Quiet 2009 Off-Season For Leafs
One day before the 2009 PTHL Entry Draft, and the Toronto Maple Leafs still haven't made a single move since the Ottawa Senators won the Cup in early June.
"We just haven't seen a reasonable deal come our way yet," explained GM David Armstrong. "We're pretty happy with our team right now, so there's no pressing need to dump players or shake things up. We're looking to jockey for draft positioning, but that usually doesn't happen until the actual draft gathering."
The team hasn't even offered any contracts, as they signed all their potential free agents during the season. 6 players have a team option that the club will exercise (Eric Nystrom, Adam Henrich, Shaone Morrisonn, Magnus Waleenstedt, Jon Filssunu, Dan Blackburn), and 5 players on the farm without a 2009-10 contract that the team will not resign (Nick Fugere has a team option that will likely be taken). Other than that, there's no major changes that are expected for the pro roster this year.
As for the draft, the team is looking to trade up into the middle or front of the 2nd round, or perhaps into the late 1st round with the draft picks they have.
"We have enough depth to last a lifetime," explained head scout Daren Damphousse. "We have our eyes on a couple guys that should be available from the 25-45 area, so we'd like to move some depth guys and our current 2nd and 3rds for another selection in that area."
Things aren't expected to pick up after the draft, though, as the team will be looking to continue to develop their prospects in 2009-10.
"We are hoping Ozzy (Daniel Osgood) and Manny (Anderson) will hit stride in the AHL this year," said GM David Armstrong. "If that happens, we should be set for a good run at the cup in 2010-11, or at least a deep playoff run."
All we know is, for the 2009 off-season, it's boring in Toronto. Scary when Al Strachan and Damian Cox have to write about things other than the NHL. Almost as scary as them writing about hockey.
Anyway, see you on draft day!
Leafs Ready For 2009-10 Regular Season!
As we enter the 2009-10 PTHL season, hopes in Leaf-land are starting to rise.
While hopes of the playoffs are still dim, there's now light at the end of the tunnel after a very promising off-season that saw a couple future stars drafted in Lyle Janke and first round pick (8th overall) Todd Mordecai, and the return of future stars Siarhei Kostitsyn and Steven Housley from junior.
There were a couple surprise moves after the draft, including the trade of Manny Anderson for Daniel Thomas, and the trading away of Tom Connell for a farmer and a 2nd round pick, but the team has not swayed from it's path towards the playoffs yet.
"The team is still solid, definately," said GM David Armstrong. "It's tough to lose such a solid and reliable player as Connell, and Manny Anderson has shown unbelievable promise, but we felt those trades made our team better for the future."
The team also picked up Mark Komyagin from Carolina in a minor trade, and picked up Mike Fisher and Jaroslav Svoboda just before the waiver draft to round out their roster.
"Komyagin has similar qualities to what Anderson did, though we feel his work ethic could be better," said head coach Bryan Trottier. "Fisher and Svoboda are solid veterans. We hope they can help Wendell Patel on the road to becoming a top PTHL scoring threat."
Entering the season, the team lineup looks pretty much the same as it was at the end of the 2008-09 season, with two major exceptions:
Forwards (L-C-R):
L1: 16 Robert Nilsson 22 Jon Filssunu 15 Joffrey Lupul
L2: 27 Jaroslav Svoboda 89 Wendell Patel 18 Adam Henrich
L3: 17 Eric Nystrom 11 Cam Willan 7 Kurtis Foster
L4: 44 Daniil Bykovsky 8 Bryan Mason 20 Boyd Gordon
Defense (L-R):
P1: 26 Shaone Morrisonn 24 Jordan Smith
P2: 4 Ilya Nikulin 8 Magnus Waleenstedt
P3: 3 Denis Grebeshkov 38 Paul Flache
Goalies:
29 Marc-Andre Fleury
30 Daniel Blackburn
Extras:
12 Mike Fisher R/C, 2 Michael Funk D, 36 Mark Komyagin D
On the farm, the team has a good core of young players that they can finally produce through the farm instead of the pro team. Teenagers Daniel Osgood and Joe Whitney will play as the team's underagers this year, while Housley and Kostitsyn are expected to become mainstays on the pro team for years to come.
As for prospects, the team hopes Janke and Mordecai will fill the roles Osgood and Whitney are in this year, and forward Michal Beranek and defenseman Daniel Thomas will have solid junior years. Beranek will turn 20 before the 2010-11 season starts, so he'll be on the farm then. Thomas will probably play the next two years in junior with the OHL's Oshawa Generals.
"We're extremely excited at what we have in the system," said head scout Boris Chabot. "We're looking at having too much to work with in a couple seasons, and that puts us at an advantage."
The team has a 1st round pick, and 4 2nd round picks for the 2010 draft. The team will likely be looking for a sniper or two to compliment the playmakers they already have. As for the 2009-10 draft, anything above 20th overall in the standings will be a bonus, but as they say, never say never!
Fleury Robs Game 1 Of The 2009-10 Season For Leafs
Toronto: In Toronto, the Leafs got a gift point when their goalie put on a performance of a lifetime.
When the season began, the management said any run at a playoff spot would require an excellent season from Wendell Patel and one Marc-Andre Fleury. In game one, the latter showed that he intend to make that prediction come true.
The Leafs took an early 1-0 lead at home on the strength of a goal by the 4th line. Boyd Gordon ended up getting credit on a scramble in front of the Sens net off a shot by Bryan Mason, who ended up getting the assist. Ottawa scored the next two goals to take a 2-1 lead into the 3rd, where sniper Joffrey Lupul scored at 4:15 of the period to give the Leafs a point in their first game of the season. The story, though, was not the score, but the shots, as the Leafs took only 16 shots to the Sens 41. Fleury had perhaps his best career NHL game though, stopping 39 of the shots.
It is expected that Fleury will be given the next 2 games off, as coach Bryan Trottier announced.
"We want to give our backup some games," he said, pointedly saying the word "backup". "Ma had a great game, but we don't want to play him too much early. Plus, we have a hunch that Blackburn will have a great game against Dallas, and then against the Rangers afterwards."
The Rangers, of course, are the team that drafted Daniel Blackburn, who went through Carolina before coming to Toronto.
Mark Komyagin, Michael Funk and Mike Fisher were the scratches for game one. It is expected Komyagin will play one of the next two games, with 27-year-old Paul Flache taking a seat in the pressbox.
Keep an eye on those Leafs. They're .500 so far!
November has proved to be a god-send for the Toronto Maple Leafs, it appears.
Entering the month after a 1-7-0-3 October, Toronto has had a point in every game this month, going 3-0-2-1 in the 6 games so far. Even more impressive, perhaps, is that of those 6 games, only 2 were against teams not currently in the playoffs (Carolina both times, with whom they went 1-0-0-1).
"We had that bad game on Halloween against Montreal, and since then, the team has just come to life," said coach Bryan Trottier, who refused to take credit when asked what he did to turn the team around. "Sometimes, the coach doesn't need to say anything, and a 5-0 loss is one of those times. Perhaps it woke our guys up, or perhaps that was just the end of our struggles."
Leaf fans hope it's the latter, but the GM is a bit more cautious in saying that.
"We've still got a long way to go before we're a playoff team, I think," he said, though he didn't put an 8th spot finish beyond the team. "We're currently 2 points back through 17 games, and with Pittsburgh, the Islanders, Tampa and Washington rebuilding, we might be on the front burner for the spot. It's definitely possible."
The team has an even harder 2nd half of the month, though, as they play division leaders Philadelphia, Atlanta and Ottawa in their next 3 games, and then follow that up with the Islanders, Calgary, Montreal, Detroit and the Rangers. Only the Islanders are not currently in a playoff position.
"If we can get out of this stretch in a good spot, we should have a front row seat to the playoffs," said 2nd year centre Wendell Patel. "We (the players) still think we can beat anyone on any given night, especially with Ma (Marc-Andre Fleury) in net."
The only thing working against the Leafs right now is the loss of Adam Henrich to suspension for 6 games. He's served the first 3, but Patel and Kurtis Foster are clearly missing his leadership and defensive ability.
Despite that, management thinks that if the team can go .500 in the remainder of the month, the team should be in a solid playoff position. It's up to the players now...
A History Lesson On The Life Of Jon Filssunu
In Toronto, it's always asked, where do our hockey players come from? Well, then again, maybe not, but stay with me on this. It's mostly true with the Maple Leaf captains, and Jon Filssunu is no exception. So, we at the Toronto Sex - I mean Sun *cough* - have compiled this report on everyone's favourite Swedish captain (after Mats Sundin and Thomas Steen and Markus Naslund and Borje Salming - oh, wait, he was never captain).
Johannes Ove (Jon) Filssunu was born in Helsingborg, Sweden, which is right on the south Swedish-Norwegian boarder, on August 6th, 1986. While he played is early hockey in his hometown, it proved to be too small for Jon, who managed to talk his parents (he was a smooth-talking Swedish barn) into moving to Malmö, about 50km south of his hometown. There, he tried out for the junior Malmö IF hockey team, but was turned down repeatedly because he couldn't skate. The reason, he says, was that his feet were so damn tiny! What a poor little bastard he was...*ahem* anyway, back to the story. Finally, in 1995, at the age of 9, he managed to work his way into the Malmö program.
In his second game, however, he was hit with a rubber chicken when his lack of knowledge of the local tradition of celebrating a hat trick was made obvious. He was hospitalized for a month, and didn't return to action for another two months afterwards. As a result of this traumatic experience, he opened a ward in the Malmö hospital where he stayed for Rubber Chicken victims in May, 2000. To date, the ward has treated two hundred victims of Rubber Chicken throwing.
At age 10, he played his first full season in hockey, scoring 20 goals and adding 25 assists. His Malmö team went down to defeat to the much more talented MoDo squad, which took them out in a one-game first round matchup. The MoDo squad featured players such as current Montreal Canadien Eric Borjesson, who later transfered to Filssunu's Malmö team at age 16 and played 3 seasons with Jon, and Calgary and Pittsburgh superstar Carl Söderberg, who would later move to Canada to play for Barrie of the OHL, and never played against Jon in the U20 league.
The next 5 years went decently for Filssunu, and he even became the youngest captain of an U18 club when he joined the league at 14 and became captain one year later. His best year to date was when he was 13, when he picked up 54 goals and added 118 assists while playing alongside new teammate Borjesson and hockey-player-turned-teacher Kjell "Just Jellin'" Kjellin. He still considers that his best year in hockey.
"Yes, that was my best year in hockey," he told us in a one-on-one interview when he first joined Toronto in 2007. "I hope I have another one like it sometime, maybe when the PTHL goes on strike."
As it was, when he turned 17, he moved up to the U20 junior team, and quickly turned into a potential top prospect in the PTHL draft of 2004. A lot of people questioned his work ethic, though, and so the young 5'11, 250 pound Filssunu started to try and prove them all wrong.
"So what if I sat on the couch and ate cheesies and drank coca-cola for 17 hours a day when I was 16? I was still the best player on that team," he told us with a huff. "But I had to show that my, what do you call it? C'mon, help me, what do ya call it?" "I don't know what you wanna say" "Well, whatever. It (his physique) wasn't what most of the scouts wanted, so I went into the gym and got rid of that extra 35 pounds. Jellin' Kjellin helped me put on 3 extra inches onto my playing card, too. Did I tell you that was when he decided to become a teacher? Yeah, it was so cool that I ended up forcing him, I mean, helped him realise his true calling."
So the now 6'2, 215 pound Filssunu moved up the ranks to the 2nd round in the Central Scouting Bureau's PTHL Entry Draft rankings, and found himself waiting to see who would take him. The 2nd round passed, though, and he still hadn't been taken, so the young Filssunu started jumping around and waving his hands in the air as every team stepped up to the podium. Finally, Pittsburgh GM Jeremy Vigier decided to take him, as he was getting sick of seeing those chubby fingers over all those potentially good players in front of Jon.
"Hey, it worked, so don't knock it," Filssunu later said to Vigier. According to sources, that was what ended up in his being traded to Toronto.
"When that bastard V-J finally traded me, I was like a new man," he said in our one-on-one. "I went out and partied all night, and I still managed to make practice at 5am, and look like I was actually a committed player. It was so awsome. Of course, after a few weeks, it got to me, and I started playing poorly, but no one really noticed, and I still scored 24 goals! I mean, what more can I do?"
Now in his 3rd PTHL season, Jon has 51 goals and 74 assists in his first two seasons, all with the Leafs. He's played 19 games this year and has 6 goals and 9 assists, which leads the team in points, and ties Wendell Patel for assists.
So, out of humble beginnings, the young Filssunu ended up taking over the captain's reigns from Mats Sundin, and is now the player to watch in Toronto.
Join us next week as we take a look at the life and times of Brandon Convery.
(Sound fade-out on the following) Okay, no, no one cares about Brandon Convery. Nevermind. Editor? We need a new player to cover next week! What? Daniil Bykovsky? Sure, why not?
Toronto Joins The Callup Brigade
Today, the Leafs announced two completed trades, and a couple callups signaling that the future has arrived to start 2010.
First off, Toronto dealt away Mark Komyagin back to Carolina, where they got him earlier, for a late 3rd round pick. There's also rumours that there was an unwritten agreement that a younger player will be traded to Toronto in the summer. The delay is apparently due to technicalities in rules.
Secondly, to clear roster space, the Leafs dealt away solid fourth liner Bryan Mason to Buffalo for LA's 2010 3rd round pick. Mason has been the Leafs 4th line centre for 3 seasons now, but the team decided it was time to go for a more offensive approach. The team wishes him nothing but success with the Sabres.
With those two moves completed, it cleared the way for the Leafs to call up playmaking forwards Steven Housley and 2008 1st round pick (11th overall) Daniel Osgood. The rumour is that Osgood and Housley will play together with sniper Kurtis Foster, while Eric Nystrom will be moved to the top line with Adam Henrich and Wendell Patel. Cam Willan will now centre the checking 4th line with Daniil Bykovsky and Boyd Gordon. The 2nd line of Robert Nilsson, captain Jon Filssunu and Joffrey Lupul will remain the same.
On the blueline, it will remain Magnus Waleenstedt and Ilya Nikulin on the top pair, Jordan Smith and Shaone Morrisonn on the 2nd pair, and Denis Grebeshkov on the 3rd pair. Paul Flache and Michael Funk will split time on the 6th spot.
On the farm, the team is now watching the development of Siarhei Kostitsyn, who they hope will be pro-ready for 2010-11, and defensemen Joe Whitney and Juri Godina.
Toronto Ahead For The Stretch Run
With 9 games left, the Leafs find themselves in an unfamiliar position. 8th place and in the playoffs.
"It was not our aim this year, but by no means do I want the players to stop playing hard," said GM David Armstrong. "We're very happy with the quick results."
The team is 2 points up on Pittsburgh, who also has a game in hand on the Leafs.
"They still have to win that game in hand," pointed out defenseman Shaone Morrisonn, who has been playing in a platoon situation with Tom Poti since the team acquired the latter.
Toronto got 7 of 8 points last week, including a big win against Atlanta, which put them 2 points up on the Penguins, who lost to Atlanta, after beating Florida, losing in OT to the Rangers and losing outright to Edmonton and the Islanders.
The next 2 weeks are important for the Leafs, as they'll be hard pressed to win any games in April. They have Buffalo, Florida, Philadelphia, Boston, Philadelphia again and Ottawa in that time. If they can go .500 or better, the Leafs should be in a good spot for the last week, where they play the Rangers, Chicago and Montreal.
"We feel like Philadelphia and Ottawa are not out of our league," said Wendell Patel. "We've got enough confidence to win any game at any time right now."
Pittsburgh has a pretty similar schedule when talking about difficulty. They have possible wins in Boston, Carolina, New Jersey and Buffalo for the 10 days, then a tough stretch of Chicago, Detroit, the Rangers, Atlanta and Philadelphia, and finishing off the season against Carolina. The Leafs know they won't go down without a fight, though.
"They have a really good dressing room there," said former Pen Adrian Aucoin. "They can win any game at any time, and we will not be taking them lightly at all."
In head-to-head, the Penguins won 2 of 3 matchups, a 4-3 win in Toronto on December 9th, a 5-1 win in Pittsburgh 4 days later and a 5-2 loss also in Pittsburgh on the 27th of December.
"That's the past," Head Coach Bryan Trottier pointed out. "We can make those games meaningless if we win as many games as they do the rest of the way."
The stretch run for the 8th and final playoff spot is shaping up to be one of the most interesting in a while.
PS. PENGUINS SUCK! GO LEAFS GO! :D :D :D :D
The week started off decently for the Leafs, but they were unable to keep their even pace with the Penguins. They do remain 3 points up after a solid 5-4 OT win over Buffalo and a gutsy 3-3 tie against Florida. Joffrey Lupul was widely considered to be the main reason why the Leafs didn't lose either game with 3 goals and an assist in the two games, including the OT winner against Buffalo.
"We all worked hard, and I just happened to be the one with the puck on my stick for those big chances," Lupul explained humbly. "I think anyone on our teams could have finished off those plays that Nils and Fils gave me."
The Bruins didn't do the Leafs any favours as the Penguins defeated them 6-4, but the Leafs remain 3 points up on the Penguins for 8th spot, though Pittsburgh now holds 2 games in hand.
"You have to win those games first," insisted GM David Armstrong, adding he still has "confidence in my team to make that extra push into the playoffs down this stretch run."
Next up is Philadephia, for which Bryan Trottier says he has some tricks up his sleaves for.
Go Leafs Go!
After a long 3 months, it seems January is exactly what the Toronto Maple Leafs needed. The team also admits it helps when the conference is as week as it is.
The team entered January at 17-19-1-2 which did put them in 8th spot, despite being 2 games below .500. They did win their last 5 games of December, which brought them from 12th in the East to the 8th spot.
So far in January, the team is 3-1-1-1 with Toronto dominating in all 3 wins. This makes the Leafs 8-1-1-1 in the last 11 games, which off-sets the Leafs 2-7-1-0 start.
"We've found a groove, and we're running with it," said captain Jon Filssunu. "We're not taking it for granted, though. The practices are still hard, and the shifts are still played with 120% effort by everyone. Hopefully we can keep this up, but if not, we still think the run has put us in an excellent position for the playoffs."
This from a team that was just barely out of the Eastern basement after October. They steadily moved up the standings in November, and at the Christmas break, the Leafs were actually in a playoff spot.
"It makes us feel much more confident to be in 8th or 7th instead of 9th, and it gives us some room for error," coach Bryan Trottier said. "I think we're playing relaxed, and sometimes when you're having a tough season, that lack of pressure can be all it takes to turn things around."
So, how about the future? Toronto has 37 games left. Next week will include games against LA (8th in West), the Rangers (6th in East) and Montreal (4th in East) before a 3-day break. The Leafs would be happy with a 500 or better record, but if any week was going to be a streak-breaker, it would be this one.
One thing is for sure, though. The Leafs wish the whole season was in January. Luckily, it's only half-over. Let's see how the 2nd half of the month goes!
Leafs Complete Trade, In Talks For Second
Today, the Leafs confirmed in a press release that they reaquired winger Tom Connell from the San Jose Sharks with a 2nd round pick for farm winger Steven Housley and prospect C/LW Erick Streete.
"We found it hard to let Erick Street go. He looks average on the surface, but he can hit, and we project him to be a solid all-around forward," said head scout and assistant GM Daren Damphousse. "We thought he could be a solid two-way 3rd liner, but we really wanted to get Connell back for the 2nd line with Cammy (Mike Cammallari) and Neils (Robert Nilsson). Steven Housley hasn't played for us at all this year, as we had no room for him, so throwing him into the deal was a no-brainer when Bash (San Jose GM Bashir Gerges) asked for him to be thrown in."
"We had a lot of success with Tom a couple years ago when he has his career highs (27 goals, 35 assists)," said Bryan Trottier. "We're very happy to have him back, and hope he can build on his success early in his career."
Also in reports today, Toronto is in talks to reaquire another former Leaf. Speculation is that both Alexander Polushin, who spent the end of the 2005-06 season til the 2008-09 season with the Leafs, and Matt Stajan, who was drafted by the Leafs but only played 1 game in the 2002-03 season before being traded to Carolina in a terrible deal for the franchise. Talks are said to be nearing a deal, though the team has said to be cautious about getting their hopes up on a deal being done.
"We do have some talks going on around," GM David Armstrong said. "All GMs always have a couple in the works all the time. The thing is about 80% end without even reaching the second stage of negotiations."
When asked if the rumoured negotiations had reached that second stage, Armstrong replied with a smile, "No comment."
Keep it tuned for all developing news!
Today, the Leafs officially announced the acquisition of Matt Stajan from the New York Rangers.
The trade was offically announced as Matt Stajan and the Rangers' 2nd round pick in 2014 for 3rd liner Ryan O'Marra, farmer Michal Beranek, prospect Lyle Janke and Toronto's 2011 2nd and 2012 1st round picks.
"We felt we could use a sharp scoring forward," said GM David Armstrong at the press conference. "Just like Magnus (Waleenstedt), we know we overpaid, but we believe that Stajan is that big a player."
Stajan was "happy to return to Toronto", the team that drafted him, and for which he played his first NHL game.
"I was really disappointed when I was sent back to junior," he added. "Then I found out that I was traded to Carolina, and I wondered what happened. I'm exteremly pleased to have a second chance."
So, since the team gave up so much, he's not heading anywhere soon, right?
"He'll be here longer than last time," coach Bryan Trottier joked.
Also, the Leafs announced that injured winger Joffrey Lupul will not require surgery for his broken wrist. He's still out for about 2 months, though, and might take another month after of rehab.
"Lupul's injury kind of pushed our hand," Armstrong admitted. "Stajan will be playing in Lupul's spot in the lineup for now, and once we get Lupul back, we will be deeper than ever."
19 year old farmer Todd Mordecai is reported to be getting a call up soon as well.
Stajan will make his debuit against the Atlanta Thrashers tomorrow.
With a win against the Washington Capitals on March 21st, the Leafs have clinched their first playoff spot since 2006-07.
"It's great to be back," said Boyd Gordon, one of only 3 players left from the last playoff team. "We've got a whole new crew of guys, so hopefully this time we can make a spash, and maybe even upset a team or two."
The team announced that playoff tickets will go on sale on April 1st. It's still possible for the Leafs to play Ottawa, Philadelphia, the Rangers, Washington or Montreal in the first round, but the players say they have no preference.
"We've had good games all year against all 4 teams," said waiver pickup Eric Lindros. "I'd like to say I want to play the Rangers, but whichever way the ball bounces, we'll just roll with it."
With 6 games left, the Leafs are hoping to finish with 90 points, which would also be a first since 2006-07 (they finished with 80 points in 2009-10). The remaining schedule has them playing 6th place Boston, Philadelphia, Buffalo, New Jersey, Chicago and current President's Trophy leaders Ottawa.
Hollywood's best couldn't have written it better.
Toronto and the New York Rangers will face each other for at least 4 more games this season, after the teams completed 4 trades in the past 5 years. Matt Stajan is the latest former Ranger to join the Leafs in a trade, being picked up in early February.
"They've been a great organisation over the past 4 years for me, but I don't play for them anymore," Stajan said when asked if he had any feelings about playing the Rangers. "I've got a few friends out there, but they're enemies now, and until this series is over, I'll treat them as Eric Cartman treats Hippies."
The Leafs also have former Rangers Eric Lindros, Denis Grebeshkov, Mike Cammalleri, Manny Fernandez and Joffrey Lupul on the roster, though Lupul is expected to miss the first round series due to an injured wrist. The Rangers have Fedor Fedorov, Ryan O'Marra, Bryan McCabe, Tomas Kaberle and Mikael Tellqvist who have played at least one game for the Maple Leafs in their career. However, only Fedorov and O'Marra played for the Leafs during the current GM's reign.
"I expect them to have something lit under their a$$," GM David Armstrong admitted. "But so will our guys. Hopefully our youth will knock off their experience, but we're not necessarily looking to win it all this year."
Toronto has only 3 players over 30 years old, Eric Lindros, Manny Fernandez and Richard Zednik, with the next oldest player being Kurtis Foster at 29. The Rangers, meanwhile, have 13 players over 30, and only O'Marra, David Rapach and J-F Crevier that are under 24 years of age.
"Clearly this is their season to make or break this dynasty," coach Bryan Trottier noted. "For us, we feel we're a couple years away from reaching our best with the current group of players. If we win anything this year, it will be a bonus."
The Leafs are looking to build on their solid preformance against the Blackhawks on the 2nd last game of the season. The 5-3 win was probably the team's best game of the year, and although they had a bad preformance two days later against Ottawa, they feel it shows that they can beat anyone at any time.
"We're still not up there in the Chicago or New York (Rangers) stratosphere," GM Armstrong agreed. "We're getting closer, though, and this series could prove to vault us up there."
The series will start on Friday, April 11th at Madison Square Gardens, and will move to Toronto for game 3 on Tuesday, April 15th.
Leafs Taking Game 7 Like "Just Another Game"
Game 7's usually include sleepless nights, queezy stomachs and wobbily legs.
Not so for the Leafs, though.
"Everyone slept like a baby," coach Bryan Trottier said with a laugh. "Well, except for Eric. He's too big to be a baby."
The team is very loose, and the team's GM is very happy with that.
"These guys are mostly new to the playoffs," GM David Armstrong noted when questioned. "Because of that, we've tried to put the least amount of pressure on them. Right now, we believe our real chance is in a few years down the road."
That said, the team is still hoping for a good outcome tonight.
"You never go into a game hoping to lose," captain Jon Filssunu said. "We won't feel happy if this is the end of the season tonight, but I think we'll go through the motions of the off-season and come back stronger next year."
Gametime is for 7pm Wednesday.
Right after the final whistle of the Leafs' 6-2 game 7 loss, planning for the 2011-12 season began.
First off, the Leafs said goodbye to Eric Lindros and Richard Zednik, the former to retirement.
The Leafs also have 10 team options to exercise, and early reports say they'll take all of them, including backup goalie Manny Fernandez.
After that, the Leafs will be looking at line combinations, and will hope to have a healthy roster for the season. Injuries to Joffrey Lupul and Tom Connell hurt the Leafs down the stretch and in the first round, but the team's management is hopeful it will be a one time fluke.
"Joff's played 80-plus games four of his first 6 seasons, and 70-plus in each before this year," said trainer Chris Broadhurst. "It was just a bad luck play that took him out for the season."
Coach Bryan Trottier already has a few ideas for the next season's roster. Youngsters Siarhei Kostitsyn, Joe Whitney and defensive sensation Todd Mordecai will be given chances to play everyday next season, and deadline pickups Tom Connell and Matt Stajan will be playing their first full season back with the Leafs.
"Our left side is going to be our strength next year," Trottier agreed. "Lupul's our top scorer, and though he had a bit of an off-year in points, 17 goals in 54 games is still excellent. Connell had 25 goals total, but was on pace for 30 goals and 25 assists had he played a full season with us."
As for Stajan, the hope is playing him with 3rd year centre Daniel Osgood will up his point totals as their 2nd line winger.
Tentatively, the 2011-12 starting lineup up front should be as follows:
Joffrey Lupul, Jon Filssunu and Robert Nilsson on the top line.
Matthew Stajan, Daniel Osgood and Kurtis Foster on the second line.
Tom Connell, Mike Cammalleri and Todd Mordecai on the third line.
Daniil Bykovsky, Cam Willan and Adam Henrich on the defensive fourth line.
As for the blueline, the Leafs hope that Daniel Thomas will be ready to make the jump next year, and are shopping youngsters Juri Godina and Joe Whitney to try and make room for him. As it is right now, Thomas would be returned to the farm and Godina and Whitney will once again platoon in the 6th spot of the lineup.
The pairings will be as follows:
Jordan Smith and Magnus Waleenstedt will remain as the top pair.
Ilya Nikulin and Shaone Morrisonn will be the second pair.
Denis Grebeshkov and Godina, Whitney or Thomas will be the defensive third pair.
The Leafs are also hoping to add a backup goalie in the draft with picks they have or may get in the off-season. Fleury will once again get at least 50 games either way, with Manny Fernandez playing at least 15 games, and perhaps more.
It'll be an exciting off-season, and an even more exciting regular season for the Leafs next year.
Entry One - Joffrey Lupul's Excellent Summer Adventure
It's going to be a long summer for most of the Leafs this year, but Joffrey
Lupul has plans to use it to his advantage. After being sidelines for the past
3 months due to a broken wrist, Lupul has begun his summer workouts two months
early.
"The injury was a wake up call that I can't take training for granted," Lupul said. "Last summer I was a bit lazy, and it cost me. This summer, I'm going to be working to make sure everything is perfect for next year."
The first month will be all about rehab for the wrist, then it will be about getting Lupul's conditioning up.
"Lupul's in decent shape but a bit of training doesn't hurt anyone," trainer Chris Broadhurst said. "It's going to mean some overtime for myself, but Lupul's the type of guy you want to lose a few months of relaxation for."
The Leafs hope this becomes a contageous mindset, but for now, Lupul will be going this alone.
More updates every week as the Leafs work out through the summer!
Entry Two - The Wild Wild Off-Season
The Detroit Red Wings just won the Cup, and the off-season has begun. However,
this doesn't mean vacation time for either players or management.
"We're still busy working on trades, our draft, and potential UFAs on our team," GM David Armstrong noted when asked today. "And while we're not able to discuss specifics, we're also starting to consider our options in the UFA pool. We've got money to spend this year, and hopefully some players that want to join us."
Rumours say an agreement has been reached on a trade already this off-season, but this will not be made official until after the free agent period opens.
"We have been in discussions about a number of players, including goalie Yan Lamontagne, wingers Boyd Gordon, Daniil Bykovsky and Tom Connell, as well as defensemen Juri Godina and Joe Whitney," the GM continued. "We also have expressed to some GMs that Yuri Artemenkov and Siaheri Kostitsyn could be traded, but no bites have been made."
On the ice, camp for rookies has started, including top prospects Todd Mordecai, Alexander Stern, Daniel Thomas and Vladimir Zajaczek. The camp is being run by farm head coach Michel Therrien.
"We're looking mostly just to keep them in shape, and give them an early chance to show what they're capable of on the ice," he said of the camp. "It's too early to make a definite report, but we do have guys that could be around this organisation for a long time."
The Leafs have submitted qualifying offers to Yan Lamontagne, while they're considering their options on Manny Fernandez, Ryan Oulahen, Wade Davis, David Daneyko, Sebastien Centomo, Marc Quick, Raul McDonald, William Bourque, Tom Bonsignore and Vlastimil Chechmanek.
"We've got a lot of decisions coming up in the next few weeks," head scout Daren Damphousse noted. "There's not going to be a lot of rest in the front office for a while, that's for sure."
There are also a bunch of free agents potentially available. Though GMs can't discuss these free agents, he did discuss what they will be looking for in the market.
"We would like to get stronger in both ends on the 2nd line, and another top defenseman to join Magnus (Waleenstedt)," the GM noted. "We do feel we're good, but we want to take that next step, and we think that could push us over the top."
The Leafs also have 3 draft picks in the upcoming draft, the least in 4 seasons.
"We really have no pressing needs, but we are short on blueline prospects right now," head scout Damphousse noted. "We will probably take the best player available, but if there's any doubt on who it is, we'd take a defenseman over a forward."
Stay tunned for more off-season reports!
While the Leafs went into the draft with only a small possible return, they
came out with some solid prospects to add to the team.
GM David Armstrong started the day by announcing Yan Lamontagne was traded to Buffalo for goalie Stanislav Pabel. While the trade still hasn't been finalized, the GM was quoted as saying "we're just waiting for the Sabres and Yan to agree to a contract."
The next stop was the draft, which saw the Leafs enter with the 56th overall pick, as well as a couple middle 5th round picks. Before they were half-way through the 2nd, though, they made a trade of picks with Detroit, picking up the 47th selection along with a pair of 4ths and a trifecta of 5ths.
So, the Leafs now had 9 picks in the draft, and used them to pick up some depth on the blueline.
"We only had Ed Hulanicki, Tomme Coffey, Juha Heino, Jiri Skalde and Daniel Thomas under 21 before the draft," explained scout Boris Chabot. "We added 4 more solid prospects this year on the blueline, all of which we expect big things from in the near future."
The 47th pick became David Fischer.
"Fischer dropped quite a bit for our rankings, but we do still have concerns about him," said GM David Armstrong. "He will for sure get another season in college (with Minnesota), and we'll go from there."
The 56th selection turned into Mike Weber.
"Weber is a risk, but we hope there's a high reward," the GM commented at draft day. "We think he could become a 1st line defender, but he could also turn into a career farmer. It's something we're going to have to wait on."
The Leafs then had back-to-back picks to open the 4th round, taking John de Gray 91st and Auvo Puurunen 92nd.
"Puurunen and de Gray are similar players, and though we like both, we don't expect either to really surprise at the NHL level," Armstrong said. "They'll be solid, but probably not much more than 6th or 7th defensemen."
Toronto then had 5 5th round picks, taking Milan Lucic, Blazej Ptacek, Niclas Andersen, Tom Skrudland and Kai Kantola.
"For 5th rounders, we're very pleased with these selections," the GM continued. "But right now, we're prepared for all of them to become busts. There is little risk and high reward with these 5 players."
After the draft, the Leafs announced they'd be accepting the contract options on defensemen Wade Davis and William Bourque, and forwards Ryan Oulahen, David Daneyko, Vlastimil Chechmanek, Tom Bonsignore and Marc Quick. They will decline options on goalies Manny Fernandez and Sebastien Centomo, and forward Raul McDonald.
Next article will be for the UFA period.
Entry Four - Free Agents And Preseason
Toronto went through June without many other moves, and went into the UFA period
without much interest in the players available.
"We were hoping to get one or two players, but no one was really that interesting in the market," GM David Armstrong said. "There were some minor discussions, but nothing that resulted in a concrete offer."
Toronto did see Manny Fernandez leave as a free agent and sign in Carolina.
"We made a trade to get Stanislav Pabel from Buffalo, so we felt he'd be of little use to us," the GM said.
Toronto has been busy on the trade market this summer, though. First, as mentioned, the Leafs went out and picked up Stanislav Pabel from Buffalo with Kim Kristensson and Buffalo's 2012 5th round pick for Yan Lamontagne and Toronto's 2012 5th round pick.
"Yan really wanted a new environment this year," coach Bryan Trottier admitted. "He expected to have a pro roster spot with us, but Fernny and Fleury were our top 2 guys on the depth chart. He should get a decent number of games for Buffalo, and we wish him luck in his career from now on."
Toronto then went out and added some forward depth when they traded defenseman Joe Whitney to Edmonton for centre/left wing Marek Zagrapan.
"We had a lot of defensemen that we wanted in the line up for this year," said assistant coach Jan Kovac, noting that Daniel Thomas and Lars Jonsson were expected to make the pro team. "Joe just happened to be one of the guys that other teams had interest in."
Zagrapan is expected to be a depth player.
The Leafs then traded veteran defenseman Ilya Nikulin to Buffalo for winger Alexei Fillipov and 2011 4th round pick Jamie McBain, a defenseman.
"We like Nikulin, but he was not doing well with his summer workouts," trainer Chris Broadhurst explained. "We have high hopes for McBain, and felt Ilya's time with us was up."
The Leafs then went into the preseason, playing Philadelphia to start. Playing a full veteran line up, the Leafs won 4-0 over a young Flyers lineup.
"We wanted to give the team a game to get used to each other," Bryan Trottier explained. "We'll get the young guys in for the rest of our games."
That began when the Leafs went to play Buffalo. 2010 1st round pick Alexander Stern picked up an assist in the game in a 4-1 Buffalo victory.
"Alex Stern will be playing on the farm this year," GM David Armstrong revealed after the game. "We'll see about where he ends up playing after this season, though."
Toronto then travelled to Ottawa to play the Senators, and came out of the game with a 3-3 draw. The 2nd line of Yuri Artemenkov, Daniel O'Neill and Marc Quick picked up two goals and four assists, with O'Neill and Quick getting a goal and an assist, while Artemenkov picked up two assists.
"That line worked surprisingly well," Trottier commented in his post-game interview. "If we had a roster spot or two, they'd be in the front running for them. They'll probably be line one on the farm, though."
Toronto then returned to Buffalo and found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-2 loss. Defenseman Goran Enqvist and veteran forward Kurtis Foster scored the Leafs' two goals.
"We really didn't find out much about anyone tonight," the coach said afterwards. "Foster and Zags worked well together, and Goran's goal was mostly a fluke, and otherwise, no one surprised us at all."
As it stands right now, Toronto's lines for the regular season will look as follows:
Line Left Wing Centre Right Wing Left Defense Right Defense
ES 1 14 Matt Stajan 33 Daniel Osgood 18 Adam Henrich 26 Shaone Morrisonn 8 Magnus
Waleenstedt
ES 2 15 Joffrey Lupul 22 Jon Filssunu 16 Robert Nilsson 27 Daniel Thomas 24
Jordan Smith
ES 3 44 Daniil Bykovsky 11 Cam Willan 10 Todd Mordecai 3 Denis Grebeshkov 23
Juri Godina
ES 1 28 Tom Connell 17 Mike Cammalleri 7 Kurtis Foster
PP 1 14 Matt Stajan 22 Jon Filssunu 7 Kurtis Foster 24 Jordan Smith 27 Daniel
Thomas
PP 2 28 Tom Connell 33 Daniel Osgood 15 Joffrey Lupul 8 Magnus Waleenstedt 26
Shaone Morrison
SH 1 10 Todd Mordecai 18 Adam Henrich 3 Denis Grebeshkov 8 Magnus Waleenstedt
SH 2 44 Daniil Bykovsky 11 Cam Willan 26 Shaone Morrisonn 23 Juri Godina
Goalies
29 Marc-Andre Fleury
30 Stanislav Pabel
In The Pressbox
9 Marek Zagrapan C/L
20 Boyd Gordon R/C
4 Lars Jonsson D