SB Nation - Jeff Hamilton

2009 NHL Free Agency / Teams by Cap Space / Unsigned UFA's and RFA's

Robert L — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:19:41 -0000

This is a listing of NHL teams by order of remaining cap space as of July 4. The Islanders top the list with approximately $23M left to spend. The Sharks have just under $2M remaining. The list is helpful in determining which team are closest to filling out their 2009-10 lineup. As one can see, there is much work to be done at both ends of the spectrum. The numbers figures are based on totals given by NHL Numbers.com.

1 - New York Islanders: $23.265 (18)

UFA: Andy Hilbert C 28, Dean McAmmond C 36, Mike Sillinger C 38, Thomas Pock D 27, Yann Danis G 28, Joey MacDonald G 29.

RFA: Nate Thompson C 24, Jeremy Colliton C 24, Jamie Fraser D 23, Jack Hillen D 23.

2 - Phoenix Coyotes: $21.972 (18)

UFA: Brian McGrattan R 27, Dmitri Kalinin D 29, Ken Klee D 38.

RFA: Nigel Dawes L 24, Joakim Lindstrom C 25, Enver Lisin R 23, Scottie Upshall R 25, Daniel Winnik C 24, Keith Yandle D 22.

3 - Atlanta Thrashers: $19.599 (15)

RFA: Eric Perrin C 33.

UFA: Kari Lehtonen G 25, Colby Armstrong R 26, Jim Slater C 26, Boris Valabik D 23.

4 - Nashville Predators: $17.913 (16)

UFA: Radek Bonk C 33, Scott Nichol C 34, Greg de Vries D 36.

RFA: Ryan Jones R 25, Antti Pihlstrom L 24,.

5 - New York Rangers: $16.436 (13)

UFA: Blair Betts C 29, Mark Bell L 28, Patrick Rissmiller C 30, Paul Mara D 29, Derek Morris D 30.

RFA: Christopher Higgins R 26, Ryan Callahan R 24, Brandon Dubinsky C 23, Lauri Korpikoski L 22, Nikolai Zherdev L 24, Corey Potter D 25.

6 - Anaheim Ducks: $14.295 (17)

UFA: Rob Niedermayer F 34, Todd Marchant C 33, Francois Beauchemin D 29, Bret Hedican D 38.

RFA: James Wisniewski D 25.

7 - Tampa Bay Lightning: $14.295 (17)

UFA: Matt Pettinger L 28, Wade Brookbank L 31, Jason Ward R 30, Marek Malik D 34, Josef Melichar D 30, Cory Murphy D 31, Noah Welch D 26.

RFA: Martins Karsums R 23, Radek Smolenak L 22, Matt Lashoff D 22, Matt Smaby D 24, Mike Lundin D 24, Karri Ramo G 22, Mike McKenna G 26.

8 - Columbus Blue Jackets: $13.313 (20)

UFA: Chris Gratton C 33, Manny Malhotra C 29, Michael Peca C 35, Jason Williams C 28, Christian Backman D 29.

RFA: Jiri Novotny C 25, Marc Methot D 24, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen D 25.

9 - Dallas Stars: $13.193 (19)

UFA: Sergei Zubov D 38, Brendan Morrison C 33, Joel Lundqvist C 27, Mark Parrish R 32, Landon Wilson R 34, Tobias Stephan G 25, Darryl Sydor D 37.

RFA: Mark Fistric D 23.

10 - St. Louis Blues: $12.295 (22)

UFA: Trent Whitfield C 32, Dan Hinote R 32, Jay McKee D 31, Manny Legace G 36.

RFA: Brandon Crombeen R 23, Chris Porter C 25, Steve Regier L 24, Roman Polak D 23, Jeff Woywitka D 25, Marek Schwarz G 23.

11 - New Jersey Devils: $12.129

UFA: Brendan Shanahan L 40, Kevin Weekes G 34, Niclas Havelid D NJ.

RFA: Travis Zajac C 24.

12 - Toronto Maple Leafs: $12.022 (20)

UFA: Brad May L 37, Bates Battaglia L 33, Andre Deveaux C 25, Boyd Devereaux C 31, Jeff Hamilton C 31, Kris Newbury C 27, Ben Ondrus R 27, Jay Harrison D 26, Jamie Heward D 38, Martin Gerber G 34, Olaf Kolzig G 39, Curtis Joseph G 42.

RFA: Jeremy Williams R 25, Justin Pogge G 23, Jaime Sifers D 26, Ryan Hollweg C 26.

13 - Chicago Blackhawks: $11.797

UFA: Aaron Johnson D 26.

RFA: Cam Barker D 23, Troy Brouwer R 23, Ben Eager L 25, Colin Fraser C 24, Kris Versteeg R 23.

14 - Colorado Avalanche: $11.654 (15)

UFA: Joe Sakic F 39, Ben Guite R 30, Brian Willsie R 31, Andrew Raycroft G 29.

RFA: Kyle Cumiskey D 22, David Jones R 24, Cody McCormick C 26.

15 - Montreal Canadiens: $10.454 (16)

UFA: Alexei Kovalev F 36, Saku Koivu C 34, Alex Tanguay L 29, Robert Lang C 38, Mathieu Schneider D 40, Tom Kostopoulos R 30, Mathieu Dandenault D 33, Patrice Brisebois D 38, Francis Bouillon D 33, Marc Denis G 31.

RFA: Tomas Plekanec C 26, Matt D'Agostini R 22, Guillaume Latendresse R 22, Kyle Chipchura C 23, Gregory Stewart L 23.

16 - Los Angeles Kings: $10.285 (21)

UFA: Derek Armstrong F 36, Denis Gauthier D 32, Kyle Calder L 30.

RFA: Jack Johnson D 22, Teddy Purcell R 23.

17 - Washington Capitals: $9.720 (15)

UFA: Viktor Kozlov C 34, Alexandre Giroux C 28, Bryan Helmer D 26, Brent Johnson G 32.

RFA: Jeff Schultz D 23, Shaone Morrisonn D 26, Milan Jurcina D 26, Eric Fehr R 23, Boyd Gordon R 25.

18 - Buffalo Sabres: $8.976 (16)

UFA: Matt Ellis L 24, Dominic Moore C 28, Andrew Peters L 29, Teppo Numminen D 40, Maxim Afinogeno F 29,

RFA: Andrej Sekera D 23, Drew Stafford R 23, Clarke MacArthur L 24, Patrick Kaleta R 23.

19 - Florida Panthers: $8.405 (18)

UFA: Ville Peltonen L 36, Richard Zednik L 33, Jassen Cullimore D 36, Nick Boynton D 30.

RFA: Anthony Stewart C 24, Steve Eminger D 25, Tanner Glass L 25.

20 - Carolina Hurricanes: $8.083 (18)

UFA: Ryan Bayda L 28, Dennis Seidenberg D 27.

RFA: Tuomo Ruutu C 26, Anton Babchuk D 25.

21 - Vancouver Canucks: $7.282 (18)

UFA: Mats Sundin C 38, Jason Krog C 33, Rob Davison D 29, Ossi Vaananen D 28, Curtis Sanford G 29, Michel Ouellet R 27.

RFA: Shane O' Brien D 25. Kyle Wellwood C 26, Jannik Hansen R 23.

22 - Minnesota Wild: $6.296 (20)

UFA: Stephane Veilleux L 27, Krys Kolanos C 27, Marc-Andre Bergeron D 28, Kurtis Foster D 27, Martin Skoula D 29.

RFA: Dan Fritsche C 23, Benoit Pouliot L 22, Kyle Brodziak C 25, Josh Harding G 25.

23 - Edmonton Oilers: $6.404 (20)

UFA: Ales Kotalik R 30, Dany Sabourin G 28.

RFA: Liam Reddox L 23, Gilbert Brule C 22, Ryan Potulny C 24, Rob Schremp C 22, Denis Grebeshkov D 25, Ladislav Smid D 23.

24 - Detroit Red Wings: $5.554 (16)

UFA: Darren McCarty R 37, Aaron Downey R 34, Chris Chelios D 47.

RFA: Jiri Hudler C 25, Ville Leino L 25.

25 - Boston Bruins: $5.340 (18)

UFA: Stephane Yelle F 35, P.J. Axelsson L 34, Manny Fernandez G 34.

RFA: Phil Kessel F 21, Matt Hunwick D 24.

26 - Ottawa Senators: $4.649 (22)

UFA: Mike Comrie C 28.

RFA: Brendan Bell D 26, Brian Elliott G 24.

27 - Pittsburgh Penguins: $3.137 (19)

UFA: Mike Zigomanis C 28, James Connor L 26, Miroslav Satan L 34, Petr Sykora R 32, Janne Pesonen L 27, Philippe Boucher D 36.

RFA: Paul Bissonnette R 24, Tim Wallace R 24, Ben Lovejoy D 25, John Curry G 25.

28 - Calgary Flames: $3.053 (19)

UFA: Todd Bertuzzi R 34, Andre Roy R 34, Rhett Warrener D 33.

RFA: Dustin Boyd C 22.

29 - Philadelphia Flyers: $2.125 (20)

UFA: Josh Gratton L 26, Boyd Kane L 31, Andrew Alberts D 28, Lasse Kukkonen D 27, Martin Biron G 31, Antero Niittymaki G 29.

RFA: Jared Ross C 26, Danny Syvret D 24.

30 - San Jose Sharks: $1.774 (16)

UFA: Claude Lemieux R 43, Jeremy Roenick C 39, Tom Cavanagh R 27, Alexei Semenov D 28, Mike Grier R 34, Marcel Goc C 25, Tomas Plihal L 26, Lukas Kaspar L 23.

RFA: Torrey Mitchell C 24, Thomas Greiss G 23, Brad Staubitz R 24.

2009 NHL Free Agency: What The Toronto Maple Leafs Might Do

PPP — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:45:08 -0000

More photos » by Jeff McIntosh - AP

Mike Cammalleri turns his back on the Flames for the last time. Will he walk all of the way to Toronto?

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Someday I'll have to shake the hand of the guy that decided that it made sense to schedule the draft three days before the start of free agency. It's not like this day is so important that it's a national holiday in Canada. As a conversation starter because I still have a tonne of draft stuff to come I have a short cheat sheet to help us with a starting point.

Pending UFAs: Martin Gerber, Brad May, Bates Battaglia, Andre Deveaux, Boyd Devereaux, Jeff Hamilton, Kris Newbury, Ben Ondrus, Jay Harrison, Erik Reitz, Jamie Heward, Curtis Joseph, Olaf Kolzig, Jaime Sifers (Thanks Mirtle!)

Calling this a list of notable free agents would have been insulting to players like Eric Christensen. From that list I could see Boyd "SchennBlocker" Devereaux, Brad May, and one of Kris Newbury or Ben Ondrus getting re-signed. The first two would be great veteran influences on the younger players and the latter two could fill up roster space while kids learn on the farm.

Pending RFAs: Mikhail Grabovski, ~~Jaime Sifers~~ ~~(NHL Numbers has him as an RFA and Hockey Buzz as a UFA. I am looking into this)~~, Phil Oreskovic, Tim Stapleton, Jeremy Williams, Ryan Hollweg

Justin Poggegot qualified today so he's not on this list. I am actually pretty surprised that guys like Sifers and Oreskovic have not been qualified. Hollweg is gone and we'll never know what that fifth rounder could have brought. Other than knowing it wasn't going to be a European. Williams seems to not be a Wilson favourite, he's not good enough to play on the top two lines when the team is good again and he's past the stage where he should have established himself. We'll always have the 82 goals/season projections!

Based on my inability to find any news thus far I don't think any of the other guys have been qualified. Grabovski is likely going to arbitration which I think will mark the end of his time in Toronto. I get the sense that Burke will move him if he goes that route.

Salary cap space (courtesy NHL Numbers): $13-million

Now, if you look at NHL Numbers the Leafs have some ridiculous cap relief coming online after next season. They only have $18M committed. On the flip side, they only have five guys signed but one of them is Luke Schenn so I think that means that only need to sign a goalie. Either way, there are a couple of ways that Burke can approach this free agency period.

Scenario One

He can fill out the roster with the myriad of RFAs that are getting axed left and right or the lower end of the free agency pool. Burke would then keep any of the kids that cannot play in their proper role on the team with the Marlies. This would be akin to the Red Wings' policy of developing kids in Grand Rapids but with our NHL team stocked with scrubs and waiver-tied prospects instead of Hall of Famers. This one is tough because the idea would be to have UFAs on one year deals so that the cap space is still available next year.

Scenario Two

This is the one Burke has said that he wants to pursue but he also wanted to trade for more first rounders at the deadline and for Tavares and Schenn at the draft. So far he's 0-for-2 (and I'll have a post about why that's not entirely his fault) so even then there's no guarantee that this will work. This strategy can work long-term if he makes the right decisions. Mike Komisarek at $4m-$5M is a bad move. The Sedins at $5.25M is a great move. We'll see how much he has to overpay to get players to come to Toronto.

Projected budget: $56.8-million less $1. Whether he spends to it will be a function of the UFAs' receptiveness to his deal.

Key needs: Everything is the short answer. The longer one is that the Leafs' most pressing need is their goaltending situation. James Reimer and Justin Pogge will hold down the fort with the Marlies but Vesa Toskala is coming off of three major surgeries. If Burke really thinks that this team can make the playoffs he needs a competent backup.

In terms of defence, the Leafs have two years of Kaberle, one of Kubina and Van Ryn, and then 20 of Luke Schenn. After that, they'll need to look at how to replace Kubina and Kaberle. If they can do it this summer then they can cash in those assets. If all of the king's men and all of the king's horses put Van Ryn together again properly over the weekend even he might get something for the Leafs. Or he could be part of the team going forward. Burke, however, is really loathe to let Kaberle go. I am hoping that by the deadline Burke gets his doors blown off by a deal.

Looking at the forwards, there is obviously a dearth of skill forwards that are NHL-calibre. There are guys that have the potential to fill that role at some point but no one is a sure bet. I hear that there are a couple of interesting ginger twins available...

Potential targets: It might be easier to list who isn't a target. Take one part cap space, add a dollop (actually, more like a cup) of Burkian hubris, a pound of media speculation, mix well, and you get every big-ticket player being linked to the Leafs. Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin are getting their retirement plan from the Leafs. Francois Beauchemin, Travis Meon, and Samuel Pahlssonare being re-united with their former GM. Jonas Gustavsson is coming over to be the next Henrink Lundqvist while Mike Cammalleri is going to live up to the expectations that come with a 40% raise. I look forward to watching him score 60 goals a year for five years.

As I noted above, there are two scenarios and it sure looks like Burke is going through door number two. I think that the Sedins are going to be his main target. I've heard The Monster is ready to be unveiled July 1 and I would imagine that Burke looks at Beauchemin. The rumours of Komisarek and Chris Neil sicken me so I will pretend that I've never heard of them.

What our rivals want:

Colorado Avalanche: A real starting goalie and defence that can keep the puck out of the net. Also, a new medical staff to keep their players in one piece.
LA Kings: A sniper to play with their young forwards and a defensive defenceman.
Atlanta Thrashers: Defence and goaltending. The only year they made the playoffs was the one year that they weren't in the bottom 4 or 5 of the league in goals against.
NY Islanders: I'll tell you what they don't need: a franchise scorer (sigh). Other than that, they could use a goalie on a 15 year contract that actually plays hockey, and defencemen.
Phoenix Coyotes: A new owner. Zing! Actually, as Godd Till noted in a private e-mail, they need to get a new coach in order to escape from the mad clutches of the Friends of Gretzky. Did you know that the best man from his wedding, Eddie Mio, is the Director of Player Development and his brother Keith is the Head Scout. Failing that they could use some veteran leadership since the average age of that team is about 12.

SBN has once again put together a massive hub to coordinate the writing from 30ish blogs. You can find it by clicking on this button.

a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/freeagency">

Maple Leafs Spoil Devils 4-1

John Fischer — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:15:28 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

8 months ago: New Jersey Devils coach Brent Sutter reacts during a news conference following New Jersey's 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in an NHL hockey game Tuesday, April 7, 2009, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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The New Jersey Devils just underwent one of the more frustrating and confusing games of this season with a 4-1 loss to Toronto. In it, the Devils managed to outshoot Toronto heavily, beat their defense silly along the boards for loose pucks, seemingly have a ton of shots blocked (some by their own players), and yet Toronto has the lethal finishing to put in 4 goals on less than 20 shots. One of which was by Dave Hanson's son Christian. Yes, Dave Hanson of Slap Shot.

I really don't know what I'm supposed to say here other than that the Devils had way more than the 19 shots blocked by Toronto listed on the official scoresheet. I agree with the missed shots though, and I'll take it one step further and say those were the faults that doomed New Jersey. A majority of the offense involved the Devils were getting the puck right to Martin Gerber's chest/glove; they were missing on a great chance; or trying and failing to shoot through people. That they got 48 on Gerber is impressive enough; you can't say the Devils took this game off. But their finishing and their luck was purely awful. Especially on the power play where the Devils did nothing with over 5 consecutive minutes of power play time in the end of the first period carried over into the second. Overall, the Devils mostly wasted their 6 power plays - like they wasted scoring chances all night long.

Jamie Langenbrunner provided the sole exception. Paul Martin made a desperation poke check at the point, knocked it up and free to Langenbrunner, who just hammered it through Gerber's legs. At the time, it was 3-1 and it gave us a highlight. Seriously, the first intermission featured no highlights - giving up 3 goals on 9 shots will result in that. The first period was sans highlights for New Jersey. But any chance at a semblance of hope was dashed when John Mitchell slid one through Brodeur's legs (a soft one) in the third period.

Toronto only had 18 shots on net on the entire game, but they made the absolute most of their chances on Martin Brodeur. I felt Brodeur didn't have a good game; but he was really hung out to dry on a giveaway in the zone followed by a defensive breakdown on Mikael Grabovski's goal, and he was just diving across the crease hoping he could snag Hanson's shot. He didn't. Still, considering Mitchell's shot went through the five hole and he got frozen on Jeff Hamiltons' low shot, it was not a good night for Marty.

But I can't really say the defense was atrocious because, hey, only 18 shots against. That's the second fewest the Devils allowed all season and the fewest within the last 5 weeks. I suppose "unfortunate" would apply here.

It would also apply for the offense goes, well, they did a lot right: battling for pucks on dump-ins, fighting for possession in the neutral and Toronto's zones, drawing calls (though more could have been called, I think), passing the puck, and creating havok in the slot. It's why I think, and most who saw the game would say, the Devils were dictating the game and playing better overall. But it was on the important twosome of shooting and finishing where they fell short. The Devils couldn't put away any rebounds; their shots from the points hit players (I'm looking at you, Shanahan!) and the boards (I'm looking at you, Rolston!) more often than not; and, frankly, most of their shots just weren't dangerous enough. They couldn't truly respond to Toronto's mighty first period result despite the shot totals.

Needless to say, the lads at Pension Plan Puppets are likely high-fiving, fist-pounding, chest-bumping, bro-grabbing and whatever it is elated kids do these days. Their favorite team went into the Rock, didn't play all that great, but pulled the rug out from under the Devils with lethal finishing. They are quite pleased in their recap and they should be pleased. OK, it won't help out in the Tavared Sweepstakes; but spoiling wins are always desirable.

Given that Philadelphia beat Florida tonight, the Devils still need a point to clinch the Atlantic. It will have to be in Ottawa; as risking this for Saturday against an opponent the Devils haven't beaten all season is, well, too risky. I still would like to believe this was just a bad night all around for New Jersey. I hope to be proven correct with a much improved, and more fortunate, performance on Thursday night. Maybe Patrik Elias can return and help the cause. Maybe the Devils can help themselves regardless of Elias.

The Leafs' Power Play Believes in Tavares

Chemmy — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:24:49 -0000

Final - 3.17.2009	1	2	3	OT	SO	Total
Toronto Maple Leafs	0	1	2	0	1	4
Tampa Bay Lightning	1	2	0	0	0	3

Complete Coverage >

A beautiful 0/5 tonight, the Leafs usually competent power play really stuffed it tonight. Our usually blowful penalty kill was business as usual though, giving up a pair of goals. That said, the Leafs went down 3-0 early in the second when Stamkos scored a power play goal and Pettinger potted a wide open tap in ten seconds later, and the Leafs fought back valiantly to tie it at 3 late in the third. Boyd Devereaux ran the puck down in the corner and fed it through Lecavalier to a streaking Hamilton who fired it home to even things up.

On a side note, "a streaking Hamilton" and "a streaking Tlusty" have wildly different meanings, eh?

At the end of the third the Leafs killed off a crucial penalty just in time for Oreskovic to hit some nobody and the Leafs to go right back in the box. The PK held steady despite some odd bounces of the puck and the game headed to OT which had some good back and forth action before a Grabovski hand pass landed on the stick of Ponikarovsky who absolutely buried it, to no avail, between Ramo's legs.

The Leafs controlled play in OT but couldn't find a way past Ramo despite some good chances and the game headed to the skills competition where Jeff Hamilton absolutely undressed Kari Ramo after Stamkos hit the post. Martin St. Louis fooled Cujo with a spinorama and hit the post, but Lecavalier buried one in the third frame to tie it.

Jason Blake faked his shootout spinorama but missed the net, and Cujo made his first save of the shootout against Ryan Malone in the fourth round of the shootout. The back and forth continued into the sixth round when John "That's How F-Bombs are Dropped" Mitchell scored five hole low on Ramo to seal the deal.

It was a good effort by the Leafs, who put 39 pucks on net pre-shootout. There's still some issues with defensive zone coverage as evidenced by Stempniak futilely swatting at Pettinger's stick on the third goal, and the Leafs going 4/6 (.666) on the penalty kill. Good to see Blake keep scoring and for Cujo to get a win.

As much as I'd love to see the Leafs stink up the joint, it has to be a positive that guys like Jeff Hamilton and Phil Oreskovic are playing minutes with the big club and succeeding. John Mitchell plays the role of hero once again in his young career - these young guys are going to learn how to be winners despite the Leafs ineptitude. Maybe having Cujo, Mayers, Kolzig and May around hasn't been such a bad idea?

Maple Leafs 1 Dirty Cheaters 2

PPP — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:44:16 -0000

It was flashback Monday as CuJo stymied the senators for most of the game

The 2-1 loss to the senators is the kind that I think most Leaf fans can live with this season (and maybe next year's as well). The Leafs outplayed the senators for the majority of the game, another rookie got some experience, and a team below them in the standings unwittingly moved towards them. The "Stanley Cup Contender" ottawa senators were frequently pinned in their own zone by the Leafs' speed and tenacity and only managed to get two flukey shots past the 41 year old Martin Gerber. Bruce "Malkin to the Kings" Garrioch might want to thank Ron Wilson for starting Joseph because now he gets to write about the PLAYOFFS!!!1 since Gerber would have likely shut out the senators.

The highlight of the game wasn't that Alfredsson received deafening boos or that the senators' defence couldn't hang with the Leafs' mix of kids and AHLers but Martin Gerber giving Ronnie Wilson some insider information:

Wilson: Gerber you’re sitting tonight unless you tell me something amazing.
Gerber: Spezza uses illegal sticks.
Wilson: You’re sitting anyways.

When Giggles realized that the jig was up on the illegal stick he tried to break it by stepping on the blade before going to the bench to try to switch it up but the referee was too quick (shocking) for him. What do senators fans think? Keep in mind all of the whining they have done throughout their history about everything from government support to the refs not calling enough penalties on the Leafs during the playoffs. Apparently they condone cheating:

Who the hell calls someone on an illegal stick challenge? I'm not going to criticize Ron Wilson for doing so on Spezza too much, I guess, because he was right and it gave his team a chance to tie the game late, but really. Come on. A game between two teams that has absolutely no bearing on any playoff race? Whatever, man, if it helps you sleep at night. I think, for the record, the penalty was because the minimum stick-blade width is 2", and Spezza's looked pretty thin near the tip.

- PeterR, Silver Seven Sens

Of course, this is the same fanbase that defends a hit from behind and holds it up as proof that their captain isn't a gutless puke. Oh yeah, and they worship at the altar of Chris "No thanks, I'll pass" Neil. I bet they think that Dany Heatley was unfortunate to have to do any community service.

Update: Adam Gretz found video of Giggles the cheater

Unfortunately, despite pulling Curtis Joseph the Leafs were unable to capitalise on the 6-on-4 so the senators pushed the Leafs' record in the last 10 to 7-2-1. They also cut down the gap in the standings to three points with only one game in hand. Stupid sens.

Things I Liked

The Rookie Lap - Phil Oreskovic got the same treatment as Tim Stapleton did earlier in the year and it never gets old. I can't imagine the joy that those guys feel making that first lap on their own. He actually played a pretty solid game.
Nikolai Kulemin - His defensive instincts have always been strong but I think that his game has gotten stronger over the last few weeks. He could still stand to be a bit more confident on the attack but defensively he is usually in the right position.
Curtis Joseph - This marks back-to-back strong games for Old Yeller. Too bad the Leafs only play the senators once more this season.
Jeff Hamilton - I figured out why Burke picked up Hamilton: he went to Yale. He needed to replace his lost Ivy Leaguer. He again looked good as he used his speed to pressure the puck and he picked up an assist on White's goal.
The Crowd - Despite the senators working to get these games moved away from Saturday nights the Leafs fan brought the noise and drowned out the sens fans that are still on the bandwagon. From the deafening booing to the louder chants they created an atmosphere that seemed misplace for a game between two bottom dwellers.

Things I Did Not Like

Two lucky goals - Daniel Alfredsson's goal was a knuckle puck fluke shot and Curtis Joseph had Heatley's deflection covered until Stajan's flamingoing foot tipped it past him. Who says the bounces don't go the Leafs' way?
A Monday Night Game - I know ottawa sucks but I like going there for hockey games. Please schedule more Saturday night games.
Mikhail Grabovski - While he is strong on the puck and the Leafs' most creative player he needs to learn to harness it. Making Giggles-like passes at the blue line can open up a team but it can also hurt your own team. Also, remember that you can't go end-to-end every shift.
Stopping the play because the ref is hurt - When a team is piling on the pressure on an opponent I think it's okay to ignore a referee that's laying in the corner until a natural stoppage in play.
Ian White and bouncing pucks - This is two games in a row where he can't handle a bouncing puck and it leads to a goal. How about using your feet or your hands champ?

The Leafs are back in action against another Tavares Cup challenger as they host the New York Islanders. Tune in tomorrow night. Same tanking team, same tanking channel.