Failed to re-sign Irwin: No opinion.
Category: Sports
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: 2009 Free Agency
Ignoring the players he let go…
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: July 2010 Free Agency
On July 1st of last year, Burke let the following players leave the organization: Deveaux, Exelby, Frogren, Matt Jones, Lundmark, Ondrus, Oreskovicc, Primeau, Rogers, Van Ryn, Wallin and Walser. I have no problem with any of that. Additionally, for some unknown reason, both Mitchell and Brent were left to go unrestricted but then resigned later.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Tim Connolly
First, a note. I have been on vacation for a week and before that I had a busy June so I haven’t been keeping up with these Leafs posts. Rest assured I will get to them in time. For the moment, I am skipping ahead to the Connolly signing and I will discuss the other …
Why the Heat Should be Worried they Squandered This Opportunity
Though it may seem obvious to some the Heat will have another chance at a title, I’m not sure it’s so certain. For a variety of reasons. Wade’s fragile body: LeBron has been quite healthy since he came into the league. And Bosh has been reasonably healthy. But Wade – their best player if the …
Media Bias in the 2011 NBA Finals
So maybe I’m just a homer, and I can’t be objective about my second favourite basketball team (I certainly couldn’t be in 2006), but it seemed like everything was “Miami is doing this well” / “Miami isn’t doing this well” and very little was about Dallas. Worse, it seemed like Jackson had already decided Miami …
NHL Realignment
Provided the Thrashers are indeed moving to Winnipeg (and I have no reason to doubt this story because it originated in a paper owned by one of the Partners of True North) and provided no other teams move this off-season, the NHL will have to realign its divisions. How do they do that?
Raptors 2010-2011 Review
So the dismal season is finally over. It was an interesting one. Before it began, I was worried they would win 20 games.
2010-11 NHL Awards
Part 1: Automatic Awards Rocket Richard: Corey Perry Adam Oates (my award for most assists): Henrik Sundin Art Ross: Daniel Sedin Plus-Minus: Zdeno Chara Paul Coffey (my award for most goals by a defenseman): Byfuglien Bobby Orr (my award for most points by a defenseman): Visnovsky Jennings: Tim Thomas Crozier: Tim Thomas
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: 2010-2011 Leafs Season
There has been a recent upswell of support – from fans, from the media, and from hockey fans not normally partial to the Maple Leafs – for Burke’s “plan” in recent weeks, following the team’s remarkable post-all-star-break performance this season. Despite missing the playoffs, the majority opinion seems to be that the Leafs are very …
“Real” Per Game Hockey Stats
Hockey has been very slow to pay attention to per game numbers as a means of evaluating players compared to, say, a sport like basketball, where they are virtually everything. This has been especially true with the Hall of Fame, where longevity and championships (i.e. luck) are favoured above a player’s ability to perform (with …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: End of the 2010-11 Season
Maybe I’m overly cynical. Maybe the Dryden / Quinn / Ferguson years so soured me that I lost all hope – that I cannot even begin to believe that a Leafs team could really contend for the cup. Maybe I’ve lost all perspective. Maybe my claims to big picture thinking are really just rationalizing disguises for …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Tyler Bozak
The case of Bozak is a really interesting one. It illustrates, for me, both what works and what doesn’t work about Burke’s “plan”. (Sometimes I think calling this a plan or a rebuild is a discredit to these otherwise noble words).
It’s time to start calling Iggy future hall of famer Jarome Iginla
Last night Iginla reached 1000 points for his career. This might not seem like all that much, especially given the large number of people who have achieved this mark since the 1980s. It puts him 77th all-time. He achieved this in more than 1103 games, making him slightly less than a point-a-game player, 103rd best …
Point Forwards and Shooting Forwards
The concept of the point forward was introduced some time ago – in the ’80s I think – but it is still resisted in many quarters. There are a few people on the TSN boards who constantly get upset when anyone uses the term “point forward,” especially back when Turkoglu was on the Raptors. The …
Plus Minus Shares
I’m not sure if this will make any sense, as I’m really not well enough versed in statistics, but here goes…
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Media Complicity in Maintaining Fan Delusions
On Blue and White Tonight this evening Gord Stellick said something to the effect of “We can’t figure out how many games the Leafs have to win, they just have to win games. Whether it’s 11-2, or 9-4, or whatever, they have to win a lot of games.”
RIP Rick Martin
For the second time in as many years the Hall of Fame has been exposed for not honouring someone in time. This time the death obviously wasn’t expected, but that doesn’t make it any better. First, they ignored or avoided the opportunity to put Burns in during his lifetime. I really don’t pay attention to …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Deadline Day 2009
Two years ago was Burke’s first deadline day with the Leafs. He made a number of minor deals: traded Antropov for 2nd rounder (Kenny Ryan) and a 2010 conditional fourth rounder (the conditions were either not met or not exercised) traded Moore for a 2nd rounder (Jesse Blacker) claimed Eric Reitz off waivers the weird …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: 2010 Trade Deadline
Around this time last year the Leafs traded Ponikarovsky for Luca Caputi and Martin Skoula then traded Skoula to Jersey for a fifth round pick (Sam Carrick) traded Joey McDonald for a seventh round pick this year traded a sixth round pick (Joe Rogalski) for Chris Peluso traded Stempniak for Matt Jones, a fourth round …
NHL Trade Deadline Day 2011!
So it was a less busy day this year, because of all the trades over the past week and a half. Here are my thoughts on them. Atlanta gets Dvorak and a 5th rounder, Florida gets Bergfors and Rissmiller: I can’t hate this enough for Atlanta. Bergfors was the key piece of the Kovalchuk deal …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: The Leafs should tank next year (and perhaps the year after)
With all this talk about the Leafs making the playoffs, and with Reimer looking like the second coming of Chris Mason (prior to the injury), I think it’s time to restate why the Leafs really need to go through a traditional rebuild. It was only last week that Burke looked like he was finally realizing …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Rebuilding
I have been very hard on Burke lately – pre-Kaberle deal, which I think was a pretty good move – and I guess I should offer something positive instead of endless criticism. With the Beachemin and Kaberle deals (and the Versteeg deal, as much as I don’t like it) Burke appears to be implicitly acknowledging …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Kaberle
Burke traded Kaberle for Joe Colborne, Boston’s 1st rounder in 2011 and Boston’s 2nd rounder in 2012 (conditional).
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: The Second Versteeg Trade
Burke trades Versteeg for Philadelphia’s 1st and 3rd round picks in 2011.
The Campaign to fire Brian Burke: Beauchemin Trade
Burke Trades Francois Beauchemin for Joffrey Lupul, Jake Gardiner and Anaheim’s 4th round pick in 2013
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Staffan Kronwall
Two years ago today, in one of his first moves, Burke waived Staffan Kronwall.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: January 31, 2010
January 31st of 2010 was a big day for the Leafs. In one day, the Leafs traded 6 players for 4 players, completely changing the team and yes, perhaps, even the “culture.” Surely, this day played as big a part as any other day in Burke’s attempt to get rid of the players he associated …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke – Prologue
I am an odd kind of Leafs fan; at this point I expect them to fail more than I expect them to succeed. I can’t look at any move they make in a completely positive light, and don’t believe they will win the Cup in my lifetime. And yet I watch (or listen) to as …
NHL 2010-11 Predictions
I like to make predictions each year for the Stanley Cup but this year I am having a really hard time. No one team strikes me as being particularly stronger than the herd.