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...
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.
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.
Yes everyone, here's the introduction of the Leafs' new offensive strategy. Instead of putting a man in front to screen the goalie, let's sneak a rag of the stuff in the mask of the guy, he'll never expect it! At this point I think that's a last resort if I've ever heard of one, but I'm starting to be so annoyed by this team that I have trouble watching the whole game. But in all seriousness, I have a couple very short points to make:
1) I've found myself disliking every line composition that involves Kessel. No matter how much he passes and creates plays, his defensive faults are too painful to watch. When he was with Blake and Stajan I disliked the line and I still dislike it with Kulemin and Bozak. If anyone is an avid enough reader of mine to be with me since the very beginning of my bloggerhood, they would know that my first call as a line was Blake, Bozak and Kessel. I'm still very much an advocate of that line since Blake is still on the verge of converting his chances into numbers. Last night, his speed excited the team after some depressing goals in both the first and second periods.
2) So Chloroform is the new strategy for the team, but here's the new strategy for Leafs fans and TV watchers - tune in during the third period. It really is the only necessary period to watch. The Leafs are painful to watch for the first two and they start to work to tie it up once the opposition has a false sense of security. We've stolen five or six points this year like that.
3) Hey Ron, have you noticed that Wallin is bad? Like, I mean really bad. Keep him out of the line up. I don't care if he's friends with Gusto. He may be rated "81" in NHL 2010 while Hagman is an "80" but I saw through the bullshit. Sit him like you did yesterday.
4) Don't trade Mayers until the last possible day. If he's going to play like he did last night to fight for a trade, I would love to keep him as long as possible. Although Primeau can't accept a pass to save his life, Orr can!! That goal last night made him seem like a goal scorer; a slow, hard hitting, scary human being of a goal scorer. Orr was running around hitting everything that moved last night and scored an absolutely great goal. Very happy to see that guy playing the way he has this year. He's for sure one of my favourites. His ability to fight along the boards for the puck definitely took me by surprise.
5) Message to Burkie - don't look into Kovalchuk. I seriously don't like him and if we lose one more first rounder I'm going to start cheering for Stamkos and the Lightning who have a future.
Anyway, let's hope it picks up and this new strategy is put into place. Go Leafs Go Bone
I apologize for the long hiatus in posts. I decided to have a long christmas vacation with lots of eat, a bit of drink and a superfluous amount of shinny. Oh the life we life, eh?
When I left off, we had just played Buffalo on December 21st, which might have been the most exciting game of the season. Stalberg was called up and played well only to get injured. Then we lost a lot. Then Carolina actually caught up to us in the standings... and here we are.
The Leafs are starting to get hard to watch. Kessel's slump is just painful at this point, and Hagman's harsh decrease in point production is doing so much that his trade value is even dropping. What to do, what to do? I actually heard talk yesterday of taking Kessel off the power play and at this point, I think that might just be a good idea. Although he's a solely offensive-minded player (with no regard for ANY defense), he struggles to break into the shooting lanes. Even with a quick-release as deadly as his, he's not getting the puck through. If he's not getting the goals, it's because they're putting a lot of emphasis on his side of the ice both at full strength or on the PP. Thankfully, on the other side of the ice we have Ian White or Beauchemin (on the PP). Get them the puck.
We've heard it from all the media: the Leafs are being killed/killing themselves by special teams. They start calling into question Ron Wilson's skill as a coach (and penalty kill specialist) or Brian Burke's criteria for a team but this isn't the way to go about Leafs criticism. I do my best to try to avoid this because Wilson has no one to put out there on a penalty kill and Burke has no one to trade other than draft pi- nevermind.
In regards to the power play, my only advice would be to stop putting on full lines. If they seem to have figured out our first line to the extent every team in the league has at this point, switch it up a bit. With Kessel in his normal spot, the high boards on the goaltender's right hand side, the goalie knows where the shot is coming from. There needs to be more movement instead of a stagnant umbrella set up that feeds Kessel for a shot that's going to be blocked. Leafs need to get it down low, pull a defenseman off the slot area, then push it to the point and get a shot off. It sounds easier than it is, but our opposition does it to Luke Schenn every time he's on the ice.
The penalty kill is a whole other story. Let's look at the power play goal last night by Eric Staal. Who was on the ice? Hagman, Mitchell, White and Exelby. We just have a really weak team. Yes, we could put Kulemin out as a big body to block shots but at the end of the day, neither the Leafs first nor second line PK unit is strong enough to compete. I know it's halfway through the season, but what needs to happen isn't an overhaul of the players, but a mastery of a PK system. If the diamond doesn't work, give small box a shot. If that doesn't work, large box and so on. It can't get any worse can it? I dunno, ask LA a decade ago.
So it was my birthday recently and I was able to celebrate it in the best way I could have ever imagined. I'm going to the Leafs home game at the ACC against Buffalo tomorrow night as a present from my girlfriend and out of excitement for the game she decided to create a faux-ACC in my basement for last night's game against Boston. She banished me to the living room sitting me in front of the TV with NHL 10 and a beer (Mill St. Tankhouse) while she went to set up her surprise for me. To be honest, I had no idea what was going on at his point but I had nothing to complain about, right? After about 40 minutes I was summoned to the basement and as I walked down the stairs I heard the old Hockey Night in Canada theme song playing. When I got to the bottom of the stairs and looked around my basement I saw what she had planned. She had put up banners showing where us to our seats for the night (the couch, or what she called the "Platinum Section"). She also made a fake-concession stand that had beer and hot dogs for our game dinner. Last but not least, the icing (hockey pun intended) on the cake was to see her standing between the couch and TV in a gorgeous blue Leafs jersey. Could life have gotten any better? Well actually, it could. The Leafs won. She bought me a Leafs Xmas Stocking with different kinds of beer and chocolates and other delicious treats. She let me fill her ear with ridiculously obscure hockey facts. So pretty much, this was a post fully dedicated to showing off how great it is to 1) have a girlfriend who's a Leafs fan and 2) be able to say I'm going to see the Leafs live tomorrow. How's that for a perfect Holiday Season! Go Leafs Go Bone
Leafs Nation is obsessing over our newfound ability to win, especially with a statistic like 7-2-1 in our last 10. It's always nice to know we're winning but this might be a little premature knowing the teams we're playing. In the past 10 games, we've beaten Columbus, NY Islanders, Montreal, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Florida, and an unexpected overtime win over Washington. However, we've lost to Boston, NY Islanders (in OT) and Buffalo. In the list of teams the Leafs have beaten, Washington is the anomaly being the only elite NHL team we've stolen a win from. Montreal is in a playoff spot and so are the Thrashers but neither are likely to make the playoffs come the end of the year. Washington, Buffalo and Boston are the three actually good teams we've played in this rush and we have that many loses. Washington was a win due to an incredible game by Beauchemin and White, while the other two teams beat us. Buffalo and Boston are divisional teams which makes winning against them all the more important. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem likely at all. Furthermore, we play both teams 2 more times each in December alone. Also, in December the Leafs only have 2 more games against teams that are not in a playoff seed currently. Those teams are the Oilers and the Islanders. Instead, our Leafers are up against Buffalo twice, Boston twice, Washington, Pittsburgh, and the Pheonix Coyotes of Hamilton (...I wish). What I'm saying is not that the Leafs should have been 10-0 in their last 10 games, but that they need to win games against great teams if they're going to make a run for the playoffs. they have a very hard month coming up and they need to steal some games from elite teams like they did against Washington. What I hope for from the past 10 games is a confidence booster from players like Schenn, Kulemin, Blake and Colton Orr. Schenn has been outstanding during this ten game stint, which is being shown by his plus/minus statistic. In the last 5 games alone, Schenn is a +6. He's had games with about 10 minutes of ice time, some with 15, and 2 with 19 minutes. Ron Wilson is beginning to trust the sophomore defender and it seems he's finally finding his confidence. Kulemin's statistics look quite mediocre for the year, having only 8 points on the year and a -3 to show for it. However, last 5 games, he has 1G and 1A and is a +1. Still, seems pretty mediocre. What everyone's talking about however, is his defensive abilities. This kid has been stellar in his defensive play, throwing his weight around, fighting for the puck while being a disciplined power forward. His development is not close to being over but he's definitely a good player to have on this Leafs hockey team. The looks of some statistics can be awfully deceiving. Our local MMA hockey player Colton Orr has certainly picked up his play defensively. The whole fourth line has been able to hem the opposing team into their own end and apply enough pressure that the opposing team doesn't pose a threat. In the game against Washington, Mayers, Wallin and Orr kept Ovechkin and his team in their zone for a couple shifts while the Leafs first line had time to rest. Orr has even potted a game-winning goal recently, tying his NY Rangers statistic last year with 1G all season. This 4th line fighter is only a -3 and has been much better in this 10 game stint. Last but not least, the player that seems to be the most hated on all of the Maple Leafs, Jason Blake. I only put him on this list because he has finally found his scoring touch. In the last 5 games, Blake is a +6 and has 3G 1A on 20 shots. He's a +2 on this Leafs team and scored the winning goal last night against his old team. Everyone in Leafs nation has been hard on him this season but I still must disagree. Although he hasn't been scoring until recently, he has had incredible speed all year that penetrates the opposing zone and allows the team to set up in a dangerous way. He is also a surprisingly great physical presence behind the opposition's net. Look for him to keep up his scoring. These are the players that have picked up their play the most in this previous 5-10 games and have hopefully really gained confidence from the Leafs' winning. Honourable mention to Vesa Toskala and Wayne Primeau. Go Leafs Go Bone
Since we're playing the Caps soon and I spoke of our win over them a while back, I thought I'd include my favourite Washington youtube clip. Ever.
As a born and brought up fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Bone watches the Leafs while located in the heart of Habs territory. He's seen the greatness of Clark and Gilmour and their fight in 1993, but has also seen the times of Hal Gill and Wozniewski and their slow, bonehead style hockey.
Bone is a Leafs optimist at times but knows that there is still an unfortunate ultimate reality that all Leafs fans must realize during the current rebuilding process.
