Toronto Maple Leafs

I was just getting back into the playoff swing of things and looking forward to taking in a Marlies game at the Ricoh, hopefully… Then the Marlies gave up three goals with under ten to go in Game 6 last night and lost out to the Grand Rapids Griffins. Meanwhile, the Bruins are walking over [more…]

March 4, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Red Wings left wing Jan Mursak (39) skates with the puck against the Chicago Blackhawks at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports It wasn’t quite as bad as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ meltdown last week against the Boston Bruins in Game 7, but the Toronto Marlies exited the post-season in heartbreaking fashion themselves tonight. The Marlies will not be making a return to the Calder Cup Finals this year after losing their series to the Grand Rapids Griffins 4-2. Toronto held a 3-1 lead on Tuesday night with under 10 minutes to play before Grand Rapids scored three unanswered goals to pull out a 4-3 victory in regulation. Where have we seen this before? Jan Mursak led the way with a goal and an assist for the Griffins in the third period to complete the comeback. Despite the loss, the Marlies deserve plenty of credit this year for still having a strong campaign, even though many of the players they relied on in 2011-12 were in the Maple Leafs lineup in 2013. Dallas Eakins has done a great job with that group and developing young talent in general, so it won’t be long before he lands an NHL coaching gig somewhere.

TORONTO — Luke Glendening’s goal at 15:57 of the third period spelled the end of Toronto’s season as the Grand Rapids Griffins rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to beat the Marlies 4-3 on Tuesday, and win the AHL Western Conference se...

(Editor’s Note: After being institutionalized following last week’s Leafs meltdown, I have been granted a day pass, allowing me to write this column). Shock. Anger. Disbelief. Those were the emotions felt by a team, an entire city, and its legion of fans following the Toronto Maple Leafs’ stunning collapse at the hands of the Boston [...]

In my last post, the focus was on assessing the Leaf goaltending and defense corps based on their performance during the 2012-’13 NHL season and mini playoff run. Today, let’s try to apply a similar approach and criteria in “grading” the blue and white forwards from this past season.The ForwardsTyler Bozak BWhy not start with one of the ligtning rod players? We all know the things Bozak is thought to do well—good skater, pretty solid on face-offs, can kill penalties, moves the puck nicely, Kessel likes him, yada yada. The down side in the minds of his critics is that he is not a first-line type finisher. (Of course, the issue has long been that he has been mis-cast, as opposed to him simply not playing well...) Since we’re not talking about “what he’s worth” today (that’s a whole other debate, but yes, it can’t help but tie in a bit here, I realize…) but simply looking back at how he played this past season, I think the assigned grade is fair. If you balance expectations and production, he contributed nicely. Would we miss him going forward if he leaves in free-agency? Maybe a fair bit, but maybe not—depending on who would slide into his slot.Mikhail Grabovski C+Grabbo supporters (or Carlyle haters, I’m not sure if they are the same folks) point to his supposedly poor utilization by the coach this past season for his lousy offensive production. The poor guy often had to check the other team’s best centers, eh? Horrors. But here’s the rub: that was his assigned job—to be a shutdown center while still contributing a fair bit at the offensive end. He was handsomely paid to do it. His raw “numbers” (in the regular schedule and against the Bruins in the playoffs) don’t take into account his “heart”, but those numbers simply are not good enough—full stop. Thus the grade: not good enough.Jay McClement B/B+If I did this solely based on expectations and how he handled his “role”, of course it would be higher. A third-line guy who is that versatile and was an impact player (penalty-kill, for starters) is pretty important on a team. He brought experience and by all accounts a great attitude and work ethic, so what’s not to like? I just have a hard time giving a player in his position an A, and ranking other guys lower than him when they have big-time (first, line, or whatever) responsibilities and expectations. My expectations were low, and he over-delivered.Nazem Kadri B+Again, given that we did not know if he was even going to be a regular on the roster this season, Kadri certainly surpassed expectations. In his first playoff opportunity at this level, while he was not always a standout, he was a physical presence and still created some challenges for the Bruins. He stood out during the season because of his elite vision, passing skills and feisty play. While he slipped back at times into old habits, I thought he worked pretty darn hard in the playoffs to get back on defence and be a factor in his own zone. The really important “grade” will be two years from now when he is in his mid 20’s and we will need him to be a consistent impact player at both ends of the ice. But this season was a major step forward, for sure.Matt Frattin C+Frattin, for me at least, falls into the category of player who, on his really good nights, can make you think he is a fairly high-end power-forward in waiting. Other nights when he is not focused or on his game, he seems like just another guy out there. Injuries and inconsistency made it a bit hard to assess, and while he was OK in the playoffs when given the chance, I did not walk away thinking he was absolutely going to be a key player down the road. Time will tell, so an uncertain grade.Colton Orr CBy all accounts he worked hard to became more than a tough guy, but the truth is, that’s still his role at the end of the day. I guess he did it well. I like the fact that he tried to finish his checks. But a limited player still.Frazer MacLaren CHard-working guy, but while he

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May 8, 2013; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Leo Komarov (47) with the puck against the Boston Bruins during game four of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs at the Air Canada Centre. The Bruins beat the Leafs 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports After being eliminated by the Boston Bruins in seven games, the Toronto Maple Leafs will now turn their attention to off-season plans. Each summer the major work that needs to be done is signing pending free agents. One such player who falls into that category at the moment as an RFA is Leo Komarov. Komarov probably wouldn’t be a large expense to re-sign, but the gritty winger may already have another fallback option. Komarov spoke to a Russian news agency and admitted to having discussions with Moscow Dynamo. He spent three seasons with the club before making his way to North America late last year to play with the Toronto Marlies. When it appeared the lockout was going to drag on, he returned to the KHL after just 14 games with the Marlies. Once the labour dispute was settled, Komarov joined the Leafs and had a fairly impressive inaugural NHL season. He contributed four goals and nine points, but his biggest asset was his rugged play, as Komarov finished fifth in the league in hits. If the Leafs can bring him back at a similar salary, it would probably be a wise move since Komarov proved to have an impact on the third line in a checking role. The good news is that he left Moscow Dynamo last year to come to the Leafs organization, so that’s probably where he wants to be if the financial terms can be agreed upon.

Noted pest Leo Komarov was in Russia to celebrate Dynamo Moscow's KHL championship. Komarov laced up for Dynamo during the lockout after returning from the Toronto Marlies as well as for three previous seasons. This translation was graciously provided by Fedor Fedin of the Caps blog Russian Machine Never Breaks. Leo Komarov to Sport-Express at Dynamo parade: - Are you happy with your season in the NHL?- Yeah. What should I be unhappy about? - You played mostly on the fourth line...- I had gone to the NHL to play and I played. We played like 55 or 56 games. I participated in 49 - it's alright. - But you didn't play a lot.- Why do you think so? I had like 14:30 per game. - Maybe it's time to come back to Dynamo?- My contract with Toronto is over. There are negotiations about coming back to Dynamo. Maybe. Or I could go to Australia, I think there's a hockey league, too. Dynamo coach Oleg Znarok didn't deny it: "If Leo says so, then it's true". Komarov then backed off a little as he was asked to comment by R-Sport I'm not gonna hide I've had talks about coming back to Dynamo, but I wait for Toronto offer. I don't think it's easier to make the Olympic roster from the KHL. Even though it's a shorter flight. In the end, my goal is to make the Sochi team. Now we can sit back and wait for this translation to hit the Toronto Sun's sports section.

By now you may have seen the mysterious “You Lit A Fire” ad that recently appeared in a Toronto newspaper. If not, you can view a copy of the ad here. Really, I can't recommend it highly enough.The ad is interesting for several reasons, not the least of which is that we don’t know who paid for it. But it’s that quasi-poetic and sort of creepy repeated mantra of “You Lit A Fire” that really makes it memorable. What does it all mean? Nobody seems to know for sure.But while the circumstances around this particular ad are a little bit unusual, these sorts of paid messages actually show up in newspapers fairly often this time of year. In fact, I’ve seen several similar ads in various newspapers around the league over the past few days.Just in case you don't believe me, I cut a few out out and scanned them for you. For example, this recently showed up in a Colorado paper. This one was in Vancouver... You know, maybe this guy should just stop dealing with the media entirely... This was in Boston, and it actually kind of explains a lot. I admire the effort, but I don't think this is going to work. Come to think of it, this one may appear annually in Calgary. And finally, this one just showed up this morning in a Toronto paper: Featuring 70 posts including 24 chapters of exclusive new material, The Best of Down Goes Brown is now available.Buy it today: Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Barnes & Noble | Nook | Chapters/Indigo | Kobo | iBooks

While there is said to be continuity between the two managers given their close working relationship for several years in the Leaf front office, Brian Burke was always more transparent and vocal than Dave Nonis when it came to how he ran his hockey team. For that reason, I’ve decided to research Nonis’ time with [more…]