SB Nation - Jamal Mayers

Bruins down Leafs 5-2

Stanley Cup of Chowder — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:07:30 -0000

More photos » by Charles Krupa - AP

Boston Bruins' David Krejci pokes the puck past Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala for a goal during the second period of their NHL hockey game in Boston, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

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The Bruins were able to shutdown Phil Kessel and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs on home ice for the second time in the last 6 nights. For the second straight game against his former team, Phil Kessel was a complete non-factor. In 18:29 of ice time, Kessel recorded 2 shots on goal and 17,565 boos.

Mark Stuart's second goal of the season at 8:01 of the first period staked the Bruins to a 1-0 lead. Patrice Bergeron won the draw at the left wing circle to Marco Sturm. Sturm directed the puck back to Johnny Boychuck, who slid the puck to his defense partner Stuart out near the blue line in the (extremely) high slot. Stuart fired a slapper that beat Vesa Toskala five hole for his first goal since October 17th.

Derek Morris' power play goal with Ian White off for holding gave the B's a 2-0 lead 35 seconds into the second period. Morris' drive from the right point found it's way through several bodies in front of the net and past Toskala for the 2-goal lead.

After scoring the early goal, Mark Stuart looked like he really wanted the Gordie Howe Hat Trick tonight. He and Jamal Mayers dropped the gloves at 2:07 of the second period and were each given two minutes for roughing after a brief dust up. Not satisfied with their short scrap, both men exited the box and dropped the gloves again. This time they made it count, earning the full 5 minutes each.

David Krejci made it 3-0 with 8:50 left in the middle period when we broke in all alone on Toskala and tucked the puck in the net.

Mikhail Grabovski pulled the Leafs to within two 18 seconds into the third period when he found the puck lying in the slot and put it past Tuukka Rask for the Leafs' first goal of the night.

The Leafs struck again to make it 3-2 less than 4 minutes later when Mike Komisarek made a beautiful cross-ice pass from the right point to find Nikolai Kulemin driving to the net along the goal line on the left wing side of the ice.

Mark Recchi sealed the victory for the Bruins (and got a double fist pump from Cam Neely) on the power play with 2:37 remaining in third period. Blake Wheeler sent a pass from the right circle to Recchi at the doorstep for the 4-2 lead.

Recchi padded his stats with an empty-netter in the final minute to account for the 5-2 final score.

Final - 12.10.2009	1	2	3	Total
Toronto Maple Leafs	0	0	2	2
Boston Bruins	1	2	2	5

Complete Coverage >

Notes:

- Tuukka Rask made 32 saves

- The Bruins were completely out-played for much of the third period but were able to survive, thanks in large part to Jason Blake's high-sticking penalty at 15:59 of the period.

- Matt Hunwick skated as a forward in place of Byron Bitz ("under the weather"). Hunwick skated on the left wing tonight alongside Steve Begin and Shawn Thornton on the fourth line. He finished the game a +1 with 2 shots and 2 hits in 10:34 of ice time (all even strength).

- In just 10:58 of ice time tonight, Steve Begin recorded more hits (8) than Phil Kessel did in 70 games last season (6).

- In rare occurrence this year, the Bruins lost the face-off battle tonight 27-22.

- The B's have out-scored the Leafs 12-4 in the last two games.

- The Bruins are back in game action on Saturday night when they face the Islanders in Uniondale, NY.

Savard's hat trick helps Bruins skate past Toronto 7-2 in #81's return to The Hub

Stanley Cup of Chowder — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:44:37 -0000

More photos » by Michael Dwyer - AP

13 days ago: Boston Bruins' Marc Savard, center, celebrates his hat trick in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009, in Boston. The Bruins won 7-2. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

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The Bruins were able to skate past the Toronto Maple Leafs with ease in a game that featured 9 goals and plenty of rough stuff. This game was supposed to be all about the Leafs off-season addition, but it was former Leafs property Tuukka Rask and newly-extended Bruin Marc Savard who shined the brightest tonight. Savard recorded his third career hat trick, while Rask (31 saves) continuously shutdown the Leafs all night long.

The Bruins jumped out to an early lead 5:28 into the game when Derek Morris' shot from the blue line was tipped by Patrice Bergeron and then deflected again by Marco Sturm for Sturm's 9th goal of the season.

Shawn Thornton and Colton Orr dropped the gloves immediately on the ensuing face-off. The heavyweight bout fittingly ended in a draw. The only losers in this one were the hometown fans that were exposed to Colton Orr's creepy 'stache.

The Leafs' attempt to swing the momentum with fisticuffs didn't pay off as the B's found the back just moments later at 6:01 when Marc Savard jumped on a juicy rebound just lying in the slot and put it home for the early 2-0 lead.

The rough stuff continued a few moments later when Mark Stuart and Jamal Mayers shed the mittens as they were trailing the play. Mayers landed some quick shots and took Stuart down to the ice. Stuart got back up and wanted to continue the bout, but the linesmen quickly stepped in. Somehow the combatants only received 2 minutes each for roughing.

The Bruins extended their lead to 3-0 2:09 into the second period after #81 turned the puck over in his own zone and Zdeno Chara uncorked a slapper from the blue line that deflected off the stick of Leafs defenseman Francois Beauchemin and past Joey MacDonald.

Early in the middle period, Blake Wheeler pushed Ian White from behind into the endboards. A few shifts later, Colton Orr tried to send a message to Blake Wheeler and jumped him. Orr was tagged with 2 minutes for roughing and two minutes for interference for his actions.

The B's made it 4-0 with a power play goal with 5:15 remaining in the second period. Michael Ryder had the puck in "Gretzky's office" and a fed a pass out to Marc Savard, who found the back of the net for his second of the night.

After giving up 4 goals on 23 shots in the first two periods, Joey MacDonald was lifted in favor of Vesa Toskala to start the third period.

Mark Recchi's 550th career goal made it 5-0 Bruins at 6:36 of the third period. Patrice Bergeron weaved his way through the Leafs defense and left a short pass for Recchi near the crease before Recchi directed the puck past Toskala for the milestone marker.

Johnny Boychuk's first NHL goal on a one-time slapper made it 6-0 at 12:26 of the third period.

The Bruins struck again just 19 seconds later when Marc Savard's shot from the right wing half wall found the back of the net for his 3rd career hat trick and a flurry of hats came raining down on the ice at The Garden.

Steve Begin and Jamal Mayers squared off as soon as the puck drop after Savard's goal. Mayers got in a few early scoring blows, but Begin scored the takedown.

Toronto finally got on the board with 4:14 remaining to take the shutout away from Tuukka Rask. Matt Stajan set up behind the net and sent a pass to Niklas Hagman at the right circle, who beat Rask for the first time on the night.

Andrew Ference and Lee Stempniak got into after Stempniak ran Johnny Boychuk from behind and Ference came to the aid of his teammate. Ference and Stempniak each received double minors for roughing, while Wayne Primeau received a 10 minute misconduct, presumably for being the third man in on the altercation.

The Leafs cut the lead to 7-2 with 2:02 left in the game as Mikhail Grabovski deflected a Luke Schenn shot past Rask to account for the final score.

Final - 12.5.2009	1	2	3	Total
Toronto Maple Leafs	0	0	2	2
Boston Bruins	2	2	3	7

Complete Coverage >

Notes:

- #81 was booed and jeered by The Garden fans every time he touched the puck tonight.

- #81 finished the night with 16:28 of ice time and was a -3 on the night with 1 shot on goal and 2 take-aways, including one that led directly to Zdeno Chara's goal.

- Is there anyone left out there that doubts that Tuukka Rask is ready to play at the NHL level?

- Marc Savard became the first Bruin since #81 to record a hat trick.

- Zdeno Chara was +4 on the night with a goal and an assist

- 5 Bruins had multi-point games (Savard, Chara, Bergeron, Sturm and Bitz)

- Patrice Bergeron dominated in the face-off circle again tonight winning 75% of his 20 draws.

- Tuukka Rask got his 2nd assist of the season on Mark Recchi's 550th career NHL goal.

"Obviously, we didn't play well tonight. I didn't play well. I don't know what else to say... There was pressure, but that was probably the worst game I have played in a while."

- #81

"I love our fans, so give it to him more. I could care less"

- Shawn Thornton on B's fans booing #81

- In a scheduling quirk, the Bruins will meet the Maple Leafs again at TD Garden on Thursday night. The B's are off until then, but the Leafs will travel home for two games against the Thrashers and Islanders before heading back to Boston for a re-match with the B's.

3 Stars (as selected by 98.5 The Sports Hub)
1st Star: Marc Savard (Hat Trick)
2nd Star: Patrice Bergeron (2 assists, +2, 75% on face-offs)
3rd Star: Tuuka Rask (31 saves on 33 shots, assist)

Game 28 Preview: The Rarely-Seen Buds Make the Trek to Ohio

Mike MacLean — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:32:58 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

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They're getting better! The most recent game against the Blackhawks looked more like Jackets hockey than any other game this season, had they played the way they did during the losing streak, the score would have been ugly-very ugly in favor of the 'Hawks.

For the first time in a few years Toronto comes to town. The Leafs are still in the midst of a "re-tooling" (because if I would have said "rebullding" Ole Ironsides Burke would find a way to get me booted off of the internet) and are without either of their top goaltenders. Vesa Toskala is out with an injury, and Gustavsson will be going under the knife for another heart operation. Speaking of Gustavsson, when will the meda give him a new nickname? The Monster? Come on. Worst nickname for a player in all of sport, especially for a rookie. Joey MacDonald, a fellow Bluenoser, will get the start tonight. Mase is in for the Jackets.

The CBJ will be icing the same lineup as the past few games, although Raffi may miss it because his wife is in the hospital prepping for the delivery of the couple's first child. The Leafs have a tough defensive unit, so it will be interesting how the Jackets forwards can cope with that. I also wonder if Kris Russell can continue his red-hot stretch of play tonight. Here's hoping. Look for a good physical battle tonight folks.

Fearless Prediction: CBJ score at least four goals.

Game Time: 7:00pm ET

Opponent's Blog: Pension Plan Puppets

Game Page: Maple Leafs vs Blue Jackets Coverage

TSN Preview: Maple Leafs vs Blue Jackets Preview

TV: FSN Ohio

Radio: WBNS-AM (1460); WWCD-FM (101.1)

More after the jump...

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Toronto has played in Columbus only three times, most recently Nov. 20, 2006, a 4-2 Leafs win. The Blue Jackets would be wise to ignore the standings. After a horrible start, the Maple Leafs are 4-1-2 in their past seven games, including a 3-0 rout of Montreal on Tuesday. It could be a big special- teams game. Although the Blue Jackets excel on the power play, both teams struggle in killing penalties.

Jackets Links:

Columbus Blue Jackets / Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster / Columbus Blue Jackets Stats

Here are the lineups for tonight's tilt:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Kristian Huselius	Antoine Vermette	Rick Nash
R.J. Umberger	Derick Brassard	Jakub Voracek
Jason Chimera	Samuel Pahlsson	Michael Blunden
Raffi Torres	Derek MacKenzie	Jared Boll

Fedor Tyutin	Anton Stralman
Mike Commodore	Jan Hejda
Kris Russell	Mathieu Roy

Steve Mason

Mathieu Garon

EXTRA: Alexandre Picard

INJURED: Fredrik Modin, Andrew Murray, Derek Dorsett, Rostislav Klesla, Marc Methot

Toronto Maple Leafs

Alexei Ponikarovsky	Matt Stajan	Phil Kessel
Niklas Hagman	Mikhail Grabovski	Christian Hanson
Wayne Primeau	Nikolai Kulemin	Lee Stempniak
Jason Blake	Jamal Mayers	Colton Orr

Mike Komisarek	Tomas Kaberle
Luke Schenn	Ian White
Francois Beauchemin	Jeff Finger

Joey MacDonald

Jonas Gustavsson

Your Toronto Maple Leafs: How Did We Get Here?

mf37 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:32:36 -0000

An anonymous comment over at my blog Bitter Leaf Fan raised the question of how exactly the Leafs arrived in their current mess.

There’s not a single cause or easy explantion.

This franchise has gone through three, maybe even four, different phases since 2000, however; with the exception of one small window, all of these phases have focused on the short-term, sacrificing picks and prospects for a supposed fix.

After the jump, a look at the Leafs' propensity to deal away the future and the pile of pocket lint, loose change and used gum wrappers they got in return.

Pre-Lockout

The Pat Quinn teams of the early 2000s were powerful clubs. Each made the playoffs and several flirted with 100 point seasons. They combined a nice mix of talent and flair (Sundin, Mogilny) with grit (Roberts, Tucker) and solid goaltending (Cujo, Belfour).

These teams were often legitimate threats to go deep in the post season and on more than one occasion it was widely thought they could challenge for a cup. As a result, these teams made a number of trades where the future was sacrificed for the present. There was a small window of success and the Leafs went for it, selling off the future in the hopes of a big pay-day.

In 2003, the Leafs trade Brad Boyes (2000 1st round pick), Alyn McCauley and a 1st round pick for Owen Nolan

In 2004, the Leafs trade two prospects, a 1st and 2nd round pick for Brian Leetch.

In addition to dealing away those three first round picks, the Leafs also had some bad luck when their 1999 first round selection (and WJC 1st team all-star) Luca Cereda had to hang up his skates due to health complications with his heart.

From 1999 to 2004, the Leafs emerged with just two first round draft picks: Carlo Colaiacovo and Alexander Steen. Both would later be traded to St. Louis for Lee Stempniak.

The Missing Years

John Ferguson Junior’s tenure was like a ship lost at sea…or maybe it was a ship that kept running into ice bergs…or a lost ship, on fire, that kept hitting ice bergs. Choose your own nautical disaster metaphor and, in keeping with JFJ’s reign of error, the more apocalyptic and dire your selection the more accurate it will be.

Ferguson was GM from the 2004 to 2007 drafts.

Out of those five drafts, he managed to hold on to his first round pick in just once – giving the franchise Jiri Tlusty and a whole lotta NSFW jokes.

Unable to shake-off the "win now!" edict from the MLSE board, in just two years Ferguson sacrificed two first, a second and a fourth round pick in an effort to shore-up the team’s goaltending. Some four years later, goaltending remains a position of weakness that hasn’t been adequately addressed.

JFJ's draft day magic:

The 2005 first round pick (Tukka Rask) dealt for Andrew Raycroft.
The 2006 first round pick was Jiri Tlusty.
The 2007 first round and second round picks (along with a 2009 4th) to San Jose for Vesa Toskala.
The 2008 second round pick to Phoenix for Yannic Perreault.

Draft Schmaft Redux?

In 2008, Cliff Fletcher was brought in to try to move out the NTCs/NMCs on the club and start the, ahem, rebuilding process.

Given the need to get more talent into the system, he made some, shall we say, curious moves:

A swap of first round picks, 2008 3rd round pick, 2009 2nd round pick for Luke Schenn
2008 3rd round pick for Jamal Mayers
2008 4th round pick to get rid of Bryan McCabe
2008 5th round pick for Ryan Hollwegg
2010 2nd round pick for Mikhail Grabovski

In fairness to Fletcher, he also acquired a small parcel of picks:

2008 2nd round pick and a 2009 5th round pick for Hal Gill
2008 3rd round pick for Chad Kilger
2008 5th round pick for Wade Belak

An Eye for Talent? Um. Not really...

If you’re going to trade away picks and prospects, the returning players better pan out.

Clearly that has not been the case for the Leafs.

By my math, the Leafs traded five first round and three second round picks for the following return:

69 games from Owen Nolan.
28 games of Brian Leetch.
91 games (and 268 goals against) of Andrew Raycroft (plus a multi-year buyout)
17 games of Yanic Perreault
127 games (and counting) from Vesa Toskala

Stop and marvel at that return.

Five first and three third round picks for 332 games played (plus Toskala's starts until the end of the season).

I'll spare the Leaf defenders from doing the math - Brad Boyes, one of the former first rounders traded away, has played 347 NHL games, 15 more than this motley collection managed for the Leafs.

What's worse is that every single one of these players left the Leafs without a single asset coming back in return.

I'll wait while you drink it all in.

I don’t know about you, but I don't think there’s an adjective that can adequately summarize this. One could argue that only Bernie Madoff has done a worse job of asset management - and even that might be a stretch.

Making Mistakes Beyond the Draft

Even more painfully, that poor return only reflects the draft side of the equation.

The Leafs have not excelled in the free agency department (Blake, Finger), have made poor decisions in awarding NMCs and NTCs, and have made a series of poor decisions on talent retention – signing McCabe, Tucker and others to long-term deals rather than trading them at peak value. But I’ll save that rant/analysis for another day…

For now, in a nutshell, this is a good first step toward building a franchise that’s on target for a 50 point season and has limited options at hand.

Hockey fans develop hedge fund, bring in NHL players as clients

Dirk Hoag — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:16:36 -0000

Got a few hundred thousand dollars stashed under your mattress? For the hockey fan looking for a proper investment vehicle, this week's issue of Barron's has the hedge fund for you, founded by Pavel Begun, a Belarussian hockey fan who came over to the US and pursued his dream of becoming a professional investor:

OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS, Begun earned a business degree from Western Kentucky and an MBA from the University of Chicago; became a chartered financial analyst; and worked as a research analyst with investment advisors Fiduciary Asset Management and broker A.G. Edwards, both in St. Louis. In July 2004, he co-founded 3G Capital Management with Cory Bailey, a colleague from Fiduciary Asset who shared Begun's passion for value investing and ice hockey.

And they're not just hockey fans, they've got the client side covered as well:

This strategy [value-based investing] has worked well for 3G since it was launched in July 2004, generating solid returns and attracting some high profile investors, including several professional hockey players such as New Jersey Devils defenseman Bryce Salvador and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Jamal Mayers.

Hopefully they'll work out better for their clients than this guy did.

No Fun

blurr1974 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:11:21 -0000

From left to right: Vesa Toskala, Jason Blake, Matt Stajan and Jamal Mayers

(via jareandbecc.files.wordpress.com)

Down Goes Brown has his thoughts on the 90s nights.
Straight Outta SoCal is looking for a captain.
Leafs247 reviews the upcoming road trip, and doesn't see much in the way of easy wins.
TSM is agreeing with Working Class Howard. Yes, you read that right.
The Vintage Leafs keeps distracting from the present, by showing us the past.
Hockey Blog In Canada takes a look at the effect of sweeping roster changes.
Just because it annoyed me so, here is an article from TO Sports outlining the reasons why Luke Schenn should be sent to the Marlies.

UPDATE

Dr. Steve sees a silver lining for the Leafs. Next year...

Feel free to toss any missed into the comments.

How Do The Maple Leafs Allocate The Salary Cap?

PPP — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:00:25 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

Luke Schenn and Matt Stajan wonder if they can leave Vesa Toskala in NYC.

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~~Yesterday~~ On October 8th (I wrote this post originally on the 9th) James had a piece looking at where the money was spent by the top five teams last year. Robot Godzilla previously took a look at how the Leafs' spending on defencemen, forwards, and goalies compared to the rest of the league. Considering that Jeff Finger is making $3.5M to sit in the press box it's no surprise to find out that the Leafs are spending the most on defence. Luckily, they are currently also getting the least in return. Wait...

Anyway, here's Mirtle's intro (ps. He went to Barcelona on vacation. Must be nice):

This is something I was working on before vacation, a mini-study of how five of the NHL's best teams are allocating their cap space this year. The five I went with are all right up against the cap, and all experienced a ton of success last year: The Sharks, Red Wings, Bruins, Capitals and Penguins.

After the jump I'll look at how the Maple Leafs stack up to last year's top five teams and where they might improve their monetary allocation.

One note is that I used John Mitchell as the 12th forward in the 'bottom 11' players category because the Leafs are going to carry a 23 man roster for the foreseeable future. This is a result of the lack of waiver eligible forwards in the lower ranks other than Jay Rosehill who isn't included in these figures. First up, is the visual representation of the money split among the top 11 and bottom 11 players for last year's top five teams:

Here is the same graph for the Maple Leafs' 23 man roster:

For the purposes of this exercise here is how I categorised players:

Top Six Forwards: Phil Kessel, Jason Blake, Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Mikhail Grabovski
Top Four Defencemen: Francois Beauchemin, Mike Komisarek, Tomas Kaberle, Luke Schenn
Starting Goaltender: Vesa Toskala
Next Seven Forwards: Lee Stempniak, Nikolai Kulemin, Rickard Wallin, Wayne Primeau, Jamal Mayers, Colton Orr, Viktor Stalberg, John Mitchell
Next Three Defencemen: Jeff Finger, Garnet Exelby, Ian White
Backup Goaltender: Jonas Gustavsson

You'll notice that Mike Van Ryn isn't included in the calculations and that's because he might as well not exist.

Mirtle was never taught to put a legend with a graph so the differences aren't as visible as they should be. In order to salvage this entire exercise check out the first table below:

	Maple Leafs	% of Cap	Top Five Avg	% of Cap
Starting 6	$23,900,000	38.92%	$33,249,434	58.50%
Top Six Forwards	$19,155,000	31.19%	$26,402,768	46.50%
Top four D	$15,525,000	25.28%	$15,692,500	27.60%
Starting G	$4,000,000	6.51%	$4,258,333	7.50%
Bottom 11/12	$18,099,999	29.47%	$10,153,804	17.90%
Top F Line	$11,150,000	18.16%	$18,380,268	32.40%
Top D Pair	$8,750,000	14.25%	$10,610,833	18.70%

The Leafs are on par with the top five in terms of spending for their top four defencemen and their starting goalies. It's no surprise, given the lack of elite forwards (aside from Kessel we hope) that the Leafs have spent $7M less than the top five teams from last year. The real shame is that, as a result of some poor decisions, the extra spending hasn't gone to augmenting the top four defence or the starting goaltending but to the 'bottom 11 (or 12)'. One of Burke's big goals will have to be to get some of that money freed up so that it can be invested in the high end players.

From among the forwards Lee Stempniak ($2.5M), Alexei Ponikarovsky ($2.1M), Matt Stajan ($1.75M), Wayne Primeau ($1.4M), Rickard Wallin ($800K), and Jamal Mayers ($1.33M) are unrestricted free agents while Nikolai Kulemin ($1.5M) and John Mitchell ($500K) are unrestricted free agents. That frees up about $11.88M to be re-invested into the forwards. If we follow the breakdown above that would mean re-investing $5.52M into the top six forwards. To get the team's expenditures on their top six forwards up to the same percentage the Maple Leafs would have to invest another $4M on top of that to get close. Now if only there was a player worth that kind of coin... The rest of the bottom six will have a lot of players on the Marlies and possible juniors to pull from to fill the spots. Considering Brian Burke's stated preference with which we are all well, well aware (Top Six v. Bottom Six) and his statements about the Leafs' current make-up ('Top' Nine v. Bottom Three) it will be interesting to see what moves he makes to address those gaps through free agency versus internal promotions. The former would be expensive and cuts into the money available to fill out the top of the roster which is where the top five teams are choosing to spend their money.

The gap in high end players is most visible when you look at the Leafs' starting six compared to the top five average. The starting six (Kessel, Blake, Stajan, Komisarek, Kaberle, Toskala) make $10M less which again shows that he Leafs lack in star power. Balance is all well and good but there is a lot to be said for having a superstar or two in the ranks. If you look a bit closer you see that the majority of the difference comes from the top forward line and Matt Stajan's $1.75M salary. If he remains with the team next year his raise will cut the gap somewhat but the case then won't be how the Leafs have allocated their money in terms of the players' place on the roster but if it is going to the right players.

In terms of the overall splits the picture is similar:

	Maple Leafs	% of Cap	Top Five Avg	% of Cap
Forwards	$29,013,333	47.24%	$33,220,239	58.50%
Defence	$24,166,666	39.35%	$18,386,166	32.40%
Goalies	$6,500,000	10.58%	$4,901,000	8.60%
Buy-outs	$1,733,333	2.82%	$515,000	0.90%
Total	$61,413,332

No surprise here as the Maple Leafs again spend more than the average on defence and less on forwards. Among the defence the Leafs have Garnet Exelby ($1.4M) and Mike Van Ryn ($2.9M) as unrestricted free agents and it would beggar belief to see either one return to Toronto. Ian White ($850K) is a restricted free agent who will likely be re-signed to fill in the sixth spot leaving the seventh and call up spots to Phil Oreskovic (who is an RFA), Juraj Mikus, and Carl Gunnarsson.

The other figure where the Leafs far outspend the top five is in buy-outs. Every dollar spent on a buy-out is dead space that hinders a team's ability to sign their own RFAs and UFAs and pursue others. As players like Viktor Stalberg, Christian Hanson, Luke Schenn, and Tyler Bozak come up to be re-signed the Darcy Tucker buy-out will be a niggling problem but it's vital not to add to it by going through some of the proposed buy-outs I've seen suggested.

I'm going to try to expand this analysis a bit further this week but let's hear what everyone thinks about the numbers so far.

Tales of the Tape: Toronto Maple Leafs 10/10/09, Special 3-fight edition!

JDunman — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:45:58 -0000

When you hear that a Penguins game has had three fights in it, you'd expect the opponent to be the Flyers or the Rangers. Imagine my surprise when I checked the game against Toronto and spotted three fighting penalties. Three! That's one more fight than the Pens had against the Leafs all last season!

It probably would have been a good idea to space these out yesterday, when there was an entire day off, but I was preoccupied, so we're going to put all three of them here. The first one is before the jump, with the other two following.

Eric Godard vs. Colton Orr

Totally called it. Godard and Orr fought four times last season, so it's no surprise that the two would get down to it fairly quickly. Like 2:19 in the first period quickly.

Not one of their better fights, honestly. Some back and forth punches to the helmets before Orr falls backwards to the ice. Now the question is did Godard's hit cause Orr's fall, or did Orr simply slip to the ice trying to dodge Godard's hit? I'm going with the former, giving Godard the win here. This is the subject of the entry's poll, as I can only post one per entry...and the other two really aren't very debatable.

Craig Adams vs. Jamal Mayers

Remember last time when I said Craig Adams wasn't a usual suspect for fighting? Looks like someone took offense, because here he is again, this time dropping his gloves against Jamal Mayers. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out quite so well this time around.

Quick blows started this one off with Mayers seeming to get a shot or two more to connect with Adams' head. After a bit of struggling with the grip, Mayers goes for the hiptoss takedown, but Adams blocks. Not such a good idea, as Mayers responds by punching Adams in the face and knocks him down in the other direction. We've all learned an important lesson here. Sometimes it's better just to get tossed around. Loss for Adams.

Michael Rupp vs. Jay Rosehill

Perhaps looking to avenge his face-punched teammate, Michael Rupp took on Jay Rosehill in the second period.

Rupp started off strong with a couple of good blows, but as the two got their holds on, Rosehill utilized the sneaky trick of jabbing with the fist holding the jersey. Rupp tried to get back into it, but took another jab before trading some pretty heavy swings (and misses) back and forth. Quite likely dizzy from all the spinning, Rupp let Rosehill get in a little too closely and took some shots that knocked off his helmet and dropped him to the ice. Loss for Rosehill.

Of course, if you don't agree with my calls on these two fights, feel free to yell at me in the comments.

So with a win and two losses, it wasn't the best showing for the Pens. Ottawa has only thee fights thus far this season (compared to the Pens' 7), with two of them coming from Matt Carkner. Spending last season in the AHL, he had one fight against the Baby Pens, going up against Aaron Boogaard.

Poll

Godard/Orr - who won the fight?

Eric Godard

73 votes

Colton Orr

16 votes

Draw

21 votes

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Truculent in Toronto....Pens fall 3-2 to Maple Leafs

Hooks Orpik — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:13:23 -0000

More photos » by Frank Gunn - AP

2 months ago: Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jordan Staal, right, shoots past Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn (2) during the first period of a preseason NHL hockey game in Toronto on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

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Again welcome to the preseason recap, designed with a little commentary and a little re-telling of what happened, in case you couldn't get to see the action..

1st period

--With the three normal leaders that wear letters not in the lineup, Mark Eaton, Ruslan Fedotenko and Jordan Staal are all serving as alternate captains tonight, if you care about such things.

--Early on a good shift by Mike Rupp, Nick Johnson and Ryan Bayda and some real good work by Jay McKee and Alex Goligoski to keep the puck inside the blueline. The puck eventually finds Bayda out front and with Rupp attracting a lot of attention Bayda lifts one over Vesa Toskala for the game's first goal.

--Robert Bortuzzo with a little bobble on the PP in his own end kills sometime and then a forward (I believe Dustin Jeffrey or Nick Johnson) ices the puck...On the powerplay. Ouch.

--Physical game as to be expected; Jordan Staal and Fedotenko get rocked in the open ice with clean hits, Matt Cooke draws some revenge with a nice hit of his own.

--Bayda heads to the bench on Pittsburgh's first penalty on a trip. Apparently Bayda is very strong with his stick, as just by putting it behind the Leaf's skate caused him to jump in the air about a foot and a half. It was a trip, but a very well sold one

--The speedy and diminutive Chris Conner gets sprung by Mike Rupp of all people for a breakaway shortly after the penalty gets killed. Conner outraces the Leafs defense, flashes to the backhand and slips it 5 hole on Toskala. 2-0 Pens.

--As a wise man predicted, a fight breaks out between Paul Bissonnette and Jay Rosehill. Ok, so the two are no strangers to each other. Again, Biz Nasty gives him the business, connecting with a bunch of rights and a flurry of rag doll lefts (while keeping Rosehill's own jersey over his face). Blindly Rosehill throws a few and tackles Bisonnette.

--Of current: shots are 9-1 Pens, the scoreboard is 2-0 Pens and the fightcard is 1-0 Pittsburgh. Sidney who? And that Evgeni guy? Pssh.

--Shots end up 9-5 by the end of the period, not much eventful but Brent Johnson was there when he had to be.

After the jump, the next two periods..

2nd period

--Yesterday The Pensblog mentioned how Pierre McGuire always referred to the Pens forward as "Billy Guerin". Well I noticed another, the head coach is named "Danny Bylsma". If he starts calling him "Jordy" Staal, or "Marcy" Fleury, we've gone too far. As if it hasn't gotten there already.

--Tim Wallace knocked the crap out of Jamal Mayers, injuring the Toronto player. It was a big hit but it wasn't late nor did Wallace leave his feat before connecting, but Mayers didn't see it coming. The way Mayers fell back dazed after impact looked scary but after a while he was able to skate to the bench under his own power.

--Toronto's first goal on a lazy play by the Pens; Bortuzzo chipped the puck from back around to Matt Cooke who lunged and the puck but couldn't get it by TML defenseman Mike Komisarek. The Leafs work it around and some guy named Bozo (actually Tyler Bozak) passes it to someone who might be Jordan's Swedish cousin (Viktor Stahlberg) for a goal. 2-1 Pens.

--Brent Johnson was real slow to get up, as Bozak did run into him and knock him back as he was trying to move to his left. Johnson was limited by a hip injury in the recent past, even though he said he is healthy one has to wonder if he aggravated something. "Johnny" would stay in the game after a prolonged stoppage.

--A lot of people told me I'd be impressed with Mike Rupp after I struck a very sour initial tone from news of his signing. I might be starting to turn their way. The big guy took a great shift, he's a good skater for his size (better than I gave him credit for) and he wasn't playing the toughest competition but was working the puck all over the offensive zone.

--Chris Conner used his speed to make Ian White hold him. Conner's done a lot of little things right.

--On that powerplay, your opening players: Alex Goligoski and Ruslan Fedotenko on the point, Jordan Staal, Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy up front. Even for pre-season that's tough.

--Mike Komisarek checks Cooke from behind and Staal got in Komisarek's face. Bad idea. Komisarek knocks Staal down, then physically picks him up and punches him a few more times for good measure before Staal can tackle him. Good to see Staal try to standup for a teammate but ouch.

--And somehow in that Cooke gets 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct in addition to the two fighting majors. Chalk that up to Cooke's reputation. Komisarek did legit drill him from behind and Staal/Cooke were kind of in a pile when Komisarek was beating Staal up. Not sure what that was all about.

--Nick Johnson does do a good job to get in the way of shooting/passing lanes and makes a difference there doing things that a lot of forwards don't/can't do.

3rd Period

--John Curry (who played all game last night) is in net for the beginning of the period. Johnson was moving slow after he gave up the goal, one has to believe he isn't feeling 100%, the only question now is: how bad is it?

--Chris Conner can absolutely burn it up. I remember seeing him play some with Dallas in NHL action but I do not remember just how fast he is.

--Francois Beauchemin levels Tim Wallace on a pass from Jay McKee that hung Wallace out to dry. Biz Nasty is on the case at once and Beauchemin accepts the fight. It's uneventful, as the strong Beauchemin did well to clamp down on Bissonnette's arms and not give him much to be able and do.

--Mike Rupp got in Stahlberg's face, challenged him to go but no deal. Guess big Mike figured if Jordan got beaten up by a Toronto tough guy his near-namesake ought to suffer the same fate.

--Mark Eaton two uncharacteristic penalties in the third, Tomas Kaberle with a big shot, Curry was up for that and he also made a stop on Bozo, err Bozak on the rebound attempt. Curry looking sharp.

--Leafs 2009 first rounder Nazem Kadri one-timed a great shot but it rang squarely off the post.

--In the dying seconds Wyatt Smith did well to win two faceoffs against Kadri. But the Pens kept icing the puck and Smith lost a third one to Mikhail Grabovski and Kadri ends up burying one with 1:05 left in the game.

OVERTIME

--Leafs put shots off the left post and the right post in succession. When asked for comment John Curry said "hey, they pay may to cover the net, and not a single inch more" (not really).

--With about 6 seconds left the Pens got a draw in the offensive zone and Bylsma drew up a play, which worked almost to perfection. Staal wins the draw back to Kennedy who quickly feeds Nick Johnson. Johnson one-times it into the net. Just one problem: Johnson's stick breaks and the puck doesn't make it.

SHOOTOUT

Round 1
--Kadri stickhandles quickly about 50 times and goes forehand for the goal. Kid's got some sick moves.
--Staal tries to make a move and go backhand, but Toskala gets his let out.

Round 2
--Bozo comes down, tries to do something but Curry's not having it.
--Chris Conner comes down accelerating late but the shot is no good.

Round 3
--Lee Stempniak trickles a shot five hole through Curry on the walk-off shot. Leafs win 2-0.

THE GOOD
--Alex Goligoski was awesome tonight. Last night I gushed over Kris Letang, tonight I was nearly as impressed by the way Goligoski was playing. In a word, Goligoski looked comfortable, leading all players with 30:15 of ice-time.
--The competition for the 13th forward: Chris Conner had a great night with the goal and was showcasing his speed. Tim Wallace had big hits all over the place. Paul Bissonnette challenged everyone but the guy selling cotton candy to fight. Nick Johnson played a good positional play and was good at both ends of the ice.
--The TSN broadcast never said anything but Ben Lovejoy only had one shift for 31 seconds, he must have gotten injured somehow. Through injury comes opportunity and the other five defensemen; notably Nate Guenin got to play 27:04 and Robert Bortuzzo got 21:02. Neither stood out for wrong reasons.
--Guenin played 6:18 of short-handed time, far more than any of his teammates, if the coaches wanted to see what he had perhaps there could be nothing better for him than the fact Toronto didn't score a goal with the man advantage.

THE BAD
--A preseason game with two injuries is not good. Even if the injuries were to the backup goalie and a guy fighting for a roster spot in Lovejoy, you never like to see guys not be able to finish. Also Jamal Mayers of the Leafs didn't return after Tim Wallace leveled him, hopefully he'll be OK.
--Mark Eaton was on the ice for both goals against and took two penalties. Not a great tuneup for one of the Penguins' most reliable players, but I doubt it'll matter much in the big scheme of things.
--To these eyes (which don't belong to a pro scout) Wyatt Smith and Dustin Jeffrey were two players that didn't do much to distinguish themselves. I highlighted some forwards in that good that I thought played really well, but Smith and Jeffrey had low-key games, to me anyways. Low key isn't always bad, but when you're trying to win an NHL roster spot, it can't be good.
--Ryan Bayda certainly wasn't low-key with a goal and a penalty taken, but I can't remember noticing him that much in the latter half of the game. He only got 12:31 of ice-time, he might not have played much but he didn't stand out after taking the penalty, which can't be good for his hopes either.

THE INTERESTING
--Even though Ryan Bayda's played in 179 NHL games ever since the 2002-03 season, NHL.com still doesn't know who he is. Now we have to cut them some slack with so many players bouncing all over the place and just the sheer number of different players to appear in an NHL pre-season game, but even though Bayda is relatively experienced, he didn't make the NHL.com statsheet for Pittsburgh tonight

For the second night in a row the Penguins blow a third period lead in Canada. But, considering the circumstances, it's certainly nothing to fret over. Some pieces are looking good, now it's time to make some cuts and join the two rosters together as we trek towards opening night.

Toronto Maple Leafs Announce 2009 Training Camp Roster (2X Updated)

PPP — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:23:05 -0000

Update September 21 10:11PM - Ice Chips has notes on the Leafs' latest cuts and it looks like Blacker is back in Windsor.

Update: I've updated the training camp roster after Burke's first round of cuts. You can find the full list of cuts here.

Thanks to Jared for posting a FanShot with news that the Toronto Maple Leafs have released their 2009 training camp roster. Here's the complete list and I'll update it as cuts are made.

Forwards		Defence		Goaltenders
Jason Allison	~~Dale Mitchell~~	Francois Beauchemin	~~Juraj Mikus~~	~~Andrew Engelage~~
~~Alex Berry~~	John Mitchell	~~Jesse Blacker~~	~~Phil Oreskovic~~	Beau Erickson
Jason Blake	~~Ben Ondrus~~	~~Josh Engel~~	~~Todd Perry~~	Jonas Gustavsson
~~Darryl Boyce~~	Colton Orr	Garnet Exelby	Andy Rogers	Joey MacDonald
Tyler Bozak	Alexei Ponikarovsky	Jeff Finger	~~Joe Ryan~~	~~James Reimer~~
Tim Brent	Wayne Primeau	Jonas Frogren	Luke Schenn	Vesa Toskala
~~Joel Champagne~~	~~Kyle Rogers~~	Carl Gunnarson	Barron Smith
Jamie Devane	Jay Rosehill	Tomas Kaberle	~~Juha Uotila~~
~~Andre Deveaux~~	Gr~~eg Scott~~	Mike Komisarek	Mike Van Ryn
~~Alex Foster~~	~~Robert Slaney~~	~~Brandon Manning~~	Ian White
~~Stefano Giliati~~	Viktor Stalberg
Mikhail Grabovski	Matt Stajan
~~Richard Greenop~~	~~Mikhail Stefanovich~~
Niklas Hagman	Lee Stempniak
~~Ryan Hamilton~~	Jiri Tlusty
Christian Hanson	Rickard Wallin
Nazem Kadri	John Kurtz
Nikolai Kulemin	Jamal Mayers