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Did The LA Kings Cheat Columbus?

These two teams matter so little that I can't find AP/Getty Images pictures for this game yet.

Tonight, Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings scored the game winning goal against the Columbus with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. Or at least, that's how it will go into the records books. There seems to be some controversy over whether there was a clock malfunction or malfeasance that allowed the Kings an extra half second or two. Daniel Tolensky - the man you'll find tweeting positive stats about Pulver Sports clients whenever they are getting dumped on by Twitter users - was the first to catch the pause in the dying seconds on his twitter feed although there is a bit of a Zapruder quality to that video.

After the jump there's the original video and a selection of other angles.

Poll
Did the LA Kings cheat?

  298 votes | Results

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41 comments  | 

The Maple Leafs At The All-Star Game

Phil Kessel's nightmare.

The Toronto Maple Leafs' three representatives had a pretty good weekend. Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul teamed up for a beauty two-on-one and Dion Phaneuf reined in his natural desire to hit people skating with their heads down. SBN's Peter Raaymakers - he of the extraneous 'a' and editor of Silver Seven Sens - was on the scene and captured some audio from the players. He did yeoman's work covering the entire weekend so check it out if you're so inclined.

Listen to a little bit of Kessel, Lupul and Phaneuf after the jump or read some rough transcripts.

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7 comments  |  1 recs | 

NHL General Manager And Coach Rankings

Pictured: One of Ron Wilson and Brian Burke's greatest achievements in Toronto.

John Boruk Comcast Sportsnet Philly (a division of NBC Sports) has ranked the General Manager and Head Coach combinations in the NHL. He's not clear if he is ranking them on their reputation or on their body of work with their current team. I would assume that they are a hybrid because here's the Leafs' ranking:

8. Toronto Maple Leafs (Brian Burke/Ron Wilson) - Burke, like Holmgren, is very aggressive. He drafted the Sedins and Ryan Kesler in Vancouver, traded for Chris Pronger in Anaheim and won the Cup. He has an impressive track record, but a Toronto Maple Leafs resurrection may be his most challenging. He paid handsomely for Phil Kessel, who is finally putting up superstar numbers. His blue-line moves have been questionable. Wilson could never get the Sharks over the hump and in his first three seasons in Toronto, he has yet to make the Leafs into an Eastern Conference contender.

Biggest question mark moving forward: Can the Leafs land a No. 1 center they've desperately needed since the departure of Mats Sundin?

If it's the former then I think he ranked the Leafs' duo a bit high especially considering a couple of GMs and coaches below have more Stanley Cup rings than Burke and Wilson and if it's the latter then he's really gone too high. Although, either way, he's done well with the bottom of the list.

Here's the complete list. Where did he go wrong? What's he got right?

Poll
What do you think of this ranking?
Seems right
74 votes
A little off pending the end of the season
90 votes
That's way off by any measure
41 votes
Who taught someone in Philadelphia to use the internet?
111 votes

316 votes | Poll has closed

29 comments  | 

John-Michael Liles Extended

Photo

TSN's Bob MacKenzie is reporting that the Leafs have extended John-Michael Liles for four years at $3.875M per. We don't know about any potential NMC/NTC.

The upside of this deal is that Liles' cap hit decreases though given his age and term (though it likely should have), and he's been a valuable part of the Leafs this season. My issues surrounding this deal are:

  • Between Liles, Luke Schenn and Mike Komisarek the Leafs are spending $12M for #4, #6 and #7 defenders on a team that has a lot of trouble on defense. Obviously Komisarek is the boat anchor there but that's tough to swallow.
  • Offensive production for 35 year olds is horrific. If Liles can't be buried in the minors due to an NMC and if his contract isn't mega front loaded for a future trade then it's not great.

So, is someone on the move in Toronto?

466 comments  | 

Brothers From A Different Mother?

Brothers from a different mother.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are 5-5-0 in their last 10 and have slipped to 9th in the standings. They've recently dropped three games to provincial 'rivals' Ottawa and two temas in disarray in Montreal and Buffalo. So it comes as no surprise that tensions are rising in the Buds' camp.

But who could imagine that it would be these two?

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9 comments  | 

The Lame Stream Media

Totally unrelated but I really liked this picture. Click on it for a gallery of pictures from last night.

One thing that is really disappointing about major media is how lazy they can be. Brian Burke answering questions on Twitter is pretty interesting and it's a great idea to share those questions and answers with the vast majority of people that aren't on Twitter. Now, there are a couple of approaches you can take:

  1. You can act as a stenographer - which provides your readers at least a little bit of value. Good thing journos have been building these stenography skills or they might lose their access.
  2. You can add wisecracks that may or may not offer any insight - This at least requires some brainpower and at least goes beyond using CTRL+C and CTRL+V.
  3. Or you can add some thoughtful analysis and wisecracks! - It may not be right but at least it's an attempt at sharing information, evaluating Burke's replies, and a little bit of humour.
You can guess which approach I took in the three tweetbags (one, two, three) that I have done with Burke. That The Star and Sportsnet take their respective approaches is no surprise. The former has a sports section that rangers from vanilla to awful while the latter's new "Fuelled By Fans" approach is probably why they took the extra step. Ultimately, this is a small example of why sites like Japers' Rink and Copper And Blue put their local coverage in the shade.

7 comments  | 

Leafs To Play Wings In 2013 Winter Classic

115,000 PEOPLE CHANTING GO LEAFS GO GOOD LORD MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings will be playing in the 2013 Winter Classic at the University of Michigan's Big House. Bob McKenzie confirmed as much on TSN's Insider Trading last night in the intermission of the Montreal-Boston game. Since Pierre Gauthier hit the panic button mid-game I expect the announcement to be overshadowed. Here are Bob's quotes:

I can in fact confirm those reports that the NHL's desire is that the Leafs play the Wings at the Big House. It'll be configured for 115k. It's not finalized yet, but by the end of the month there's expected to be a formal announcement. The NHL is well down the road.

To say this is a shock would be a stretch as the rumours have been rampant for a while. I know I was cautious but skeptical because so far the NHL hasn't really given any indication that they wanted Canadian teams to play in the NBC version of an outdoor game but let's not forget that Leafs Nation is legion. The great news: the Big House, in addition to being a really fun name for a stadium, will be configured so that there will be 115,000 seats.

This Winter Classic will be truly amazing.

Poll
How excited are you for the Leafs v. Red Wings in the Winter Classic?
I only need one kidney right?
279 votes
LOUD NOISES!
246 votes
Getting a bullet proof vest as we speak
153 votes

678 votes | Poll has closed

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102 comments  | 

Eric Francis: What A Maroon


Francis_sucks_medium

Louis_jean_medium

Oh boy, that Eric Francis sure has his finger on the pulse of his local sports team that he covers for a living. In case you don't know who Eric Francis is - I mean, in addition to being one of the rotating stooges on HNiC's Hot Stove - he is a brutal journalist whose career has 'possibly' been a big benefactor of nepotism on the part of his pretty important mother.

Most recently, he was the embarrassment that was dumping on the character of Evgeny Kuznetsov during the World Juniors. He was rightly torn apart repeatedly:

  1. Sour Grapes And The Myth Of Journalistic Objectivity
  2. Eric Francis Is A Jingoist
  3. This is why they think we’re sore losers; Calgary columnist writes hit piece on Kuznetsov

Saying that there is no chance Mike Cammalleri is heading back to Calgary nine minutes before it is confirmed takes a special kind of incompetence even for a Sun Media writer.

21 comments  |  3 recs | 


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