Canucks and Leafs non-trade…

The Vancouver Canucks and the Toronto Maple Leafs not agreeing to trade Roberto Luongo for Nazem Kadri and James Reimer has worked out very well for both teams.

There is an expression in the hockey world they use for that occurrence: ”Sometimes the best trades are the ones that aren’t done.”

Roberto Luongo has played 8 games, won 4, and lost 3 in overtime. This means every time Luongo starts a game the Canucks register at least 1 point. His goal against is 1.63 with an excellent save percentage of.934. He is presently third in the NHL for goal against average.

The Canucks are leading their division due in large part to Luongo’s performance.

After 17 games Nazem Kadri leads the Leafs in points and is second in assists. He has also played well defensively. He is tied for fourth on the Leafs in terms of plus – minus with a plus 5.

James Reimer has won 6 games, with a 2.31 goal against average and a .929 save percentage.

The Leafs are presently in the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference. If the season ended today they would be in a playoff spot.

I don’t expect the Canucks to trade Luongo this year.

The Leafs on the other hand need to make a move to make the playoffs. Only 2 points separate the fifth to tenth spot in the Eastern Conference. They have another 10 games to evaluate where they are positioned at the halfway point of the season.

Do you see the Leafs hanging on to their playoff spot?

Enjoy your day!

Colton Orr missed hit…

The NHL disciplinary committee should start suspending players for attempt to injury. Yes, it was obvious that Orr attempt to destroy Plekanec–not just hit him with a body check.

Seeing Don Cherry justify why it happened made it worse, a few seconds earlier Plekanec had gotten tangled up with Orr, taken his stick out of his hands and thrown it to a few feet away. Orr is upset that Plekanec did that. But Orr’s response was road rage level.

He skated as quickly as he could toward Plekanec, who was bringing up the puck and Orr left his feet to make violent contact with Plakenac. Lucky for Plekanec that he jumped out of the way and avoided serious injury.

If contact was made, Plakenac would have been removed from the game on a stretcher. It also could’ve been a knee on knee which also would have resulted in a few months on the disabled list for the Canandien’s player.

I’m a fan of having 3 enforcers on a hockey team. I believe it is the team’s job to protect its players and send a message to any opponent who tries to injure anybody on their team. The NHL 2-game suspension doesn’t protect your players against cheap shots. Many teams have had a star player been taken out by a cheap shot, which resulted in long term injury and a drop in the player’s production because his team didn’t respond to the opponent’s cheap shot with violence. To name a few: Mike Miller in Buffalo and Mike Green in Washington.

Tomas Plekanec almost got added to that list due to Colton Orr. The NHL disciplinary committee has to start handing out suspensions for players’ intent to injure. The intent to injure should be a 2 – 3 game suspension, and long term injury to a player should also lead to long term suspensions.

Should Orr be suspended for his missed hit?

Enjoy your day!

 

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ start is…

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ start is good. They are 5 – 5 after 10 games and their best scorer, Phil Kessel, has yet to score this season. Kessel goes through long slumps where he can’t seem to get a goal and then he can score 10 goals in 10 games.

Against the Canes, Kessel had many opportunities to score but Ward made some incredible saves against him. He will find the net soon and will score multiple goals once he breaks out.

The Toronto Maple Leafs can’t trade Phil Kessel because he makes too much money and is too streaky as a scorer. The Leafs fans have to hope he gets on a scoring rampage which will keep his team in playoff contention after 20 games.

The line that is the most disappointing is Mikhail Grabovski, Clarke MacArthur and Nikolai Kulemin. In the 2011 – 12 season they scored 29, 20 and 30 respectively. Since then, Grabovski and MacArthur scored more than 20 last season and Kulemin scored 7. This line needs to rediscover their 2011 -12 success or the Maple Leafs will again fall short of making the playoffs.

The best players currently on the Leafs are the new additions to the roster Nazem Kadri and Mike Koustka.

A big red flag is the Leafs inability to win at home  right now is frustrating for management and the fans.  Most NHL teams are good at home and bad on the road. The Leafs can’t say that having too much pressure on their players is causing them to play poorly at home. Many players on the current roster have played for the Maple Leafs for a few years.

Right now do you feel the Leafs will make the playoffs?

Enjoy your day!

 

The Toronto Maple Leafs season will be…

Maple Leafs fans, this season will be a long one for you. The best thing the Leafs can do this year is to play some of their prospects.

The Toronto Maple Leafs organization is represented by the Toronto Marlies in the American Hockey League. The Marlies are presently ranked second in the Western Conference. The Leafs should bring up a few of the Marlies players to start the season. The players are in game shape since they have played almost a full season. The players from the Marlies would bring exuberance to the Leafs locker room that has been lacking.

Nazem Kadri should be given a serious chance at a roster spot on the big club. He played 27 games and has accumulated 26 points.  At 34 games played and registered 37 points, Keith Aucoin is also playing well right now. He is presently fifth in the league in scoring. One of these players should be playing for the Leafs.

Morgan Rielly should be returned to his Junior team for a chance to win a Memorial Cup or help the Toronto Marlies win a Calder Cup. It doesn’t make sense to play Reilly this year when it is a shortened season. The Leafs won’t make the playoffs and the team will lose a year, during which they could instead keep him with the Leafs organization before he becomes a restricted free agent.

The goaltending situation won’t be resolved by trading for Roberto Loungo. James Reimer and Ben Scrivens should just share the load throughout the season. Neither goalie is a true number 1 goalie that can play 80% of the games.

The defensive core is a disaster. Don’t expect much from the defensemen either in scoring, or in the defensive end. The goalies will be shell-shocked once again during the games. That is why I don’t think it is a good idea to have Morgan Reilly play this season with this group. He will develop bad habits by playing this year with the Leafs.

Randy Carlyle is a good coach, the fans will see a difference, and the team will be competitive despite the lack of talent.

This will be another non-playoff year for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Do you think the Leafs will make the playoffs?

Enjoy your day!

The Canadian NHL teams…

The Vancouver Canucks, the Ottawa Senators, and even the Edmonton Oilers will make the playoffs for the Canadian teams.

The Edmonton Oilers’ players have played well during the lockout. Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall and Nick Schultz were in the top 5 scorers in the American League. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins led the World Junior tournament in scoring and Devan Dubnyk played in the Spengler Cup representing Canada.

Ales Hemsky is the key to their playoff run.

They are in a great position to get off to good start. Having players who are in game shape so quickly is key to making this short season a great one.

Last years number1 pick overall selected by the Oilers’ Nail Yakupov is a puck hog. I would rather they traded the pick to get multiple pieces which could have helped the team immediately.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired Brian Burke. Dave Nonis has been a general manger before with the Canucks. It will be interesting to see how that will affect the possibility of getting Roberto Loungo. The Leafs roster is a mess.

They are too dependent on 1 line to have success.

The Montreal Canadiens’ season will be a non-playoff season. P.K. Subban signing is a major priority. They can’t wait until summer to dump some bad contracts in order to improve the Canadiens’ future.

The Ottawa Senators are in good shape. The return of Daniel Alfredsson was great news for them. They had 7 players score more than 14 goals last year. Balance scoring must continue for success. They will make the playoff.

The Calgary Flames should start the season with Jarome Iginla, Maikka Kiprusoff, and play many of their top prospects. They have multiple top junior players who are ready to play now.

The Vancouver Canucks should only trade Roberto Loungo for the right package. In a shorted season I would keep him in case Cory Schneider has a bad start. Ryan Kesler‘s injury is a big loss. This may force the Canucks to trade Loungo in order to replace Kesler’s scoring.

The Winnipeg Jets’ season will hinge on the development of Evander Kane. They have 3 players who scored more than 24 goals last year. It will be another non-playoff year for the Jets. They will score some goals.

Which Canadian teams you think will make the playoffs?

Enjoy your day!