Saturday nite, during another nasty and pointless Battle of Ontario, Mikhail Grabovski waded into harm's way to protect rookie teammate Carter Ashton by fighting Chris Neil. Grabovski's courage in fighting a much larger opponent fired up his teammates and inspired Leafs fans, giving us one of the only displays of pride and passion we've seen while this team has circled the bowl for the last two months.

via www.penguins-hockey-cards.com

Hockey Night in Canada analyst Craig Simpson didn't see it that way. During the replay of the clip, Simpson ignored Grabovski's courage or Neil's bullying cowardice. Instead, he spent a long time complaining that because Grabovski, who almost never fights, did not have his jersey tied down, he should have been ejected from the game. While this is tiresome garbage, Leaf fans have come to expect it from Simpson. After all, everyone knows Craig Simpson hates the Leafs. In fact, when he was in his draft year, he told the team not to draft him because he'd never play in Toronto, right?

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How do the Leafs escape the De-Playoff'ed Zone?

After yet another tragicomic death spiral, Brian Burke and co. are approaching a pivotal offseason. It is obvious that -yet again- major changes are required to the Toronto Maple Leafs as constituted. One can look at advanced stats to see how far away from real contention the team is, or one can simply look at the rosters of teams like Vancouver, Boston, Philadelphia, or Detroit and realize that, in layperson's terms, they have a lot more good players than we do.

Kim Jorn and I spent a good part of yesterday arguing over email about the Grabovski contract. I thought it was a fair price for one of our few truly irreplaceable players. Kim worries that by the time the next contending Leafs team comes around, Grabbo may be well past his best, a 5.5M anchor on the third line.

That got me thinking - how many players do the Leafs have right now who could be valuable contributors on a championship team in 3-5 years?

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Hello everyone,

Longtime lurker, first time poster. I have a minor league draft in my keeper league going on, and since I saw that post encouraging these kinds of questions, I thought I'd put my quandary to the brains here. I have a pretty good team young talent-wise in my 18 team league (inc. Freeman, Harper, Starlin, Lawrie, LoMo, Bumgarner, Snider, Mesoraco) and some other good pieces. My big need is pitching. The best P prospects in the minors are taken, so instead of taking a lower upside guy like Odorizzi, I want to take a higher upside P with ace potential. I have it down to Trevor Bauer or Dylan Bundy. I like both of them a lot, with caveats - Bauer's college workload is a concern; Bundy as a high schooler is harder to project and riskier.

Which one should I take, and why? Thanks for reading. 

"The draft is not the time to play it safe; it’s the time to swing for the fences." 

I think SkinnyFish summed up a lot of the disappointment many fans around here felt after the first day of the draft. After about two months of very little Leafs news, combined with seeing other teams make big #1C acquisitions, expectations ran high that Burke would, if not move up, at least land a couple prospects with high-end upside for us all to dream on. 

Instead, Burke traded the 39th pick and drafted Tyler Biggs and Stuart Percy. Both are well-regarded prospects, but the knock on both seems to be the lack of star-level upside. "Safe" was the word thrown around a lot last night. It's way too early to evaluate the picks themselves, but we can evaluate the strategy behind them. How do these picks make sense for an organization that at the NHL and prospect level has lots of nice pieces, but very little elite talent? 

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So last nite I headed up to the Pacific Coliseum to check out how last year's top Leafs draft pick Brad "Rad Boss" Ross was coming along. I'm no scout but I didn't have to be: he was impossible to miss.

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For the first time since before the fall of freaking Communism the Leafs have acquired a first round pick. And it seems like almost everyone around here hates the deal. Well, I think the Kris Versteeg trade was a pretty decent move for the Leafs. Grab your pitchforks and torches and join me after the jump!

(Thornton, Bancroft, Raycroft, Stajan, Wellwood - pray Burke won't use the picks on a Belleville Bull)

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A GODD TILL AND KIM JORN JOINT

Bates Battaglia. Garnet Exelby. Ken Klee. Aki Berg. Mark Bell. Alexander Khavanov. Kyle Wellwood. Ben Ondrus. Andre "Bell Biv" Deveaux. Jason Allison. Kris Newbury. Travis Green. Jason Blake. Clarke "The Original Clarke" Wilm. What do all of these players have in common? They all make your eyelid twitch involuntarily? Make you want to reach for the sweet relief of warm bourbon, so what if it is 11 AM, MOTHER? I'll tell you what they have in common: none of them are bad enough to crack the following list, the definitive accounting of the ten worst players to suit up during the worst era in franchise history. Indeed, as we survey the salted fields and locust-swirled skies of the last six years, a stretch so horrible you could make a list of the ten worst goalies alone and not include any of the current group (it's true, check inside), just being terrible wasn't bad enough. These ten had something extra.

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Editor's Note: Who wouldn't kill for a Cox Bloc flashback? Well, Godd Till doesn't want you to shed any blood so here is one without any prompting.

Congratulations to Bruce Dowbiggin and his grainy, Geocities headshot for being the first mittenstringer to take a crack at Dion Phaneuf. Today he lit into the newest Leaf godhead for his wooden media persona. The money quote:

It will be crucial for him – and for Toronto GM Brian Burke – that Phaneuf mature beyond the LaLoosh media clone if he's to fulfill his enormous potential and be considered a Norris Trophy candidate once more.

There you have it: Phaneuf's return to Norris form isn't about fixing his defensive lapses or regaining his goalscoring form, it's about whether he can learn to play pattycake with the Michael Landsbergs and Howard Bergers of the world.

Hey Bruce, for the thousandth time - we don't care about your job. A player's performance has absolutely nothing to do with whether he gives you the soundbites you like. Obviously we want players to treat the people they talk to with respect but beyond that, I'll take a grumpy Phaneuf over a Johnny Goodquote like Paul Maurice any day, thanks. William Houston knew he was reporting on the stories - you think you are the story. You're not. Kudos for waiting till Wednesday to rip the kid though, that must have been agonizing.

Leafs outplay Calgary most of the game and still lose going away. Positives - Luke Schenn, Gunner, Phil Kessel, Matt Stajan. Negatives - pretty much everything else.

Calgary got a quick three, and then, Bundy-style, asked for the five count. We almost hulked-up for the comeback, but then got squashed in the third.

So, playoffs is kinda definitely not happening, right? The only thing that ever seems to change is the way it all goes wrong. Give me some reasons to believe, after the jump.

Just when they think they know the answers, we change the questions. 

Let's hope the Leafs are more Roddy Piper and less Frank Williams. Third period with Very Special Guest Host Godd Till is GO, after the jump...

Today's Province:

Shots can be a fuzzy statistic. The Detroit Red Wings have led the league for years. That's when it's a good stat. The Toronto Maple Leafs have been in the top-10 for years. That's when it's a bad one.

Sometimes it indicates which team is controlling play. Other times, it's only indicative of a van full of bricklayers launching rocks at a goalie from the roadside.

2008-09 Goals For: Toronto - 250, Vancouver - 246. Some days I really hate living here.

Genius.

Yay, I tell you that there will be those amongst the non-believers who crow at the Guru's lack of success versus the infidels of the Blue and White. Let them know that God himself needed to rebuild the entire earth before finding his chosen people! The Guru's time with the Senators and Panthers was but the impetus for the new Genesis of glory that comes from finally being united with the chosen, Les Habitants! The Don River will run red with the blood and tears of the non-believers after the Guru brings hell to the House of Sodom known as the ACC! We will not be denied! The Guru will stand astride the NHL as a bilingual, stoic, shining beacon of fantastic! He will become the collosus that crushes all before him in a vice-like grip of defensive acumen married to the Canadiens already otherworldly offensive talents! You will not doubt him, or you will not be party to the glory and joy of victory! 

Editor's Note: Who says the Leafs can't win anything? All it takes is for one bitter Habs fan to take potshots at the buds.

Who's the worst owners in the NHL? Tampa? Phoenix? Not even top 5 according the hockey hacks at SI *coughmichaelfarbercough*, who know that MLSE is the worst of them all!

Here's the criteria: 

* Team's success or failure on the field.
* Willingness to spend money to improve the team.
* Stability and capabilities of the front office and management.
* Amenities at the team's venue.
* Club's culture and interactivity with fans.

Hmm. Getting 60% of those right, as MLSE have done (hint, 2-4) may get you through high school, but in competing with the tremendous ownership and management you see everywhere in the league, it's only good enough for LAST. My comment, crossposted from the piece at Mirtle's:

I can’t argue with MLSE’s placement (well, I could, but I don’t care to); this, though is ludicrous:

as MLSE is too busy running too many sports properties and breaking ground on too many real estate projects to pay enough attention to the Leafs.

I dunno, hiring Burke and Wilson and getting the hell out of the way is the exact amount of attention I want Larry and Peddie paying.

This is the best Leafs coverage in SI since the 'Most Hated Team In the League' piece. Memories!

Hey humanoids,

With the Leafs upcoming meeting with the Kings of Tank just around the corner - a game where MR KIM JORN will be in attendance - we're fielding questions for our next round of Ask an Isles Fan, your chance to interact with the fan of the team whose epic fail makes the life of a Leafs fan look like a bottomless milkshake. Ask Dick Ripietro about the next 72 years on his namesakes contract, for example! Fun!

Your questions in the comments please!

[Ed.'s Note: I had a previous commitment that kept me from witnessing Antro's heroic's which, seeing as I am probably his biggest supporter, was devastating. However, I recruited Godd Till from Cox Bloc to give you the recapping goodness that you expect. Thanks for taking over the duties!]

Your regular correspondent was unavailable so this recap of another Leafs victory in their relentless march towards the first of eight Stanley Cups is a Godd Till Joint.

One of Don Cherry's favourite hobby horses to beat us over the head with Saturday nights is "the shot's always a good play." Well, it certainly was tonight.

The first period was a microcosm of the Leafs early season form. Two quick goals by Matty Stajan and Mats, followed by some extended PP incompetence, and then they took the rest of the period off. Except Woz.

After Mr Magoo had allowed the Rangers to get back into it with a Girardi goal, he called another seemingly soft penalty. Make-A-Wish, on the penalty kill for some reason, ran over Toskala, allowing Tyutin to tie it up. It never made any sense to ever put him out there in the first place and even less so with Kubina back.

Fortunately, in the second period, a couple things happened. The Leafs continued to score on every second shot and Antro took over the game.

Seems as if the Leafs have found the solution to their PP problems as the decision to park the big man with the great hands in front of the net paid off with two tipped goals for his first hat trick since his rookie year.

Lundqvist was chased after two, but Valiquette could do no better, and the Leafs skated away with a 6-2 win. Not the greatest game but props to the boys for bouncing back from the first period meltdown to win going away.

BTW, I listened to this action on AM 640. The three best commercials:

1. "The network's down? What am I paying you for?" Yeah, that boss gets respect. And what's with the company prez using the terrorist voice modifier? I guess he always dreamed of being a robot.
   
2. Monaghan Lumber... KING OF THE WOODS!! Peterborough represent! Seriously, does the TO audience really drive 90 minutes to get lumber?
   
3. "Oh I guess these vans are really crappy, with lots of miles on them, eh?"

"No way eh, take off Wendel! They're top of the line vehicles with less than 65 000KM!" Wendel completes his hat trick of outstandingly hilarious commercials, right up there with the Chunky Soup ads and "Good book, eh?"

Next up, the Bruins running out the clock like they're Sparta Piestany FC tied 0-0 with Arsenal. I know what I'll be doing...