SB Nation - Kris Newbury

Mattias Ritola to Wings, Newbury to Griffins

MrNorrisTrophy — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:46:23 -0000

Continuing the "how many different names" contest the Wings are currently holding, Mattias Ritola got the call to join the Wings for the next game. This means Kris Newbury, who scored a goal in his first game up, will be sent back to Grand Rapids for now.

Ritola, a 6'0 192 lb center from Sweden has more of a scoring touch than Newbury does and could help pick up an offense that looked very flat against Chicago last time out. Ritola spent two games with the Wings in 2007-2008 and had an assist. This year with the Griffins, he has 7 goals and 7 assists and the previous year he had 15 goals and 27 assists.

Look for him to fill the same spot in the line-up that Newbury played, centering Brad May and Kirk Maltby. Ken Holland said this of the two players:

"Newbury plays with energy, a physical edge to him. Ritola not quite as much energy but is better at protecting the puck.’’

That's exactly what the Wings need too, better puck possession and passing.

Another note: Valterri Filppula is scheduled to return against Columbus on Saturday...me likey.

Red Wings defeat Phoenix 3-2; Lose Ericsson

joehass — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:32:19 -0000

More photos » by Paul Sancya - AP

Patrick Eaves celebrates his goal Monday night.

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While the Detroit Red Wings were happy to match their longest winning streak of the season at three games with a 3-2 win against the Phoenix Coyotes, it became a pyrrhic victory in the middle of the second period when defensemen Jonathan Ericsson collided with Shane Doan.

Ericsson had to be helped off the ice and did not play the rest of the game. Coach Mike Babcock did not know the extent of the injury at the end of the game tonight.

If Ericsson misses tomorrow's game, it will be the eighth Red Wings player out with an injury right now.

For Kris Newbury, who was called up from Grand Rapids earlier today to fill Darren Helm's roster spot, he jumped into the action early.

Just 23 seconds after leaving the penalty box on a goaltender interference call, Kris Draper came flying up the boards to the left of Ilya Bryzgalov. Draper was trying to set up Brad Miller, but the pass was out of his reach. As it turned out, Newbury was also coming down the pipe. Newbury outskated Martin Hanzel to make it 1-0 on Newbury's first goal as a Red Wing.

Five minutes later, with Newbury back in the box on another penalty, Patrick Eaves took advantage of a Phoenix turnover and went from end-to-end to put a beautiful wrister on the top shelf past Bryzgalov to give the Red Wings a two-goal lead with his third goal of the season.

After the Doan/Ericsson collision left Ericsson in a pile on the ice to the left of Jimmy Howard, the Coyotes kept control of the puck to prevent a whistle. Taylor Pyatt held onto the puck, deked past a couple Wings and put it past Howard for his fifth of the season.

In the second, Justin Abdelkader sent a pass to Derek Meech mid-ice. Meech fired off a knuckle shot that took a funny bounce, went off Bryzgalov's glove and found the back of the net for his first goal of the season.

But with 37 seconds left in the second, Martin Hanzal backhanded a pass to Radim Vrbata, skating along the boards to the left of Howard. Vrbata's attempt went off Todd Bertuzzi's stick, which altered direction just enough to get it past Howard to cut the lead back down to one.

Neither team would score in the third. Howard and Bryzaglov each ended the evening with 29 saves.

The Red Wings will face the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.

Player Of The Game: Patrick Eaves. While Kris Newbury had an eventful first game, Eaves played 19:14 and got the key second goal that helped the Wings hold off the Coyotes.

Helm out, Newbury in

MrNorrisTrophy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:15:23 -0000

More photos » by Henry DiRocco - AP

wee!(AP Photo/Henry DiRocco)

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The word across Twitter and the blogosphere is that Darren Helm is out of tonight's game with a wrist injury. Supposedly it isn't all that serious but it will be enough to keep him out of the line-up. The Wings have called up Kris Newbury from Grand Rapids for tonight's game.

Do the Red Wings really need another injury? It's starting to get ridiculous.

Other note: I won't be able to post much in the next two days as I have finals and related stuff but will be back on the figurative horse soon after. Joe will be the game thread host for tonight and I may be able to get an analysis piece up tomorrow.

Woops moment of the day: I called for no injuries this week in The Obstructed View's first podcast. Woops.

2009-2010 Red Wings Season Preview

MrNorrisTrophy — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:00:38 -0000

More photos » by Carlos Osorio - AP

Maltby, Rafalski, Datsyuk, and Osgood are all crucial parts of the 2009-2010 team in their own roles(AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

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Gearing up in anticipation for the 2009-2010 NHL season, the folks at SB Nation have been running a series of season previews for each team. Today, you guessed it, is the day for the Detroit preview to be up. We here at Winging It are running our own preview and James Mirtle over at From the Rink will have his Detroit preview up. Be sure to check his out as well as ours and of course link them to your friends--yes, that was a shameless plug.

2008-2009 Season Review: After winning the Stanley Cup in 2008, the Red Wings were pretty much an automatic favorite for winning the 2009 Stanley Cup after adding Marian Hossa and Ty Conklin from the Penguins. I guess that's why they play the games then huh? Hossa was one of the key players throughout the regular season, scoring 40 goals and 31 helpers. In contrast to those high numbers during the regular season, Hossa's skills went missing in the playoffs and it hindered the rest of the team's success. I don't pin the whole loss of the Cup on Hossa because it is a team sport after all. Last year's team seemed to go through the motions at times, seemingly disinterested in what was going on on the ice. There were two games in which the opposition put up 8 goals and several games that slipped away for unknown reasons. Call it the Stanley Cup hangover if you want but I call it lack of chemistry and inexcusable complacency. I think the mindset of "offense offense offense" was deadly for the defensive focus and created lapses in good play.

Oh, there were good times too. I mean how can you go to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals and call it a bad season? There were so many times I felt the team was unstoppable and they looked so quite often. How else would they have garnered the number 2 seed? The Winter Classic was an incredible game in an incredible atmosphere at Wrigley Field. Or the 6-0 demolishing of the Sharks at the hands of Pavel Datsyuk's 2 goals and 2 assists was pretty incredible too. I've already done two posts on the great moments from last year's season so let's get to the rest of the preview shall we?

The remainder of the preview follows the jump...

Who's In (or back for seconds): Todd Bertuzzi (RW, Calgary Flames), Jason Williams (RW, Columbus Blue Jackets), Patrick Eaves (RW, Carolina Hurricanes)

Who's Out: Chris Chelios (Free Agent), Jiri Hudler (Moscow Dynamo, KHL), Marian Hossa (Chicago Blackhawks), Tomas Kopecky (Chicago Blackhawks), Mikael Samulesson (Vancouver Canucks), Ty Conklin (St. Louis Blues)

Team Strengths:

In net: Chris Osgood showed last season, the season before, and both playoff runs that he still has what it takes to be a top goalie. Yeah, sure he's had his spotty moments but that's the nature of the position. He still has the skills and Howard has shown enough in Grand Rapids to get the chance to split time. We could be witnessing the passing of the torch in the Motown net.

Defense: Chris Chelios is no longer on the team and Andreas Lilja will start the year on the long term injured reserve. But if it wasn't for these two circumstances Jonathan Ericsson wouldn't have gotten the chance to start the season with the Red Wings. Ericsson is an up and coming defenseman who shows too much skill and mental awareness to have just had "fluke success" in his time last year. His big frame is a much needed presence in the defensive end and he should work well with the speedy and energetic puck chaser Brett Lebda. Lidstrom and Rafalski are one of the best pairings in the league and Kronwall and Stuart have a perfect chemistry since both are skilled but physical defensemen. The key to the success of the 09-10 team lies in the defense. If they keep the pressure off of Osgood and feed the playmakers, the Red Wings can continue to play their trademark puck possession hockey.

Offense: The success of this offense lies with two guys-- Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are ferocious forecheckers and create opportunities in the offensive zone that shouldn't be there. By controlling the puck, they are able to feed their linemates or fire on goal themselves. Although we will probably see them paired together at some point, they are both great anchors for the top two lines. They both have similar lines with Holmstrom/Bertuzzi in front of the net and Franzen/Cleary as shooters so their point production should be high again. Johan Franzen will likely continue his high level of play but look for guys like Valtteri Filppula and Ville Leino to break out as secondary scorers in the absence of Jiri Hudler and Mikael Samuelsson. Darren Helm and Patrick Eaves could play great roles within the offense but I don't expect incredible seasons out of them just yet. Scoring depth and puck possession have been the main focus of the Red Wings in the past and there's no reason for it to change now.

Team Weaknesses:

In net: Last year, Osgood was backed up by a solid and proven netminder in Ty Conklin. This year, Jimmy Howard finally makes the move from Grand Rapids to Detroit but will it be a good run? The only reason I even speculate on this is because of his limited experience in the NHL. The former college stud waited his turn down in Grand Rapids and proved he was worthy to take the number 2 spot finally in Detroit. This is more of an uncertainty rather than a weakness in my opinion. The difference between the scorers AHL and the NHL is clear as day and it's hard to predict how a goalie will adjust. Hopefully, Howard will find the pace of the game very quickly because he will be called on often to fill in for Osgood to rest.

Defense: Last year's defense was pretty horrid at times and it showed in two 8 goal games and several 6 goal games. There was very uncharacteristically poor play by Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, and Stuart far too often for my taste. Pinching in the offensive zone at the wrong time created breakaways, confusion with assignments created shooting lanes, and sometimes just flat out bad defensive play were common during games last year. With the loss of the a lot of the offense from last year, there has to be a new focus on defense. Ericsson showed his knowledge of the game and skill; hopefully this translates to a cohesive third pairing and the top two lines are more likely than not to return to their former level of play.

Offense: Well the loss of 88 goals, or nearly 30% of last year's production, is nothing to overlooked by any means. Hossa was an elite scorer for the Red Wings and Hudler/Samuelsson were great playmakers. I don't know if the addition of Bertuzzi, Williams, and Eaves is enough to make up for that departure but they also may not need to if the identity of this year's team is focused on better defense rather than trying to outscore everyone. Another thing running through my mind is whether or not Tomas Holmstrom will be back to top form or somewhere close. If he's not close, the offense might sputter for a while before finding a new alternative. Good thing there's great scoring depth all the way down to the 4th line right?

Depth Chart: Here's a quick take on the depth chart, based on what the lines have been during camp. Babcock is the king of mixing it up so these lines likely won't stick for the whole year.

Tomas Holmstrom	Pavel Datsyuk	Johan Franzen
Dan Cleary	Henrik Zetterberg	Todd Bertuzzi
Ville Leino	Valtteri Filppula	Jason Williams
Kris Draper	Abdelkader/Helm	Maltby/Eaves

Nicklas Lidstrom	Brian Rafalski
Niklas Kronwall	Brad Stuart
Jonathan Ericsson	Brett Lebda

Chris Osgood

Jimmy Howard

Note: Abdelkader/Helm, Maltby/Eaves are double listed because of the likelihood that Babcock will frequently sit one for the other or in the event of injuries--such as Helm's.

Players in the minors that could make appearances: Jakub Kindl (D), Kris Newbury (C), Evan McGrath (C), Ryan Oulahen (RW), Daniel Larsson (G).

WIM Predictions:

Predictions are a tricky and sometimes risky business. One minute you can look like a genius, the next like a pure idiot. Part of me wants to say the Red Wings will be right back in the Stanley Cup while the other part of me isn't even sure we'll win the division. Chicago took gigantic steps towards re-establishing itself in the division over the past few years and took an even bigger step this past year signing Hossa. The rest of the division has drastically improved too but I still think it is a two horse race for the Central. That being said, I think Detroit has the goaltending, coaching, and team chemistry to still make a deep run into the playoffs. Bertuzzi, Williams, and Eaves all bring a certain hunger and grit to the team that can help protect the star players--something missing from last year's team. In the end, I think the only thing that will hinder the team's success could be injuries.

I'll say that Detroit will finish no worse than 3rd in the Conference in terms of points (not necessarily 3rd seed) and make it to the Conference Finals again.

Let's get your take on things!

Poll

Where will the Red Wings finish in the Western Conference?

1

310 votes

2

295 votes

3

74 votes

4

28 votes

5

7 votes

6

1 votes

7

1 votes

8

0 votes

9 or worse

7 votes

723 votes | Poll has closed

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

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

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

1 - New York Islanders: $23.265 (18)

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

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

2 - Phoenix Coyotes: $21.972 (18)

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

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

3 - Atlanta Thrashers: $19.599 (15)

RFA: Eric Perrin C 33.

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

4 - Nashville Predators: $17.913 (16)

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

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

5 - New York Rangers: $16.436 (13)

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

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

6 - Anaheim Ducks: $14.295 (17)

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

RFA: James Wisniewski D 25.

7 - Tampa Bay Lightning: $14.295 (17)

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

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

8 - Columbus Blue Jackets: $13.313 (20)

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

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

9 - Dallas Stars: $13.193 (19)

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

RFA: Mark Fistric D 23.

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

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

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

11 - New Jersey Devils: $12.129

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

RFA: Travis Zajac C 24.

12 - Toronto Maple Leafs: $12.022 (20)

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

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

13 - Chicago Blackhawks: $11.797

UFA: Aaron Johnson D 26.

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

14 - Colorado Avalanche: $11.654 (15)

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

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

15 - Montreal Canadiens: $10.454 (16)

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

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

16 - Los Angeles Kings: $10.285 (21)

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

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

17 - Washington Capitals: $9.720 (15)

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

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

18 - Buffalo Sabres: $8.976 (16)

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

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

19 - Florida Panthers: $8.405 (18)

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

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

20 - Carolina Hurricanes: $8.083 (18)

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

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

21 - Vancouver Canucks: $7.282 (18)

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

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

22 - Minnesota Wild: $6.296 (20)

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

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

23 - Edmonton Oilers: $6.404 (20)

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

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

24 - Detroit Red Wings: $5.554 (16)

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

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

25 - Boston Bruins: $5.340 (18)

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

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

26 - Ottawa Senators: $4.649 (22)

UFA: Mike Comrie C 28.

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

27 - Pittsburgh Penguins: $3.137 (19)

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

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

28 - Calgary Flames: $3.053 (19)

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

RFA: Dustin Boyd C 22.

29 - Philadelphia Flyers: $2.125 (20)

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

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

30 - San Jose Sharks: $1.774 (16)

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

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

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

PPP — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:45:08 -0000

More photos » by Jeff McIntosh - AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scenario One

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

Scenario Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What our rivals want:

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

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

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

Leafs 2 at Penguins 3: Back to Form

PPP — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:04:27 -0000

After Manchester United slumped to defeat at Anfield two weeks ago on the back of some terrible play, an own goal, and a Ryan Babel winner my cousin turned to me and, summoning up all of his rage, said "Whatever, Manchester United scored two goals today and Liverpool could only get one." While I tried to be the gracious winner I thought I guess that does take some of the sting out of it. So there you go Leafs, you won 4-1! And the rebuild rolls on!

Unfortunately, it was a familiar pattern to last night's game and closer to this recap of Monday night's game than this story. The Leafs once again struggled on special teams. All three goals came while special teams were on the ice. While they passed the puck around more or less nicely on the powerplay they did not create any clear cut chances until late in the third when the game was basically out of reach.

When the teams were at even strength is when it was most apparent that this was the pre-season. Both teams lacked any sort of fire. Even the attempts at creating some fire by Mayers and Newbury fizzled as Bissonette was more interested in smelling Jamal's head and Goligoski was more interested in running away from being held accountable for a hit from behind on Stapleton.

Ultimately, what this game proved was that it is indeed the first week of training camp. As with Monday night's game, while some individual insights can be superficially made any insightful conclusions are a long way from being formed.

The nature of the lineups on both sides meant that there would always be a feeling out process among linemates and opponents. Among the Leafs' aspirants:

Tim Stapleton might want to look into changing his cursed number since he did a lot to remind viewers of Kyle Wellwood from taking dumb penalties to being mostly invisible.
Bom-Bom did chip in an assist but it will not do much to change the overall conclusion that in this game at least he looked woefully out of place.
Frogren eagerly took the body but it cost him a penalty early since it took him out of position. He might want to look at changing from 24 just because of the connotations.
Stralman might be feeling the knee a bit more than is being let on. He lost his edge pretty easily and had a little less jump than usual. He did however look good blasting some shots on the PP.
Van Ryn looked good after making a poor clearance on the backhand prior to the first goal.
Pierre Maguire loved John Mitchell but other than a pretty good shift on the powerplay in the third it seemed like more of a case of not bringing attention to oneself for good or bad reasons.
Jiri Tlusty showed a few times that he might have found that extra half-stride that he needs. He steamed in shorthanded and set up Mayers nicely although I would have rather seen him take it to the net.
Ponikarovski did what he needs to do on the PP and that's be annoying in front of the net. It was a nice deflection that got the Leafs on the board.
Mikhail Grabovski potted a beauty with eleven seconds but he was really struggling to find his rhythm tonight.
Most importantly, other than when his teammates were channeling the spirit of their departed teammate or abandoning him completely Justin Pogge, the goalie of February, looked very good once again. It was limited action but he was comfortable and his large frame takes away a lot of the net.

All in all, what was on display, as I mentioned, was the process of developing chemistry between linemates. If not for the bad bounces against the Leafs this game would have been 0-0 heading into the third. The team did look more confident in their defensive system but they were not put under nearly the same amount of pressure as the Sabres put on them under.

It will be interesting to see what the papers will say tomorrow because this is definitely a case where people cannot get too low and draw too many broad conclusions from the game. It was one more step in developing the roster and getting all of the new pieces on the same page. At this stage in training camp that's more important than the score and on that note it was a success.

Once again, thanks to the following for participating in the game thread tonight. As the season progresses this will hopefully grow as everything else here has over the past few months. The bigger the group the better the therapy.

Name	# of Posts
Chemmy	29
koopa kid	19
eyebleaf	7
PPP	6
wrap around curl	5
blurr1974	3
Down Goes Brown	3
FrankD	2
leosc	2
Coach Dunbar	1