Singing the blues in T.O

As hockey fans, there is something you never want to see, whether you are a fan or not, is the boys wearing the blue and white with the maple leaf on their chests give up! As sad as that is, it is ultimately what is happening in Toronto. When a team hurts their number 1 (arguably) goalie during the warm up, then nearly injures their 4th string net minder before the game has even started, you know the players minds are elsewhere. Then you start the game with said 4th string goalie who's scared out of his mind and don't give him any support or help - that's unconscionable! The blue and white are beat down, tired and honestly can't wait for the season to end, but it's not fair how they have just quit; not fair to the goalies, coaches and most importantly the fans who pay huge bucks to see them play like crap!
In early January the Leafs just fell off a cliff, they were doing well, everyone was happy, there was excitement in T.o........ fast forward 6 weeks and 14 teams have passed them in league-wide standings! What the heck happened? I'm going to try and narrow it down to 3 reasons the Leafs are in this mess. BUT one thing I am not going to do is blame the GM or coach, no matter how bad a job you think Brian Burke or Randy Carlysle are doing, when it's all said and done it's up to the players to do their job!

1. Goaltending
As much as I like James Reimer he is not a number one goaltender; last season he came out of nowhere, no one knew him there were no expectations hence he was phenomenal. People now know him, players have studied him add to that the high expectations and Reimer has shown he just couldn't handle it. He's a young goalie who wasn't ready to be thrust into the number 1 position. Gustavsson was also not ready to be a number one goalie, he'd always been a backup since joining the Leafs. As much as he saved the Leafs season during the stretch when Reimer was out, he's lost his confidence. Looking back, the Leafs went into the 2011-2012 season without a number one goalie, they were relying on 2, young fairly inexperienced goalies to step up and take this team back to the playoffs, which was unfair and unrealistic (Burke?). Whatever way you want to spin it; neither Gustavsson or Reimer has played well this season, Gustavsson has been a slightly less bad but in a disastrous season does that really matter? The sad thing is the team has no confidence in either goalie, and that's a recipe for disaster, when players think every time the opposition has a scoring chance it's going in, the players start playing differently (worse).
I hate being harsh on goalies I really do, but the Leafs need a new netminder; they will likely lose Gustavsson in the offseason and Reimer could use another year or two as a back up learning his craft at the NHL level. These two goalies don't cut it, they need a solid goalie they can rely on. Whether they work some magic and get Schnieder (unlikely) or someone else, if the Leafs don't get a number one net minder they will go no where!
Another issue with trying to go out and acquire a new goalie, is the Leafs goalie coach Francois Alluire. Although Burke thinks he's amazing, he's actually hurting the Leafs. He tries to change each goalies style, many of whom don't play well with the new style. Look a goalie playing in the NHL obviously knows a thing or to about being a good goalie, their style got them to the NHL. Changing their style is the worst thing you can do for a goalie mentally! Reimer was just fine in his first year when Alluire didn't have a lot of time to mess with him, but a full season with that goalie coach and Reimer is one of the worst goalies in the league!

2. Leadership
Whether you agree or not Dion Phaneuf has not been a good captain this season! As you know I don't agree with him being the captain, I think they should take the C away from him at the end of the season!

I think one of the major reasons Phaneuf has been struggling is the Leafs have tried to change his style of play. Phaneuf is a heavy hitter, not a responsible D man who plays 25 minutes a night. If you look Phaneuf is hitting less and less (unless it's against a rookie), doesn't fight anymore and isn't the mean Phaneuf everyone is used too. When you think about it, the way he plays he should be averaging 15 minutes a night, but they have him out there for 25 minutes which explains why he's always so tired in the third period! Phaneuf has not led this team, if you look at the Leafs now, they're discouraged and look lost, the captain is supposed to help rally his teammates, something he has not done this season. Other than the fact he's in charge of the Ipod in the dressing room what is he doing to benefit the team?
Phaneuf is one of the softest captains in the league this season and couldn't lead the Leafs out of a plastic bag! He's not there for his teammates, in the pathetic humiliating loss against the Flyers last night, he should have stepped up, fought someone and given the young rookie goalie some confidence, pound the crap out of anyone who touches him! He also turned down a fight after he pummeled Brayden Schenn with a cross check to the head! How about that 8-0 loss to the Bruins, he did absolutely nothing, he is a liability out there, that's not something you want from your captain!

3. Overpaid players not stepping
Tim Connolly has 31 points this season through 62 games, en route to the worst statistical year in his 11 year career! Not to mention he was stuck on the third line for most of the season; considering the Leafs gave him 2 years at $9.5 million and expected him to be the centre for Kessel this move has not panned out as of yet! Heck he's been paired with 13 different line mates! Connolly played fairly well early on in the season recording 12 points in his first 13 games, but his scoring has dried up as of late with just 19 points over the last 49 games (not including last night).

Colby Armstrong, was give a 3 year $3 million contract (too much in my opinion) he's not worth it, he was given an A to be an assistant captain yet spent a large portion of the season under head coach Ron Wilson in the press box as a healthy scratch! A waste of money, for a player who isn't worth it, he's a 3rd/4th line grinder scores a few goals and just fills the gaps!

Mike Komisarek, another player wearing an A yet spending lots of time in the press box! He's currently in the middle of a 5 year $4.5 million per year contact, too much to pay for a guy who's sitting in the press box most of the season! Then when he does get to play he plays atrocious defence, has turnovers, falls down, its just nasty! Considering he's one of the bottom 2 defenseman on the Leafs, so he should not be getting paid nearly as much as he is!

The Leafs are the highest paid team in the bottom 10 of the league, so either they need to smarten up with contracts or these players need to step up and earn their money. I wish there was an option for players who didn't perform up to their new contracts standards being required to give some of their money back or renegotiate a new contract. I know it sounds stupid and it will never happen, but it might actually help the Leafs!

The Leafs are in a terrible spot right now, 25th in the league, 2nd last in the East and looking for answers! Their passion and pride has been sucked away, they aren't giving it their all and they're sad to watch, no wait they're funny to watch. I tweeted last night that watching the Leafs is like a comedy, how many goals can they let in, how long can their home losing streak continue. This has to be one of the worst responses to a coaching change I have ever seen!
The Leafs need to improve drastically the sad thing is it could be another 2 years before we see a decent Leafs team, how much more can fans handle!?

Reimer or Gustavsson

Before we dive in, quickly go and vote in my latest poll; Who won the Camalleri trade?


Well it appears it's time to add another team to the list of those dealing a bit if a  goaltending controversy, to deal with; Sabres, Canucks, and Flyers have all had their own "mini goalie controversies." The biggest one coming in Buffalo, with Miller playing poorly and Enroth playing well, fans were calling for Miller's head. Now neither goalie is playing well, and the Sabres can't find their butts from a hole in the ground! The Canucks and Flyers have both down played their goaltending strategy, saying they are happy having 2 solid guys between the pipes. But when you play in the hockey crazed market of Toronto, you're likely to hear about any controversy lots of times but that can be multiplied by 100 when it's a goaltending controversy. As we all know, the media sometimes likes to create their own, but this season, right now, the Leafs are in the middle of a legitimate goaltending controversy; Reimer or Gustavsson. But let's go back to the beginning of the season, to get the full picture of what's going on in T.O

At the beginning of the season there was little to no doubt that James Reimer was the number one netminder for the Leafs, after his remarkable second half play in 2011. Reimer started the season 4-0-1, before suffering a "head injury" on October 22nd against the Canadians. He then missed 18 games due to his "head injury" when news first broke, many Leaf fans panicked, thinking Gustavsson wouldn't be able to get the job done in Reimer's absence. And they appeared right Gustavsson started a little rough, but not horribly, going 9-5-0 and winning 5 of the last 6. Then Reimer returned, thus everything was good in the continuing saga of Leafs goaltending, except for the fact that Reimer wasn't nearly as sharp as before his injury. Since returning from injury on December 3rd Reimer went 3-4-3, not the type of play expected from a number one netminder. Finally head coach Ron Wilson had seen enough and decided it was time to give Jonas Gustavsson a chance to see what he could do. A 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on New Year's Eve, was the last time Wilson had started Reimer in a game. Starting Gustavsson is likely the smartest thing Wilson has done all season; 
Gustavsson won 4 straight games to ring in 2012, and went on to win 9 of 13 games, helping push the Leafs back into playoff contention. But after losing the last 2 starts (a 3-2 loss to Buffalo and a 3-0 loss to the Rangers) Wilson decided it was time to give Reimer another short between the pipes. Now despite Gustavsson playing better than Reimer and helping steal games for the Leafs throughout the season, his stats Still aren't what you like to see in a number 1 goalie should be sporting; Gustavsson is sporting a decent 13-9-0 record, while Reimer is 7-4-4. But here's where the stats get whacky; Gustavsson's GAA is 2.92 (33rd) and Save Percentage of .906 (31st) are nothing to cheer about. The team flat out plays better in front of Gustavsson than they do Reimer. Let's look back to January 5th, in front of Reimer the Leafs had scored 56 goals, while in front of Gustavsson they put up 69 goals. Regardless of the numbers, and  whether coaches or goalies or anyone else wants to admit it or not, right now the starting job has to be Gustavsson's. Now I know Wilson is started Reimer last night, but who knows how many starts he'll give Reims, before throwing Gustavsson back in. 


So where did this goaltending controversy come from; 2 places, head coach Ron Wilson and GM Brian Burke. "It's hard to say what the order is going to be," Wilson said. "I have in my mind who's going to play (Tuesday) night (against Carolina) and beyond that I haven't decided." Wilson then went to claim that he was going to play which ever goalie was winning games; a win and your in sort of thing. Since Gustavsson was the one winning games, Wilson decided to ride him for a little while. Then GM Brian Burke, came out and stated that Gustavsson had single handedly saved the Leafs season, and that the rest of the Leafs knew it was Gustavsson saving their butts on a night to night bases. Interesting comments to go public from a GM who likes to keep things tight lipped.

But when push comes to shove the Leafs are going to have to make a decision about their goaltending, I don't think Gustavsson has much a future in Toronto, they signed him back in 2008 and has been all but bust due to health issues and poor play. Right now he's healthy and playing well. Right now would be the perfect time to trade the young netminder, who may benefit from a change in scenery. Gustavsson is a free agent at the end of the year and will most likely walk away for nothing at the end of the season. The Leafs need Reimer to be the future, after signing him to a 3 year deal. This situation reminds me of the one the Habs had with Halak and Price a couple of years ago. So I have to think that Gustavsson will play the Halak role, meaning his time in Toronto is all but done.

Goalie protection

When it comes to head shots, concussions and the game of hockey, the NHL is desperately trying to rid the game of both, but it seems there is a double standard when it comes to goalies and concussions.
If you are a fan of the Boston Bruins, I suggest, you stop reading right now! I don't have too many nice things to say about your team (or your city for that matter) so it would be best if you guys left this blog, before it gets ugly!

Now I, like many other hockey fans, jumped on the Bruins bandwagon, during the Stanley Cup final as I did not want to see the Canucks win a cup, but on Saturday night, I was reminded just how much I have always disliked the Bruins! When a dirty cheap shot artist like Milan Lucic hits someone, you know he generally, accidentally, on purpose meant to do it, as was the case with his open ice hit on Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller!
His hit was dirty and uncalled for, Lucic had tons of time and space available to avoid the hit with Miller, but chose to go full out and deliver and elbow to the head of Miller. Watch the video, he explodes his arms through the hit. Lucic broke an unwritten code and a long-standing rule in which players do not purposely target a goalie out of their crease. Unwritten, what am I talking about, it is written! In the NHL rule book it clearly states a goalie is not fair game just because he is outside the crease. NHL rule 61.2 Penalty – In all cases in which an attacking player initiates intentional or deliberate contact with a goalkeeper, whether or not the goalkeeper is inside or outside the goal crease, and whether or not a goal is scored, the attacking player will receive a penalty (minor or major, as the Referee deems appropriate). In all cases where the infraction being imposed is to the attacking player for hindering the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely in his goal crease, the penalty to be assessed is for goalkeeper interference. I was quite upset that Lucic was allowed to continue playing in the game, he should have been kicked out, for intentional contact to the head! Goalies have never and likely will never be fair game to hit, no matter where they are on the ice; Lucic claimed he had his head down and never saw Miller, but again -  look at the video, Lucic was looking at the puck, and had to have seen Miller going for the puck, even the fat slow dim witted Lucic would have been able to slow down or avoid contact with Miller, but instead the 220 pound moron decided he would run over the 175 unsuspecting Ryan Miller! There was no question the hit was deliberate and in no way incidental, look at the replay he put his elbow up to hit Miller, there is absolutely no doubt that Lucic went into that play with an intent to injure Miller! Miller had already played the puck, so additionally, the hit was a little late. In my opinion, a player that needs to wipe out a goalie to prove their toughness needs to grow a pair and shouldn't be playing in the NHL! The Sabres and Miller were in complete control of the game, before the hit, and after the hit the Bruins took control; as someone tweeted me the other night "nothing inspires a dirty team, like a cheap hit" Lucic is having a suspension hearing with Brendon Shannahan, and I highly doubt the league will do anything with Lucic, because he plays for the Bruins, the NHL's favorite team (remember the Chara hit). But what they should take into account is Lucic history of cheap shots; he sucker punched Victor Hedman, at the end of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final, then again sucker punched Freddy Myer, and had an incident with the police where he played the "do you know who I am card?" Anyways I'm not trying to to focus on Lucic, this blog is for goalies. The sad thing is the Bruins team is filled of cheap shot artists much like Lucic, it's disgusting! Ryan Miller sustained a concussion due to the hit, the NHL needs to do something to protect and stand up for goalies, or we are going to see more and more goalies, being knocked out of games with concussion. "If this hit and other types of hits like this are not suspended, we are opening up the possibility of losing goaltenders to injury. And not just injury, but concussion," Regier said. "... When I look at the position of goaltending, in a lot of ways it’s not unlike quarterback in football. I feel very strongly the protection has to be provided and players committing these types of action should be punished." Not to mention this is Miller's 2nd concussion in the last 8 months. Many Bruins fans were wondering why Miller continued playing even though he was concussed, here's your answer "What happened was that he gradually got worse until he was removed from the game and diagnosed by the Boston doctors," Regier said. "I’m not in position to disagree with the doctors or the league protocol. He’s better (Sunday) but still, hopefully it is not severe and hopefully it is not long-term." Now, Miller's comments on Lucic post game were a little drastic, but I don't completely blame him, anyone that just got smoked like Miller  by a cheap shot artist like Milan Lucic.
So in my opinion Lucic should be suspended! “I just stuck around because I wanted to say what a piece of (crap) I think Lucic is,” said Miller. “Fifty pounds on me, and he runs me like that? It’s unbelievable. Everyone in this city sees him as a big, tough, solid player. I respected him for how hard he plays. That was gutless. Gutless piece of (crap).”

Now for all the people freaking out because Miller was so far out of his crease; how about the elbow to the head of James Reimer from a couple weeks ago against the Habs? Reimer was in his crease and totally unsuspecting of Gionta elbowing him. It would appear that even when goalies are in their crease they are still not safe. It is in all likely hood that James Reimer suffered a concussion from the elbow delivered by Brian Gionta of the Montreal Canadians, now it was deemed accidental contact, but Gionta did slightly stick his elbow out, so it was kind of incidental accidental contact on the part of Gionta. Reimer was clearly injured on the play, as he was seen grimacing in pain, and took several minutes to put his helmet on and get back to his feet. Now Gionta did receive a minor penalty, but no more supplemental discipline was given! Reimer has missed the last 18 days due to his injury and has been suffering from concussion-like symptoms. Goalies are not nearly protected as well as they should be. Players, are allowed to freely hit goalies and injure them, while only receiving a minor penalty. Who know's how long it will be before we see Reimer and Miller back in between the pipes for their respective teams.

Goalie's are a vital part of the game of hockey, perhaps the most important part to a team; General Managers, start with the goalies, and work their way out when building a team. Even the best offensive teams need a solid netminder, or their offensive power is all for not (just ask the Capitals or Flyers last couple seasons).
I don't care that goalies have the most equipment on the ice, nothing can help stop concussions, unless stupid players like Lucic smarten up and play the game of hockey properly. Besides, the goalie equipment is not designed for taking hits, it's designed for stopping pucks! This is not old time hockey, and the way the Bruins play is disgusting and a disgrace, and we wonder why there are so many dirty hits and concussions in all levels of hockey! If this was old time hockey, Lucic would be in the hospital right now unable to move for his stupidity!  So all you haters, saying goalies deserve to be hit and are proud of the way Lucic and other players like Matt Cooke play, I'd like to invite you to put on some goalie equipment and get run over like Miller was, then see how you feel about the hits! The NHL needs to do something to protect goalies, it's not funny, it's not cool, its horrible when goalies, just get run into and nothing happens! The NHL needs to get serious about protecting goalie's, more so even than any of the other players on the ice. Even though they are, in fact, tougher, would you stand there while a 90 mph slap shot is coming your way? I didn't think so. So when goalies, are hurt, you know something is wrong! They need to show that it is unacceptable, to run goalies.
anyway's we will see how the Lucic issue is handled, but I hope he has to sit at least 2 games, I would never wish injury upon any player, but maybe if someone sucker punched Lucic, the person hitting him would get a good laugh on the way to the box!

What you Need to Know!

Hello readers and blogger's alike! TODAY IS FRIDAY! I'm going to be talking about some of the stories that took place this week, but were not worthy of a blog of their own. This will most likely become a normal Friday blog, "What you need to know." This blog will consist of a whole bunch of little stories from around the NHL.
Here we go.....

First we start things off with the Toronto Maple Leafs; earlier this week we heard from back-up goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, and he is feeling much healthier than previous seasons and how expects to be a series contender in the leafs carousel of goaltenders. Early last season he was expected to be the leafs no.1 goaltender, but due poor play and injury, he lost the job to Jean-Sebastian Giguere. After the loss of the number one job he got sent down to the AHL Marlies to see if he could stay healthy and step his game up. Gustavsson has gone through a total of 3 heart surgeries, to repair an irregular heart beat. it is expected this season that Gustavsson will be the back up to unlikely hero James Reimer. Reimer was called up near the end of the season and had quite an impressive stint with the big boys, even winning the number 1 job away from season veteran Jean-Sebastian Giguere. Gustavsson is sure he can help young rookie Reimer in his development as well as help the team overall.“That's my goal. To push him and [have him] push me and to do whatever I can to make this team better.”The leafs are in a tough division for goaltenders, that includes the likes of; Miller, Price, Brodeur, Thomas and Lundqvist, they need the young tandem of Reimer and Gustavsson to step up and keep them around in the East. the one part of the puzzle that has been lacking for the Leafs is goaltending, they have a respectable bunch of forwards lead by Kessle and a stellar defense that any team would want lead by Phaneuf and Schenn, now it comes down to the goaltending. So the question remains can Reimer and Gustavsson match the goaltending caliber of a Ryan Miller or Tim Thomas? we'll have to wait and see.

next up is a report that surfaced from a former Washington Capital; Matt Bradley. After a total of 6 seasons with the Capitals, Bradley had some choice words for his former team and teammates. bradley insisted that the team just didn't show up in the playoffs, because a few key members didn't really care. "I think our locker room was maybe a little bit too nonchalant, and guys weren't disciplined the way they should have been," Bradely told TEAM 1200. "Those two things are big things. It wasn't that guys were going out the night before a game, but not being ready to practice or missing practice with questionable injuries and not being focused."IS THIS IT? HAS MATT BRADLEY FIGURED OUT WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WASHINGTON CAPITALS COME PLAYOFFS? no! this is Bradley lashing out that he is not apart of a Stanley Cup contending team anymore. Bradley is now a member of the Florida Panthers, does anyone remember their last chance at coming close to a cup? I do believe there is some truth to his argument though, some of the players don't giver their full effort during the post season. who are those players? lets ask Bradly;
"I don't mind saying Alexander Semin's name because he's one guy who has so much talent, he could easily be the best player in the league, and for whatever reason just doesn't care," Bradley said. "When you've got a guy like that you need him to be your best player, or one of your best players, and when he doesn't show up, you almost get the sense that he wants to be back in Russia. That's tough to win when you've got a guy like that who's supposed to be your best player not being your best player. Or one of your best players." HMMM I wonder why Bradley left the Capitals... making some enemies around town. Although it is no suprise that Alexander Semin does not care, everyone in the sports world can see this, they talked about it all playoffs long, it aint rocket science! Bradley even went as far as criticizing the coaching decision to give star players more ice time :o There were a lot of guys who played well that didn't probably play as much as they needed to, but I love Bruce (Boudreau) and Bruce is a great coach and he was in a very tough position there, because in Washington our top guys are definitely the stars and the guys that people want to see on the ice, so I totally understand," Bradley said. "That just doesn't happen on our team, it happens on a lot of teams. hmmm here is a random thought; maybe fans buy tickets to see star players, not 4th line players that ride the bench all game and score 3 important goals all season long. The fans want to see the Ovechkins and Semins that why they come out to the games! surprisingly enough Bradley had nothing bad to say about Ovechkin!
"I never worry about Ovi," he said. "He's an all-in guy. He's young; he makes his mistakes the same as anyone would. I often try to put myself in his position. And you've got to remember, he's 25 years old, he's got a guaranteed $120 million, he's on top of the world, and he still for the most part makes the right decisions."
good idea Bradley never criticize the captain of the team you just left! Bradley finished the post season with 3 goals and 8 assists, while Semin had 12 goals and 18 assists! Bradley needs to grow up and maybe contribute more to his team, oh wait he's sitting on the bench all game, my bad!

Next we move on to a story that literally just came in! Chris Drury is announcing his retirement from the NHL! Drury is the former captain of the New York Rangers! Drury, who turns 35 on Saturday, had the final year of his US$35.25-million contract bought out by the Rangers in June after four seasons with club. Drury had a rough season last year with many nagging injuries, thus resulting in 1 goal  and 4 assists in only 24 game. Drury has almost done it all, after getting drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in 1994, he won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001 and took part in the 2002 and 2010 Mens Olympic ice hockey team for the United States, both times winning a silver medal. Drury finishes with totals of 255 goals and 360 assists in 892 career-regular season games with Colorado, Calgary, Buffalo and the Rangers.

And our last story is; The new Jersey Devils Travis Zajac will miss the start of the 2011-2012 season. Zajac is expected to miss 8 to 10 weeks while recovering from a surgery to repair his left Achilles tendon. Zajac is entering his 6th NHL season and has spent all 6 years with the Devil's, he is a key part of the organization and a very good role player. Zajac has put up points to help back up his nasty swagger; He is New Jersey all-time ironman, with a consecutive games played streak of 401, Zajac had 13 goals and 31 assists in 82 games with the Devils last season. In 408 career NHL games, the 26-year-old recorded 89 goals and 160 assists.

thank you for reading this Friday blog, Sorry it went a little long, but I hope you enjoyed it :D just quickly in closing the Toronto Maple leafs are getting close to a deal with defence man Luke Schenn. Schenn is a Restricted Free Agent, and can basically not leave the Leafs. Nonis  the Senior Vice-President of Hockey Operations of the leafs expects there to be a deal done by the start of training camp. Stating that Schenn wants to resign and remain a Leaf. Also Steven Stamkos will grace the cover of EA's NHL 12.
Have a good weekend!