SB Nation - Garnet Exelby

Thrashers at Leafs

Chemmy — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:13:42 -0000

Puck Drop: 7:00PM ET Sportsnet Ontario

Leafs' coach Ron Wilson says he hopes former players Nik Antropov and Pavel Kubina won't be feted with a ceremony tonight. - Jonas Siegel

Tonight marks the return of a player who wasn't fully appreciated in Toronto even after he left. He had issues with his knee while he was here and was a solid player but didn't fit Burke's idea for a rebuilding team and was shipped out. That player of course is Pavel Kubina.

I think we were all expecting to replace Kubina's offense with Francois Beauchemin's. Obviously that hasn't happened. What's odd is that Happy Trails dropped a 102.2mph bomb in the hardest shot competition, capping what must have been bizarro weekend as Rickard "They Glue A Stick To My Hands Because I Can't Be Trusted Not To Drop It" Wallin won the shot accuracy contest.

Other promising ex-Leafs with knee injuries playing for the Thrashers include Nik Antropov, who has only 2 goals this year (yikes) but has 21 assists to give him 23 points in 26 games. I don't think anyone here saw Antropov as a setup guy, but I'm assuming he plays with Kovalchuk and that should boost his assist total. Strange though, Antropov played very well down the stretch for the Rangers last year including scoring a bunch of beautiful top shelf goals from the faceoff circles, he'll probably find his game tonight knowing our luck.

Garnet Exelby back in against his former team. Jeff Finger scratched. Rickard Wallin in as well. - Jonas Siegel

Christian Hanson has been returned to the Marlies in what I hope is a planned move; bring the kids up to get a taste and then send them back down to work on problems. Hanson looked good aside from his first game up and I didn't see the Boston game (thank god), so he should understand what he needs to do.

The puzzling move here is Exelby for Finger. Burke needs to shit or get off the pot with Finger; he's a better defenseman than Exelby hands down but with a bigger cap hit. If we're not going to waive Finger we might as well use him rather than have his cap hit in the press box.

Gustavsson couldn’t pinpoint an exact return date—he’ll need the incision in his groin area to heal—but he said that this time around was definitely better than last.

"Feels like I have more power now after this procedure than after the last one," he said. - Eat. Sleep. Leafs.

Gustavsson will probably be out more than a week while the incision in his groin heals and Joey MacDonald got shelled in Boston which means in addition to Rickard "Useless" Wallin coming back into the lineup Vesa Toskala will be in net.

The Thrashers come in to tonight's game at 15-8-3, the Eastern Conference's #6 seed. I have no faith whatsoever in Toskala or Exelby and combined with the return of Kubina and Antropov as well as this being a weekday home game against a Southeast opponent tonight is going to be terrible.

Don't forget your SPG picks, and no you can't pick Antropov, check out Bird Watchers Anonymous for Thrashers coverage and go Leafs go!

My Heart is Crammed in My Cranium...

blurr1974 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:00:24 -0000

...and it still knows how to pound. It's the Monday after a long weekend and Frank Black is singing a song just for me.

Let's just get to the links.

Steve is wondering what kind of return Niklas Hagman and Ian White could net the Leafs.
On the flip side of that argument, the general takes a look at Garnet Exelby and Jeff Finger to determine who is the less useless.
Down Goes Brown reviews the year that was.
Sometimes I worry about LD...
Leafs Rumination went to a Marlies game. Then it goes downhill.
Toronto Sports Commentary likes the cut of the Leafs jib lately.
Kavel is throwing a party for himself like nobody's business.
MLHS talks about the heavyweight battle that never was.
The Blue and White Beat likes Colton Orr. A lot .
Would Jason Blake be an easier commodity to move had Burke hung on to Dominic Moore? Would the rumored $3M per Moore asked be worth it? Hockey Centric's Leaf blog is wondering the same thing.
Supposedly the Anaheim Ducks are just one of the many teams pursuing Niklas Hagman.

Maple Leafs 6 v. Panthers 4: Hagman and Kessel Have An Awesome-Off

PPP — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:00:13 -0000

LEAFS MAN inspired the Leafs' to victory.
What has Carlton done lately?

The Toronto Maple Leafs overcame an early 2-0 deficit to beat the Florida Panthers 6-4. By early I mean that the Panthers scored two goals in 53 seconds and Jonas Gustavsson looked like he might be in for a short night. Of course, he showed his ability to recover by stoning the Panthers on a breakaway and making a couple of big saves to keep the Leafs down only two. That set the stage for Phil Kessel to begin the Leafs' fightback. First off: don't the Leafs score some pretty goals against the Panthers? Here's Hagman's epic snipe from last year:

And here is Philty Phil Kessel's gorgeous goal. Aside from leaving Keith Ballard red-faced and bare-assed after the undressing I was really impressed with the cool, well-placed finish. Rather than try to hammer a puck home he just slid it through Alexei Ponikarovsky's wonderful screen:

Phil "Marc Savard Me Him" Kessel now has eight goals in 12 games (55 goal pace) and three assists none of which involved Marc Savard. Weird. The best part of that goal was the assist that Luke Schenn got for blocking a shot which bounced to Kessel. That's the third assist a Leaf has gotten off of a Kessel goal by getting him the puck in the Leafs' own zone. The first goal might have started the comeback but the second helped revive a Leafs team that could have been on the verge of folding after a heart-breaking fourth Panthers goal. Good thing he tied things up again 13 seconds later.

Going goal for goal with Phil Kessel is Niklas Hagman. He added two more tonight - one via a Ponikarovsky pass and another on the back of Christian Hanson's excellent forechecking - now has 13 goals in 23 games. Keep in mind that his career high is 27 goals in 82 games which he potted two years ago with Dallas. After a listless two goals and one assist start to the season Hagman has eleven goals and three assists in eighteen games since he was sent to the press box. I wonder if Ron Wilson will get any credit for the improvement?

The third head in this hydra of productive Leafs' forwards was Alexei Ponikarovsky. He added a goal and three assists but his most valuable contribution was showing what happens when forwards go to the net properly. He created a screen on Kessel's goal and then potted his on the powerplay because, instead of standing to the side of the goalie like every other Leafs' forward, he was planted right in front of Tomas Vokoun.

Gustavsson didn't have his best game but he made the big saves when the team needed them (except on the goals). The second on was very weak, the third wasn't helped by the presence of Garnet Exelby in the crease, and the fourth was knocked in my Gustavsson's blocker as he scrambled back after the Leafs' penalty killers allowed a slick cross-box pass. Speaking of penalties, Pierre Champoux was the cause of one so terrible that the ref apologised to Beauchemin after the game.

The Leafs were not able to get a lead until Hagman put them up 5-4 but once they did they did a good job of shutting things down. While they were pressured in their zone a couple of times they did well to prevent any great scoring chances other than a Nathan Horton blast that went over the net.

So as was pointed out, the Leafs are 6-4-6 since their 0-7-1. That's good for 18 points out of 32 available during those 16 games. That's pro-rates out to 92 points over a full season which would put them right where most fans expected them to be: scratching and clawing for the playoffs. They are on an honest-to-goodness winning streak and get a Saturday off to rest up for the upcoming games against the Bruins on Monday before heading out on the road for three tough games in Montreal, Columbus, and Boston.

On a final note: Congratulations to Tomas Kaberle who moved into second spot on the Leafs' all-time defencemen scoring chart with Tim Horton.

Poll

Who was the player of the game?

The Worst Hangover Ever...

blurr1974 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:00:30 -0000

That's how this season is starting to feel like for me. The funny thing about hangovers though. No matter how bad they are, you invariably find yourself in the same position again at some point.

Bloge Salming's new video says...well, I really have no idea what it says.
Ever the glass-half-full kind of guy, eyebleaf still holds out hope that the Leafs can turn it around. Failing that, the head of Ron Wilson.
Jared gives you two game recaps in one link. What a guy!
Dr. Steve takes a quick look at some of the impressive draft day work of JFJ, and breaks down the Flames game as well.
Hungry Leafs Fan had a close encounter with the XLBeast and the Monster.
TSM is curious about what Brian Burke's next move should be. There is also the news that this week brings at least two must wins and with three games on the docket, the Leafs to the quarter mark of the season.
Vintage Leafs posts more sweet shots from years gone by, including another one of Rick Vaive. Giggity.
Taking the long view, Kavel goes back a whole 7 days to recap the week that was.
MLHS recaps the Leafs and Flames game. Result, another moral victory.
Norman James is not having fun this season. Moral victories or not.
TML Fan Fury wonders if there's really anything at all to lose by trying Mikhail Grabovski and Phil Kessel on a line together.
Toronto Mike is begging the Leafs to leave the 80s be.
TML Central is a little worried that all these losses might impede the Leafs playoff hopes.
Leaf and Lion has a theory about curses
Kohma takes apart the Leafs, player by player.

GMs change tune on head shots

James Mirtle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:24:13 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

Browse more photos »

"The hitting in the game is great, but every once in a while you have to sit back and say, ‘That hit may be legal, but is there something wrong with it?' The only issue I have is when the player is vulnerable, there is a blindside hit and the only contact is made to the player’s head.

"If there are three or four of those a year, maybe we can attack and eliminate a lot of them."

– Capitals GM George McPhee

If we're looking at a rule change that's only going to come into play three or four times a year, it's obviously not going to be all that radical, but this is at least a tiptoe in the right direction for the NHL. It shows that GMs are taking the concussion issue more seriously and that they're listening to what a large majority of their fans – and players – are calling for.

This, combined with improvements in equipment like the new helmet Mark Messier is advocating for and less rigid shoulder pads, will hopefully help reduce numbers like these.

Speaking of the the new bucket, the GMs heard the spiel from Messier and company today as part of their meetings in Toronto and came away pretty impressed. Brian Burke said he's going to outfit the team's AHL club with the helmets as a trial run, which leads me to believe we could be seeing NHL clubs in them as soon as next season.

I had a chance to talk to one of the few players wearing one this season earlier today in the Leafs' Garnet Exelby, and he gave it a glowing review (story should be at globesports.com later tonight). Exelby's already had three concussions in his career and for obvious reasons sought out the helmet this summer when he heard about it.

I'm sure other players will do the same once word gets around.

Fist Pump Friday!

blurr1974 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:20 -0000

In case you need some instructions, I present to you the following step by step graphic.

Jason Blake's screen saver. (via www.guidofistpump.com)

The Leafs play the Hurricanes tonight. The last time we met, Jason Blake was highly motivated to make a fool out of Paul Maurice. I'm hoping he hasn't forgotten that feeling...

Dr. Steve has been busy, with two posts. The first, a comparison of Jeff Finger vs. Garnet Exelby then he takes a look at what the November schedule has to offer.
The Bitter Leaf, mf37 tries to put some context into the Leafs acquisition of H1N1 shots.
The Truthulence has a few words about Phil Kessel.
Loser Domi's youTube yoinkage is back, and this week, it's all about the mustache.
MLHS wants Habs fans to know, Mike Komisarek is playing like an all-star, for the Leafs. They are also liking the line up changes, and has the Leafs most recent line combinations from practice, as well as some predictions of how they could look after the trade deadline.
Kavel Pubina is writing a letter to MLSE's marketing folks.
Frozen Leaf can feel the wins, just around the corner.
Hockey Independent is reporting a turn away from truculence and to congeniality.

You Can't Win 'Em All, Sometimes You Can't Win Any

Chemmy — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:49:11 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

Olé!

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Well last night stunk and this night might not be much better. The Colorado Avalanche started this year in much the same boat we did. Everyone picked the Avalanche to be a lottery team but unlike Toronto the Avs have come out gunning and have quickly silenced their critics.

Craig Anderson has done a respectable job in net for the ex-Nords and the return of Paul Stastny hasn't hurt at all. 3rd overall pick Matt Duchene has acquitted himself well and Wojtek Wolski looks to be back on track after a down year last season.

Meanwhile back in Toronto things aren't going well. The locker room is stressed out and players are gripping their sticks tight trying to force something to happen. The good news is that after tonight the Leafs only play 1 game in eleven nights (!) which should give them some time to stop the bleeding.

In tonight: Viktor Stalberg, Tyler Bozak (1st NHL game), James Reimer, Garnet Exelby

Out tonight: Vesa Toskala (terrible), Niklas Hagman (healthy scratch), Matt Stajan (healthy scratch), and a defenseman to be named later presumably.

Joey MacDonald gets the start, let's see if the Leafs play a 2nd solid game in front of a non-Toskala netminder. Remember your SPG picks and clean yourselves up you slobs, SBNation's Avalanche blog Mile High Hockey will be dropping by in the first period. We'll go on a field trip to Denver in the second.

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.

Browse more photos »

~~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.

Rangers Pregame: Scouting the Leafs

Jim Schmiedeberg — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:00:28 -0000

Let's take a look at tonight's opponent, the Toronto Maple Leafs:

Toronto Maple Leafs

Head Coach: Ron Wilson

2008-09 Record: 34-35-13 (did not make playoffs)

Last Season vs. Rangers: 3-1

Stars:

Vesa Toskala

#35 / Goalie / Toronto Maple Leafs

Height: 5-10

Weight: 195

Born: May 20, 1977

More after the jump......

Luke Schenn

#2 / Defenseman / Toronto Maple Leafs

Height: 6-2

Weight: 216

Born: Nov 02, 1989

Who's In:

Francois Beauchemin, Tyler Bozak, Garnet Exelby, Jonas Gustavsson, Christian Hanson, Phil Kessel, Mike Komisarek, Colton Orr, Wayne Primeau, Rickard Wallin, Viktor Stalberg

Who's Out:

Boyd Devereaux, Martin Gerber, Ryan Hollweg, Curtis Joseph, Olaf Kolzig, Pavel Kubina, Brad May, Jaime Sifers, Anton Stralman

Toronto Maple Leafs 2009-10 Season Preview from Pension Plan Puppets, the SBNation Community for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Maple Leafs Notes:

Daily Notes on the Leafs from Pension Plan Puppets

Peter Pocklington says Oilers-Leafs almost swapped cities (Globe and Mail)

Bold moves could avert Leafs disaster (Toronto Star)

Open-Ice Hits

Hawerchuk — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:45:56 -0000

More photos » by FRED CHARTRAND - AP

2 months ago: Ottawa Senators' Daniel Alfredsson, of Sweden, is hit by Atlanta Thrashers' Zack Bogosian (4) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

Browse more photos »

Most hits occur along the boards. No big surprise there. But how many hits is "most"? I classified any hit inside the red area below as an open-ice hit:

Approximately 75% of all hits occur within 10 feet of the net or the boards, while less than 5% happen in "open-ice." After the jump, the league leaders in open-ice hits...

This table includes both 2007-08 and 2008-09. There isn't much overlap between the two lists - the hitters are big defensemen and aggressive forwards; the guys who get hit include a lot more playmakers and scorers. I was surprised to see both Darcy Tucker and Sean Avery in the top 12 for taking hits - perhaps there are a lot of players in the league who are gunning for them in open ice.

Hit For	#	Hit Against	#
Dustin Brown	47	Alexander Ovechkin	46
Douglas Murray	39	Evgeni Malkin	37
Keith Ballard	33	Sidney Crosby	31
Alexander Ovechkin	30	Dustin Brown	26
Garnet Exelby	28	Derek Roy	22
Brooks Orpik	27	Ales Hemsky	21
Dion Phaneuf	27	Ryan Kesler	21
Cory Sarich	26	Tuomo Ruutu	21
James Wisniewski	25	Alexander Semin	20
David Backes	25	Valtteri Filppula	20
Toni Lydman	24	Darcy Tucker	19
Ed Jovanovski	23	Sean Avery	19
Niklas Kronwall	23	Scottie Upshall	19
Ruslan Salei	22	Matt Stajan	19
Chris Phillips	21	Brooks Laich	19
Dan Girardi	21	Loui Eriksson	19
Martin Hanzal	21	Chad LaRose	18
Dan Hamhuis	20	Mike Richards	18
Freddy Meyer	20	Devin Setoguchi	18
Ryan Malone	20	Alex Kovalev	17
Brent Seabrook	20	Corey Perry	17
Anton Volchenkov	19	Mikhail Grabovski	17
Shane Doan	18	Mike Ribeiro	16
Hal Gill	18	Erik Cole	16
Brendan Witt	18	Patrick O'Sullivan	16
Andreas Lilja	18	Maxime Talbot	16
Colton Orr	18
Steve Ott	18
Tuomo Ruutu	18