My Toronto Maple Leafs

Carlo Colaiacovo Keeps Coming Back

July 31st, 2008, Comments Off

Drafted 17th overall in 2001, Carlo Colaiacovo was a promising young defenseman that had 136 points in 210 games played with the Erie Otter of the OHL. Carlo had also played twice with the world juniors, where he collected 13 points in just 13 games.

The Leafs tried to get him to reach his full potential, but injuries held him out of many games. Just this past season he missed 46 games with a knee strain, then missed the remainder of the year with a groin pull. Is Colaiacovo really worth all of these problems? Sure he’s a great defenseman when he’s there, but the question is, is he there enough?

In four seasons with the Maple Leafs, Colaiacovo has played just 101 games with only 32 points; however, Colaiacovo has said, “I’m out to be a new man.” His goal is to play all 82 games in the upcoming season. Colaiacovo has established himself as a top four defenseman, but can he live up to it?

My question to you is will Colaiacovo’s knee and groin be able to play all 82 games?

Bryan McCabe and Jason Spezza: Two Peas in a Scapegoat Pod.

July 31st, 2008, Comments Off

I’ve only really ever lived in two areas—Toronto and now Ottawa. Both are Canadian cities. Both are capitals (Toronto is Ontario’s, Ottawa is Canada’s). Both enjoy their hockey. While both of the cities’ respective teams may be different in standings, style, and recent success, they both contain talented players who often receive criticism.

Bryan McCabe is a quality defenseman, who, when healthy, is a physical presence as well as a threat from the point. Jason Spezza is a playmaking forward who has more moves than a discoteque. Both these players have contributed to their teams in many ways, yet when something goes awry, they`re the first to be blamed.

Last season was tumultuous for Bryan. With comments abounding that he is not a part of the future of the Leafs, it is hard to remember that only a few seasons ago he was being hailed as one of the top offensive defenseman.

It is unfortunate to see a player of his calibre depicted as the root of failure in a town that is so wrapped up in their team that they look to scapegoat players to relieve their grief.

A similar situation is present in Ottawa. Spezza’s highlight reel boasts many beautful plays, including maneuvers that made Toronto look like a peewee hockey team in a preseason game. If Spezza does not back-check efficiently, however, these sparkling highlights are forgotten.

My question is why.

Why do both these cities have such a lack of appreciation for these two players’ contributions? Why is it so easy to chastise both of them for simple mistakes?

They are highly skilled athletes who are competent enough to be playing a game which I love to watch. For one second, allow your dislike, hatred, aggression, and need to blame fall away and appreciate what they do offer their organizations. If you do, even for a moment, they’ll stop being scapegoats and again become hockey players. Athletes. People. As we all know, everyone makes mistakes.

Vermette, Senators avoid arbitration; will the rumors end? (Yahoo! Sports)

July 31st, 2008, Comments Off

Aw, man … just when we were starting to get some really inspired Antoine Vermette trade rumors — like the…

Scouts claim John Tavares may no longer be the Next One (Yahoo! Sports)

July 31st, 2008, Comments Off

"People have been telling me I’ll be No. 1 for a long time and expectations grow … I’ve been playing in…

What Ever Happened to: Felix “The Cat” Potvin?

July 30th, 2008, Comments Off

            Look familiar? Well he should.

 Felix Potvin, drafted 31st overall by the Maple Leafs in the 1990 entry draft. Potvin didn’t waste much time as he took over the number 1 position in the 91-92 season. Without looking back, Potvin quickly grew popular as the Leafs were once again on the right side of the tracks…the winning side. But once the wins started to diminish, it was also “The Cat’s” turn to diminish as he was traded to the Islanders for Bryan Berard.

   Over his 14 year career Potvin played for 5 teams. The Maple Leafs, Islanders, Canucks, Kings and the Boston Bruins. Potvin fell off the radar after his time with the Leafs as he was moved around and didn’t quite produce. Finally the Kings gave him a shot. With a great run throughout the season and continued into and upset over the avalanche in the playoffs, “The Cat” was back. Or was he?

  Question is this: Why, at the age of 35 would potvin retire? In his day he was a premiere goaltender. Well here’s the thing, 15 years ago the Nhl was not as stacked with fresh young  talent as there is now. Being the age he was it was time to hang the skates up. No body wanted Potvin as there number 1. Most teams have hit the developmental stage by then. So that being said instead of sitting on bench and filling in the #2 position, Potvin decided he was done.

   For Leaf Nation he was defiantly missed once he was gone. But he will also be greatly remembered as one of the best goaltenders the leafs have ever drafted. Do you think Potvin will ever wander back to the Maple Leafs, even though it will be in coaching or  management? I believe so. Toronto was his home and left a mark in his heart. Mark my words “He’ll Be Back”

Takin’ a T/O With BT: The Bargain Basement Veterans of Free Agency

July 30th, 2008, Comments Off

Have you ever been to a garage sale late in the day? Chances are the sale’s been going for a few hours, all of the “quality” merchandise is gone, and the bargains have started coming out.

As you walk the driveway, you notice a box full of old records and start rummaging through it, hoping that you’ll find that one treasure that no one else was able to find.
Whatever it is—be it Elvis, ABBA, the BeeGees, or Queen—the moment it hits your hands, you know you’ve found your diamond in the rough, and a record that would sell for some outrageous price on the open market out of a retail outlet, is yours for fifty cents.

That’s kind of what August is like for the NHL—by mid-July, a lot of the quality free agents are off the market, leaving teams to scrape around the bottom of the barrel, looking for players to fill out their roster and maybe find a quality character guy, or a player who could put up ten or fifteen goals.

So with August one day away, who are the best of the rest in NHL free agency this season? Well the obvious answer is Brendan Shanahan, Teemu Selanne and Mats Sundin, but obvious isn’t fun, so get ready to dig a little deeper and journey through some of the veterans remaining on the NHL free agency list.

Remember, this isn’t so much the “best of the rest” as it’s…well…the rest.

Glen Murray and Mark Parrish

We’re going to start the list off with recently bought out forward Glen Murray―a former 30-goal scorer who became hindered by a defense-first system (and barring a waiver claim, Parrish will be bought out).

Teams may first shy away from Murray because of his age. At 35, the legs that propel that 6′3, 215 lbs frame are going to start to slow, and his hands may not be as soft as they used to be, while his numbers from last year (17 goals, 13 assists in 63 games) may not do much to diffuse his downward trend.

Don’t be fooled; Murray has proven to be one of the few big men that hasn’t been hindered by the lockout and the infusion of free-range hockey.

Despite last season’s less-than-stellar showing, Murray scored 24 and 28 goals in the years following the lockout, and if he had played in those extra 19 games he missed with a hip flexor injury last season, Murray could have easily broken the 20 goal barrier for the sixth straight year.

Thirty-five or not, a team in need of a big strong forward who has a nose for the net should eye up Murray, who was more of a cap casualty (He was making $4.15 million this season) than anything.

Speaking of cap casualties however, the Minnesota Wild seem to be ready to part ways with Mark Parrish, as they’ve waived the veteran forward who still has three years remaining on his contract.

At $2.65 million this season, a player of Parrish’s potential offensive output seemed to be a bargain by today’s standards, but the Wild didn’t think so.
Since signing with the Wild, it seemed that Parrish had trouble finding the net—or that Jacques Lemaires had trouble getting his team out of the neutral zone—as Parrish had two consecutive years with less than 20 goals.

To put that stat in perspective, the only season in the NHL before that which Parrish had fewer than 20 was in 1999 with the New York Islanders.

Parrish is still at a prime age for an NHL player (31), and surely has the ability to still put the puck in the net if he can find himself a nice, offensively-minded system to settle himself into.

Stephane Yelle

Some teams (specifically the younger, rebuilding teams) don’t need scoring as much as they need responsible, team-oriented, experienced players. This would be where Stephane Yelle comes in.

Yelle will never be a break-the-bank signing (he made $1.25 million last season), but in a lot of ways he’ll never get the recognition he should.

On younger teams, Yelle can teach the value of being responsible for your man, the importance of killing penalties, and the art of blocking shots. Having never been a goal scorer in the NHL, Yelle can also teach players the importance of what they’re doing when they aren’t scoring goals.

That, and he’s got a hard-earned Stanley Cup ring to boot.  If that doesn’t perk up the youngsters eyes and ears, they may want to consider a career as a Realtor.
To be completely honest, if the Leafs weren’t already full-up on forwards, I’d push for them to sign Yelle. In fact, I’ve wanted to see him in Toronto for years.

But because he’s 34, and due to the way he plays the game, Yelle may not have a lot of years left in his career.   One has to wonder whether he’d take on a leadership role with a rebuilding team, or if he’d rather take on a lesser role with a winning team.
Either way though, some team is going to get a hell of a player.

Jassen Cullimore

Aside from his Stanley Cup ring, you may only know Jassen Cullimore as one of the players that the Montreal Canadiens were able to acquire from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Sergei Samsonov.

Cullimore isn’t worth much more than last years’ $535,000 salary anymore, but as an extra defenseman on a team looking for experience, you can’t really go wrong. That, and he was a plus-21 on the Florida Panthers last season

Martin Lapointe

The man that played the Boston screwjob perfectly: Following a 27-goal season in 2000/01 with the Detroit Red Wings and two Stanley Cups in the mid-90’s, Lapointe went to Boston and watched his production dissipate while signed to a pricey, four-year contract.

Following a total of six goals last season (spent between Chicago and Ottawa), no one is going to sign Lapointe and expect point production. They’re going to expect a physical presence, some experience, and a two-way presence. He may be worth a training camp invite at this point in time.

Bryan Smolinski and Yanic Perreault

Neither player has blow-away offensive skills, but both can still win faceoffs at any point in the game.
The fact that Smolinski was unable to score in his final 9 playoff games last season is a deterrent, although Perreault missed 21 of Chicago’s last 27 games last year due to injury.

If your team is looking for a faceoff specialist to play low-line minutes and there isn’t an NHL-ready player on the roster to fill that role, then these two are worth the consideration

Needless to say, there are a lot of familiar names on here that may or may not have what it takes to play in NHL for a few more seasons.  There aren’t that many “no-name” free agents out there that I’d be willing to give an opportunity to win a spot on my favorite team, so the best strategy at this point in time is to fill from within.

That is, unless your hell-bent on your favorite team signing Jordan Sigalet, Prestin Ryan, or Jari Viuhkola. If that’s the case, I’m pretty sure they’re still taking contract offers.

Bryan Thiel is a Senior Writer for Bleacher Report and an NHL Community Leader. If you want to get in contact with Bryan, you can do so through his Profile, and you can also check out his past work in his archives.

Mats Sundin’s Decision: Will He Stay or Will He Go?

July 30th, 2008, Comments Off

With only a few days until Mats Sundin has said that he will make a decision regarding his NHL future, fans continue to wonder what he will do.

At this point, it’s obvious that Sundin is not in it for the money; however, after all this time, it is hard to imagine that he is ready to call it quits without a Stanley Cup. If he’s in it for the cup he’s not going to find it wearing blue and white. A team in the middle re-building is not the place to play (what would probably be his last season) for a Cup.

Sundin made it very clear at the trade deadline that the team he starts the season with is going to be the team that he ends the season with.

In my mind, Sundin will be returning the NHL, but not to the Leafs. Maybe Pittsburgh?  

Young Leafs: The Carlo Colaiacovo Saga

July 30th, 2008, Comments Off

Carlo Colaiacovo’s career in hockey can be summed up by this: when you type his name into Google Image Search, the first photo returned shows him skating off the ice with the assistance of a trainer. Every fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs knows Colaiacovo’s story. Top prospect, first round pick, world junior star, sky-high potential—all of it ruined by injury.

Colaiacovo was selected in the first round of the 2001 draft, 17th overall, by the Leafs. He was considered an elite defense prospect and anchored Team Canada’s blue line at the World Junior Championship for three straight years. Alas, the first revelation of the hero’s fatal flaw came in his final year of junior with the Erie Otters, when injuries and an appearance at the World Junior limited him to just 35 games.

In five seasons since then, Colaiacovo has missed a whopping 179 games with the Leafs and Toronto Marlies—an average of 36 games per season—due to injuries ranging from a concussion to knee damage to a broken hand. Every time Colaiacovo returns to the line-up and starts to get into a rhythm, he gets hurt again.

This has greatly hindered his development. His career high is 48 games in 2006-07, when he put up eight goals and nine assists. No one doubts Colaiacovo’s ability, though. When healthy, he’s a devastating hitter with good shutdown ability and some offense. He’s got the talent to be a legitimate top four defenseman at the very least.

Heck, if not for his lengthy injury list, I have no doubt he’d be making up the top pairing with Tomas Kaberle right now. But the fact of the matter is that Colaiacovo isn’t on the top pairing, and he isn’t always healthy. His woes have caused him to be leapfrogged on the depth chart by Anton Stralman and, to an extent, Ian White.

Colaiacovo will most likely come into camp competing for a spot on the third pairing, and that’s even if Bryan McCabe or Pavel Kubina is dealt. If he stays healthy (a colossal ‘if’), he will have the opportunity to work his way into the top four, but that would require outplaying either Stralman or Jeff Finger.

Colaiacovo is in much the same situation Nik Antropov found himself in last year. He’s coming into training camp facing a make-or-break season. If he stays healthy, he has the chance to take on a bigger role, but if he doesn’t, he’s likely gone. We all know what Antropov did last year.

That doesn’t mean Colaiacovo will thrive this season, but maybe he can learn from his Kazakh teammate. Be confident, pick your spots, and use your skills on a more consistent basis. Those are the keys to a successful year for Carlo. Let’s hope that top-end talent will finally shine through. But I wouldn’t bet the family pig on it.

Prediction: 54 games, 10 g, 16 a, 26 pts

Leafs Talk Today Off and Running

July 30th, 2008, Comments Off

Last week I told you about a new online radio show that I would be co-hosting with Derek Harmsworth called Leafs Talk Today.

After an initial snag, we did the first episode on Monday morning. Despite some audio issues, the show went off extremely well and has attracted almost 250 listeners (live and on-demand) in the past two days.

In the first episode, we talked about Mats Sundin, Luke Schenn, Glen Murray and Jonathan Toews, among others, and Alan Bass joined us to take a look at the Philadelphia Flyers’ offseason moves.

Alan stuck around for the first segment of “Around The Rinks”, which features one NHL division per episode and looks at the offseason changes made by each team. In episode one, we looked at the Pacific Division.

Episode two of Leafs Talk Today ran this morning at 9 AM ET. Topics included Bryan McCabe, Jay Bouwmeester, and Joe Sakic, and we introduced three brand-new segments. Alan joined us again for “Around The Rinks” as we took a look at the Central Division.

You can hear both episodes on-demand right here. The next episode is coming soon, so keep an eye out.

Also, if you’d like to appear as a guest on Leafs Talk Today (especially if you’re a fan of one of the Northwest Division teams, since we’re doing them next), please drop a note to Derek or I.

Schenn & Others In Win-Win Situation

July 30th, 2008, Comments Off

OTTAWA — Before Kyle Turris pulled on a jersey for Tuesday night’s final red-and-white game of the national junior team’s development camp, it occurred to him that it might be the last time he suits up for the program.
Turris will be seeking t…