Leafs 09-10 Thread

[Law Goalie 147]

Loved seeing the Marlies on CBC - they really should do more of that. I'm sure it was as much fun for the players as it was for us.

[farhanshak 1]

i Second that...that was really great. i let out a loud cheer when they tied, and an even louder one when they won it short handed in OT.

maybe that was a pilot to see the ratings? even if its once a week every Sunday (as i believe alot of home games are on Sunday's).

Might actually educate alot of Toronto about our prospects. A good blue collar (affordable/working mans) hockey team.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Loved seeing the Marlies on CBC - they really should do more of that. I'm sure it was as much fun for the players as it was for us.

I meant to watch some of that...but forgot it was on. Who called the game? Did they use one of the main crews...or did they put together a secondary crew because it's the AHL.

[farhanshak 1]

it was one of the guys from the cbc hockey night in Canada...and an AHL announcer (backup role).

i believe it was Jeff Marek (he wasnt all that good though...should have had Doc Emrich calling it)

[farhanshak 1]

a few notes from the past 3 leafs games

game against ATL...great job

game agianst NYR....amazing game good win (guy at work is a huge NYR fan and is no where to be found when they lose to the leafs i love it)

Game against Pitt...great game...Kessel's hat after the game in the post game media scrum was amazing lol...i kept thinking of Punch Emlach the entire time.

[K9 Unit 1]

anybody else thinking what the hell happened to stempniak? he's on fire

[chippa13 1844]

Dear Leafs, the B's could really use a guy like Taylor Hall so please go on a nice little slide to end the season.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Kaberle has had enough...or has he?

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=316308

[chippa13 1844]

When both sides deny it then there is usually something to it.

[furlanitalia 1]

Word on Kaberle is that he's not in it to win it. Much like Sundin as he got near the end of his career, Kaberle is happy where he's playing and doesn't have much desire to pack up and move just to be on a better team.

[chippa13 1844]

Kaberle doesn't seem to have much desire, period.

[K9 Unit 1]

Kaberle doesn't seem to have much desire, period.

haha ye thats true he's got the kovalev factor

[kosydar 0]

I was really torn on whether or not I wanted Kabs to go. He's been one of my favorites for as long as I've liked the Leafs, and he is one of the elite offensive defensemen in the league (up until halfway through this year anyway). Like Chippa mentioned, he is simply phoning it in now. I don't know if its because he just doesn't care anymore, or if he knows he is as good as gone at the draft. Either way, he needs to go, unless there are absolutely no buyers out there. Thankfully, its very unlikely thats the case. Unfortunately, he won't garner nearly as much as he would have two years ago.

Dear Leafs, the B's could really use a guy like Taylor Hall so please go on a nice little slide to end the season.

It works out because the Leafs are very happy to have a guy like Kessel. Funny, for a guy who wasn't supposed to put up numbers without Savard, he had quite the season.

[chippa13 1844]

I never bought that knock on Kessel. The guy has speed and a great shot, given enough ice time and open ice and he'll score his goals.

[Balzinsker 0]

It works out because the Leafs are very happy to have a guy like Kessel. Funny, for a guy who wasn't supposed to put up numbers without Savard, he had quite the season.

Wait until they actually get good and I guarantee he'll wear out his welcome because of his laziness and petulant attitude. The Bruins loved the player, they just couldn't stand the person, I believe the joke was skates like LaFontaine, shoots like Hull and pouts like Yashin.

[chippa13 1844]

Word has it he was not liked in the room. Everybody went a little extra hard at him in his first game back in Boston.

[kosydar 0]

I never bought that knock on Kessel. The guy has speed and a great shot, given enough ice time and open ice and he'll score his goals.

I didn't mean to imply you did. I sometimes lurk on HFBoards, and that seemed to be the general consensus about him from Bruins fans and Leafs fans opposed to the trade. I also remember reading about how Kessel never received any PP time on the Bruins, and everyone extrapolated his goal totals for this season based on him playing 1 1/2 minutes per penalty. Now I totally get why he never played on the Bruin's PP. His skills don't translate at all, and he ends up being pretty useless out there.

And agreed about him and his former teammates. Him and Krejci seemed to have something going in their last game.

Wait until they actually get good and I guarantee he'll wear out his welcome because of his laziness and petulant attitude. The Bruins loved the player, they just couldn't stand the person, I believe the joke was skates like LaFontaine, shoots like Hull and pouts like Yashin.

Habs fan, huh?

[RadioGaGa 162]

Remember when Toronto HAD the hot Finnish Goaltending Prospect....Tuuka Rask? Maybe trying to relive the past and get it right this time:

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=318903

[furlanitalia 1]

Yah, they really just love to help out the Bruins as much as possible eh?

[chippa13 1844]

To be fair, Raycroft was only 2 years past winning the Calder when the Leafs decided to see if he could recapture his form. Yes, it was a gamble but had Raycroft panned out then they would have looked like geniuses.

[kosydar 0]

The thing that hurts about Raycroft (besides Rask) is that he holds the Leafs record for most wins in a season. At least the Leafs goaltending depth looks good for now. After Rask was traded, we had Raycroft/Toskala/Pogge/MacDonald/ and Gerber for a month. Now with Guigere/Gustavsson we have a very capable NHLer with loads of experience, and a young guy who looks to have a ton of potential. The new guy Rynnas is apparently pretty raw, but shows a lot of promise. And hopefully the forgotten guy Reimer can continue to grow. Obviously the Leafs don't have phenomenal goaltending as of now, but they look at least adequately set up for the future.

If anything, this just shows Burke's effectiveness. Many question the Kessel deal, and to a lesser extent the Kubina deal, but Burke has shown that he can get things done. In his year and a half here he has signed Rynnas, Gus, and Bozak, all highly sought after UFAs (and to a lesser extent Irwin and Hanson). It just makes me wish he'd have been in office a few years earlier so he'd have a shot at signing Wheeler.