And About Buffalo

BUFFALO--The problem with hosting events like the world junior hockey championships for any city is that it sometimes gives outsiders all kinds of time to trash the town they're visiting.

For Buffalo, it started with Team USA forward Emerson Etem labelling it a "ghost town" and complaining it made Medicine Hat look like "paradise," and has sort of continued from there.

It's not Paris. We get it. It's not even Vancouver, which joined the NHL at the same time as Buffalo four decades and has gone in an opposite direction from the western New York city ever since.

But I like hard-hit Buffalo for what it is, warts and all, and I don't even really like chicken wings. It's got personality. It knows what it is. After a week here for the world juniors, here's five things to like about the place:

1. The people. Geez, they're trying. They know the downtown core leaves something to be desired, but there are all kinds of efforts afoot to make it better. There's a friendliness to Buffalo that makes you think of a much smaller town.

2. The free rides. From outside the Hyatt Regency you can catch a light rail all the way to HSBC Arena. For free. Very nice.

3. The history. You don't have dig very deep to understand this was once a very important city. William McKinley was assassinated here. There's a house on Delaware where Theodore Roosevelt, one of the greatest presidents of them all, was inaugurated. Drive along North St. and look at the mansions that once were home to the wealthy and elite. City Hall looms like a vestige of another time. If you're lucky, like I was, a generous military man might take you on an unofficial of the gorgeous 74th Regiment Armory, the last "castle-style" armory of its type still operating in the United States. If you're curious and history-minded, there's tons here.

4. HSBC Arena. It's a good one. Maybe there aren't all the bells and whistles and the press box is awfully high, but for a hockey fan actually buying a seat, it's as good as there is.

5. The passion. People from Toronto may want to steal their football team, but my goodness, do they care about sport here. It may seem like it's just about the Bills, but it's the NFL beyond that, and college football, and the Sabres, of course. They know hockey here because it's played here. The late, great Jim Kelley wrote about the sport here forever and better than most, and these days, there aren't many better than Bucky Gleason. Sure, maybe more Canadians snapped up tickets for the world juniors than did locals, but they were expensive, maybe too expensive for a town where the recession and unemployment are very real, not abstract ideas. To buy end zone tickets for $105 you've got to either have deep pockets or really, really care about junior hockey. Besides, there's no American town where a Canadian can feel quite so welcome and at home.

Getting Ready to Go For Gold

BUFFALO--Everywhere Ron Tugnutt goes in the home rink of the Sabres, he sees memories.

Not good ones.

"Everywhere I go I see a picture of Derek Plante and the the puck in the net," laughed the Canadian junior goalie consultant this morning.

Then, Tugnutt was with the Ottawa Senators and Plante was with the Sabres, and the goal in question won Game 7 in overtime to eliminate the Sens in the '97 playoffs.

Tugnutt's not playing anymore, but coaching and encouraging, hoping it will end better for him and Team Canada in the gold medal game tomorrow night against Russia.

Canadian goaltending, whether it's been Olivier Roy or Mark Visentin, has been a talking point for the past 10 days. Now, for the gold medal tilt, you can add in the variable of red-hot Russian netminder Dmitri Shikin, who has backstopped Russia to a pair of dramatic come-from-behind playoff wins in the 2011 world junior hockey championships.

Today was all about both teams saying the right thing. "I'm telling our guys not to let the foot off the pedal. And don't underestimate the opposition," said Canadian head coach Dave Cameron. His Russian counterpart, Valeri Bragin, smiled when asked what it would mean for his country to beat Canada. "The same as it would for Canada to beat Russia," he said.

Canadian centre Braydon Schenn, the tournament's leading scorer with 16 points in six games, said he's already done talking about the 4-1 semifinal win over the United States on Monday. "We didn't come here to beat the U.S. We came here to win the gold medal," he said.

The goaltending matchup, meanwhile, is an interesting one. Visentin took over for Roy after a shootout loss to Sweden on New Year's Eve and has won both his starts. Tugnutt, charged with keeping the goalies prepared and focussed, said he's not surprised Canada switched goalies mid-stream or that Visentin responded well.

"Look what happened with (Martin) Brodeur in the Olympics," he said, a reference to the switch to Roberto Luongo in Vancouver last winter. "I tell the guys the second you think you're not playing, that's when the coach gives you that tap on the back. You better be ready."

Visentin plays the puck better than Roy, and that made a difference against the Americans.

"He broke up a lot of their forechecks himself," said Tugnutt. "He builds confidence off playing the puck. I played with Marty Turco and it was the same thing."

As well as preparing the Canadian goalies, Tugnutt has to scout the opposition, and he has put together a video file on the short, stocky Shikin.

"All he's done is be very solid for them," said Tugnutt. "In my book, he's a great first save goaltender. His ability to recover after that first save is something I think we can go after."

Big bodies, and lots of 'em, in Shikin's crease will be the Canadian plan. Turning to Visentin, meanwhile, was hardly a desperation move, not in Tugnutt's mind.

"Yeah, we have a goalie problem. We're putting in a first round NHL pick in the net," smirked Tugnutt, referencing Visentin's selection by Phoenix in the first round.

The key, he figures, is to help Visentin simply play his game.

"There's so much pressure sometimes the goalies will start doing things they've never done before," he said. "Last year, Jake Allen suddenly started going down early, and he'd never done that before. What happens is they want so bad to do well, they can't be themselves.

"So that's what we tell our guys. Just be yourself in there."

The Possibilities

This cannot be argued. The Maple Leafs had few assets before Brian Burke took over. They have quite a few now.

Nothing, of course, that'll bring back that first round pick next June (Interesting how 2010 second overall Tyler Seguin has fewer points and fewer goals than undrafted Tyler Bozak). But tangible, solid pieces that other teams desire.

That's why he's getting offers on Kris Versteeg, a 24-year-old with a Stanley Cup ring. (worth noting Viktor Stalberg has six goals to Versteeg's 10, hasn't scored since Nov. 14 and is just back from his second concussion in two seasons). Just a guess, but I suspect it's the tightly packed Southeast Division teams that are most interested in Versteeg.

The youngster has just started to play well, including working the point on the Toronto power play. Do they really want to move him now?

Then there's Clarke MacArthur, 25, one of last summer's best unrestricted free agent signings by any team. All MacArthur's done is lead the team in scoring, shocking even the most optimistic members of the Leaf front office. The conundrum here is that MacArthur was only signed for one season ($1.1 million) and is a restricted FA next summer. Sign him now to a multi-year deal or swap him elsewhere before the deadline, figuring he's maxed out his value? Tough choice. 

(Before you mock MacArthur for being the best scorer on a bad team, it's worth nothing he'd also be the leading scorer for Boston, Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, New Jersey, New York Islanders, Ottawa, Phoenix and St. Louis.) 

Francois Beauchemin has lots of detractors, but more than a dozen NHL clubs would love to slot him into their blueline rotation. He was added as an unrestricted free agent, costing the Leafs only money. Ditto for Finnish goaltending prospect Jussi Rynnas, who is having a very strong year in the AHL and is drawing interest from other clubs.

So what should be the target if one or more of these assets are to be moved?

Clearly, a centre. One under the age of 30, preferably 26 or younger, that can grow with the young group of players the Leafs have assembled. No easy task to get such a player, for sure. An ideal target would be 27-year-old pivot Stephen Weiss in Florida, not too expensive at $3.1 million per with two more years on his deal. If GM Dale Tallon decides to continue to do with the Panthers what he did in Chicago, players like Tomas Vokoun, Bryan McCabe and possibly Weiss could move. Putting Steven Reinprecht through waivers is an indication Florida might be interested in cutting payroll. Staying in the Southeast, Tampa has some good young forwards in Richard Panik, Carter Ashton and Brett Connolly, but they're not centres. Washington has Marcus Johansson, big David Steckel and Mathieu Perreault. Atlanta has Patrice Cormier and Daultan Leveille.

But these are all names and idle speculation. For the Leafs, however, it's clear a more experienced centre would help Kessel and allow Bozak to play as a third-line centre, which would make so much more sense. 

But the point is that while detractors suggest the 28th place Leafs have nothing and that Burke's management has set the team back five years, that's nonsense. Right now, Versteeg and MacArthur would represent solid second tier scoring for a team with serious playoff aspirations. But they're also youngsters, part of the six-pack of Toronto players under the age of 26 with a chance to score 20 goals this season.

The next two months leading up to the Feb. 28th trade deadline could be fascinating for Leaf fans.