From The Branches

I am Dr. James Internet. And I see a whole army of my fellow PPPers, here in defiance of tyranny! You have come to comment as free Leafs fans. And free Leafs fans you are! Now, here, on this hallowed blog we stand united as one solid unwavering force of

Wil Wheaton has been in exactly one movie/TV series that wasn't terrible, Stand By Me, only the director cast him in the wrong role; he should have been Ray Bower. Will Wheaton: front runner, terrible actor, douchebag. You were on Love Boat: The Next Wave; everything you

#YesterdaysLeafsNews brought us our GM slagging perhaps the greatest goalie coach the game has ever known because his methods were "outmoded", and yet another prospect at the University of North Dakota getting into disciplinary trouble. What joyous wonders in Leafdom will today bring? Head on over to today&

YOU THOUGHT THE COMMENTS WOULD BE OPEN? [end] YOU THOUGHT MONDAY WOULD HAPPEN AND ALL WOULD BE WELL? [end] The owners and players were so busy signing contract extensions all week that they forgot to sit down and come up with a new CBA that was amicable to all. And

With the hockeypocalypse nearly upon us, are we all preparing out hockey stores for a long and lengthy lockout? I myself have "All Heart" queued up with the press of a button. What are you preparations? Leafs Links Forecasting Joffrey Lupul BCP gives up a look at luck,

No hockey on TV make me something something. Leafs Links Keeping Our Enemies Close BCP with a look at the Northeast Division In Defense of Leafs Nation More talk about how ESPN is full of shit. The Top 5 Toronto Maple Leafs Players to Watch This Season Only two will

Former Baltimore Ravens/Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell passed away Thursday. He was not a well liked man in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Modell's passing got fellow hockey blog Five Minutes for Fighting thinking about other owners who were not-so-highly thought of. The most obvious one that

Nothing to put here at the moment. Please stand by for further updates throughout the morning. In the meantime, please have at it in the comments.

No further progress on the CBA front. Whoop dee do. Leafs Links What to Expect from the Randy Carlyle-led Leafs 20 minutes a night for both Steckel and McClement? Grading Day Part 2: The Leafs Forwards Thanks goodness I never had Mike from VLM as a teacher. Harsh. Holy Mackinaw!

Did you get yours yet? Author, blogger, TSN Panelist, and friend of the blog Sean "DownGoesBrown" McIndoe's book, The Best of Down Goes Brown: Greatest Hits and Brand New Classics-to-Be from Hockey's Most Hilarious Blog, is now on sale for Kindle, iTunes, or paperback

NHL Proposes New Deal to Players' Association During Ongoing Labor Talks - Chris Johnston at the Globe and Mail According to a source, Tuesday’s proposal from the NHL called for a six-year deal — the first three delinked from hockey-related revenues and the last three coming with a 50-50

Here are the morning links. Don't bother clicking them. You won't learn anything new because they're just full of made up crap that I can't be bothered to read. I mean the first link is asking me for my expectations. What sort

Just two links for you this morning. Talk about whatever. GO LIVERPOOL. The Essentials: Toronto Maple Leafs edition A must read over at Puck Daddy from mf37 Rogers to buy The Score for $167 million Some of our favorite blogging friends work for the Score, so this is big news

No talk, just links. Leafs Links The Other Uncalled High-stick Son of a bitch. Given the Likelihood of a Lockout - Euchre anyone? Unfortunately no "Trump" has ever played for the Leafs? Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul: An Elite 1-2 Punch This is one timely article. Leafs Nation

Toronto Maple Leafs Annual 2012-13 Annual: The Burden of Expectation - Cam Charron at NHL Numbers What do you do in the offseason when your team has a single scoring line, a single capable centreman, a single quality defenceman, and two question marks in goal? As it turns out, the

Just Wondering....What Do the Maple Leafs Owners Truly Believe About the Ongoing Labor Talks? - Mike Langlois at Vintage Leaf Memories If there was no cap, there would be no way for ownership to pretend. Leaf fans in the current climate would insist on the best squad money could

The Rise and Fall of Optimus Reim: Will James Reimer Return As a True #1 Goalie? - Sam Gamper at The Best Game You Can Name We remember watching the repeating replays of Brian Gionta's supposedly unintentional clip of James Reimer, our hopes for the season hanging in

"It's clear to me that they didn't put it together in an hour or two." That's Gary Bettman talking when asked about the NHLPA's well mannered and thought provoking CBA proposal which they put forth yesterday. People have been reading

Technically, we might not consider this a counter offer so much as it is taking CBA negotiations in a completely new direction, but I'm still curious to see what Donald Fehr & Co. have in store for Gary Bettman and the NHL owners: Faced with an initial proposal

Our own JP Nikota had a little chat with Fart Face McGee himself Greg McKegg after a charity hockey game last week and he's got a transcript: JPN: Jim Hughes, the Leafs director of player development, recently said that you have a great hockey IQ, great hockey smarts,

As it stands, the Leafs are way too deep a team for Nazem Kadri to make the big club right out of camp. I think we can all agree on this. Mitch Gleaves points this out at Maple Leafs Central: Kadri may have been able to develop playing on the

No Toronto Maple Leafs Player Should be Untouchable - Lukas Hardonk at the Hockey Writers Let’s start off with Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul, who frequently found themselves near the top of the NHL in scoring last season. Kessel maintained his position by finishing sixth, while Lupul dropped significantly

Don't have any Leafs related links for you this morning. Did find one small tidbit regarding the CBA negotiations from Larry Brooks of the New York Post: So the CBA negotiations basically can be summarized thusly: The big-market teams don’t want to pay the small-market teams, the

So news broke yesterday afternoon that the Leafs had signed 2012 first round pick Morgan Rielly to an ELC. He had been one of only a handful of players from the first round still without a contract. The news was not terribly surprising, although I'm curious why the

Ummmmmmmmmmm................................... Joe Colborne: As He Is It's likely now or never. A Look at Leafs Goalies Under Ron Wilson Shitty. 2012 US WJC Camp: An In-Depth Look at the Forwards Chris Peters breaks down the best forwards in the world and Tyler Biggs. That's all I