From The Branches

VLM reader coins new phrase: Muckulence Why the Leafs need more of it Marlies win 4-1 Jeff has the recap over at MarliesHQ December Update: Down on the Farm MLHS on who's hot, who's not The fading fortunes of Tomas Kaberle Johnathan Willis of The Leafs

The Leafs do not play tonight yet again. That may actually be a good thing, considering their record in back-to-back games thus far. Check out the links below for some good Leafs news... Game 29: Game in 10 Quick hits from MLHS How to be an NHL Ironman New DGB

Dion Phaneuf Becomes a Hit by Taking Fewer of Them - James "The Turtle" Mirtle at the Globe and Mail "He (Phaneuf)used to, wherever you’d pass the puck, if he didn’t get a hit, he’d chase the puck," Wilson recalled. "We

As per James Mirtle, Colby Armstrong is expected to return from his latest bout of bonitis to play Friday against the Washington Capitals. "All you have to do is look at our record with Colby in the lineup," Wilson is fond of saying, going back to last season,

Let's look at the All-Star Game leaderboards shall we? Forwards 1) Phil Kessel Booyah! Defense 1) Erik Karlsson 2) Dion Phaneuf Nobody remembers #1. Goalies 1) James Reimer Nobody remembers #2. Here's a fun question: Ovechkin won't be a starter based on votes so

More games against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning? What the hell!? Plenty of links today about last night's game, but naturally, a lot of chatter is about the realignment. Quoth Bettman: "Frankly it's not the seventh and eighth teams that are competing for

The Flip-Flops of Maple Leafs' Coach Ron Wilson - James Mirtle at the Globe and Mail We all know the history behind Wilson saying he told Gustavsson would be starting, but then started Reimer, so I'm not going to quote that bit of James' piece. The

The Boston Bruins are a good team and the Leafs really don't seem to have any kind of an effective game plan against them. That does not mean"Fire Wilson". But it does suggest the Leafs need to come up with some new ideas for their

James Reimer has been cleared by doctors to play and is expected to back-up Jonas Gustavsson tonight in Boston. Reimer, when asked by the G&M's James Mirtle about his return, could hardly contain his happiness: "I'm ecstatic," Reimer said. "You know,

Leafs Links Grades: Where All 30 Teams Stand Leafs get a solid A-. Nazem Kadri Named AHL Player of the Month Two for two. Toronto Maple Leafs Profiles: Phil Kessel Big fan of original Disney Movies. Joffrey Lupul Named November's Third Star Two for two. Jake Gardiner -

Sorry about the lack of a FTB so far today folks. Please throw any and all links in the comments. We'll be having a public execution of the perpetrator at 4:00 PM today.

Gustavsson Gaining Confidence as Leafs Continue Roll - Chris Johnson at the Globe and Mail Jonas Gustavsson has seemingly had an answer for everything opponents have thrown at him over the past week or two. There was no better way for the Toronto Maple Leafs goalie to deliver a message

Photo courtesy of Le Greener (via his old post). It was exactly three years ago today that the Toronto Maple Leafs current President and General Manager Brian Burke was hired. That's when the H.M.S. Toronto Maple Leafs began its change of tack, from signing aging veterans

Not a lot of links this morning with the late game and all. Feel free to drop them into the comments throughout the morning. What's Next for MLSE? Global sports domination perhaps? Maple Leafs' Gustavsson Beginning to Shine without Reimer His play of late has been pretty

One more sweet set of links before everyone goes back to work tomorrow. Thoughts on Jonas Gustavsson Vintage Leaf Memories on the Monster's "bend but don't break" goaltending performance as of late Marlies conclude St. Johns trip with 6th straight win MarliesHQ has the

Jonas Gustavsson shuts out the Dallas Stars in the shootout, and the Leafs manage to pick up another two points in the standings. After losing 5 of 6, Toronto has turned around and managed to win 3 of 4. The still Reimer-less Leafs will wrap up their current road trip

Andrey Osadchenko is the Nations' roving Russian reporter and he's dug up a few gems. Yesterday he had a longer interview with Nikolai Kulemin. His latest post is a bit of a heartbreaker: Igor Korolev played 4 seasons for the Maple Leafs before he was traded to

GOOD MORNING PATHETIC HUMANS. JP NIKOTA IS PLEASED WITH YOUR DECISION TO READ THESE LINKS. YOU SHALL BE SPARED DEATH BY EATING FOR ONE MORE DAY. AHAHAHAHAHAHAH! REALLY THOUGH, I'LL DEVOUR YOU ALL ONE BY ONE UNLESS YOU KEEP READING AND LEARNING ABOUT THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS. Links

After a month out of action, James Reimer is on his way back into the lineup after 'concussion-like' symptoms. Around the league, some kid in Pittsburgh made his debut on Monday night and in New York Marc Staal is on his way back from his own concussion. It&

Instead, let's focus on how the Leafs have been doing over the first quarter of the season. Yes, they're in a playoff spot, and while that's fantastic news for Ron Wilson's job prospects, if all the teams beneath the Leafs were given

After this weekend's games, the Leafs find themselves at the quarter mark of the 2011-12 season in a condition they'd rather not be in. Over $19M sits on the IR including 2/3 of last year's most productive "2nd line", their #1

Wow. What a game last night. Based on the Leafs' struggles as of late, I was expecting something in the other direction. Toronto played a solid game against the Capitals. They were physical against Ovechkin, capitalized on the powerplay, and even received a solid game in net from Gustavsson.

It's 27 degrees (Fahrenheit, duh) here in North Carolina this morning. That's fairly cool for this time of year. Much like the Toronto Maple Leafs, an unusually hot start to Fall has begun to dissipate. Unlike the Leafs, I'm actually enjoying this cold snap.

Thank God it's Friday. Here are some links. Share whatever you're reading. Lies, Damned Lies, And Statistics Jonathan Willis looks at the genesis of the famous phrase Phoenix-Toronto Scoring Chances JP charted the Leafs' loss. It was Lombardi's best game as a Leaf

The big news to emerge yesterday was all about injuries: both Mikhail Grabovski and Clarke MacArthur will miss a significant number of games. Grabovski is out at least two weeks, though MacArthur hasn't had a timetable set yet. Matt Frattin and Colton Orr both also missed practice, but