SB Nation - Ben Ondrus

At The Ricoh: Toronto Marlies 3 v. Hamilton Bulldogs 2 (SO)

PPP — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:00:25 -0000

Maybe I should have sent a photographer too...

After a trip across the Atlantic to Scotland to play the Hamilton Bulldogs the Toronto Marlies kicked off their season on Sunday (yay timely recaps!) and did so in conjunction with an outreach initiative aimed at local minority groups:

Burke was joined by Marlies coach Dallas Eakins and several players, as well as Parminder Singh – the Punjabi voice behind CBC's hockey coverage – to help the Leafs deliver their message.

The group – which also featured Leaf rookie Viktor Stalberg, and the Marlies' Andre Deveaux and Joey MacDonald – participated in a question and answer forum after the Marlies win.

Fans were also shown the basic points and rules of the game – something aimed at newcomers who might not be familiar with hockey.

- Toronto Star

They also extended a welcome to local hockey bloggers. Luckily, I met both criteria. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it but I sent two envoys in my stead, making sure that they were both minorities - Greek and Belarussian - to keep with the theme of the day. Obviously, the latter doesn't count as new to hockey but if you saw him play you wouldn't believe that he's played before. Anyway, this is the first Marlies recap and hopefully I'll be able to get out to a few more games so that I can keep a close eye on the farm.

This also marks a first because it's literally the first time that someone I went to school with has written a post for this website. Only took three years. So a recap of the game is after the jump:

A special thanks to my my Greek friend who sent in the following:

Marlies look youthful and gritty in a classic rivalry matchup
3 Marlies - 2 Bulldogs (SO)

If you enjoy good old gritty hockey you would have enjoyed the game against Hamilton this past weekend. And any true blue Leafs fan would be highly advised to travel down to the Ricoh Coliseum to check out the talent of the future. The Marlies earned their first at home win of the season with a come from behind victory over Hamilton in the shootout.

The first was the by far the best period. Brennan Evans made a dazzling goal line save to stop what seem to be the first Hamilton goal. J.T. Wyman put the first goal of the game in for Hamilton but Toronto quickly answered back with a nice goal from Kyle Rogers, and assisted by Alex Berry, and Darryl Boyce. Boyce is one player to watch on the Marlies because of his ability to apply pressure both offensively and defensively.

Hey! This is almost clear

The first was also graced with two fights, or maybe one great fight and a dance between Toronto's Ben Ondrus and Hamilton's Glumac. The great fight was between Richard Greenop and Neilson which as you can see was a good tilt.

The two went at it for a good 2 and a half minutes, both landing solid shots, which ended with a friendly pat on the head and both players still standing . Greenop looks like he could be a great enforcer for the Marlies this season and should keep the fans fired up with his efforts.

Brock Trotter put the Bulldogs ahead in the late in second but it was a mostly uneventful period.

The third was a spirited battle between the two rivals with good hits and opportunities. Ondrus, making up for a pitiful fight in the first, put a goal past Curtis Stanford to tie the game in the twelfth minute.

The game ended in a fan pleasing shootout. Toronto's MacDonald looked good compared to Hamilton's Stanford who lost the shootout Marlies 3 - Bulldogs 2. Jiri Tlusty, Tyler Bozak, and Alex Foster scored for the Marlies in the shootout.

Some players to watch in the upcoming games:

Carl Gunnarsson: Looked a bit shaky and you can see why the leafs sent him to develop at an professional level. Despite the rough start on the farm he will develop in to a classy offensive defensemen once he finds his hands at the pro level.

Christian Hanson: Was by far the best player on the ice. He is a classic example of the saying ‘men playing with boys'. He hit harder, skated quicker and didn't back down from any player. Marlies Fans don't get use to seeing Hanson in the coliseum because he matches Burkie's gritty player mold and should be called up to the leafs.

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

2009 Free Agency: Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Rickard Wallin

PPP — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:30:09 -0000

Rickard Wallin is all smiles as he announces his signing with Farjestads' Canadian outpost.

View full size photo »

After a few days of speculation and with almost a week to spare before the July 15th deadline the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed Rickard Wallinfrom Farjestads BK of the Swedish Elite League. This signing adds a 14th forward that would expect to play in the NHL which creates the competitive atmosphere that Brian Burke has indicated he prefers to see on his teams. That figure doesn't include players like Christian Hanson, Tyler Bozak, Time Brent, or Ben Ondrus who should compete for roster spots among the Leafs' twelve forward spots. But who is this Rickard Wallin? And what kind of nickname can we come up with for a guy who's named after one of my favourite beers?

Elite Prospects has a short description of the kind of player that the Leafs' might have signed:

A good playmaker that reads the game well. Wallin has a very strong winner's instinct and has an edge to his game. He can set up plays on the powerplay but also, but also be the player in front of the opposing goaltender.

He just finished captaining Farjestads to a Swedish title while being backstopped by the Leafs' other latest signing Jonas Gustavsson. I guess Burke did end up getting a pair of Swedes out of his trip to the Nordic wonderland (seriously, if you are male it's your duty to visit it once in your lifetime).

What will be interesting is seeing where he fits into Burke's vision of pluggers in the bottom six and skilled players in the top 6. He recently commented on his search for forwards now that he's signed every available defenceman:

A couple of the things we're looking at are skilled forwards and bottom-six guys who have some special attributes. We're looking at guys who might do specific tasks.

Assistant GM Dave Nonis does not exactly give a lot away about where the brass sees him slotting in either:

He's a good two-way player who has played over here before. We've got a lot of things on our plate right now and he's a little way down.

The most common way to interpret that would be to think either that Wallin is down the list of priorities because he was a backup option or because he addresses an area where the Leafs are already strong: pluggers. However, a closer look at the player and the Leafs could suggest otherwise.

In the vein of acquisitions like Brad May and Jamal Mayers (whoops) part of Wallin's attractiveness has to be his history of achievement. He will be bringing a pretty good winner's instinct to the dressing room. His CV is decorated at all of the levels at which he has played:

- U18 EJC Gold Medal 97/98
- J20 SuperElit Champion 98/99
- AHL Calder Cup Champion 02/03
- Elitserien Rookie of the Year Nominee (1 of 4 players) 00/01
- Elitserien SM-silver Medal 00/01
- Elitserien Champion 01/02, 05/06, 08/09
- World Championship Bronze Medal 08/09

At 6'3" and 195 lbs Rickard The Red (?) also replaces some of the size that the Leafs' lost down the middle with the departure of Nik Antropov. To tell you the truth, looking at the depth chart, prior to this signing the Leafs' don't have a lot of jam centering the top two lines. Mikhail Grabovski might play like he is seven feet tall in that he never backs down but he's not even six and Matt Stajan is sock-kicking soft. Wallin also has a history of offensive production. I tried to use Gabriel Desjardins' NHL equivalencies (read that link before continuing) to chart what his production would expect to have been over the years:

Season	Age	Team	Lg	GP	G	A	PTS	PTS/G	NHLE	Exp. PPG
1998-99	18	Farjestads BK	SEL	5	0	0	0	0.00	0.59	0.00
2000-01	20	Farjestads BK	SEL	47	9	22	31	0.66	0.59	0.39
2001-02	21	Farjestads BK	SEL	50	12	31	43	0.86	0.59	0.51
2002-03	22	Houston Aeros	AHL	52	13	22	35	0.67	0.45	0.30
2003-04	23	Houston Aeros	AHL	47	14	18	32	0.68	0.45	0.31
2004-05	24	Houston Aeros	AHL	79	12	31	43	0.54	0.45	0.24
2005-06	25	Farjestads BK	SEL	50	11	19	30	0.60	0.59	0.35
2006-07	26	HC Lugano	SNL	44	14	35	49	1.11	0.40	0.45
2007-08	27	Farjestads BK	SEL	55	17	23	40	0.73	0.59	0.43
2008-09	28	Farjestads BK	SEL	55	18	27	45	0.82	0.59	0.48

Note: Any errors in this table are my own and not Desjardins'

These are the ten top-level professional seasons that Wallin has played in Europe. The 1999-2000 season was played in SEL-2 which does not have an NHL Equivalency (NHLE) under Desjardins' system. The last column is what his production would have been in the NHL based on an examination of previous players' production from the same league. As you can see, Wallin would produce what Matt Stajan has produced over his career aside from last year's outlier. Even then, if Wallin were given the same opportunities on the top line I believe that Wallin has the skill to match the local boy. He did not have a long stint in the NHL but the Expected Points derived from the above table held up.

Season	Age	Team	Lg	GP	G	A	PTS	EPTS
2002-03	22	Minnesota Wild	NHL	4	1	0	1	1
2003-04	23	Minnesota Wild	NHL	15	5	4	9	5

Obviously it's a small sample size but allied with his stats from Europe, his reputation as a two-way centreman, and the Leafs' belief that he can help on the penalty kill he starts making a case for displacing Stajan in the top two slots. At the very least Wallin, along with Tyler Bozak, should provide a lot of competition for Matty and we can see if he'll step up to the challenge of proving that he is part of the long-term future of the Leafs. Based on his skill set I think that he'll have to set his sights on being the third line centre long-term. Since he is an unrestricted free agent after this year, and a current salary of $1.75M, the process will give Burke an idea of what to do with him as the season progresses.

If Stajan is viewed as a third-line checker long-term the next question will be whether he's willing to adapt his salary expectations despite his status as one of the few remaining players that were once viewed as the future of the Leafs. Steen and Colaiacovo were traded, I believe, in part because of the sense of entitlement that Ron Wilson felt permeated the dressing room among the younger players. Matt Stajan and Ian White were two players that reacted well to the new regime so I don't see that as being a reason to move him but with John Mitchell and Rickard Wallin now as well as UFA options next summer the need for Matt Stajan might not exist. But back to Rickard Wallin.

One of the Leafs many, many weaknesses last year was the penalty kill. To illustrate how bad it was the Leafs finished 30th in the league with a 69.4% kill rate at home and 79.3% rate on the road. Those numbers are bush league. Part of that problem was the horrible goaltending which has hopefully be alleviated by three surgeries on Toskala as well as the signing of Jonas Gustavsson. The defence has been bolstered by adding proven penalty killers Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek to golden boy Luke Schenn. Among the forward ranks, Brian Burke has added Tim Brent, Colin Stuart, Colton Orr, and now Rickard Wallin to the list of players that might be able to do the job. All in all they certainly cannot do any worse.

If Rickard Wallin can add to the competition and do a job at centre and on the penalty kill he'll have been a shrewd signing. If he is a bust, he comes over at a low-enough salary that he can head down to the Marlies. On top of that, it's only a one year commitment on the part of both parties. Wallin is at an age where he can still contribute for the forseeable future. This isn't Burke bringing in a stopgap solution. It's just one more thing for Leafs fans to look forward to this season. Who knows, maybe we'll be making fan videos like this one next summer

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?

Browse more photos »

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">

Fighting And Fans: Keys to Victory

PPP — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:30:07 -0000

Those fans aren't cheering they're angry Leafs fans

There was no rant. Barely even an icy stare. Instead, with his work-in-progress team down 3-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Ron Wilson called a timeout to help his team find what he called "our equilibrium."

- Jeff Blair, Globe Sports

Time-out? Never heard of it. Although it certainly did seem to work. I would say that it was one of three things that turned the tide for the Leafs' last night as they went from listless to full of list. Can you guess the other two? If not, you're probably a senators fan. I'll give you a hint on one of them: Tonight's game matched St. Patty's Day with March Break and took place in Florida. That's right, there were a tonne of Leafs fans! How many? Well, the announced attendance was 18,793 and the only chants heard were "Go Leafs Go!" and "CU-JO!"

This was a rare night in which the Leafs had a crowd that helped put the wind in their sails. "Unbelievable," Wilson said, chuckling. "It was louder than it sometimes is in the Air Canada Centre."

Sometimes? Try always. No blarney, that.

To be fair, corporations don't have souls so they can't be expected to cheer.

The oldest Leaf was certainly pumped up for the game:

"I said in the locker room, `Guys, is this Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final or what? What's going on here?' This is unreal," said Leaf goalie Curtis Joseph, who was solid overall.

- Dave Perkins, Toronto Star

No one in the room knew what he was talking about. In fact, Ron Wilson became irate as he questioned whether CuJo was trying to bring up the fact that he had been swept in his only Stanley Cup Final appearance. There had been some indication that the game would start with a bang as both Artyukhin and Ondrus were sent out to take the opening face-off.

There was no trace of any hostilities between Tampa giant Evgeny Artyukhin and Toronto's Ben Ondrus.

Good thing Artyukhin is a pussy. Tocchet looked pissed but whether that was because he had lost a bet to Wilson about his player's fear (of Ondrus?) or because he hates pillow soft Russians is unclear. Maybe it was "Brian Burke" asking him for advice. What I do know is that the Leafs were playing absolutely terrible in front of almost 19,000 of their fans - not exactly a new phenomenon - until Brad May took a healthy run at Artyukhin. Things looked set to boil over but the big Russian pretended that he didn't speak English. Instead, Jamal Mayers absolutely demolished Ryan Craig. And there's turning point # 3.

From then on Jason Blake sparked the offence and the Leafs took over the game. The change in fortunes was vast enough to leave Bolts fans (at their new SBN site Raw Charge) thoroughly confused:

I don't know what was said during the second period intermission - or what not was said, frankly - but whatever it was (or wasn't), it was entirely the wrong thing. The team that came out of the dressing room at the beginning of the third was not the same team that went into the dressing room at the end of the second. In the second period, they were confident. For most of the third, they were shaky and couldn't get the puck out of their own zone.

- dagmar27, Raw Charge

It feels good to know that for one night it was the opponent's fans that saw their team on the road to a blowout win only to wind up in the ditch after blowing a tire. So the tank battle doesn't work out nearly as well as we had hoped but that's what happens when the players are selfish.

Fed Up and About Time

PPP — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:46:02 -0000

How bad was the Leafs' performance last night against the Tampa Bay Lightning? Bad enough to precipitate a closed door team meeting immediately after the end of the game. Any more suggestions from Working Class bloggers that this team should be trying to lose on purpose should be met with incredulity because these professionals will not lose on purpose:

"Everyone said their piece and got it off their chests," said White. "We can't accept losses, even a this time of the season. We've got to build as a group. We've got to get stronger. We've got to understand what it takes to win and understand what it takes to play for the Maple Leafs."

"Guys have to put 100 per cent effort in every night and anything less is unacceptable," continued White. "For the most part we're playing really hard hockey but ... sometimes there's a lack of effort. It just can't happen at this level."

- Paul Hunter, The Toronto Star

That team meeting actually made for a pretty long wait while the LeafsTV crew discussed Steven Stamkos and everything related to him from the fact that he had almost 60 friends and family members in attendance, that he got yelled at by St. Louis, that he learned to always pass to St. Louis, that he plays on a line with St. Louis, that he is improving because of St. Louis, to the fact that he loves the city of St. Louis. Just kidding. I assumed that last one based on how much the Stamkos-St. Louis pairing was being slobbered all over. Newsflash boys: The Lightning are worse than the Leafs. Anyway, rumours that the press conference had been postponed when this transcript was leaked by DBG:

Full press conference transcript:

[Ron Wilson enters, sits down]

Wilson: Any questions?
Reporters: [General murmurs]
[Wilson takes out loaded Magnum, places it on the table in front of him, pointed towards reporters]
Wilson: Who wants to go first?
Reporters: [Silence]
Wilson: Nobody?
Reporters: [Silence]
Wilson. Didn’t think so. See you next game.
[Wilson leaves]
Reporters: [Silence]
[Wilson re-enters, shoots Steve Simmons in the chest.]
Wilson: That was a warning.
Reporters: [Silence]

Unfortunately, Simmons has been sighted at McDonald's ordering a McNugget-McFlurry.

It's good that the players are upset with themselves after that performance. The Lightning roster, as bad as the Leafs' is this season, beyond Lecavalier, St. Louis, and, recently, Stamkos is borderline AHL quality. There is no reason for the Leafs to have lost their third straight game against the Lightning other than the fact that they once again played below the level of their competition. Beyond that there were two other major storylines. And by major I mean on legitimate one and one wholly contrived.

After a subdued press conference with Ron Wilson where you could cut the tension with a knife, and coincidentally Berger was silent, LeafsTV moved down to the dressing room where Berger asked his stock question ("Did 'insert frustrating action' annoy you?") of Ben Ondrus. He was referring to Aryukhin's stick work and other journalists worked to get the answer that they wanted out of him:

"They want to take fighting out of the game," growled the Toronto forward, "and all the stick work is going up."

Ondrus was referring to Evgeny Artyukhin, the 6-foot-5 behemoth of the Bolts, whom Ondrus claimed was jabbing him liberally near the end of the game and getting away with no retribution.

"Maybe someone beats the crap out of him and he doesn't do it again," Ondrus said. "I was standing there and he put his stick between my legs and he tried to lift me up or something, I don't know what he was doing. I don't think he speaks a word of English so that was another problem."

- Lance Hornby, Toronto Sun

Mission accomplished. Wilson got kicked out precisely because he was irate with the referees' lack of action (and their abundance of incompetence throughout the game). If the league is going to do all they can to dissuade players from properly policing themselves then every player and coach agrees that we will see more Artyukhin-like antics. Imagine how Chris Neil or Jarkko Ruutu will behave when they know that they won't have to even bother with turtling.

And no game is complete without hearing about the latest hometown kid to come back and screw the Leafs. This time it was some guy that needs a vowel, Szczechura, and Rick Tocchet:

Tocchet is from Scarborough, a Toronto suburb. Always special to come home, he said. But Tocchet also revealed he was a Canadiens fan growing up. It was easy to like the Canadiens back then as they were pretty much a juggernaut and Toronto was struggling.

- Damien Cristadero, Lightning Strikes

Ok, so besides being a degenerate gambler he's also one of those detestable bandwagoners. I look forward to his inevitable gambling relapse. The other interesting tidbit to come out of the legitimate reporting concerned the team's improved penalty kill. From the Hunter sidebar:

D Jeff Finger says there are a few reasons for the team's improved penalty killing lately, but solid play in net is the biggest factor. "A lot of it is the goaltending. Goaltending has been awesome."

In other news, water is wet.

The wholly contrived storyline comes courtesy of everyone's least favourite Toronto Raptors' reporter, Dave Feschuk. I assume that his page views were down hence the drive by article on the Leafs that uses his usual blend of smarm and lack of research to best effect. You can forget getting a link to the piece here but daoust noted that these past two seasons are really the first extended time when the Leafs have played a large number of meaningless games since the Gilmour trade.

Steve does, in probably 5 minutes, more deep thinking about the situation and does note that if the possibility of a real decrease exists it might be because, well, Toronto has a lot of stuff to do.

Be that as it may, I can’t say I’m shocked at the idea that Leafs fans have little stomach for a lengthy playoff drought. I was predicting as far back as a year ago (and earlier) that Leafs fans would be unable to last through a decline at this point in time. Toronto’s demographics have changed, people’s attention spans are shorter, the number of events struggling for their attention is greater, and people are more fickle than ever. The last time the Leafs were this bad was the 80’s when the only competition in the Toronto market place was the ice capades, and perhaps indoor soccer. Now the Leafs compete with the Raptors, the Rock, the internet, cable sports on TV, and a million other draws on people’s attention. Let’s all admit that the possibility exists that the patience people have with the Leafs will be far smaller today than it was 30 years ago.

Of course, Feschuk, being a Mensa member and all, must have realized that the economy might play a huge part in the empty seats especially since, the last two times I have been, they were located mostly in the corporate seats.

All of that being said, Feschuk’s argument would hold a lot more water if the economy were healthy. It isn’t. Divorcing the two situations is impossible, and thus so is a reasonable analysis of the impact the Leafs poor play is having on their ticket sales.

Well, maybe he looked at it and discarded it. Naw, who am I kidding. It never crossed his mind that if a large percentage of tickets go to corporate interests then during a down economy they might not have clients to take to hockey games. Then again, it's the freaking Lightning and Islanders mid-week.