New Leaf Turning

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not once they once were.
After seasons in which the Leafs became the first back to back regular season champions, the first (and only) team to top 11,000 points, the first team to win back to back Stanley Cups, and the first team to put together a regular season championship and a Stanley Cup victory in the same year (an accomplishment that was matched by R.Johnson Sr. and the Buffalo Sabres last season), the Leafs now find themselves 2000 points out of top spot.

Gone is the defense that boasted Pronger, Lidstrom, Niedermayer, McCabe, Gonchar, and Weber and racked up over 3000 points a year.

Gone is the goaltending tandem of Luongo and Turco that could post 1400 points a year.

Hope however is not gone, and this last week proves it.

In the past week the Maple Leafs gave fans an indication that while the ship has slowed, it was only to raise new sails.  Outside of Kipusoff, who routinely leads the team in weekly point scoring, the next nine players on the weekly scoring chart are all under 25 years of age.  Stamkos, Sekera, Schenn, Benn, Callahan, Bozak, Stortini, Weber, and Butler all contributed in a positive way to a 324 point week. 

The Leafs had high expectations for Stamkos, Benn, and Wilson this year, and outside of Wilson, who suffered a serious injury in camp, the young forwards have not failed to deliver.  Colin Wilson has returned from injury in the AHL and has become one of the dominant players in the league suggesting his NHL payload could arrive this spring.

Looking ahead, the defense with Schenn, Sekera, Butler, and Weber may not ever meet the levels set by their Hall of Fame predecessors, but they have the potential to be an above average unit. 

With Nathan Horton's arrival it is clear that the focus continues to be on rebuilding on the fly.    One has to wonder how Pronger and Kiprusoff fit in, though no team has ever been successful without key veteran leadership.

1/31 - 2/6 Players of the week

Washington Post - 2/7/2010

3. Jean-Sebastien Giguere - Goaltender - Edmonton - 44 pts

2. Dany Heatley - Forward - Minnesota - 46 pts

1. Niklas Backstrom - Forward - Minnesota - 55 pts

Team of the week:

Buffalo - 385 pts

Pittsburgh Penguins Pressures

The Pittsburgh Penguins organization has had an up and down season. Currently sitting in 18th place, 60 points out of the playoffs, they may have to look to the trade front to sure up their forwards and make a push to the playoffs.

A pleasant surprise this season has been the amount of playing time given to Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, but he has been slumping as of late and his playing time has diminished. With his lack of playing time, it has put a lot more pressure on the Pens forwards to produce and keep the team in the playoffs race. They have been able to stay close so far, but they lack a top forward to compliment Brandon Dubinsky and Antti Miettinen. It's quite hard to make a trade without including top prospect, Eric Tangradi and the Penguins will not trade him no matter what the offer may be.

The pleasant surprise of the season has to be the play of the Penguins defense as a collective unit. Marc Staal is having a good season and seems to get better every year. The emergence of Victor Hedman shows that this team has a great future ahead of them. Finally, back from a serious leg injury, Kurtis Foster has shown he still has the great potential that prompted Penguins GM, Mitch Robichaud to take a gamble on him trading away Roman Hamrlik for Foster and forward prospect Josh Brittain. "With his strong play, we expect Kurtis to sign long term with us this off season and be a huge part of our defense in the future", explained Mr. Robichaud.

It could be an interesting few weeks ahead as the Penguins make a bid to make the playoffs for the first time in 2 years. Stay tuned!

mild mannered reporter,
Dick Strapon

1/24-1/30 Players of the Week

This week's players of the week are:

3. Jonathan Quick - Minneota Wild - 41 pts

2. Jarome Iginla - Vancouver Canucks - 52 pts

1. Niklas Lidstrom - LA Kings - 56 pts