UPDATE: Paul Henderson's 72 hockey summit jersey

ClassicAuctions.net is still auctioning the actual jersey Paul Henderson wore in game 8 of the 1972 Summit Series.  The current high bid is $309,224.00 and the auction closes on June 22.

The Dion Phaneuf era begins

When Brian Burke acquired Dion Phaneuf this past winter it was obvious almost immediately he would be named team captain before the new season began.  The team was desperate for a player with the right level of talent and presence to hang the "C" on and to change the culture ofthe team.  To a certain extent, the selection of Phaneuf also reflects the lack of candidates for captain.  Other than Phaneuf, would you pick?  Maybe Mike Komisarek.

Being a captain in Toronto has it's own set of challenges.  There is a very large mass of reporters that follow the team and require stories to feed a fan base that is hungry for Leaf news 365 day a year.  The captain becomes a spokesperson for the team. As you can see below from the statement Phaneuf read at yesterday's press conference, he has a long way to go in becoming comfortable in that role.  He was wooden and emotionless. Yet that will not sink him. Many of his predecessors were not great public speakers.  Both Sundin and Clark were pretty bland. They grew into the role.

However, Phaneuf comes with some baggage and throwing more on this young man's shoulders will not make life easier for him in Leaf Land.  He was a 1st round pick of Calgary, 9th overall in 2003. He played in the All Star game in 2007 and 2008 and has been a Norris Trophy finalist. Yet he became a salary dump by the Flames for a package of Leaf spare parts in a matter of 2 years. Although he continues to be a physical presence on the ice, other parts of his game have left him. He has gone from scoring 60 points in a season to just 32 last season including just 10 points in 26 games with the Leafs. At 25 he still has time to develop to his full potential but it will only be that much more difficult under the Maple Leaf microscope. I am one that believes he will do it.

History of Maple Leaf Captains

Hap Day, 1927–37

Charlie Conacher, 1937–38

Red Horner, 1938–40

Syl Apps, 1940–43

Bob Davidson, 1943–45

Syl Apps, 1945–48

Ted Kennedy, 1948–55

Sid Smith, 1955–56

Jimmy Thomson, 1956–57

Ted Kennedy, 1957

George Armstrong, 1957–69

Dave Keon, 1969–75

Darryl Sittler, 1975–79

No captain, 1979–80

Darryl Sittler, 1980–82

Rick Vaive, 1982–86

No captain, 1986–89

Rob Ramage, 1989–91

Wendel Clark, 1991–94

Doug Gilmour, 1994–97

Mats Sundin, 1997–2008

No captain, 2008-10

Dion Phaneuf, 2010– present

43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1989-90 Season

When Gord Stellick resigned in August of 1989, Harold Ballard offered the Leafs’ GM job to Frank Bonello, who was the GM of the Marlies Club that won the 1975 Memorial Cup. At the time Bonello was Director of the NHL Central Scouting Department. But Bonello asked for too much money and too much control for Ballard's liking. He tried Alan Eagleson who also said no. So Ballard did what he always did, look down the hall for a familiar face. That turned out to be the Chief Scout, Floyd Smith. At the Amateur Draft the Leafs pick Scott Thorton, Rob Pearson and Steve Bancroft all in the first round. Not one of the three make a significant contribution to the Leafs as professionals.


During the previous season under Stellick, the Maple Leafs finished 28-46-6, good enough for 62 points and the division-bottom finish Maple Leafs fans had become oh-so-accustomed to throughout the 1980s. But things changed when Smith assumed the post.


As the 1989-90 season progressed, the light went on for several of the Leafs’ players. Gary Leeman scored 51 goals (the second Leaf to reach 50 goals). Daniel Marois added 39, and Vincent Damphousse and Ed Olczyk (obatined in a trade for Rick Vaive) knocked in 33 and 32 respectively. Al Iafrate scored 21 from the blueline, and Tom Kurvers (yes, that Tom Kurvers) added 15 in the only season in which he looked to be worth the first-round pick that was exchanged for him. The Leafs finished 38-38-4 and made the playoffs, a remarkable turnaround from the previous season. The accomplishment was all the more astounding given that Wendel Clark played in only 38 games due to injury.


Part of the success was attributed to new coach Doug Carpenter who installed a run-and-gun type of offence that made the Gardens fans hop. The Leafs achieved a .500 record for the first time in the 1980’s and the team scored a whopping 337 goals, which was the second highest in the NHL. The Leafs had the 12th best record in the 21 team league. But unfortunately, the Leafs also allowed 358 goals against that season which was the third highest in the league. The team was undisciplined defensively and had weak goaltending, which was a recipe for disaster in the playoffs. Not surprisingly, the Leafs were eliminated in the first round in five games to the St. Louis Blues to end a decade of futility.

One of the most infamous bad trades in the history of the Leaf franchise went down on Smith's watch: a first round pick to New Jersey for Tom Kurvers. The deal was pulled off by Smith in the fall of 1989 when the Leafs were a mid-pack club. Neither the media, the fans or the club saw what was coming: in his second season as GM, the wheels completely fell off.

Leafs are one of a number of team with limited cap space

With the introduction of the salary cap most transactions in the NHL occur during the offseason.  On average teams have about 15 players under contract for the 2010-11 season and about $12 million remaining in cap space to sign 8 more players.  Atlanta, St. Louis and San Jose are on the low end with only 11 players signed. The difference is that San Jose more dollars committed to next season and some big decisions to make because a number of important players become free agents on July 1. On the other end Anaheim, Florida, Calgary and Columbus have very few players to sign. As for Anaheim, they have about $20 million in cap space with only 6 spots to fill although their list of free agents could shrink that amount significantly.

Chicago has some serious cap issues with only 14 players under contract but already over the cap for next season. In addition, Niemi must be signed.  This should lead to some interesting trades in the next month. Detroit has some about 10 spots to fill and only $10 million in cap space to play with.  A chunk of that will be needed if they plan on re-signing Holstrom and Bertuzzi.  Or the Wings may have to let them walk as was the case last season when Hossa, Kopecky, and Samuelsson left to sign elsewhere. Even more interesting will be the moves that Don Maloney makes in Phoenix.  He also needs to sign 10 players but has a whopping $28 million in cap space.  The question is whether the owner (the NHL, Ice Edge or some other party) allows him to spend to the cap.  However, Maloney did quite well last year with limited dollars.

The Maple Leafs also need to sign 10 players with only $12 million in cap space.  With the expected trade of Kaberle, that could expand the cap space to $16 million unless Brian Burke flips him for players instead of draft picks. However, he must also re-sign Kulemin and Gustavsson which will cost over $4 million. So Burke who wants to make a big splash in the free agent market will have to tweak his roster if he hands out a big contract to someone on July 1. As for Kaberle, the most talked about destination is New Jersey unless they work out a deal with Kovalchuk.  In which case they will have little cap space remaining.

	Players	Cap Hit	Significant Free Agents
Anahiem	17	$   36.80	Niedermayer, Selanne, Koivu, Ryan
Atlanta	11	$   27.90	Kozlov, Kubina, Afinogeno
Boston	12	$   46.10	Wheeler, Satan
Buffalo	14	$   43.10	Torres, Lyndman, Tallinder
Carolina	15	$   41.70	Whitney
Calgary	17	$   49.10	White, Higgins
Chicago	14	$   57.50	Ladd, Madden, Niemi
Columbus	18	$   47.60
Colorado	12	$   28.30	Tucker, Svatos, Salei, Foote, Clark
Dallas	16	$   36.50	Modano, Lehtinen, Turko
Detroit	13	$   46.10	Holstrom, Bertuzzi, Williams, Helm
Edmonton	14	$   41.80	Pisani, Comrie, Gagner, Cogliano
Florida	17	$   46.60
Los Angeles	16	$   44.60	Frolov, Modin, Jones
Minnesota	15	$   45.20	Nolan, Boogaard
Montreal	14	$   45.70	Plekanec, Lapierre, Price, Halak
Nashville	16	$   41.20	Hamhuis, Ellis
New Jersey	15	$   41.10	Kovalchuk, Clarkson, Martin
NY Islanders	14	$   32.50	Weight
NY Rangers	14	$   45.60	Jokinen, Staal
Ottawa	16	$   49.60	Volchenkob, Cullen, Foligno, Sutton
Philadelphia	16	$   48.60	Emery, Leighton, Rathje
Phoenix	13	$   28.80	Aucoin, Morris, Schneider, Stempniak, Wolski
Pittsburgh	15	$   45.10	Guerin, Fedetenko, Ponikdarovsky, Gonchar
San Jose	11	$   35.70	Marleau, Nabokov, Pavelski, Setoguchi, Wallin
St. Louis	11	$   27.60	Kariya. Tkatchuk, Steen, Mason, Johnson
Tampa Bay	12	$   39.60	Tanguay, Downie,
Toronto	13	$   44.20	Gustavsson, Kulemin, Van Ryn, Exelby
Vancouver	14	$   45.00	Demitra, Mitchell, Wellwood
Washington	13	$   32.60	Walker, Morrison, Corvo, Theodore

How to build a winner in today's NHL

Building a championship team in the NHL is constantly evolving as the style of play and the type of player changes over time.  Now the existence of the salary cap is another factor to consider.

Prior to NHL expansion, the original six teams sponsored junior teams which feed players to the NHL clubs. Recruiting players for your junior teams (Toronto Marlies, St. Catherines Blackhawks, Hamilton Red Wings, etc.) was how you developed players for your NHL team and farm teams.  When the Amateur Draft was introduced and junior sponsorship ended, it put teams on an equal footing and ended the dominance of the Maple Leafs and Canadiens in signing players in Ontario and Quebec.

Since that time, general managers have had to use their wile to get a jump on the competition.  No surprise that the Maple Leafs and not been in a championship series since 1967.  In the 1970s the Flyers became the first expansion team to win a Stanley Cup by building a team that blended skill and physical intimidation. Soon other teams copied their style and they lost their advantage. In the 1980s the Oilers dominated not just because they owned Wayne Gretzky but because they were able to adapt the way the game was played in Europe to the NHL.  That style was adopted by others including the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

As expansion continued, coaches in expansion cities decided to adopt a defensive game to keep their teams competitive against skill teams and to save their jobs.  This style spread to small market teams who couldn't afford a team loaded with skill players.  The trap was born and the Devils became the model team. All you needed was a good system to stifle the opposition and a top notched goalie who doesn't give up soft goals.

The lockout and rule changes that followed killed the trap. Teams struggled to figure out how to put together a winner under a salary cap.  However, a pattern has begun to appear.  Just look at Tampa Bay, Carolina, Anaheim, Pittsburgh and Chicago.  Tampa Bay was 29th overall in both the 1999-00 and 2000-01 season and won the Stanley Cup in 2003-04.  Carolina was 30th overall in 2002-03 and won the Cup in 2005-06.  Anaheim was 26th overall in 2003-04 then won the Cup in 2006-07. Then Penguins finished 29th in 2002-03, 30th in 2003-04 and 29th in 2004-05 before going on to win the Cup in 2008-09. Finally Chicago finishes 29th in 2003-04, 28th in 2005-06 and 26th in 2006-07 yet won the Cup in 2009-10. 

The formula for a Stanley Cup is to move out your veterans, finish with lottery picks for 2 or 3 years, then bulk up by filling out your roster through free agency. Most of these team have won Cups with young stars (Staal, Perry, Geflatz, Crosby, Malkin, Toews, and Kane) well before their reach their prime.  The reason is economics.  While they are young, they are also cheap.  This allows teams to sign veterans to play with them.  However, as the young players sign more lucrative contracts, their teams must unload the secondary scoring which weakens the team and makes it next to impossible to repeat. Once you finish higher in the standings you don't get the opportunity to draft more impact players that can jump straight into your lineup with little economic impact.  Chicago must dump salaries next season which means a weaker lineup.  It happened to Pittsburgh and Anaheim.  Detroit tried to buck the trend by convincing players to stay with the organization and accepting contracts below their market value. However, this past season several players refused and signed elsewhere (Hossa, Kopecky, Samuelsson).

Which brings me to the Maple Leafs.  Brian Burke has decided to short circuit the process by using draft picks to bring in younger quality players.  So a 29th overall finish this season will not result in an impact player.  Instead the Leafs acquire Phil Kessel who is only 22 years old but is paid $5.4 million.  They bring in Dion Phaneuf who is only 24 years old but is paid $6.5 million.  When you are paying your young stars big dollars, it limits the players you can bring in to play around them.  Which means the likelihood of the Maple Leafs reaching the Stanley Cup finals is not good.

The Curse of Frank Mahovlich continues

The Chicago Blackhawks win their 4th Stanley Cup tonight which ends a 49 year championship drought for the Blackhawks. Back in 1960-61 Chicago was anchored by a 21 year old Bobby Hull as well as Stan Makita, Pierre Pilote, Kenny Wharram, Murray Balfour, Bill Hay and Glen Hall.

With the Chicago victor, that leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs with the longest running Stanley Cup drought - 43 long years. Though since Los Angeles and St. Louis have never won the Cup since joining the NHL 43 years ago, they share drought title with the Leafs.  For Buffalo and Vancouver, it is 40 years.

The Curse of Frank Mahovlich lives on!

Will Brian Burke go after Ilya Kovalchuk?

He made not be able to snare him but there is no question in my mind that the Maple Leafs will actively pursue Kovakchuk on July 1 if he doesn't re-sign with New Jersey.  This is a $100 million contract but Burke will likely be able to accommodate him.  The Leafs desperately need scoring and after giving up the farm for Phil Kessel Burke needs to get better fast. 

So is he worth it?  At 27, Kovalchuk is still considered young.  In his worst season, he scored 29 goals but he was only a rookie.  He has scored 40 or more 6 season and twice hit the 50-goal mark. This is as gifted a scorer as there is in the NHL. Players like Kovalchuk almost never become free agents.  Carolina locked in Eric Staal.  Tampa locked in Vincent Lecavalier.  Columbus locked in Rick Nash.  Philadelphia locked in Mike Richards.  Washington did the same with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. So yes the Leafs will be after him and so they should.  But despite the high price tag there will be many suitors including the New Jersey Devils who have exclusive negotiating rights up until July 1.

Paul Henderson's 72 hockey summit jersey is up for auction

lassicAuctions.net have an all new and always fascinating auction running now through June 22nd, 2010: The actual jersey Paul Henderson wore in game 8 of the 1972 Summit Series.

Described as "the most significant artifact in the history of the game of hockey," this is of course the jersey Henderson scored arguably the most goal in the game's glorious history - the goal that won the 1972 Summit Series with just 34 seconds left.

Bidding for the jersey has just started, opening at $10,000. It is currently at $211,202. Henderson apparently gifted the jersey to Team Canada trainer Joe Sgro. He sold it to one collector, who in turned sold it to another who is now offering it up for auction. No price history is publicly available on the jersey. The previous highest game worn jersey sale of $191,000 for a Bobby Orr rookie jersey.

The Department of Canadian Heritage may have an interest in acquiring Paul Henderson's jersey. Funds are available to assist with the purchase of important cultural property threatened with export or to purchase cultural property that has been lost to Canada. This wing of the Canadian government has spent large sums of money to acquire items, often war related, for Canadian museums.

Michael Badad of the Globe and Mail says department store giant Canadian Tire is about to make a big opening bid for Paul Henderson's 1972 Summit Series jersey.

Henderson wants to see the jersey returned to Canada, and not in a private collection. He wants it accessible for all hockey fans to enjoy. If their bid is successful, the jersey will go on tour in every corner of the country, visiting each of the 480 Canadian Tire stores in the country, giving the Canadian public a chance to see the jersey. Then Canadian Tire would lend the jersey to sports and hockey museums including the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and the Hockey Hall of Fame for the benefit of all Canadian

43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1988-89 Season

The 1988-89 was best remembered as the Gord Stellick season. Stellick was a well-liked, personable young man who has worked his way up in the Leaf organization but over his head as the general manager of a professional sports franchise. He was just 30 years old, the youngest GM in NHL history. At the Amateur Draft the Leafs pick Scott Pearson 6th overall who turns out to be a dud.

Once again the Leafs finished 19th out of 21 teams and out of the playoffs with a pathetic record of 28-46-6. They were managed by a inexperienced rookie, coached by an unqualified veteran and with no captain. The team has still not replaced Rick Vaive.

Brophy who had been feuding with the previous general manager, Gerry McNamara, had hoped to replace McNamara but instead the job went to Stellick. Brophy didn't last much longer as coach. After an equally poor start to the 1988–89 season, and despite being a favourite of Leafs owner Harold Ballard, Brophy was fired in December 1988, 33 games into the season. He was replaced by George Armstrong. Armstrong had coached the 1974-75 Toromto Marlies to a Memorial Cup Championships. Throughout that season he had repeatedly tried to quit because he hated coaching. Ballard repeatedly tried to get Armstrong to sign a multiple year contract but he would have none of that.

Stellick made an effort to rebuild the team but he also made what I thought was one of the worst trades in the history of the Maple Leaf franchise. He traded Russ Courtnall to Montreal for John Kordic. Courtnall was a gifted skater and decent scorer who had been playing on the "Hound" line with Wendel Clark and Gary Leeman. The previous season, Brophy had attempted to get him to play a more physical game which caused a drop off in his offensive production. That partly may have led to the trade for an enforcer. Kordic had drug and alcohol problems as well as a terrible temper. Courtnall played 10 more seasons after the trade while Kordic died on August 8, 1992, after overdosing on drugs and being involved in a struggle with police at his hotel. He was just 27 years old.

Gord Stellick who had repeatedly stood up to Ballard throughout the season resigns in August rather than give in to the whims of the owner.

Gary Bettman still opposes a second team in Toronto

Last night was the annual debate argument fight between Gary Bettman and Ron MacLean on the CBC Stanley Cup telecast. The CBC pays the NHL $100 million to telecast hockey and for their money they get a belligerent Commissioner to come on air each year. If you missed it the entire 9 minute encounter can be found below. The highlight for me was the discussion regarding a second team in this market (at the 6:40 mark).  MacLean asks about Southern Ontario, and Bettman throws Winnipeg and Quebec City in his face wondering why MacLean doesn't want to "right the wrongs" of previous relocations and wants to focus on the Toronto market instead. In my mind Bettman is happy to play the bad guy for the Maple Leafs. The truth came out in the Phoenix bankruptcy court which is that the Leafs are strongly opposed to another team encroaching on their territory. Bettman will defend the Leafs' market so that MLSE doesn't alienate their frustrated fan base.

Tomas Kaberle should be looking for a real estate agent

It was well reported today following an interview on Rogers Sportsnet that Brian Burke has received two inquiries regarding Tomas Kaberle. He characterized them as more than just nibbles.  Now this in itself shouldn't get people too excited since GMs periodically check in on the status of Kaberle. Except this time maybe things are different.

In the past Burke has stated that he wasn't looking to trade Kaberle and that a team would have to knock his socks off before he would consider making a deal.  He still says he isn't looking to trade Kaberle but he did ask Dave Nonis to send a note to all teams explaining how exactly Tomas’ no-trade works.

Why would you lay out the rules of engagement to other GMs if there wasn't a for sale sign around Kaberle's neck. This pre-emptive more is intended to generate more interest and better offers. By the way he can be traded from the start of the Entry Draft (June 25) until August 15.  So stayed tuned.

Nice hit Carcillo, too bad it was Jeff Carter

Dan Carcillo tries to hit Tomas Kopecky but misses and levels teammate Jeff Carter.

43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1987-88 Season

During the 1987-88 season, the Maple Leafs come 20th out of 21 teams but still make the playoffs because the finished with 1 point ahead of the Minnesota North Stars who were also in the Norris Division. How the Leafs fall victim to the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the playoffs. 

Harold Ballard and Gerry McNamara were more or less lost in the past.  Always out of step with the rest of the league.  When teams pursued Europeans, the Leafs stayed at home.  When they finally showed up, they were scouting the wrong players like Jir Crha or Slav Duris.They had nothing but contempt for player agents as if you could turn back the clock to the 1960s.


The Leafs has a chronic shortage of depth in their organization. They would lose good young players in the waiver draft like Kevin Maguire to Buffalo and Craig Muni to Edmonton, both would go on to have successful careers.  McNamara rarely signed free agents and when he did often they turned out to be players with little or nothing left in the tank like Marian Stastny and Dave Semenko. By the spring of 1988, John Brophy was at the peak of his influence in the Leaf organization dispite the fact that he was a lousy coach. As power shifted in the organization it partly led to the firing of McNamara.


Yolanda MacMillan legally changes her name to Ballard although she and Harold are not married. However, she insisted that the Gardens staff call her Mrs. Ballard.  Harold's children grew to resent and then dispise Yolanda. Harold was by now in poor health and began using a wheelchair.  He had diabetes which caused serious circulation problems in his legs and feet. He had suffered a heart attack while in Florida which left him in a weakened and, at times, confused state.

During the season Harold Ballard actually tried to orchestrate a friendly take over of the Leafs by a friend, Michael Gobuty.  Ballard had agreed to guarantee credit from the National Bank for $2.5 million. However, when Gardens director Don Crump learned of the loan guarantee, he killed it.  The bank later sued Gobuty and Ballard.

The next crisis came when Ballard declared he would leave his money to a charity and not his children. He indicated that he expected the charity to run the Gardens and the team. It was a tragic comedy every day at the Gardens.

Scouting Report: Korbinian Holzer

Last week the Maple Leafs announced the signing of German defenseman Korbinian Holzer. He was a 4th round pick of John Ferguson in 2006 providing further proof that JFJ's strength was at the draft.  Too bad he kept trading away his picks.


Playing with Germany in both the Olympics (this year) and the World Junior Championships (2007), it's clear that Holzer is highly regarded as a solid international player by his home nation.

Holzer has also been known over the past week as being the guy who was pasted into the boards (see video below) by fellow Leaf  Nik Kulemin at the IIHF World Hockey Championships in a game between Russia and Germany.
Playing with the DEG Metro Stars of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, Holzer compiled 22 points and 96 penalty minutes in 52 games.

Holzer has been signed for 2 years on a 2-way contract which means that if he never makes it onto the Leafs he won't cost them too much playing on the Marlies.

At 6'3" he has the height that Brian Burke likes in his defensemen but at 190 lbs he will need to bulk up. He is defensive-minded player that plays a physical game. Not many players in his draft range have accomplished anything yet, with Columbus’ Derek Dorsett and Toronto’s own Viktor Stalberg the only ones to play 40 NHL games. Holzer may not have that, but he has Olympic experience, which is hard to come by when going through the 2006 drafts players after the first round.  The Marlies already have depth at defense with Jesse Blacker, Keith Aulie, Phil Oreskovic, and Juraj Mikus so Holzer will have his work cut out for him to rise in the depth chart.

Stanley Cup action last night

ONCE AGAIN NONE!

Thanks Gary for keeping everyone so caught up in the NHL playoffs.

borrowed from here

Chicago's best chance at a Stanley Cup is this season

Some hockey fans are thinking that the Blackhawks would be Stanley Cup favourites in a season or two from now and that their status as Cup finalists came a little early.  Well their best shot will likely be this season.

Like the Penguins over the past two season, Chicago is loaded with great young players.  Many will get better over the next few years.  Unfortunately, like Pittsburgh, the Blackhawks will not be able to keep this team together. Over the past season the Penguins had to let move out some pretty good secondary scoring including Petr Sykora, Miro Satan, Ryan Malone and Marian Hossa.

Chicago has 14 players under contract for next season for a total of $57.5 million.  Unfortunately the salary cap will be $56.8 million in 2010-11.  So Chicago must somehow drop almost a $1 million in salaries but sign 9 more players.  That means some massive salary dumping.  Players like Patrick Sharp, Brent Sopel, John Madden and others may have to be moved with very little coming the other way.  They are further handcuffed by large contracts given to Marian Hossa and Brian Campbell.


So this looks like it is Chicago's year.  Unless those nasty Flyers throw enough dirt in their young faces.

The 2010 Cinderella team title goes to the Philadelphia Flyers

Was it my imagination or did Canada go gaga over the Montreal Canadiens?  Well I'm not crying over the loss of Canada's last Stanley Cup contender.  Leaf fans aren't supposed to cheer for their arch rivals. Sure I hated the Flyers in the 1970s.  Who didn't?  But this is 2010. Dave Schultz, Bob Kelly, Don Saleski and Andre Dupont are old men now.  Fred Shero and Kate Smith are dead. But the Montreal Canadiens are still the enemy.
 
So when I hear that the Canadiens were the Cinderella team in this year's playoffs it makes my blood boil.  The Flyers are the real Cinderella team.  They finished with 88 points in the regular season, the same as the Canadiens.  In fact it didn't even look like they were going to make the playoffs finishing the season at 3-7-1.The Flyers made the playoffs by winning the last game of the season in a shootout - partly because Ranger coach John Tortorella decided not to use Marian Gaborik as one of his shooters.  They lost their starting and backup goalies to injuries and played most of the season with a career minor leaguer in net.

Although the Canadiens got a lot of credit for beating Washington, the #1 seeded team in the East and top offensive team.  The Flyers beat New Jersey in 5 games.  The Devils happened to have been the #2 seeded team and the top defensive team.  Then the Flyers beat the Bruins who happened to have been #2 defensive team.  But they did it the hard way after losing the first 3 games in the series.  So when the two Cinderella teams faced each other, it was no contest.  The Flyers won in 5 games with the minor league stopper, Michael Leighton earning 3 shutouts. 

So in my books the 2010 Cinderella title goes to the Philadelphia Flyers. 

P.S. Don't forget the Blackhawks have the NHL's most cursed player, Marian Hossa.

Scouting Report: Jesse Blacker

At the 2009 Entry Draft, Nazem Kadri received all of the attention from the Toronto media while the remaining picks have been largely ignored. The second round pick last year (58th overall), Jesse Blacker is legitimate prospect.

In 2008-09, Jesse played defense for the Memorial Cup winners, the Windsor Spitfires. This season saw Jesse force a trade.  Eager to play a more prominent role and squeezed out by the numbers on a stacked Windsor Spitfires team he headed home early in the season to force a trade. He got his wish and finished the season with Owen Sound.  At the end of the OHL regular season, Blacker signed a contract with the Maple Leafs and was assigned to the Toronto Marlies.

Jesse Blacker is considered a good puck moving defenseman who is not afraid to use the body. He is good at moving forwards from in front of his own net.  However, he is also been criticized for running around in his own end and getting out of position. He will have to work on his positional play before he gets a chance for a promotion to the big team.  At 6'2" and 190 lbs he will also have to put on some weight. His resume is littered with some truculence, testosterone, pugnacity and belligerence which means that Brian Burke will be patient to see how he develops.

43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1986-87 Season

Harold Ballard had a tendency to hire coach and managers with no NHL experience likely because they came cheap. Gerry McNamara, Mike Nykoluk, Floyd Smith, Joe Crozier, and Dan Maloney all were hired with no experience and invariably once they picked up some job skills they were gone. Dan Maloney was no different.  When his contract expired during the offseason Ballard refused to give him a two year contract with a modest raise.  He was likely the lowest paid coach in the league with no security.  So he quit.  The next day the Winnipeg Jets signed him.  For some reason McNamara made no effort to sign Maloney.  Yet he worked out a four year contract for himself several months later.

Finding a new coach for Leafs was not a simple process - he had to be cheap, he had to be someone from the Leaf organization and he had to be someone Ballard liked.  This time around it was John Brophy.  John Brophy turned out to be a huge blunder for McNamara and one of the most controversial individuals to walk the halls of Maple Leaf Gardens.  He was a career minor league player and coach and totally unequipped to handle young players.  He was a tough disciplinarian with an explosive temper. Meanwhile, McNamara tough approach to negotiating contracts offended many players who forced the manager to trade them in a series of bad moves that saw the Leafs trade Steve Thomas, Gary Nylund, Bob McGill and Rick Vaive.

The Leafs stumbled through the season but made the playoffs when the Minnesota North Stars collapsed late in the season (they qualified through a tie breaker). Although the Leafs were able to advance past the St. Louis Blues they were once again unable to advance to the third round. During the season long-term Maple Leaf King Clancy had to undergo surgery to remove his gall bladder. Unfortunately, infection from the gall bladder seeped into his body during surgery, causing him to go into septic shock. He died November 10th, 1986.  Young star player Wendel Clark missed 14 games with a back problem that became chronic because of poor care provided by the Leaf doctors. The team's leading scorer was Russ Courtnall who along with Wendel Clark and Gary Leeman formed a decent line referred to the Hound line.

43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1985-86 Season

Another bad season (25-48-7) for the Maple Leafs finishing 19th overall yet making the playoffs because the pathetic Red Wings (or Dead Wings as they were referred to in the 1980s) were also in the Norris Division. In the first round of the playoffs the Leafs swept the best of 5 series with Chicago in 3 straight games and extended St. Louis in the next round to a 7th game in their best of 7 series.

Wendel Clark had an immediate impact on the team and lead the team in goals scored with 34 (a Leaf rookie record) as well as penalty minutes with 225. The 5’11", 194 pound combative left-winger became an instant crowd favourite with his quick and accurate wrist shots and punches. He took on all comers, including heavyweights Behn Wilson and Bob Probert. He was a breath of fresh air to a team that was unable to properly develop the early first-round draft picks that should have turned the franchise around.  Rick Vaive became another Leaf captain to be humiliated and driven from the team when he was stripped of his captaincy for missing a morning practice.  The position is left open.

GM  Gerry McNamara continued to look to Europe for talent although team owner, Harold Ballard, was not so keen to sign foreign players. McNamara has discovered Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom in the 1970s. McNamara began to look at Czechoslovakia where Vaclav Nedomansky and the Statsny brothers had been able to jump to the NHL.  McNamara beleived he could geta a number of stars on their national team to defect. He had drafted Peter Ihnacak in the 2nd round in 1982 and picked up Miroslav Frycer in a trade.  In fact, by 1985-86 Frycer was leading the Leafs in scoring.

But back in 1982, McNamara was so intent on drafting Czech players that he also drafted Peter Ihnacak's brother Miroslav although no Leaf scout had ever seen him play.  The Leafs were able to sneak Miro out of Czechoslovakia during Christmas 1985 and paid almost $1 million  to get him  out of the country and sign him to a contact - remember Ballard was not supportive of bloated payrolls.  As it turns out, Miro wasn't as big, fast or good as his brother Peter. He played just 55 games for the Leafs and scored 8 goals before being bought out of his contract. Just another set back for the Maple Leafs.

Maybe the worst reporting in the history of sports

Charles Clinton has to be the absolutely worst hockey rink reporter you will ever encounter. This is history being made!

Will you be supporting the Canadiens?

I thinking that as the only surviving Canadian team perhaps it was my patriotic duty to support the Montreal Canadiens. But then they aren't Team Canada. It would like Red Sox fans supporting the Yankees. Like Phillies fans supporting the Mets. Like Pistons fans supporting the Bulls. Like Ticats fans supporting the Argos. It ain't going to happen.

Why are these Bruin fans crying?

a)  Prior to game 7, the Bruins had a memorial for Ted Kennedy

b)  Friday's game brought back bad memories of 1979 when Don Cherry's Bruin team was called for too many men.

c)  They realized Taylor Hall will be playing for Edmonton next season and the Bruins will be stuck with Tyler Seguin.

d)  They feel bad for Maple Leaf fans because it's been 43 years since the Leafs last won the Cup.

Scouting Report: Jerry D'Amigo

The Maple Leafs picked Jerry D'Amigo in the 6th round, 158th overall in the 2009 Entry Draft.  This was one of the few skill players drafted by Brian Burke last spring. D'Amigo was selected as a result of his outstanding year on the U.S. Under-18 Team where he scored 23 goals, 33 assists and 56 goals in 53 games with the team.  At the U18 World Championships, D’Amigo led the team and finished tied for third in the tournament, with 13 points in seven games including four goals, helping the U.S. win gold.

He went on to have an excellent season at RPI as a freshman as well as winning gold on the USA National Junior team. He was rookie of the year for the ECAC Hockey conference. D'Amigo was arguably Team USA's second best forward and scored some clutch goals in the tournament.  His stock has definitely risen. Though he needs to work on the other parts of his game - such as his defensive skills.  He is a player worth watching of the next few years.

43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1984-85 Season

The Maple Leafs finally hit rock bottom in the 1984-85 season finishing in last place overall.  The Leafs lost an incredible 52 games under new coach Dan Maloney. The worst season in the history of the franchise. Their 48 points were 14 points fewer than the record of the lowest ranked playoff team.

Even Rick Vaive had an off year.  After scoring 50 or more for three straight season he dropped down to a 35 goal season. The Leafs had struggled to develop draft picks over the past few seasons. Jim Benning (6th, 1981), Gary Nylund (3rd, 1982), Russ Courtnall (7th, 1983) and Al Iafrate (4th, 1984) just never lived up to their high rankings. For the first time since the NHL Entry Draft was introduced, the Maple Leafs had the first overall pick in 1985 and the opportunity to select a potential franchise player. Unfortunately, there was no clear overall #1 pick that season.  Hockey people were split between Wendel Clark, Dana Murzyn and Craig Simpson. The Leafs actually made the right decision for once taking the hardnose winger from Saskatoon.

I'm taking the Bruins to choke big time tonight

UPDATE: Well the Bruins showed up and put up a good fight.  But it was still a historic collapse.

Scouting Report: Chris DiDomenico

A player I expect to get a good shot at making the Maple Leafs this fall is Chris DiDomenico. He is a local kid (Woodbridge) who has partly flown under the radar because of injuries.

He was passed over in the OHL draft and began his major junior career the Saint John Sea Dogs in the Quebec league in 2006–07 where DiDomenico scored 25 goals, 50 assists and 75 points, establishing Sea Dogs club records for a rookie. That summer, he was drafted in the 6th round (164th overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. The next season he finished sixth in league scoring with 95 points in 65 games.

In his third season as a junior DiDomenico was traded to the Drummondville Voltigeurs. He completed the season with a combined 59 points in 51 games between Drummondville and Saint John. He also represented Canada at the World Junior Chamionships in 2009. Then he went on a tear in the playoffs recording a playoff-high 31 assists to go with 4 goals in 15 games before suffering a broken femur in a collision.

DiDomenico played his first game since the injury on February 17 of this year after a nine-month layoff. He scored a goal and added two assists in his first game back, and in 12 games he managed seven goals and 22 points along with a plus-18 rating.

He is a gifted scorer something the Leafs are in short supply. But he also has tremondous character and determination. He is only listed at 5'11" and 165 lbs and just an ordinary skater. But DiDomenico is an excellent penalty killer and at taking face offs. The only thing working against him is the lost 2009-10 season which likely held back his development.

43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1983-84 Season

Around this time Yolanda had become a fixture at the Gardens.  She brought with her dog T.C Puck a Bouvier. Harold Ballard enjoyed the attention and the two became inseparable. He gave her a job at the Gardens and paid her $35,000 a year but no one knew what she did. To the Gardens employees she went from amusing, to annoying and finally despised. 

1983-84 was another dismal season with the Leafs finishing 18th overall in the 21-team league.  It as the franchise's second worst season ever up to that point. The only high point was Rick Vaive's 3rd consecutive 50 goal season.  The media began to writing negative articles about Mike Nykoluk.  Soon reporters were being banned from the Gardens.  A practice that became quite common for Ballard as time went on.

When the season ended and the Leafs had again failed to make the playoffs, Gerry McNamara finally fired Nykoluk. Although he wasn't solely to blame, he never won more than 28 games in the three season he was behind the bench. 

McNamara has initiated a law suit over an auto accident prior to becoming General Manager which reached a settlement around this time. In the action he claimed he had suffered brain damage which included difficulty speaking in stressful situations.  When he received a $125,000 settlement the newspapers had a field day. One headline read, "McNamara Proves He's Brain Damaged".

This was a pretty nice goal

Montreal's Maxim Lapierre is one of those annoying players that frankly degrade the game. He is constantly chirping and playing on the edge of the rules. But he scored a beautiful goal in the 3rd period of last night's game that turned out to be the game winner and propels the Canadiens into another Game 7.

Bobby Orr is bronzed

Today is the 40th anniversary of Hall of Fame defenseman Bobby Orr scoring the game-winning goal against the St. Louis Blues in overtime to clinch the 1970 Stanley Cup. It was one of the more memorable Cup winning goals you could imagine - in overtime. The Bruins organization unveiled a bronze statue outside TD Garden to forever commemorate the iconic event in Boston's sports history. Orr is one of my sports heroes and a terrific person.

43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1982-83 Season

In Gerry McNamara's full season in charge of the team one would have thought he would use the opportunity to rebuild not just the hockey team but the hockey operations.  The Leafs at the time only had 3 full time scouts (Johnny Bower, Dick Duff and Floyd Smith) while most teams had at least 10.  Coach Mike Nykoluk only had one assistant while other head coaches had several assistants. Doug Carpenter who had a very successful career as a junior coach at Cornwall was coaching the Leafs' AHL affliate (St. Catherines Saints) but was not brought back in 1982.  He would have been an excellent replacement for Nykoluk but McNamara decided to replace Carpenter with ex-teammate Claire Alexander. Even the Saints were a disaster.  To save money McNamara didn't sign their top two scorers from the previous season, Bruce Boudreau and Mike Kasycki, which further weakened the Leafs' depth.

The 1982-83 season featured the short career of Paul Higgins.  Higgins played with McNamara's son at Henry Carr and was signed by the Toronto Marlies.  He was continually getting into fights and in trouble with the law.  He even got into a fight in a softball game during the offseason. The Marlies eventually traded him to Kitchener and drove him to his new team to make sure he got out of town.  None of this mattered to McNamara who had the Leafs draft him in 1980 (10th round) and employ him as a goon.
The Leafs did not send scouts to the World Championships because Harold Ballard refused to sign Europeans. So the team that opened to door to Europeans by signing Borje Salming was now ignoring that continent. Meanwhile the rest of the NHL was going European (Jarri Kurri in Edmonton, Kent Nilsson in Calgary, Peter Stasny in Quebec).

Rick Vaive registered a second 50-goal season but that was really the only bright spot. Despite a terrible 28-40-12 record the Maple Leafs make the playoffs by finishing in 3rd place in the Norris Division. However the weak Leafs are quickly exposed as they are knocked off in 4 games of a best of 5 by the Minnesota North Stars.  A total of 46 players dressed for the Leafs that season.

Happy Mothers Day

77,803 fans watch hockey game between USA and Germany

The opening game of the IIHF World Championships between USA and Germany was played in Gerlsenkirchen at the Veltins Arena football stadium in front of 77,803 people.  That is the highest recorded crowd to watch a hockey game. The history-making audience broke the old record of 74,554 spectators, set in a 2001 game between Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.  Germans won the game 2-1.

The Phoenix Coyotes drama never ends

Here is a recap on the NHL soap opera that has been taking place in Phoenix:

• It started back in December 2008, when the media became aware that the Phoenix Coyotes were losing money huge sums of money and were being directly funded by the NHL. As we now know, secretly the NHL had taken over operations of the Coyotes.
• In May 2009, the Coyotes owner, Jerry Moyes, put the team into bankruptcy literally hours before Gary Bettman was to present a potential offer to purchase the team. Moyes intended to sell the team to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie who intended to purchase the team out of bankruptcy and move it to Hamilton.
• From May until September 2009, hearings were held in Phoenix bankruptcy court to determine the fate of the Coyotes. Two potential bidders for the team surfaced, Jerry Reinsdorf and Ice Edge Holdings (who did not put in a bid for the team at the bankruptcy hearing). Ultimately the NHL put in the only rival bid to Balsillie for the team, while they fought Moyes' plan to sell the team and move it to Hamilton against the NHL rules. The Phoenix court finally ruled that the team could not be sold to Balsillie, as the judge held that bankruptcy could not be used to subvert the league's rules.
• The NHL's bid was also insufficient for the bankruptcy judge, but Moyes and the NHL settled with the NHL buying the team and assuming all debts.  The NHL then proceeded to work with the two potential bidders of Reinsdorf and Ice Edge to work out a deal with Glendale.

Since that time the NHL has been spinning wheels in an attempt to sell the team. At one point Ice Edge signed a letter of intent to buy the team from the NHL but  they were rejected by the City of Glendale. Meanwhile Reinsdorf had won the approval of Glendale.  Now Ice Edge is back in the picture.

You may be asking yourself, what was so bad about the Jim Balsillie offer?  Well for one thing the NHL owners didn't want Balsillie as a owner because he refuses to play by the rules.Sports leagues do not like rogue owners.  The second problem was that the NHL does not want a second team in the GTA.  There may be a secret agreement with the Maple Leafs in the works here because almost everyone agrees that a second GTA team would be a success.

Most people feel that these deals keep failing because no one really wants to own a hockey team in Phoenix or the asking price is too high.  However, it seems the real obstacle is the horrible lease that exists with Glendale to play in Jobing.com Arena.  Back in 2001, the Coyotes owner was developer Steve Ellman who agreed to a 30-year lease only because he needed Glendale to fund the arena which was part of the much larger Westgate City Center development that Ellman owned and developed.  Westgate was built around Jobing.com Arena, which is its primary attraction. However, once the arena was completed, he unloaded the team (and arena lease) to Jerry Moyes.

There is only one solution to the Phoenix Coyotes problem - break the lease and move the team.  It may take some time but it will eventually happen.

43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1981-82 Season

During the Leafs' training camp in September 1981, Imlach suffered a third heart attack, which was followed by quadruple bypass surgery. Harold Ballard once again appointed himself as interim manager and let it be known to the media that Imlach's poor health meant that "he's through as general manager." Imlach was never officially fired, but when he tried to return to work in November, he found that his parking spot at Maple Leaf Gardens had been reassigned and Gerry McNamara had been made acting general manager. Imlach never returned to work and his contract was allowed to expire. McNamara made a name for himself in the organization as a scout in 1973 when he returned from the World Hockey Championships to report on a star defenseman from Sweden, named Borje Salming.  McNamara somehow kept his job for nearly a decade despite the team never breaking the 70 point barrier.

Mike Nykoluk returned as coach. He had been recruited from the radio booth which appeared to be the standard approach to filling openings in the organization - look for down the hall for someone cheap and a little desperate.

At the start of the season the Leafs would put into the newly created Norris Division uner realignment and away from Boston and Buffalo in the Adams Division.  At the time the awful Detroit Red Wings and Winnipeg Jets were Norris occupants. Yer the Leafs slipped even further in the standing finishing with only 20 wins and 56 points. That was good for 19th overall in the 21-team league.  In comparison, the 2009-10 version of the Leafs had a miserable season but still scraped together 30 wins.

In January of 1982, Darryl Sittler eventually quit the team, asked to be traded and was.  Rick Vaive, who along with Bill Derlago was acquired from Vancouver for Tiger Williams and Jerry Butler in one of the few good trades that Imlach made, was named captain. Vaive was also one of the few bright spots in a dismal decade by being the first Leaf player to score 50 goals in a season and repeating the feat the next two years.  Today that would be a monster season but in 1981-82, when scoring was up considerably, that was only good for 5th in goal scoring. The monster season was had by a guy named Wayne Gretzky who scored 92 goals.