Toronto Maple Leafs News

McKenzie: Class of 2008 already under the spotlight TSN.ca, Canada - 47 minutes ago Both the St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs will adopt the same philosophy with defencemen Alex Pietrangelo and Luke Schenn. ...

Leafs' Hollweg suspended for two games TSN.ca, Canada - 2 hours ago The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without forward Ryan Hollweg for the first two games of the NHL regular season because he's been suspended by the league. ...

Canadiens ready to count down to centennial TSN.ca, Canada - 2 hours ago During that same period, players on Canada's other heralded franchise - the Toronto Maple Leafs - have captured one (although no doubt, Doug Gilmour's 1993 ...

Leafs keep Schenn, Canucks send Hodgson to junior TSN.ca, Canada - 3 hours ago It was a tale of two prospects as the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs - two non-playoff teams that had Top 10 picks in last June's draft - took ...

Maple Leafs keeping Schenn for start of the season TSN.ca, Canada - 1 hour ago The Toronto Maple Leafs like Luke Schenn so much, they're going to keep him around a while longer. General manager Cliff Fletcher told reporters on on ...

Leafs waive Bell, Flames place three on waivers TSN.ca, Canada - 19 minutes ago The Toronto Maple Leafs placed forward Mark Bell on waivers on Monday, while the Calgary Flames have put defencemen Anders Eriksson and Rhett Warrener and ...

Leafs cut Bell, Flames waive Eriksson, Lundmark, Warrener TSN.ca, Canada - 1 hour ago Eriksson, 33, played 61 games with Calgary last season, tallying 18 points. Warrener, who played four seasons with Calgary, was limited to 31 games last ...

Blue Jackets rally late and beat Leafs in shootout TSN.ca, Canada - 34 minutes ago The Toronto Maple Leafs blew a two-goal lead late in their final exhibition tuneup and watched as the Columbus Blue Jackets completed the comeback in a ...

Red Wings open title defence on top of TSN.ca Power Rankings TSN.ca, Canada - 18 minutes ago ... and Calgary taking spots 13 through 16. The last Canadian team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, sits at 27, ahead of only the Kings, Thrashers and Islanders.

Red Wings score win after holding off Maple Leafs TSN.ca, Canada - 40 minutes ago TORONTO - A potential comeback by the Toronto Maple Leafs failed, but there's hope one of the players the team desperately needs to succeed is on the right ...

Penguins get season opener win over Senators in Sweden TSN.ca, Canada - 4 minutes ago And many NHL teams, among them Original Six clubs like the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs, and clubs from the old World Hockey ...

Red Wings score win after holding off Maple Leafs TSN.ca, Canada - 30 minutes ago TORONTO - A potential comeback by the Toronto Maple Leafs evaporated as quickly as it came. After rallying from a two-goal deficit early in the third, ...

Franzen's two goals lead Red Wings over Maple Leafs TSN.ca, Canada - 31 minutes ago Steen put the Maple Leafs on the board 8:31 into the middle period and Tlusty's power-play goal with 9:31 left in the second tied it.

Franzen's two goals lead Red Wings over Maple Leafs TSN.ca, Canada - 1 hour ago Steen put the Maple Leafs on the board 8:31 into the middle period and Tlusty's power-play goal with 9:31 left in the second tied it.

NHL regular season to begin Saturday in Prague and Stockholm TSN.ca, Canada - 1 hour ago Several North American teams, including the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs, have played exhibitions here throughout the years, ...

Players consider Habs' Laraque the NHL's top heavyweight TSN.ca, Canada - 28 minutes ago He happily chucked them twice with Tampa Bay's David Koci on the same night, and later handily took care of Maple Leafs enforcers Jamal Mayers and Ryan ...

TSN.ca's 30 Teams in 30 Days: Vancouver Canucks TSN.ca, Canada - 3 hours ago ... the Canucks selected forward Cody Hodgson with their first-round pick, 10th overall, and nabbed Kyle Wellwood off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs. ...

30 Teams in 30 Days: Ottawa Senators TSN.ca, Canada - 22 minutes ago ... but Alfredsson and Fisher both suffered significant injuries in the second-last game of the regular season against the hated Maple Leafs. ...

Peddie: MLSE no longer interested in English premiership team TSN.ca, Canada - 3 minutes ago TORONTO - Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment is not among the eight prospective buyers said to be in talks to buy English Premiership side Newcastle. ...

Players consider Habs' Laraque the NHL's top heavyweight TSN.ca, Canada - 1 hour ago He happily chucked them twice with Tampa Bay's David Koci on the same night, and later handily took care of Maple Leafs enforcers Jamal Mayers and Ryan ...

Report: NHL to monitor deals between Leafs and Ducks TSN.ca, Canada - 3 hours ago It seems the National Hockey League has their eyes on the Anaheim Ducks and Toronto Maple Leafs. According to the Globe and Mail, the league will look ...

Leafs' Finger may miss the first week of regular season TSN.ca, Canada - 3 hours ago The Toronto Maple Leafs may have to begin the season with one of their biggest off-season acquisitions on the sidelines. Defenceman Jeff Finger, who has ...

With the puck dropping on a new NHL season this Saturday, TSN.ca presents '30 Teams In 30 Days,' a quick glimpse at each NHL club as the 2008-09 campaign approaches. Get the lowdown on every lineup, storylines to follow and Scott Cullen's fantasy analysis. The focus is now on Canada's six NHL teams, and it continues today with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Farmer's Almanac: Southern Ontario Annual Weather Summary - Winter will be slightly colder and noticeably drier than normal this season, particularly in the Toronto region, with the coldest temperatures occurring in mid-April.

Such is life going into this season for the Leafs. For the last few years, the blue and white have been giving their fans a collective headache - icing mediocre teams that aren't good enough to make the playoffs, yet aren't bad enough to secure higher-end draft picks.

The Leafs have been left out of the dance in each year since the end of the NHL lockout, marking the first time in the franchise's 92-year history that they've missed the postseason in three straight campaigns. And barring a miracle, the team is almost a sure-bet to miss the playoffs for a fourth straight season.

But unlike the past few seasons, there's no illusion of grandeur this time from the team and its fans. After years of trying to squeak into the playoffs with quick fixes, the Leafs appear ready to start over from square one.

General Manager: Cliff Fletcher (2nd season)
Head Coach: Ron Wilson (1st season)
2007-08 Record: 43-31-8 (7th in Conference)
Points Leader: Mats Sundin - 78
Goals Leader: Mats Sundin - 32
Assists Leader: Mats Sundin - 46
PIM Leader: Pavel Kubina - 116
Plus/Minus Leader: Mats Sundin - 17
PP Goals Leader: Nik Antropov - 12
SH Goals Leader: Alexander Steen - 1

What they did: Unable to find a suitable candidate for the general manager's position, interim GM Cliff Fletcher announced that he would remain until the decision makers at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment could find a qualified candidate. That being said, the Leafs' custodian quickly rolled up his sleeves and got down to work. His first order of business was firing head coach Paul Maurice and bringing in Ron Wilson. The former San Jose coach, who has 518 career wins, has his work cut out for him leading a team that's far less talented than his old Joe Thornton-led squad. Where the lineup was concerned, Fletcher gutted out of most of its core players, parting ways with Darcy Tucker, Bryan McCabe, Kyle Wellwood and Andrew Raycroft. Arriving in their place were forwards Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers, Mikhail Grabovski and Ryan Hollweg, defencemen Mike Van Ryn and Jeff Finger and prodigal son Curtis Joseph. Mats Sundin-mania was all the rage this summer and nothing has changed to date. The long-time Leaf captain is still contemplating retirement and although he hasn't ruled out returning to Toronto, he will likely end up elsewhere if he wants to win a Stanley Cup.

What to watch for: Nik Antropov, coming off a career-high 56-point season, will be called upon to pick up the slack for Sundin's absence. And that's a huge task considering Sundin led the Leafs in most offensive categories last season, including goals, assists, points and power-play points. Veteran winger Jason Blake will also be looking for a fresh start after going through a trying first year in blue and white. Last October, he announced he had a highly-treatable form of leukemia, yet played in all 82 games, finishing fourth in points with 52 points. Alexei Ponikarovsky scored 35 points in 66 games last year and should become a fixture on the top two lines, while Hagman (who scored a career-high 27 goals last season) and 24-year-olds Alex Steen and Matt Stajan will be looked upon for increased production. Another interesting factor will be the play of their youngsters. Jiri Tlusty, who scored 10 goals and 16 points last season, has plenty of upside on offence but needs to improve his two-way play. The same can be said for Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin. Grabovski, the odd man out of Montreal's up-and-coming lineup, is well known for his speed and lit up the AHL last season before playing a short stint with the Canadiens. Kulemin, mostly known as Evgeni Malkin's former linemate from Magnitorisk, scored 21 goals last season in the Russian League and should be ready for full time duty. The rest of the lineup consists of 'character' players like Mayers, Hollweg, Boyd Devereaux and Dominic Moore. While they add grit and physical play to the Leafs' attack, this team could be hard-pressed on most nights to score goals. No Maple Leaf other than Sundin has scored 30-plus goals in a season since Alexander Mogilny netted 33 during the 2002-03 campaign.

On the blueline, the club will once again expect big things from veterans Tomas Kaberle and Pavel Kubina. Kaberle finished third in points (53) for Toronto last season, while Kubina led the defence with 11 goals. But generating offence from the blueline is not necessarily as big an issue as Toronto's overall defensive play. Last season, the club averaged 3.12 goals-against per game, and were ranked 27th in the league in that category. The team hopes that trading McCabe - a scapegoat on most nights - and bringing in Van Ryn is a step in the right direction. Another new face will be Finger, a defensive defenceman who turned plenty of heads after signing a four-year $14 million contract. Finger shadowed the Western Conference's top offensive forwards as a member of the Colorado Avalanche, and he'll log in a ton of minutes doing the same job in the East. It will be a heated battle between Carlo Colaiacovo, Anton Stralman, Ian White and Jonas Frogren for the rest of the minutes. And it's also been tough for management to ignore the play of 2008 first-rounder Luke Schenn. The stay-at-home blueliner hasn't looked out of place in the pre-season and could get at least a nine-game stint to start the campaign. All things considered, the Leafs have as many as nine players vying for six spots on the blueline. Some tough choices must obviously be made.

If the Leafs are going to make any sort of noise this season, Vesa Toskala will be a big reason why. The 31-year-old netminder finished with a 33-25-6 record last season and had a decent goals-against average (2.74) and save percentage (.904). As a backup, the Leafs brought back Joseph for his second tour of duty in Toronto. Joseph, who spent four seasons with the Leafs, played in nine games with Calgary last year and went 3-2-0 with a 2.55 GAA and .906 save percentage.

Parting Shot: Even in rebuilding mode, the direction of this Leaf team is tough to figure out. While dreams of John Tavares or Victor Hedman are dancing in the heads of giddy Leaf fans, Wilson - who coached Cup contenders in Washington and San Jose - will be the first to tell anyone that he wasn't hired to tank the season for the sake of getting a high draft pick. And even if this team finishes that badly, there's no guarantee that they'll have the assets to continue rebuilding properly. Over the course of the summer, Fletcher traded eight valuable draft picks to acquire Mayers, Schenn, Van Ryn, Grabovski and Hollweg. He was also reportedly ready to deal next year's first round selection to acquire defenceman Mathieu Schneider and unproven prospect Bobby Ryan. 'Draft Schmaft' indeed, as time will tell whether the players were worth that many picks. If they aren't, Toronto's re-building program will take much longer than originally expected. The Leafs' willingness to give away picks in this day and age is a head-scratcher when you consider how many NHL teams are relying more on scouting and drafting than ever before. Fletcher may be responsible for setting the table for the next general manager, but the spread is looking a bit thin at the moment.

TSN.ca's 30 Teams in 30 Days: Toronto Maple Leafs TSN.ca, Canada - 37 minutes ago The focus is now on Canada's six NHL teams, and it continues today with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Farmer's Almanac: Southern Ontario Annual Weather ...

Fantasy Puck Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs TSN.ca, Canada - 1 hour ago It doesn't appear to be a very promising upcoming season for the Toronto Maple Leafs and that leaves them with few appealing fantasy options. ...