Category: Sports

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Leo Komarov

After doing absolutely nothing on the first day of free agency – which is alright by me – Nonis signed ex-Leaf Leo Komarov to a 4 year, $11.8 mil deal. To which I say, I liked Komarov, but why exactly is he getting nearly $3 million per season?

2014, Basketball, Sports

The Raptors’ 2014 Draft

The Raptors surprised everyone this year by drafting a seemingly unknown Brazilian player, Bruno Caboclo, 20th overall. And as much as I would like to give Ujiri the benefit of the doubt, I think we can object to this decision even without invoking the sports xenophobia that idiotic Raptors “fans” have already invoked to criticize …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Maple Leafs’ 2014 Draft

The Leafs missed the playoffs for the 8th time in the last 9 seasons and, as a result of that failure to improve in any tangible way over the last decade, the Leafs were handed their 3rd Top 10 pick since 2008. (Though it should have been their 5th Top 10 pick, but that’s another …

Hockey, Playoffs, Sports

Did Justin Williams Deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy?

The Professional Hockey Writers Association’s members love clutch goals. At least recently, that appears to be the driving force in so many of the Conn Smythe winners’ resumes, whenever those players are not goalies. So Justin Williams has been given the award this year. Did he deserve it?

2013, 2014, Basketball, Sports

Your 2013-14 Toronto Raptors

A little while ago I wondered aloud whether or not this Raptors team would rank among the best ever. [Editor’s note: Post since deleted because a) it was just a listicle of good Raptors teams and b) 2019 happened.] Now that they have been eliminated by the Nets, I think we can say that they …

Hockey, Sports

2013-14 Toronto Maple Leafs Review

I must admit, I am pretty much done with the Leafs at this point. Not so much the team, but management. Both Burke and Nonis have made numerous avoidable mistakes – Nonis is making Burke look practically visionary so far – and the Leafs haven’t been a playoff team in a decade. (We should regard …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Mark Fraser

Edmonton Oilers Get: Mark Fraser, 27, D: By any stretch of the imagination, Fraser had a career year last season. He had been a depth / AHL D for his entire career before Burke picked him up for minor league depth. He was one of Carlyle’s two experiments on the back-end last season (the one …

2014, Hockey, Sports

2014 Canadian Men’s Olympic Hockey Team

So obviously the biggest question on every Canadian’s mind right now is ‘did Steve Yzerman et al. pick the right players to give Canada its second men’s hockey Olympic gold medal in a row…on international ice.?’ (The international ice caveat is important because at the Olympic level Canada hasn’t won a men’s hockey gold medal …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

Alex Steen’s Hot Start to the 2013-14 NHL Season

I know Steen’s hot start this year is unsustainable and likely going to end very soon – his GPG is currently .93 on the season! But I can’t help regretting that the Leafs let him go and, moreover, that I supported the move at the time.

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: 2013-14 Maple Leafs Season Preview

I feel somewhat embarrassed to say that I completely missed the Franson extension that I had been hammering my drum about. All I can say is that it’s been busy at work lately, and I have had less energy to read NHL transaction logs at night. As previously, I am relying on Capgeek’s depth chart …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Franson and Kessel Extensions

I have been a little busy lately and for that I apologize. The primary reason for the business – as pertains to this blog – will be revealed shortly. (Ooh, the mystery!) And I regret to say that my 2013-14 Leafs Preview will be late this year. I haven’t had the time but hopefully it …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Cody Franson

On July 3, 2011 Brian Burke made one of the best trades of his tenure. He traded away the following players to the Predators: Brett Lebda, who had managed 540 minutes of playing time the previous season, where he was the 8th D and managed a -14; Robert Slaney, a career minor leaguer who at …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Gunnarsson and the Leafs financial flexibility

I am happy to see Gunnarsson re-signed for a reasonable amount of money: 3 years @ $3.15 mil. As I have said elsewhere, I think he has been the most consistent Leafs D for a couple of years now. The salary is a substantial raise, but what else could we have expected? Gunnarsson and his agent …

Hall of Fame, Hockey, Sports

The 2013 Hockey Hall of Fame Class

First off, congratulations to the inductees. I think all the NHL players are deserving. I remain rather confused as to why only 3 NHL players were inducted this year when one could argue there were other deserving players (cough Lindros cough). But just for shits and giggles lets go over the men who were inducted. …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: 2013 Free Agent Frenzy

Consider, if you will, the following four NHL players: Player A 27 years old 238 regular season games 82 game average: 18G, 28A, -14, 19:20 ATOI Player B 29 years old 426 regular season games 82 game average: 19G, 14A, -6, 14:07 ATOI Player C 29 years old 367 regular season games 82 game average: …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Evaluating the 2008 NHL Draft

There is a rule of thumb in the hockey world that drafts should not be evaluated until about 5 years have passed. So with that in mind, let’s look at (part of) the 2008 draft to see if we can learn anything about it. (I do this with the distant hope that one day my …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Grabovski Buy-Out

This is what I wrote in March 2012 when the Leafs extended Grabovski, just over a year ago: I like Grabo. He is probably my favourite forward on the Leafs at the moment. But liking him has nothing to do with sound hockey decisions and this contract is not a sound hockey decision. Grabo may …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Komisarek Buy-Out

When Maple Leafs General Manage Brian Burke traded Francois Beauchemin a few years ago – one of his best trades, perhaps his best – he publicly stated he was fixing a mistake. This statement was really strange to many of us given that Beauchemin, though inconsistent, was still infinitely better than the other defenseman Burke …

Hockey, Playoffs, Sports

Does Patrick Kane deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy?

So, earlier in this final, I had a post ready to go about the Bruins and the Leafs and how the Bruins’ success meant nothing to the Leafs despite what most Leafs fans on Facebook seem to believe. I had to delete the post this morning and I must say that it was actually a …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Bernier Trade

The Leafs, who made it to the first round of the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade almost solely because of their goaltender, have traded for another goalie. This of course raises a question or two, mainly: Why are the Leafs so desperate to replace Reimer? But before we get to that …

Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

Toronto Maple Leafs 4 at Boston Bruins 5, May 13, 2013

A lot of people I know are feeling really bad after the Leafs fell apart when they had a 4-1 lead on the Bruins. A lot of other people are trying to spin it positively: at least the Leafs were in the playoffs for the first time in 9 years; at least the Leafs took …

Hockey, Sports

NHL Trade Deadline 2013: It’s a Buyers Market

It has been fairly busy prior to trade-deadline day, likely meaning that, as usual, trade-deadline day will be uneventful. Here’s what’s been happening. March 29, 2013 Edmonton Oilers get: Kale Kessy, 20, LW Phoenix Coyotes get: Tobias Rieder, 20, RW Rieder is still very young and has been putting up decent numbers in the OHL. …