Pension Plan Puppets, a Toronto Maple Leafs community

He didn’t mind at all when a group of players caught planning a helicopter ride to Manhattan for an evening of partying the night before a game in New Jersey ended up receiving exit visas.

He didn’t mind waving farewell to a player he liked to call the "NBC Page" (30 Rock reference) for his propensity to have constant groups of friends and family touring the Leaf dressing room.

IMHO, Twitter NOT just avenue for the gutless (PPP and girlfriends) to take more anonymous shots from their basements. Blocked every time.

Laich, a native of tiny Wawota, Sask., pop. 591, grew up a Maple Leaf fan with a Doug Gilmour No. 93 jersey, and even religiously used Gilmour’s stick pattern growing up. His grandfather once ventured east with buddy Bert Olmstead to try and make the Leafs, so there’s an emotional connection to the Toronto franchise and all the Canadian teams.

I laugh when I read there's a consensus out there that the Leafs did poorly in the Kessel deal. We don't even know where that draft pick will be yet! In Boston, where the Bruins can't score, there's heat on the organization for letting a 36-goal scorer walk for draft picks. I think Boston wanted to find a way to keep Kessel or get something viable now for him. But they got boxed in.

I LOVE DAMIEN COX

One final note. It continues to blow my mind that some insist Mats Sundin "owed" the Leafs the chance to trade him last winter and get draft picks and prospects for him.

Here’s what he owed the Leafs.

He owed them a willingness to play hard under the terms of his contract, to play through injuries, to provide solid leadership, to put points on the board and to set an example for young players. His job was to fulfill his playing contract, period.

To wallow in these ill-conceived, illogical past grievances against the player who was the team’s best for more than a decade is to demean not only him, but the franchise and the sport.

Damien Cox makes the case that Toronto Maple Leafs fans need to give Mats Sundin a standing ovation upon his return. "Those who accuse him of lying to the Leafs about his true intentions are fools. Those who would jeer him upon his return belong to the same category." How about this: Leafs fans set a deadline for cheering him, and then just keep delaying it until he leaves town?

The people that comment and send e-mails to commend Damien on his steering of the Straight Talk Express have to be the most stunned people on the planet. Rather than think that Leaf fans don't get it (and by reading the comments it's pretty clear that they do) why not take the time to actually read what Damien writes instead of rushing to plant your lips to his rear end.

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Today he argues that Schenn can't play in Toronto because the mean media will grill him into a ball of mush but a year ago (Oct 22, 2007) here's what Cox had to say:

So the next time you hear a Leaf player talk about how tough it is to play hockey in a city like Toronto, remember how Boston's baseball and football clubs deal with it and recognize such baloney for what it is.

Sounds like he just wants to argue both sides as long as it backs up his point. That's why Leaf fans and people that can read bash Cox.