SB Nation - John Mitchell

Maple Leafs 3 v. NY Islanders 4 (OT): Second Verse Same As The First

PPP — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:58:15 -0000

More photos » by Nathan Denette - AP

Boo This Man! Dwayne Roloson and a lack of desire to go to the dirty parts of the rink for the majority of the game torpedoed a wonderful effort.

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Despite throwing 61 shots at Dwayne Roloson the Maple Leafs fell 4-3 in overtime to the New York Islanders. On the bright side, John Tavares was a complete non-factor. After a dominating first period the Maple Leafs fell behind to a Jeff Tambellini breakaway goal as a long period of pressure went unrewarded, a pretty good Matt Moulson deflection, and, frankly, a terrible all around effort on Sean Bergenheim's short-handed goal. Toskala left with a lower body injury which was probably a pain in the ass from all of the needless needling he took from fans after the third goal. I hate Toskala as much as the next guy - and hope he's really injured because Kypreos seemed to be intimating that he quit on the team - but Kaberle made a brutal effort at blocking the shot and ended up doing nothing more than backing in too far and providing the kind of screen that the Leafs' forwards couldn't match all night.

Update: Here is Dominik's (Lighthouse Hockey) recap of the game and a look at the NHL.com shot chart for tonight's game.

Of course, when you're playing a terrible team like the Islanders (I know, the irony) who is on the back end of a seven game road-trip, it's not that hard to continue taking the game to them. The Leafs were rewarded when Matt Stajan's embarrassment at getting his stick knocked out of his hands turned to joy as he ended up by a loose puck to set up Phil Kessel to break Roloson's goose egg. The third period was one way traffic as the Leafs' dogged puck pursuit created chance after chance. Wayne Primeau potted a rebound after showing the Leafs that it's not actually against the law to stand directly in front of the goalie. And then Niklas Hagman made a great rush to prove that he can finish just as much as he can dangle. The Leafs were attacking with speed and looked poise to snatch a winner in regulation.

Instead, they didn't score on a final powerplay and almost made it through overtime before a terrible Ian White play combined with Tomas Kaberle's exhaustion and a bad bounce off of the side of the net (seriously, that shot comes by a million times and shoots in front of the net maybe 5 times) conspired to keep the Leafs from another shot at the shootout. So the Leafs' don't begin a winning streak but they also lose John Mitchell. Great news all around.

Who were your players of the game and who could have done more? Let's talk it out sans razor blades folks.

Senators hold on to win 3-2 over Leafs

PeterR — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:23:22 -0000

More photos » by Fred Chartrand - AP

about 1 month ago: Ottawa Senators' Mike Fisher (12) celebrates with Brian Lee (55) and other teammates after his goal during second period of an NHL hockey game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009, in Ottawa. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

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That was a lot closer than it had to be, but the bottom line is that the Ottawa Senators came away with both points in an intra-divisional game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The win was largely on the back of Mike Fisher, who scored two goals, Alex Kovalev, who assisted on both of them, and Pascal Leclaire, who was big when he needed to be.

Ottawa was outshot on the night by a count of 32-21, including being outshot 15-4 in the third period--but that final frame was Leclaire's best of the game. He was routinely outside the crease challenging shooters, and--although it was terrifying for spectators--he didn't give up too many rebound in the third. The Sens gave Vesa Toskala a bit of a break, not only in terms of few shots on net, but also leaving a whole whack of rebounds and loose pucks in the slot without being fast enough to get on them.

Offensively, the Senators needed a spark--and it came from Fisher and Kovalev. His first goal was a matter of Fisher following up on the play, finding a puck and throwing it past Toskala. Second--the game winner--was a good heads-up play by Chris Campoli and a slick cross-ice pass from Kovalev to set up Fisher with all sorts of time to find the net behind Toskala.

(Read more... )

One thing the Senators can't complain about tonight was the refereeing. Ottawa had four powerplays tonight while Toronto only had one, and got little in the way of offence out of those four opportunities--despite the fact that the Leafs have the league's worst penalty killing. Although Milan Michalek did score a PP goal (after tipping in a great, and most of all, simple shot from Alex Picard), that was one of only two shots the Senators had with the man advantage. I can't say I know what is wrong with the Senators' powerplay, whether it's too predictable, or whether players are too hesitant to put the puck to the net, or whether players try and shoot through blocked shooting lanes (see: Daniel Alfredsson, who had another five shots blocked tonight), but considering how few and far between PP opportunities have been, it'd be a good idea to take advantage when we get them.

Something that was impressive was the play of Ottawa's fourth line tonight, particularly in the first period. Shean Donovan had two hits, a shot on net, and hit the post early in the first--had his shot gone in, it would have put the Leafs down much earlier in the game, and may have sparked the Senators' true offensive guns to get going. Jarkko Ruutu had a decent fight against John Mitchell--for which Mitchell took an extra two minutes for instigating--and had two shots and a team-high four hits. Centres Chris Kelly and Jesse Winchester shared time on the fourth line, but both played pretty well--Kelly made a nice pass to Fisher in the first on a two-on-one, and had three hits, while Winchester handled Jeff Finger in a first-period fight and had a couple of solid hits. Chris Neil was strong, too, with three good hits--including a big one on Luke Schenn that started a brawl between the two--and a couple of shots, too. Long story short, the role players were strong, but forwards like Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson couldn't get their games going. Fortunately, the newfound offensive depth of a reborn Fisher plus Kovalev--who'll show up here and there--and Michalek gave Ottawa the decision.

And hey, anyone who didn't think there was much to the Battle of Ontario anymore should have tuned in for the first period. Although the physicality toned down as the game went on, three fights in the first and a fourth in the second demonstrated a fair bit of hostility between the two teams. Hard to say whether or not it will continue because of the roster turnover both teams have been going through (and will likely continue to go through), but we'll see what happens next game--especially if the score gets out of hand.

Maple Leafs 5 v. Red Wings 1: On The Road To Validation

PPP — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:04:39 -0000

More photos » by NATHAN DENETTE - AP

What can I say? I'm neewwwww here!

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The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Hall of Fame game 5-1 as they used their forecheck and a determined defense to stymie a Detroit Red Wings team that had seemingly turned a corner. The Chris Osgood that had posted a .976 sv% over his last three games was replaced by the one that had a sub-.900 sv% in the rest of his starts. There was a confusing moment in the first period when a Leaf wearing 1 and 8 flew down the wing, past a sprawling defender before rifling a wrist shot past Osgood to notch his first goal in Toronto. Congratulation to Wayne "Not Keith" Primeau on finally breaking his goose egg. Phil Kessel also managed it but in decidedly less glamourous circumstances as he tapped in a Jason Blake shot that was trickling into the net anyway.

Jeff Finger stretched the Leafs' lead to 3-0 when he rifled a shot past Osgood as he jumped into the rush to turn a Stempniak-Stajan 2-on-2 into an odd man rush. Daniel Cleary scored the least surprising goal of the season John Mitchell, who must be thanking his lucky stars that he is centering Phil Kessel, picked up his second on the powerplay on a play that looked like Kessel just banked it in off of his stick. Ponikarovsky finished off the scoring as he put a weak backhand through Osgood's legs.

The win was good, starting a winning streak is great, but the best part is that root of the Leafs' ills seems to have be solved.

The Leafs have points in seven straight games with three of them being wins. Not surprisingly, Jonas Gustavsson started six of those games. The Maple Leafs are now looking like the kind of team that made Brian Burke think that the Phil Kessel trade was an acceptable risk. Brian Burke haters were falling all over themselves to get their jabs in when the Leafs were winless. Things were not helped by the fact that Vesa Toskala continued where he had left off before his surgeries. Actually, he has been much much more than he has ever been.

Jonas Gustavsson's heart issues and his strained groin robbed Brian Burke of seeing one of his prized off-season acquisition (and possibly his most important) make the impact that he expected. Until this recent run. The Phil Kessel trade would never have been made without the Gustavsson signing because as Burke has noted, you build teams from the net out. That signing, along with the additions on the blueline, gave him the confidence that the Leafs would not be giving up a top ten pick let alone a lottery pick or two in the deal.

Do you have that zen feeling when the opposition has the puck? You know, the complete opposite of what you felt when Toskala was in net? Yeah, so do the Leafs and it shows. Suddenly, Burke's talk about competing for the playoffs doesn't seem so insane. And it all starts in goal with the improved goaltending. Yes, chemistry was an issue early on but even the players and coaches and Damien Cox agree that the underlying issue was in net:

It's not rocket science after all; get good goaltending, and everything else flows from that.

I made a big point of the fact that having confidence in your goalie (as well as a goalie that can stop a beachball) helps to improve a number of areas. Take goal-scoring for example. The Leafs scored 15 goals in 7 games and a bit of the Washington game when Vesa Toskala or Joey MacDonald were in net but they potted 24 in 7 games and the rest of that Washington game with The Monster guarding the crease.

The penalty kill is another area that has improved. During the seven game point streak it's been killing penalties at a 85.7% clip including all of them over their last four games. You can read more quotations from other players in blurr's fanshot but this one from Jeff Finger sums the argument up best:

"He’s been great, bottom line. It gives us the confidence to play the game that you need to play to win in this League. You’re just confident in what you’ve got back there so you can make a play and not worry about turning the puck over. He’s been real solid."

At the end of the day, the poor penalty kill, the lack of offence, and the terrible defence are all symptoms of the problem that begins between the pipes. It appears that the Leafs have found the cure in Jonas Gustavsson but the real test will come the next time that they play Vesa Toskala in net. They need to maintain the mental toughness to play the game the way that they have been and maybe displaying that confidence will rub off on the Finn.

On today's episode of ...

James Mirtle — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:42:27 -0000

More photos » by NATHAN DENETTE - AP

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... As The Maple Leafs Turn:

John Mitchell appears to be pegged as the team's No. 1 centre for Friday night against Carolina
Coach Ron Wilson tries to find a way to generate some goal scoring
And did you know Phil Kessel is one of only five players to register 10 shots in a game this season?

Today's tidbits from practice

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.

Introducing the Leafmobile

Chemmy — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:36:23 -0000

Will Leafmobile be our good luck charm?

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Currently I'm trying to get a job on the TSN analyst panel but they told me I need to have some hard hitting TSN style analysis. I looked at the Leafs terrible record and decided what's wrong with the team is most likely curse related due to that time John Mitchell swore at a voodoo priest while on a trip to New Orleans.

Obviously the only way to break a curse is to have a good luck charm. First up is the lucky rabbit's foot which is much too fuzzy and not nearly truculent enough with the additional negative of not being politically correct anymore.

~~Then it hit me: what we need is a hilariously decorated car. One google search and an obliging old webpage later I had found the Leafmobile. What does Leafmobile bring to the table? I'll tell you!~~

~~Leafmobile is a bonafied certified super-sized Toronto ride.~~
~~With some clever work we can make "316 miles to Pittsburgh" jokes.~~
~~This car is so mean it crashes into Dany Heatley.~~
~~You like Leafmobile and think it's awesome.~~

~~So with all of those terrific reasons it's easy to see why Leafmobile is here to stay.~~

UPDATE: Gustavsson to the IR. Leafmobile is the worst good luck charm ever.

Maple Leafs Wins: Easy as One, Two, Three?

blurr1974 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:15:09 -0000

Matt Stajan continues to carry the Leafs / drive his contract price up / increase his trade value (pick your favorite) while the rest of the team pretty much does the opposite. For a guy once considered captain material, he sure ain't inspiring the troops much, is he?

After watching some Colbert, I got to thinking: Who should be on notice? The Leafs have their fair share, and the easy targets are varied, but today, I'm going to focus on our offensive side. So, for the following week...

Grabovski, Kulemin, and Mitchell (L - R) you're on notice! (via i.cdn.turner.com)

Dr. Steve has not diagnosed what's ailing the Leafs, but he's zeroing in on the symptoms.
LD is celebrating an anniversary, and the Leafs threw a sexy party for her. Well, maybe not so much sexy...
The Vintage Leafs have loaded up with another assortment of fantastic shots.
Truculeafs is reminiscing, or on something. I can't really tell.
Leafs247 is weighing in on the tampering issues against the Leafs.
Puck Daddy wraps up tamper-gate with a pretty bow. Case closed.
HockeyCentric is not feeling the love for the Kessel trade at the moment.
Puckurgently has a behind-the-scenes interview with a major player in the tampering complaint.
Allan Bester was a great goalie that the Leafs gave up on far too early. I knew it!
Brian Burke is just talking here!

Leafs Rally Late, Down Wings in Shootout

MrNorrisTrophy — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:30:20 -0000

More photos » by David Guralnick - AP

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In a game that had the energy and play of a regular season game rather than a preseason game, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-4. The Joe was seemingly split in support of the Red Wings and Maple Leafs and the crowd got a great, action-packed game as the preseason begins to wrap up.

The Leafs scored the first three goals before surrendering one to the Red Wings in the 2nd period. Viktor Stahlberg scored twice in the opening period of play and 1st round pick Nazem Kadri scored the Leafs' third goal halfway through the second period. The Red Wings were unable to solve Jonas "The Monster" Gustavsson during his one period of play but Niklas Kronwall put the Red Wings on the board at 14:53 of the second period, beating replacement Vesa Toskala.

The third period was a wild one as Kronwall tallied his second goal of the night, assists going to Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen, on a shot from the point that weaved its way through the mass of bodies in front of Toskala. Franzen would score two goals of his own during the third period to tie the game. The first came on the powerplay as the ever patient Datsyuk waited for the Toronto defenders to split before passing the puck across the slot to a wide open Franzen. Toskala was down on the ice and had only the option of throwing a leg up to stop Franzen's shot but the effort was not enough as Franzen tied the game 3-3 at 11:55 of the 3rd period.

Before the Red Wings fans could finish celebrating the game tying goal, Franzen put the Wings ahead only 14 seconds after his last goal. Franzen collected the puck behind Toskala's net on a turnover and skated out front, waiting for Toskala to make the move before firing the puck off the far side post for a 4-3 Red Wings lead with under 8 minutes to play.

With 90 seconds left to play and Toskala headed to the bench, it seemed Detroit would just have to survive the onslaught for the win. The onslaught didn't need to last too long as Mikhail Grabovski blazed a loose puck past Chris Osgood to tie the game with 1:11 to play in the game. After a few last chance efforts in regulation and a few good chances in the overtime period, the game headed to the shootout. The first Maple Leafs shooter converted and Datsyuk and Franzen missed their shots before Dan Cleary tied the shootout, forcing extra rounds. John Mitchell scored on Osgood to seal the win for the Maple Leafs 5-4.

Detroit and Toronoto square off for another game in Toronto on Saturday at 7 p.m. The game will air on CBC.

Check after the jump for some of the thing I noticed in the game.

Valtteri Filppula is skating very confidently with the puck and this could be leaps and bounds for a guy who often was quick to give up the puck intead of carry it into the zone himself last year.
Brad May, all 38 years of him, has shown some great energy in trying to make the Red Wings team. In all liklihood there's probably just not enough enough space for him on the team but he dropped the gloves and threw some big hits on there tonight.
Johan Franzen has becoming a shooting machine (and why not?) as he totalled 7 shots on net.
Jonathan Ericsson took some bad penalties (some bad calls, some bad plays) tonight. I won't get on him too much because it's the preseason but if the PK is as bad this year as it was last year, the Wings can't afford that many opportunities for the opponents.
Not a Wing but Nazem Kadri looks impressive. He shows why he was worth an early first round pick because of his skating, leadership, and puck play.
Pavel Datsyuk is a puckhandling nightmare for opponents. Its hard to put that into statistic terms but he was incredible with the puck at times tonight and looks to be back in top form--hopefully.

I'm M*******ing John Mitchell F*er.

blurr1974 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:01:01 -0000

Welcome to the F*ing New and Bilingual PP to the M*******ing P!

Ya, that's f***ing right I speak f***ing French you f***. I wanna f***ing welcome Phil f***ing Kessel to the f***ing Leafs. F***ing A! Right on! I f***ing can't f***ing wait to hit the ice with the m*********er! F***ing A! Right on! Let's f***ing do this! F***!

Thanks John! Much appreciated. Not much I can add to those sentiments...

The question of the hour from TSM: Nazem Kadri. Should he stay or should he go?
Loser Domi lets us in on a little secret about Phil Kessel, the pot luck crashing goofy bastard.
Down Goes Brown has his top ten Leaf fights. I'm shocked only 5 are with Wendel Clark.
JaredFromLondon lets you in to the inner workings of his mind. You've been warned.
The Truculeafs love Phil Kessel so much, they had to do, not one, but two posts on him.
Someone not named Dr. Steve breaks down the definition of a top 6 forward, math style.
MLHS has lost it's marbles with this post, but all is forgiven thanks to a great breakdown of the lowlights from the Leafs tilt last night..
Meanwhile, the Hockey Bums talk up the highlights of last night's affair.
Pal Hal Pall, plying his trade for the Hockey Independent, makes some noise regarding the Kessel trade.
As an outsider looking in, I thoroughly enjoyed and agreed with this open letter.

Truculence Incorporated - Brian Burke CEO

blurr1974 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:00:57 -0000

More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP

I like you, let's hug!

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After watching the game last night, I had one thought: So that's what a good GM does. Years of ineptitude, which is far more painful to watch than mediocrity, had me convinced GM's just were not that important. I was happy Burke signed on, but seeing as how Cliff didn't do much but change the faces of the team, I didn't think good ol' BB was going to fair much better. I was wrong.

Seems like the rest of the Barilkosphere had a thought or two as well.

First, the Truthulence speaks a word about truculence.
Steve from Hockey Talk is thinking some of the blue on the Leafs unis might be left on the opposing team, in the form of bruises. Truculence!
TSM likes what he saw from the new kids. And the truculence.
MLHS has quite a few thoughts as well. In summary, Bozak - good. Allison -bad. Beauchemin and Frogren - truculence.
The Hockey-Bums makes note of the fact that Garnet Exelby (it's XLB gang...) did what he was brought here to do. Truculence!
The Two Line pass has some photographic proof of the skills of one Viktor Stalberg and notes losses like this can be fun to watch. Thanks to the truculence.
John Mitchell is the reason Jonas Gustavsson signed with the Leafs. He's also been known to show some mother(expletive deleted) truculence.
Branching out, here's a completely unbiased opinion on the Leafs opposition to the Hamilton Coyotes. Tr....no, that's not it, more like "meh."
Finally, hair tips, from Kerry Fraser (with a glove tap to mf37 for the link) and not an ounce of truculence to be found.

UPDATED

The Zambonic Youth's Godd Till is a hep cat, and he's got a few words for us senior citizens. One of them better be "truculence."
The Hungry Leafs Fan was at the game last night. Do not adjust your TV set, these Leafs really were the personification of truculence.
HockeyCentric wonders where Tlusty was last night

Poll

Trade Matt Stajan:

Yesterday

31 votes

Tomorrow

16 votes

Next week

33 votes

Sooner than that

18 votes

I'm sorry, who?

32 votes

130 votes | Poll has closed

SB Nation - John Mitchell

Maple Leafs 3 v. NY Islanders 4 (OT): Second Verse Same As The First

Senators hold on to win 3-2 over Leafs

Maple Leafs 5 v. Red Wings 1: On The Road To Validation

On today's episode of ...

How Do The Maple Leafs Allocate The Salary Cap?

Introducing the Leafmobile

Maple Leafs Wins: Easy as One, Two, Three?

Leafs Rally Late, Down Wings in Shootout

I'm M*********ing John Mitchell F***er.

Welcome to the F***ing New and Bilingual PP to the M*********ing P!

Truculence Incorporated - Brian Burke CEO

Trade Matt Stajan:

Yesterday

Tomorrow

Next week

Sooner than that

I'm sorry, who?

I'm M*******ing John Mitchell F*er.

Welcome to the F*ing New and Bilingual PP to the M*******ing P!