Analysis

Much ink (pixels?) is being devoted to the upcoming contract of Leafs D cornerstone Luke Schenn. Little has been devoted to Carl Gunnarsson, who is the only one of the two playing in the World Championships Gold Medal game. Both young men have acquitted themselves well in the NHL thus

How Optimus was Optimus Reim? How often did Reim Time occur? If we check the OR, will we like it so far (pardon the use of a line from a mid-90's Ottawa Rap Group featuring Tom Green... the letters just fell into place). Well, using the Quality Start

With the draft drawing scheduled for TSN later today, Tuesday, April 12th, it seems fitting that the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau has just released it's final rankings for the 2010-11 season, with a few major shifts since the Mid-Term numbers were released.  Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made the

Tyler Bozak is a second year forward playing big minutes. He's a 24 year old playing a bit out of his depth on the top line, but he hasn't shirked his responsibilities all season long. He's likely suffered as a result of the raised

So after a long drawn out debate over the Leafs shut out loss against the Senators last Saturday, I decided that I honestly didn't know enough about where the Leafs were taking most of their shots on goal this season. 10 shots from dangerous parts of the ice

After the Leafs 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night, a game in which rookie netminder James Reimer produced another excellent outing, questions about the young player's immediate future were all the talk. Ron Wilson walked out on his post game press conference over it, and

Ok 9 - 3. I doubt anyone saw that coming. James Reimer making 42 saves on 45 shots in his 3rd NHL game? Sure why not. Mikhail Grabovski, Clarke MacArthur, Nikolai Kulemin all scoring 2 goals? Sure why not. Tomas Kaberle and Kulemin posting 4 point games? Sure why not.

Youth.  Inconsistency. Promise. Growth. Development. These are all areas of concern for the Leafs fan base.  We haven't seen enough of those aspects in certain corners of this year's club. But in reality - perhaps the over-estimation of results stems from expected quality of play on

Guess what folks, so far this season, it isn't Phil Kessel. Most Leaf fans spend their time arguing over the other "top 3" players we need to skate with Kessel, and whether or not that's a valid assertion is debatable. So far this season

Among the many problems the Leafs are facing right now - from breakouts to special teams to scoring - one that has begun to catch my eye is their faceoffs. Currently, the Leafs win 48.8% of their draws, which is good (or, rather, not so good) for 23rd in

Mikhail Grabovski, Clarke MacArthur, Nikolai Kulemin, Phil Kessel, and Kris Versteeg. That's five players amongst the Leafs top 6 forward group, all of whom are on track to produce 20+ goals. Four of them are on track for a career high in goals. Unfortunately so far they'

Breaking down the Maple Leafs' goal against the Montreal Canadiens.

Ok so we all know the Leafs have suffered this season offensively. That being said, most Leaf fans have been pleasantly surprised (or at least impressed) by the offensive output of the Clarke MacArthur, Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin (MGK) line. All three players are on pace for career years and

We follow the Leafs.  We're used to the highs and lows.  We know they go through down spells, and we appreciate the fun up swings, but generally speaking, things level out over time.  The NHL season is a long grind.  82 games, 7 months out of the year.

When I last wrote an update of my work on Zone Hit Ratio to measure the pressure our defense is under, I finished the article by noting that giveaways are probably hurting this team more than any dependance the Leafs might have on their defense to recover pucks. A Plea

How a turnover in the offensive zone turned into the game winning goal against the Maple Leafs.

How long does it take for the Maple Leafs to throw away a late lead? Four seconds.

The normally defensively sound Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski were at fault for Mike Fisher's goal.

The Stars' Brad Richards found himself all alone in the Leafs' slot. Wonder how that happened...

Quick, dirty, ugly... any way you describe the way the Leafs-Preds game unfolded, it all amounts to the same thing: SLUMP BUSTER. The Leafs finally got into the W column, and while they did everything they could to hand it over on a silver platter to the Predators (4 giveaway

Kris Versteeg was unsurprisingly at fault for a goal.

The diamond penalty kill has been awful for the Leafs which isn't really a surprise.

I've noticed confidence waning in these parts.  The fan confidence poll is down to 64 and dropping.  But not all hope is lost, these things come in waves you see.  Think of the season as  series of cycles, the cycle length can vary, but generally speaking teams will

So we've all borne witness to the Leafs atrocious results in the two most recent outings.  They were manhandled by Philly on Saturday and played like warm garbage against a more competitive Rangers side in the middle of last week.  The most obvious thing about those two games

Sometimes a defenceman is better served making the safe and easy pass instead of looking to hit a Hollywood pass.