SB Nation User Blog: Down Goes Brown

This is the Doug Gilmour for MVP video that the Leafs made and distributed to the voters at the end...

Down Goes Brown — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:14:22 -0000

This is the Doug Gilmour for MVP video that the Leafs made and distributed to the voters at the end of the 1992-93 season.

Old Leaf/Hawks skirmish, featuring Johnny McIntyre.

Down Goes Brown — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:49:57 -0000

Old Leaf/Hawks skirmish, featuring Johnny McIntyre.

In the spirit of the big day, here's an adorable infant talking about Wendel Clark punching out all...

Down Goes Brown — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:22:17 -0000

In the spirit of the big day, here's an adorable infant talking about Wendel Clark punching out all your blood.

Wendel Clark facts

Down Goes Brown — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:11:18 -0000

As we build towards Wendel Clark Night at the ACC, here are some facts you may not know about the former Leaf...

The CN Tower was not recognized as the world's tallest building until 1985 when Wendel Clark walked by and told it to straighten the fuck up.

Upon the one year anniversary of his death, Harold Ballard was raised from the dead by Satan himself and granted dominion over Hell's infinite army of the eternal undead. However, he chooses to stay in his coffin anyways because he's afraid to make Wendel Clark mad.

The NHL officially considers any goal that makes Wendel Clark angry to be a "sudden death" goal.

Wendel Clark has spawned a bizarre variation of fan fiction in which graphic artists photoshop him into the uniforms of loser teams like the Islanders and Lightning, even though everyone knows he never played for those teams.

The Winnipeg Jets once angered Wendel Clark during a game, then voted as a team to move to Phoenix to "lay low for a few decades".

Midway through his season with the Nordiques, Wendel Clark decided it wasn't fair to the rest of the league to use the full force of his wrist shot, and vowed to only use 95% from now on. He loaned the other 5% to a young fourth line scrub named Joe Sakic, who has yet to return it.

The old Chicago Stadium was never scheduled to be demolished following the 1994 season. However, on his way out after the last game of the season, Wendel Clark slammed a door too hard.

Only one man has ever attempted to reach out and touch Wendel Clark's moustache. That man went on to become the drummer for Def Leppard.

Wendel Clark is the reason that Chuck Norris keeps his ass in the United States.

The Affirmative View: Decisions have been made the die has been cast

Down Goes Brown — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:11:00 -0000

Editor's Note: Since it looks like this Burke thing is as good as done why not take a look at where each side stands. For the affirmative I present DGB of Down Goes Brown fame who will outline exactly why the Brian Burke hiring should be a slam dunk.

Today's news that Brian Burke is leaving Anaheim and will presumably be landing in Toronto shortly has been met with a mixed reaction among Leaf fans. Many bloggers, most notably MF37, have made the case against Burke.

Well, for the first and probably only time, I'm going to be the voice of optimism in Leafland. I think Burke is a good choice for Leafs GM, and they should move forward with locking him up as soon as possible.

Here's why.

Cliff Fletcher is not the long-term answer

I love Cliff Fletcher. He gets permanent legend status in my book thanks to his work rebuilding the Leafs in the early 90s, and he's done a reasonably good job this time around.

But he's not the long-term GM of this team. The man is 97 years old. Yes, he could certainly finish the season if he needed to. But now he doesn't need to.

Burke's not the best GM in the league, but he's the best one available right now

No Leaf fan thinks Burke is a perfect GM (although you should be prepared to read plenty of articles today claiming that we do). He has his faults, and his record is spotty. Even his Cup-winning Ducks team was largely built by Bryan Murray.

Are there GMs out there who could be better fits? Sure. Lou Lamoriello comes to mind. Doug Wilson, Bob Gainey, and David Poile do too. (But not Jim Rutherford, please. We've been down that Carolina one-hit-wonder road once before.)

So Burke may not be the Mr. Right. But he is Mr. Right Now.

Those other guys aren't available now, and may not be for a long time. Yes, some could have openings to negotiate in the off-season, but that's far from a guarantee. The Leafs will always be able to find somebody, somewhere, who could be a better choice than the guy in front of them. At some point, you need to pull the trigger.

And remember, the most critical date on the Leafs calendar this year is the trade deadline. If at all possible, they should have their long-term GM in place by then.

Besides...

Burke's not the best, but he's still pretty good

No, his drafting record isn't great. No problem, since Cliff has already dealt all the Leafs draft picks.

Besides, draft success is largely a function of the scouting department, not to mention a healthy dose of luck. I'm not worried about Burke's success is small-ish markets like Vancouver and Anaheim. I want to know if he'll be able to build a top-level scouting staff in Toronto. Nobody has managed to do it yet, but if Burke can use his connections he may have a shot.

Beyond that, the most common knock on Burke is that he didn't really build the Ducks Cup winner. And while that's mostly true, it's still not fair. Dozens of GMs have inherited championship-calibre rosters without ever winning a thing. And that's just in Ottawa.

Burke may not have drafted Getzlaf and Perry, but he did hit a home run on a blockbuster trade (Pronger) and two huge free agent signings (Niedermayer & Selanne), not to mention adding solid pieces like Beauchemin, O'Donnell and Marchant.

As for not being able to manage the cap, I'm reserving judgement. The NHL has only had a salary cap for four years, and Burke won a championship one of those years. That's not bad.

Burke's arrival means Richard Peddie's departure

Burke is, as they like to say, a "strong personality". Put another way, he's kind of a dick. And while that may be bad news for the local media, it's great news for Leaf fans. Because we've heard several times that Burke will never come to Toronto if he has to deal with Richard Peddie. He wants the Colangelo Plan, or it's no deal.

That means that from the moment Burke walks in the door, Leaf fans should never have to see Richard Peddie empty suit on their TV screen again. And if Peddie breaks his promise, there's an excellent chance that Burke will kill him with his bare hands.

That alone is reason to want Burke in Toronto ASAP.

A great line brawl, highlighted by the Burke-vs-LaForest fight. Without question the greatest...

Down Goes Brown — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:03:00 -0000

A great line brawl, highlighted by the Burke-vs-LaForest fight.

Without question the greatest brawl of all-time between two teams coached by redheads.

Awesome clip from TSN the night the Gilmour trade was announced.

Down Goes Brown — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:47:59 -0000

Awesome clip from TSN the night the Gilmour trade was announced.

Tie Domi vs Magnus Arvedson, with hilarious commentary from Nick Kypreos. Check out Captain...

Down Goes Brown — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:37:44 -0000

Tie Domi vs Magnus Arvedson, with hilarious commentary from Nick Kypreos.

Check out Captain Classy with the stick swinging act at the end. I guess he couldn't find a puck to shoot at him.

Here's a little clip of current Leafs assistant coach Tim Hunter introducing himself to Doug...

Down Goes Brown — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:07:33 -0000

Here's a little clip of current Leafs assistant coach Tim Hunter introducing himself to Doug Gilmour. Rob Pearson actually responds. He never would have fit in on recent Leaf teams.

Other highlights:
- Midget wrestling (Ronning vs Gilmour)
- Momesso trying to set an NHL record by being third-man in on two fights on one shift
- Momesso running for his life when he realizes Bob Rouse is still on the ice

10 Random Leafs predictions

Down Goes Brown — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:06:32 -0000

We are just over a day away from the beginning of the season so it's time to make predictions for the upcoming season. Throughout the day we'll have a number of previews. I present to you the ray of sunshine in the overcast world that is the Barilkosphere and Honourary President for Life of the Mats Sundin Appreciation Society DGB from Down Goes Brown.

Wow, I'm posting on PPP! Is this how Jeremy Williams feels when he gets called up from the Marlies third-line to play a few games in the big leagues? Am I going to score at a goal-a-game pace for a week then never be heard from again?

Ah well. Here is a small helping of random and disconnected predictions for the upcoming year.

Ryan Hollweg will end a 17-year streak of Leaf fans loving their enforcers

From a half season of Craig Berube to Ken Baumgarter to Tie Domi to Wade Belak, Leaf fans have had a long run of having at least one widly popular tough guy in the lineup every season.

That will end this year. For the first time since Kevin Maguire in 1991, the Leafs' only enforcer will be a designated punching bag who'll be ready and willing but not especially able. It won't take long for Leaf fans to get tired of his nightly Kimbo Slice impression.

Jeff Finger will be a media favorite by November

The anti-Finger backlash is probably the most predictable element of the new season. But the flip side is that it won't take long for folks to realize that while he's not worth $3.5M, he's also not terrible. And that will lead to an emerging storyline of "Jeff Finger, so over-rated he's under-rated!"

The Leafs media loves to bring up Larry Murphy's rough ride but the truth is they barely made a peep in his defence when he was here. This will be their chance to make amends. Damien Cox already has his pro-Finger column written and he'll hit "send" on it the minute the first boos start to rain down from the ACC upper deck.

We're going to hear about Bryan McCabe, Darcy Tucker and especially Kyle Wellwood all year long

The same media that dogged them and worked to drive them out of town will breathlessly report on every goal these guys score all year long.

And god help us if Andrew Raycroft gets a shutout. The Star will need to print a special edition.

Speaking of McCabe...

Bryan McCabe will waive his no-trade clause to go to allow the Panthers to deal him to a contender at the deadline

Admit it, you hadn't thought of it but you're already nodding your head, aren't you?

Mats Sundin's return to the ACC will be a letdown

Yes, he's coming back. And when he finally gets around to cherry-picking a front-runner to join some time after Christmas, the hockey world will circle the date of his return to Toronto as a visitor.

But even assuming he doesn't pull a Clemens and fake an injury to get out of the game, Sundin's return will be anti-climactic. Half of Leaf nation will want to welcome him back and the other half will want to boo him, but both sides will be so worn down by six-months of indecisiveness that they won't be able to summon the passion to really let him hear it.

And of course, most of the suit-wearing corpses in the platinum seats won't even know who he is.

Two, and only two, of Jiri Tlusty, Nikolai Kumelin, Alex Steen, Jonas Frogren and Anton Stralman will take their game to the next level

And no, I don't know which two. But the truth is, if two guys from the list above can elevate their games to breakout status then that's pretty good. It's not that every young player has to exceed expectations, only that a few do. Two out of five wouldn't be too bad.

Especially since they'll be joined by another forgotten young player...

Carlo Colaiacovo will be one of the best stories of the season

Sure, he's always hurt. But what if he wasn't? For a guy who was considered a top prospect only a year or two ago, he seems to have been all but written off.

Colaiacovo hasn't developed into much of an offensive threat, but he's solid defensively and one of the best open-ice hitters in the league. If he could ever put even a semi-healthy season together, he could be a revelation.

(The best thing about this prediction: in the 90% likelihood that he does get hurt, I can shrug this prediction off as not being technically proven wrong.)

Jason Blake will be good this year

I know, I know. I've been as hard on Blake as anyone. And he deserves it -- he was awful last year.

But this year, Blake looks sharp. Whether he's come to grips with his medical issues or just decided to refocus after a tough year he's looked good in the pre-season. Here's betting that he puts together a decent year -- let's say 25 goals.

And that could be great news for the Leafs since if Blake plays well enough they may be able to find a sucker trading partner at the deadline to ship his albatross of a contract to.

Maybe they can even package him with...

Vesa Toskala will be dealt at the deadline

While deep down we all know Toskala is somewhat over-rated (if he's really a top ten goalie how come you can think of 15 guys better than him?), he's still a solid backstop who would be attractive to one of the handful of playoff-bound teams who always seem to have goaltending issues.

The Leafs will trade Toskala at the deadline for a good-but-not-great package, ride a worn-out Curtis Joseph into the ground down the homestretch, sign a veteran backup in the off-season and usher in the Justin Pogge era on a part-time basis in 2009-2010.

That last sentence had way too many hyphens.

Wendel Clark Night will be the highlight of the season

It will also result in approximately 100 posts on Down Goes Brown in the weeks leading up to the big night.

And when his number goes up, I will probably cry. (Or, as I'll refer to it in honor of his big night, "punching out all my tears".) I will tell my wife that I am having a problem with my contact lens.