But enough about god damned game 7, I am so sick of hearing about it, and I know I will be chirped about that game for the rest of my life. Game 7 happened, we can't change what happened and now let us never speak of it again.
The Leafs had a busy off season for sure. To be honest, I am not so sure about the moves they made. First and foremost using one of their two buy outs on Mikhail Grabovski (shown above stabbing a pineapple...yeah that is an actual pictuee of him) was absolutely stupid. Granted he didn't have the season offensively that he was capable off, and he was getting paid a lot after he signed an big extension under Brian Burke. But still the guy was extremely skilled and was being used wrong by Randy Carlyle as a 3rd-4th line checking centre. Carlyle didn't like him so instead of buying-out John Michael Liles and his massive salary (the guy can't even make the NHL roster) they shockingly let Grabovski walk. Even after he was a free agent it took forever for a team to sign him, it took a couple of weeks for Washington to sign him and a lo and behold he has a Hat Trick in the season opener. I guarantee when the Leafs play the Capitals he will light them up. They basically used the money they saved on cutting Grabovski to resign Tyler Bozak to a 5 year $21 million dollar contract. Ugh, I think they totally overpaid for Bozak, who is OK as a 2nd or 3rd line centre, not a 1st line centre. Hopefully he proves me wrong, and he did score a beauty short handed goal Tuesday night against the Habs, I just think they're going to end up buying this contract out in a couple of years.
The other big move they made was signing David Clarkson, who was the most sought after free agent on the market. Don't get me wrong, I love players like Clarkson, he can score, he can forecheck and play good defense, and he isn't afraid to drop the gloves....or leave the bench to fight in a fucking pre-season game which landed him an automatic 10 game suspension. He's drawn comparisons to Leafs legend Wendel Clark, who was Clarkson's favourite player growing up. Clarkson is even wearing number 71 which is just Clark's 17 in reverse. My concern is the massive contract they gave him, a 7 year $36.75 million dollar contract. That is waaaaay too much money, and way too long a term for a guy like him. Like I said, once he finally starts playing I think I will end up liking him, but that kind of money is obscene, is he going to be worth the $5.25 million a year when he is a 36 year old ankle burner?? The Leafs signed Dave Bolland too, I like that signing, and he has already worked out great scoring 2 against the Flyers on Wednesday night. All these signings lead me to believe that head coach Randy Carlyle has fuhrer like control over decisions with this team, GM Dave Nonis is signing the guys that Carlyle likes. Carlyle seems like an asshole to me, both Grabovski and Clarke MacArthur have trashed him and his style this off season. But if Carlyle gets the players he wants, and they can get W's, then that's all that counts. I don't have a Ron "Wrong" Wilson hatred for him yet, but that could happen.
I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the goalie situation. For whatever reason Leafs brass do not believe in James "Optimus Reim" Reimer. I am not going to sit here and say he is the second coming of Martin Brodeur, but he is a solid goalie who led them into the playoffs last year.... plus his wife is a smoke show, as seen above giving her infamous stink eye to Elisha Cuthbert (Phaneuf's wife) last season in the playoffs. The Leafs went out and signed Jonathan Bernier from LA, who is younger and had less NHL experience than Reimer. Everyone is high on Bernier, but with Jonathan Quick being yearly Vezina candidate for the Kings every season he was seeing little to no action. All that being said I really like the idea of the Leafs having an 1a and a 1b goalie. There have been 2 games thus far and each goaltender has played a game and won and have looked very sharp in those victories. It's a great problem for the Leafs to have picking who will be the goaltender every game. Plus with injuries you never know what could happen. Obviously Carlyle is going to go with the hot hand, if they end up being a true tandem play a 60/40 split of games or something and playing the way the both are capable of playing, I think that will really help the Leafs and their playoff chances.
One of the biggest moves of the off season was made the morning of their season opener. Phil Kessel re-upped with the Leafs for a 8 year $64 million dollar contract, and unlike David Clarkson I think Kessel is worth every penny. I don't get how I am constantly defending this guy, with Leafs haters and fans alike. I also don't understand why he is a whipping boy in the Toronto media and he has been since he got here just this week David Feschuk wrote yet another horrible article and in this one he was calling Kessel fat! Is this fucking grade 6? The Toronto media doesn't like him because he is doesn't like to talk to them, and I don't blame Kessel who would want to talk to that collection of miscreants. Kessel has been one of the most consistent pure goal scorers in the last few seasons, and he was AMAZING in the playoffs against Boston, his former team that he always had trouble against. Imagine his numbers if he was playing with a top flight number 1 centre...not Tyler Bozak, but I think Nazem Kadri can fit that billing in the not too distant future.
Nasty Naz the Skillmatic had an eventful off-season, threatening a hold out and demanding a big extension before settling on a smaller 2 year bridge deal with the Leafs. Kadri is another guy Leafs management and the media like to shit on. Granted he is cocky, but I don't think burying him in the AHL or on the 3rd-4th line will help. Carlyle rides him like a fly on shit, and he has already been in Carlyles dog house this season. I honestly believe in Kadri's potential, and I hope the Leafs don't squander it. He should be centering the first line with Kessel and Joffrey Lupul on the wing, that line would set the world on fire.
The NHL season is less than a week old and already there is controversy. In Tuesday nights season opening Leafs and Habs game, Colton Orr and George Parros had their second fight of the night (there was 5 total fights that game), George Parros swang and missed Colton Orr who ducked him, and Parros headed up falling face first into the ice, and had to leave on a stretcher. Watching that live it was a scary scene to be sure. Immediately the debate on Twitter launched into the pro-fighting and anti-fighting stance, with the vast majority of media and bloggers that I follow taking a strong anti-fighting stance. Plenty of words were written over the subject over the next couple of days with columnists like Bruce Arthur and Michael Grange who I respect and columnists I loathe like Damien Cox and Steve Simmons trumpeting having fighting banned from hockey. My personal opinions have shifted on fighting, I have always enjoyed a good hockey scrap, and when I go to OHL games I am always on my feet cheering when a fight breaks out, but I honestly think someone is going to eventually get seriously hurt, if not die in a hockey scrap soon. It has already happened in a minor league a few years ago, it could easily happen in the NHL. To me there is always going to be room in the NHL for a spontaneous fight, something that happens as a result of two players getting on each others nerves after a long, hard game - think Jarome Iginla fighting Vincent Lecavalier in the Stanley Cup final back in '04. But when hired goons like Orr, Parros, John Scott or whoever drop the gloves 3 minutes into a game just because they have to - the "staged fights" the game can do without. If you want to watch staged fights go watch the WWE. People are calling on a full ban on fighting, which I disagree with, maybe just have a game misconduct after a fight, or a fine if you have more than 5 fights, and a bigger fine if you have more than 10. That will deter the goon vs. goon fights, while allowing more naturally occurring fights to happen. Even if the NHL does ban fighting (which it wont) I will still watch, Olympic hockey, World Junior hockey and Playoff hockey have little to no fights and that is often considered the best hockey to watch. People saying they will stop watching or people will stop watching hockey because there is no more fighting are just stupid.
As for the rest of the league, I don't really care or follow it that closely. I hate the Senators just as much as I ever did, it was hilarious to see that Krusty the Clown looking loser Daniel Alfredsson bolt on them realizing how hopeless they are. The Sens went out and traded for Bobby Ryan aka Bobby Stevenson who is bound to have a terrible season for them and he will wish he was on the run from the FBI again. I don't think the Sens will even make the playoffs. The divisions are all different this year with Detroit and Columbus joining the Eastern Conference. Once again the NHL screwed this up, I think it is stupid that there is 16 teams in one conference and 14 in the other. Plus the new division names are so dumb, really the Metropolitan Division?? Why the hell did they call the Leafs division the Atlantic Division, most teams in that division are nowhere close to the Atlantic Ocean, in fact there is closer teams to the Atlantic in the stupid Metropolitan Division than there is the Atlantic Division. I don't get why they just didn't name the division after old hockey players like they used too. Name the divisions after Wayne Gretzky or Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr or Dougie Gilmour, you know legends. The playoffs are all different too, the top three teams in each division will advance, and there is 2 wild card teams. That being said, this how I think the divisions will play out.
* = Wild Card Teams
Atlantic Division
1. Toronto Maple Leafs
2. Boston Bruins
3. Detroit Red Wings
4. Tampa Bay Lighting*
5. Ottawa Senators
6. Montreal Canadiens
7. Buffalo Sabres
8. Florida Panthers
Metropolitan Division
1. Pittsburgh Penguins
2. New York Rangers
3. Washington Captials
4. New Jersey Devils*
5. Carolina Hurricanes
6. New York Islanders
7. Columbus Blue Jackets
8. Philadephia Flyers
Central Division
1. Chicago Blackhawks
2. St. Louis Blues
3. Nashville Predators
4. Minnesota Wild*
5. Colorado Avalanche
6. Dallas Stars
7. Winnipeg Jets
Pacific Division
1. Los Angeles Kings
2. Vancouver Canucks
3. San Jose Sharks
4. Anaheim Ducks*
5. Edmonton Oilers
6. Phoenix Coyotes
7. Calgary Flames.
Leafs over Los Angeles in the Stanley Cup final, as we will finally get revenge for '93.
Well enjoy the season everyone, I think I will do a post like this every month or two on how the dominate Leafs season is going, plus me and my friend Killer are going to start a sports podcast, so look for that in the near future too!
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