Drafting a highly thought of prospect who never turns out has got to be one of the most frustrating experiences for a sports organization, despite its frequency. (It’s certainly very frustrating for us fans.)
Tag: Hockey
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 …
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 …
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.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Canada’s 2014 Olympic Hockey Roster – Preliminary Edition!
So Hockey Canada has released what we might call “The Long List” for the men’s hockey team for 2014. Let the debates begin.
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. …
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: …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Colton Orr
Maple Leafs Extend Colton Orr, 31, RW for 2 years, $1.85 million The reason for this post is because the Leafs re-signed Colton Orr and all the Leafs fans on Facebook seem to be happy about it.
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 …
2013 NHL Awards
Here is my annual wrap-up of the NHL awards. As usual, it includes both real awards and made-up awards that should exist to save the voters from themselves.
Your 2013 Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs have mercifully made the playoffs for the first time since 2004. There are those out there who are very excited about this – I am more cautious in my enthusiasm – and many are thinking that those of us who often criticized former GM Brian Burke’s “plan” should eat our own words. But …
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. …
Jarome Iginla Trade to the Penguins
Iginla used to be my favourite player back in the day, even though I am not a Calgary fan. So I am glad to see him move to a contender, even though it certainly would have been nice to see a player who entered the league more recently than Lidstrom finish his career with one …
The Campaign to fire Dave Nonis: Komisarek
Mike Komisarek got waived yesterday. It’s about time. Hopefully somebody takes him. But it doesn’t really matter as the Leafs can afford to pay him in the AHL anyway. $4.5 million per year for:
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: David Steckel
Anaheim Ducks get: David Steckel, 31, C Leafs get: Ryan Lasch, RW/LW; 7th Round Pick Before I knew who Steckel was, I was really upset when the Leafs traded a 4th round pick for him back in October of 2011. This is because I looked at his hockey-reference.com profile and not his NHL.com profile and …
New NHL Divisions
The NHL Board of Governors just approved this realignment plan. I am, for the most part, all for it. The plan was necessitated by the Thrashers moving from Atlanta to Winnipeg. Back in May of 2011, I discussed the problems for the current six-division system. Since the move, the Zombie Thrashers have been playing in …
Nazem Kadri’s 2013 NHL Performance
Based on nearly half of this bastardized “season,” the remarks I made about Kadri were wrong. And, provided he keeps up this point-per-game pace – and there is no guarantee that he will or won’t – his emergence as a legitimate top 6 forward in the NHL stands as a reminder to people like me …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Joffrey Lupul Extension. Plus my thoughts on the Leafs’ first game of 2013
Dave Nonis took a step in the wrong direction when he resigned Joffrey Lupul instead of trading him or letting him walk. Lupul becomes only the second Leafs player to be signed through the 2017-18 season, when he will be 34. (JVR is the other.) Lupul will make $5.25 million per season.
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Pre-2013 Transactions
I already discussed the Lombardi deal. Lets talk about what else Dave Nonis has done since taking over.
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis – Matthew Lombardi
With Burke gone, and with Nonis as yet an unknown entity as a Leafs GM, I don’t really know what to call my latest evaluations of Leafs trades, so maybe I will retroactively change it to something else if I am indeed forced to launch a campaign to fire Nonis, but the way he has …
2013 Maple Leafs Season Preview
I begin this season for the first time in a few years not having to preface the title with “The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke.” It was interesting to note the number of Leafs players mourning his firing. If he did one thing in his tenure, he created a culture of loyalty. In organizing my …