday. I hope. More good news: boy blogger Spencer is running the show. Best of all: I'll be on holidays, so I'd like to wish you all the best of the Christmas and New Year's, if I'm allowed.

Oh, but you didn't think you could leave without at least a link, did you? No such luck:

From the good (and twisted) people at Divealanche, some last-minute gift ideas for the Forsberg floppa on your list.

See you in '06. I hope.
(C.Y.)

Playing the percentages

Trying to find a single thread today is difficult, because there's a lot of good stuff to kick around, especially among the blogs. Try these on for size:

Covered in Oil has a nice one on goaltenders' save percentage, noting that seven of 2003-04's top 12 goalies have slipped to the bottom half of the league rankings this season (including Ed Belfour). What's going on here? PM suggests it might be the year off, but I thought that was supposed to extend players' careers, giving them some time away from hard knocks to heal themselves. Is it different for goalies? Is it the new rules? The new equipment?
It's worth kicking around today, too, here in Leafs country, given that the backup Tellqvist, with a .924 percentage in eight games, has been more consistent than Belfour, who checks in at .898 in 24 games. The Belfour-Telly goalkeeping questions are old news here and on the TML message boards, where they're already looking ahead to how this plays out in 06-07.

And speaking of goalies in the news, what a great time to trot out this Patrick Lalime flashback from Jay Jardine at Battle of Ontario. James Mirtle looks at the suspects being trotted out to replace Dan Cloutier. And Canucks Op Ed reinterprets a classic: Cloutier, on a cart, murmuring "I'm not dead yet."

Haven't seen much on Belfour vs. Telly in the prints, but I'm sure that will come once the Olympic team speculation concerning the three or four spots that might be up for grabs is settled next Wednesday. Damien Cox makes the case against including Todd Bertuzzi this morning.

Forget the Olympic team. Here's a debate I like: How much is Wayne Gretzky's crusty underwear worth?

The other story making headlines is Ted Saskin addressing the NHL's board of governors, and the revenue projections going up (big surprise there). I know it's important to know how much money the Leafs will have to waste on next summer's equivalent of Tie Domi and Belfour, and you're welcome to chime in here on it. But those revenue numbers were in all likelihood cooked over a low heat, and the cap figures you'll see out of them are way premature, as ace bloggers Eric McErlain and Tom Benjamin have already suggested. So I'll take a pass.
(C.Y.)

Gretzky's not happy

Going to keep this brief and to just links, a stomach bug keeping me at home today:

With a week to go until it's time to announce Team Canada's roster, Wayne Gretzky sounds off on the schedule:

"There's no reason to name this team (on Dec. 21). I think they're wrong. I voiced my displeasure a month ago and was told this was the way it's going to be and said, `Okay, we'll accept it.' I just hope all the players understand the consequences. People are being assessed on 25 hockey games and I just don't think that's enough time. You can't just pick a team over 25 games."

More from Damien Cox: last night's matchup of Curtis Joseph and Jose Theodore in Montreal. Two fellows in the hunt for the No. 3 goaltender spot on the Olympic team, Habs win the battle, but the goalies play to a draw, says Cox.

With all these days off and trade rumours flying around like campaign jets, if anything is going to happen it'll be sooner rather than later, Mark Zwolinski reports.

I've always felt that trade rumours, like Dr. Johnson on patriotism, were the last refuge of a scoundrel. So I like this Canucks Rant post spinning off the Bertuzzi trade talk, plus it gives you a chance to look at a couple of the many good hockey blogs on the west coast.

Awww. Cujo and Quinn, buddies again. Awww.

More on the Mike Danton-Steve Frost relationship, although you'll feel like you need to shower after you read it.
(C.Y.)

From hurting to hooey

A whole lot of hurtin' goin' on.
Eric Lindros has a torn wrist ligament, and Belfour's "got a groin" as they say in the trade.
Allison made it after being iffy following some dental surgery -- a gamer, he is. Leafs win 3-2 against Anaheim, showing more zip than any night out since that late November overtime tilt against Montreal -- although it was no sure thing right up until the end, hanging on against a team that has won just three road games.
Still, they won without a couple of major ingredients.

BERNARD WEIL/TORONTO STAR

Mats Sundin doll: Just pull the string and he does his little dance with 110% effort.

Time to pull the cord on the side of the Mats Sundin doll:

"I think that's the sign of a good team. Good teams in this league can do that; they can win games when certain people are out of the lineup."

Hey, amazingly lifelike and just in time for Christmas.
At least this will make the next few days a little less shrill around here, with the Senators coming in next following four off days with airwaves to be filled and prints to be printed. Add a four-game losing streak to the usual hooey re Lindros, Belfour et al., not to mention organizing a search party for Jeff O'Neill and more pulls of the Sundin doll cord, and it would've been even more unbearable than usual, so count your blessings out of this one.
Only a couple of notes from last night worth passing along: Keith Carney was awful for the visitors, suffering through a Belakian evening and as Ken Campbell points out, even Kyle Wellwood had no choice but to shoot after Carney set him up beautifully in front of the net. And Alexander Steen was the best on the ice by a mile to everyone except the three star selectors, who pegged him at No. 3 -- that was as mystifying as all those NHL scouts on hand in the boxes, and not a trade rumour to be found.
I guess that's what these four off days will be for.

Other stuff:

With Mario Lemieux not confident about the Penguins remaining in Pittsburgh, it's time to round up the usual suspects.

Jiri Fischer talked yesterday: "I don't foresee myself coming back in the next couple of weeks. But this is what I know. It's all I've worked for my whole life. I don't want it to be taken away."

(Oh, one more little thing. A little while back I mentioned William Shatner's commercial and after enduring it again last night, I'm reminded of a link regular poster Carla sent in that got lost in the shuffle. It's a bit old, and I guess my well-used Shatner Shield protected me from it before, but here's her explanation for the "simple man" conceit behind that unwatchable combination of product promotion and Bill's usual mugging: Shatner and Pulp, Common People (WM player req'd).)
(C.Y.)

No offence, but...

Inside of two weeks until Christmas, and the Leafs are pulseless. Time for a bit of a ramble here, so pour yourself a fresh cup, extra bile.
First, let's call the roll: Three losses in a row, and four in five games; just 21 goals scored in their past nine games; a power play down to a 9-for-66 conversion rate the past 10 nights.
Pat Quinn notes a "lack of urgency", at least in Ken Campbell's interpretation (over at the Sun, Lance Hornby drily notes the Leafs can't even use their customary excuses):

"I think our team has a feeling that they're a pretty good team and they can be, but we're not right now."

Not much to go on there. Sounds like every team I've ever heard of.

"We have to have a different mentality right now. We're not okay right now and we've got to work in different ways to get okay again."

A little warmer. Sounds like the coach figures his team -- and by definition, that means the key parts -- don't care, or aren't putting the work in. (An old coaching trick, which conveniently leaves the coach's role out of the process.)
Here's Allison, in the Sun, on the ailing power play:

"In Los Angeles (a few years ago), we did have the best power play in the league, but we had stretches just like this. I'm not saying we don't care about this stuff, but I also don't think it's panic-button time, either."

I wasn't able to watch all of Saturday's game, but I did note a moment when, instead of using McCabe and Kaberle as its focus, shifted down low to Allison set up as the hub behind the net. The Leafs got a good chance out of it. They oughta try it some more. Everybody has adjusted to McCabe, playing a longer box. And Allison, over the last month, has been the club's most consistent and productive forward not named Darcy Tucker.
There remains the five-on-five troubles, where the Leafs have stacked up quite poorly in the league's pecking order all season long -- they're 18th in the league in 5-on-5 production this morning.
Among the backsliders of late:

Jeff O'Neill has gone missing -- Pointless with just four shots on goal in hsi last five games.
Mats Sundin's goal on Saturday ended a five-game drought. (Don Cherry puts this down to wearing the visor, of course.)
Kyle Wellwood has one point in his last eight games, and has gone 12 games without a goal. (Note to Don: Wellwood doesn't wear a visor). Kid needs more ice time and a clearly defined role.
Eric Lindros has one goal in his last 10 games. (No visor. Hmmm.).

These are all problems in the one area they were supposed to have covered: generating offence (and not wearing visors, perhaps).
Against Dallas's tight checking, the Leafs had no answers -- even that one goal that got fans talking, Lindros and Sundin playing together, doesn't have Quinn planning a permanent union of the two on a line, although he is starting to talk about his plan to separate Lindros, Sundin and Allison in the past tense, so stay tuned:

"I did like the idea of three big guys in the middle. I felt that both in our zone and the offensive zone, in the way the rules were going to be called, we could have some real success in both ends with strength up the middle. I didn't want to mix that up. But maybe there is something there."

Tonight Anaheim comes in, then they have a whole week leading up to Saturday before they play again -- plenty of time to hear and read about how horrible they are, and push the panic button in earnest (over at Budblog, it's already started).
A little while back, regular poster Denial said the Leafs were if anything overachieving in the first six weeks or so of the schedule. It sure looks that way to me. Mind you, this is right where most of us figured they'd be -- just barely hanging on to a playoff spot -- so at least in the big picture, none of it should come as any surprise.

A couple of other links:

With Alex Khavanov doubtful, the Leafs defence will look different tonight against the Ducks (brace yourself, but Wade Belak practised as a D-man yesterday).

Fresh off his one-year blogiversary, James Mirtle takes a look at what the Olympic roster(s) would look like if they were based on current form.
(C.Y.)

Now on defence: Tom Foolery

PAUL HUNTER/TORONTO STAR

Black sweater might be more appropriate.

Pat Quinn is an obliging fellow.
The media pack following the Leafs around is ravenously hungry, so he throws them a pork chop now and then -- change up the defence pairs, say. Instant headlines. Blog heaven. Thanks, coach.
So Bryan McCabe -- you know there's a law saying he has to be mentioned every day, right? -- was moved alongside Alex Khavanov yesterday instead of Tomas Kaberle, which is like switching a lightly chilled '01 Pinot for Mateus out of a wineskin. Aki and Carlo, Klee and Kaberle, and among the forwards, there was even a Marius Czerkawski sighting (perhaps the last, so enjoy it while you can).
"Just sort of an experiment," said Quinn, who has also talked about changing up the power play formation.
No one asked about how this ... tomfoolery is the word that comes to mind ... would affect B-Mac's Olympic team chances, but I'm sure that's coming tomorrow when Quinn is quizzed about today's team selectors' meeting in Philly. Just a prediction, mind you.

Elsewhere this morning:

Mario Lemieux is feeling much better and may be back in the lineup in a week to 10 days, which is very good news indeed. And Damien Cox wants him on the team for Turin (er ... what happened to the double standard?).

The Globe's Tim Wharnsby looks at the Leafs schedule -- it's been hectic, now it's easing, and it'll get hectic later on.

Alexander Steen is feeling better; not so Staffan Kronwall.
(C.Y.)

 

---

To some linkage, which will be light today. Still tired from shovelling all that snow. But don't think we won't have some wonderful bits o' hockey info, like:

Did you know Adam Mair's nickname is "Scud"? It's because he plays like a ballistic missile. Or,

"He gives our team smack," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff tells the Buffalo News.

So should Aki Berg's (Leafs traded "Scud" for Berg, remember?) nickname be "Mayday"? Czerkawski sure sounds like a "Dud". Please send us your suggestions.

Top line alert:

Sakic-Hejduk-Tanguay are on fire. And tonight, the Senators meet the Canucks and Vancouver is thinking outside the box in their attempts to stop the best line in the NHL.

It's become a daily stop in San Jose around here, for good reason. 6-2 win over Florida last night. Thornton 2 more points. Marleau 3 more. "Patty", as it appears they call him, has completely picked up his game since the trade -- four  consecutive 3-point games. Four straight wins for Sharks and Joey-T tied for third in scoring with 41 points. Heck, they're even having more fun in the dressing room.

Quick hits:

We don't do trade rumours here, but it certainly looks like Petr Sykora will be traded.

Roberto Luongo is going through a horrible stretch. Panthers are going to give him some time off.

Last word to Sid the Kid. Showing off those leadership skills in Pittsburgh. After a 5-0 loss last night:

"I don't know if the effort was there. NHL teams, they've got to find a way to be prepared for an opponent. They've got a good team and a good system over there, but that doesn't make it any better."

He's on my Team Canada. (SW)