Tomas Vanek scored two goals and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-6 to conclude the exhibition schedule for both teams. Clarke MacArthur, Nathan Gerbe, Jochen Hecht, Tim Kennedy and Matt Ellis also had goals for the Sabres (4-1-1). Patrick Lalime made 21 saves. Lee Stempniak scored twice for Toronto (6-3), and Viktor Stalberg, Jason Blake, Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski also…
With a number of players available in Toronto, the Maple Leafs could be inching closer towards pulling the trigger on another trade this season.
According to the St. Petersburg Times, the Lightning is thin on the blueline and has had interest in Maple Leafs defenseman Ian White.
Leafs GM Brian Burke has been working the phones and is in constant talk with several of his counterparts.
White is among several players available for trade, including the likes of forwards Nik Antropov, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Jason Blake, defensemen Tomas Kaberle and Pavel Kubina, and goalie Vesa Toskala.
]]>“I think we are dreaming on this one. As the report suggests, Philly is likely to find Carter too steep a price to pay for a playoff rental player.
This is the type of trade that I’d love to see Toronto pull off. The Leafs sorely need a first line player to build around , whether by drafting or by trading for an already established player.
Are the Toronto fans unwilling to “settle” for a rebuilding process. I argue NO! True Leafs fans are ready and willing for their beloved team to rebuild. We’d love to see our team make some monumental decision to strengthen their future.
Is playing their way into the basement over the next two years to allow the young players they are able to receive thru a trade, plus the prospects already intown develop. Does it not make sense for the Leafs to play themselves into the John Tavares sweepstakes? This is the type of player who should have an immediate impact on his team (a-la 2007 World Junior Championship).”
From one of our readers, Rob. He makes a good point. I think the only way the move to Philly happens is a 2-3 year contract. We get a lot of sports media people contacting us and the Sundin Trade will only go down if there are other players involved.
The Sundin trade will happen as a package deal “my sources tell me”.
All fingers point to a blockbuster or no movement at all for the Leafs. Sundin on his own will not happen due to him wanting to come back and finish in Toronto and teams are asking for players to sweeten the deal. Stajan, Steen & Antropov are names that are being bandied about right now with inside sources at MLSE.
]]>Watch him, as he micromanages a 72 year old hockey man on his first day (back) on the job.
Clearly, Peddie wrote this speech for Cliff Fletcher.
]]>Taken from: http://thestar.blogs.com/thespin/2008/01/full-panic-mode.html
]]>LOS ANGELES-With the club having all but quit on head coach Paul Maurice after two one-sided losses in California, the Maple Leafs are in full panic mode today.
GM John Ferguson refused to comment last night after the Leafs were hammered 5-2 by the NHL’s worst team, the Los Angeles Kings, but it is believed the latest emergency strategy of the free-falling club will be to summon blue-chip goaltending prospect Justin Pogge from the minors as early as today.
Ferguson huddled with Leaf assistant GM Mike Penny, also the GM of the AHL Toronto Marlies, Justin Pogge’s team, after the game.
“I’m not getting involved tonight,” said Ferguson after the shockingly one-sided defeat to the Kings, the 30th place NHL club.
Justin Pogge almost was requested to make the start last Saturday against Philadelphia, but instead the Leaf management team had second thoughts and Andrew Raycroft started against the Flyers and dropped a 3-2 decision.
It’s believed that if Justin Pogge is summoned from the AHL Toronto Marlies, it will be because No. 1 netminder Vesa Toskala has suffered a relapse in his ongoing battle with groin problems after being recklessly forced into action for the final two periods of the embarrassing loss to the Kings on Thursday.
Toskala was expecting to have the night off, but played after former starter Andrew Raycroft surrendered four goals on 11 shots in the first period against the Kings. It’s believed Toskala may have re-injured himself in the loss to L.A., which could pave the way for Pogge to make his NHL debut Saturday night against the Sharks in San Jose.
If that happens, it will be a difficult task indeed for Justin Pogge, with all evidence suggesting the club is no longer responding to the direction of Maurice after 10 losses in the past 12 games. All political antennae are on high, and even the Leaf players are aware team president Richard Peddie is hovering over the club in what is turning out to be a disastrous California road trip.
A smarter decision would be to bring back veteran Scott Clemmensen, who left the club on Thursday and returned to the Marlies. But with the entire hockey organization expecting major changes because of the dreadful results of late, recalling Pogge is likely to make a bigger splash, perhaps the last ditch effort of the Ferguson regime to put the club into a playoff position.
The Leafs were nightmarishly bad Thursday night, managing only seven shots on the L.A. net in the opening 27 minutes of action as the Kings cruised to a 5-0 lead. It was only after the game was decided that the Leafs got busy, putting 43 shots on Jason Labarbara in the Kings net after the game was already decided.
Maurice denied that his team has quit on him.
“If they’d quit you’d have seen three periods like the first period,” said the Leaf coach.
Truth was, the lazy, disinterested manner in which the Leafs played the opening 27 minutes was much more reflective of their attitude towards their coach than the final half of the game.
“Trust me, we’re under a lot of pressure,” said centre Matt Stajan. “We know what’s going on.”
Toronto was building momentum with a healthy Vesa Toskala in net. Without their No. 1 goaltender, the Maple Leafs haven’t looked like a team capable of reaching the playoffs.
The Maple Leafs could be without Toskala for a seventh straight game Wednesday night when they open a three-game California road trip against the resurgent Anaheim Ducks.
Although he started slowly in his first season with Toronto (16-18-8), Toskala had played well enough lately to become the team’s clear No. 1 goalie. He is 7-3-1 with one shutout and a 1.81 goals-against average in his last 11 starts, although he hasn’t played since Dec. 22 because of a groin injury.
Without Toskala, the Maple Leafs have struggled to a 1-4-1 record, allowing 26 goals. They are last in the Northeast Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference with 40 points.
Andrew Raycroft hasn’t been the answer in Toskala’s absence, going 0-3-1 with a 4.47 GAA in his last four starts. Scott Clemmensen, who began the season in the minors, is 1-1-0 with a 4.33 GAA in two starts this month.
Toskala practiced Sunday and could return on this trip, which includes stops at Los Angeles on Thursday and San Jose on Saturday.
Toronto is 13-11-4 with Toskala in goal, and 3-7-4 without him.
Raycroft, who hasn’t won since Nov. 9, didn’t play poorly Saturday, but was bested by counterpart Antero Niittymaki in the Maple Leafs’ 3-2 loss to visiting Philadelphia.
Captain Mats Sundin scored both goals for Toronto, which lost despite a 56-32 shot advantage.
“We played a good game, but it’s like we don’t know how to win the close games,” Sundin said. “We have to become smarter and learn what it takes to win.”
The 542nd and 543rd goals of Sundin‘s career moved him past Stan Mikita into 25th place all-time. His next goal will tie him with Maurice Richard.
Sundin continues to produce, tallying four goals and two assists in his last five games to give him 48 points. He has a shot at his first 100-point season since recording a career-high 114 in 1992-93 with Quebec.
Center Nik Antropov, however, has cooled off considerably. Antropov, – second on the team with 35 points – has no goals in his last 11 contests and is pointless in nine games.
Anaheim (22-17-6) has rebounded from a sluggish start, and appears ready to assert itself as one of the league’s elite teams again.
The Ducks are 3-0-1 in their last four games and 7-2-1 in their past 10, a surge that’s moved them to within two points of Dallas and San Jose for the Pacific Division lead.
Chris Pronger and Corey Perry scored power-play goals 1:10 apart to cap a four-goal spurt in the second period as Anaheim beat Nashville 5-2 on Monday. The Ducks had been held to two goals or fewer in 10 of their previous 12 games.
“We stuck with the same program that we’ve been sticking with the last few weeks – getting the puck in deep, cycling it and taking it to the net. Tonight we finally started getting the bounces,” Perry said.
Ryan Getzlaf added a goal and an assist, extending his point streak to a career high-tying eight games. He has four goals and six assists during the run.
The Maple Leafs have won four of their last five overall meetings with the Ducks, but lost their last visit to Anaheim on Nov. 11, 2003. Toronto’s last win there came March 11, 1998.
]]>“Obviously, the fact that Cristobal hasn’t been successful the last three games against Toronto certainly got into the decision,” coach Guy Carbonneau said Monday.
This declaring an obvious weakness in their starting goaltender is not a good sign for any club. Speaking of which, Toronto will announce their goal tending decision closer to game time. Conventional wisdom says the goalie with the shut out as his last start, will get the call. Perhaps that should have been the wisdom when choosing the starter against New York. The facial expressions from Andrew Raycroft would indicate that he agrees that his play warranted a start the next game (shutout, 27 shots, 1st star selection). More to come…
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