Intimidation At Its Best

First off, Bone's Corner is now on twitter: check it out, follow, etc.

https://twitter.com/BonesCorner

Secondly, surprising news coming from Vancouver regarding the Leafs. Our most intimidating Maple Leaf has been involved in a bar fight in Vancouver. No, it's not Colton Orr, nor is it Phaneuf, Exelby or Schenn. Okay, maybe it's the Leafs' least intimidating player; I hope I didn't offend Wallin, Mitchell or Stalberg.

Friday night Mikhail Grabovski was involved in a "minor altercation" as told by Brian Burke while commenting on the situation. He may be too injured to play for the Belarusians as well as for the Toronto Maple Leafs but at least he's up for nice bar brawl now and then. It's nice to see the NHL going down the same path as the NFL, having a new player getting arrested each week. Recently, the Edmonton Oilers' injured goaltender Khabibulin was arrested for speeding by 20 miles an hour while drunk.

I'm proud of our boys.... I've always thought any press is good press. (Unfortunately the sentiment of sarcasm is next to impossible over the internet.) Usually I enjoy figuring out how hockey players become injured outside of hockey with Joe Sakic cutting himself on his snowblower and Eric Johnson crashing during a game of Golf-Cart Polo, but maybe I should instead be focusing on what they do once injured. Maybe soon Johan Franzen will get engaged in an ironic bout against a mule. We can always hope.

I don't know who he was fighting, however it's safe enough to speculate one of the Kostitsyn brothers was involved...

Bone

Leafs Doppelgangers

In the spirit of Doppelganger week I thought that along with my oh-so-precious-Leaf-fan girlfriend, I would put together a collage of fantastic Leafs Doppelgangers.

First off, Grabo along with Charlize Theron in Monster. Grabo may not be a killer prostitute, but he does score for money...

Second off, Rosie O'Donnell and XLB. This one speaks for itself.

I still think it would be more frightening to hear Donald Trump's catch-phrase "You're Fired" from Brian Burke.


For those of us who watched the epic show Prison Break, Charles "Haywire" Patoshik played by Silas Mitchell along with Gustavsson. It's always been my understanding that goalies have some sort of "quirk". If Haywire were to play hockey, like Gusto, he would definitely be a goalie.


This might be the most spot on. I was going to put up Radulov but seeing Colton Orr with a black eye called for a brown bear. Follow my logic? Nope.


Two major parts of my childhood. Bert taught me life lessons and Kaberle... well... passed to McCabe.

Thanks for bringing your buddy, Gustavsson.

Introducing: The Sjo-Stopper

Once again, apologies for the lack of posts lately. Where I last left off, there was no Phaneuf, no Sjostrom, no Giguere and to put it quite frankly, no Luke Schenn or Rickard Wallin. Since the two trades involving the Calgary Flames and the Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks, there has been a transformation of spirit, hitting, and skill taking over the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing room. When I was informed of the trade I was acting as the lead member of the FLQ, Jacques Rose in the Montreal Model UN reconstruction of the Canadian Cabinet during the October Crisis. I was informed of the new trade intel via blackberry from a friend of mine. It has now been just over a week since the team changing trade and this is how I see the team at this point.

Sjostrom - the Bone proclaimed new nicknamed "Sjo-Stopper" was quite an underrated pick up for the Leafs. His presence seems to have excited Rickard Wallin - since the trade they have both been on fire. I'm hoping the two of them together on the PK will actually turn out to be a success. All of the players we received in the trades have in some way excited someone else on the team. Wallin is no longer a healthy scratch caliber player (Well, I used to think he would be a healthy scratch for the Marlies). He has finally been playing well not only defensively but also with strength low in the corners of the offensive zone.

Schenn - right now his improvement is in a league of its own. He's been playing better and better throughout the year however that's not saying much since he wasn't NHL material at the beginning of the season. Now however, he's hitting, shooting, and talking on the bench like a future captain should. The great thing about Toronto media is that when you play well, boy do they play it up. Especially with Luke Schenn since he is such a top prospect for the Leafs future.

Kadri - last night was probably the most excited I've ever been to sit in front of the tube for a game. Watching him play his first shift and spring Stalberg on a breakaway was an incredible feeling. However, the next shift, the kid got hit hard in our defensive corner. After that, he was no longer really a threat. When he was going up against their defensemen in battles for the puck, I was genuinely scared for his health. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think Kadri needs to take a couple pages out of Jason Blake's books and learn to play with speed but still avoid the hits.

Kessel and Bozak - like I said in my previous post, Kessel's defensive faults drive me up the wall but how can I complain when he puts up numbers like 7 points in his last 3 games and 10 in his last 5? Although he runs away from any hit coming towards him, he still has that shoot-first mentality that compels him to rip the shot whether or not he even has his equilibrium. Phil shoots from no matter what position; he just likes to score goals. Another positive is his willingness to make that pass when there are too many people covering him - cue Bozak. Bozak has been in the right place at the right time a lot this season. With 11 points in his 15 games up in the show, the two of them make good linemates. Also, with 28 hits in his 15 games, he offers a physical presence to the Leafs' first line that opens up room for Kessel. With Poni's size on the other wing, the line has been quite strong in the few games it's been together.

If these factors, along with the strong play by in net Giguere continues, the Leafs might actually have the opportunity to close the gap between them and...well...not last place. Our largest difficulty this season has been our penalty kill and if the Wallin-Sjostrom tandem can come together as a shut-down pairing then Burkie's trades will have been a roaring success this late in the season.

Let's hope for the best,
Bone



I decided to show the least interesting interview... ever.