From The Branches

Enjoy these fine Saturday morning Leafs links while I go watch Liverpool beat up on Arsenal. Training Camp Battles part I: Goaltending MLHS examines the depth in net within the Leafs' system and where everyone figure to land Point Blank - Liles to make an impact? Noted Sens and Habs

GMs Show Little Support for No-Touch Icing - Dan Rosen at NHL.com I am not for no-touch icing whatsoever. Watching enough other leagues that have the no-touch, what I don't like is when the play stops. The puck is still moving but all the players

Over at MLHS, Michael Stephens makes the point that although the Leafs played relatively well against divisional rivals last season, it's going to be tough to make up any ground on them in order to squeak into the playoffs next year. He has a prognosis of how strong

Could Joe Colborne Become Garry Unger; The Trade Throw-In Who Became an Iron Man - Mike Langlois at Vintage Leaf Memories Just to be clear, I recognize that young Joe Colborne was not a "throw-in" in the trade that saw Tomas Kaberle move to the Bruins (a

Boy, for a day as devoid of Leafs news as yesterday was, I sure have a number of Leafs-related links to share with you, not to mention a pile of NHL-related stuff. Not that I'm complaining, of course, it's always good to have more

Well not a whole heck of a lot happened over the weekend hockey wise. Barring the incredible HFBoard Eklung rumour video posted by Yakov Mironov, and Mike Comrie knocking up Hillary Duff, nothing of significance happened. However, that's not to say that the weekend wasn't fruitful.

News broke yesterday that Matthew Lombardi, acquired in the Cody Franson/Brett Lebda deal of the century, notified the Leafs management of his intentions to be ready for training camp. As many of you know, Lombardi missed all but two games last season with a serious concussion; there were/are

Leafs Depth Up Front a Huge Issue Heading Into Training Camp - Mike Langlois at Vintage Leaf Memories We all know the names that will make up the roster in that regard—Kessel and Lupul will likely be with Connolly on, ostensibly, the "first" line. Grabovski will again center

Evaluating a defenceman's performance independently of a goaltender's performance is tricky at best. Cam Charron over at The Leafs Nation believes that Luke Schenn actually performed much better in front of James Reimer than either of his previous two goalies in 2010-11, and he'

What Rules Will the NHL Test at Its R&D Camp? - James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail First, here's what Shanahan had to say on the camp, which will run some of the top junior players through scrimmates using the different rules under the watchful eye

When we at PPP Amalgamated Heavy Industries and Kitten Ranch Inc. compile links for the FTB, we're filtering out all kinds of garbage that most intelligent Leafs fans don't want to read. It's not that we're filtering out stupidity per se (some

Optimus Reim: Goaltending as Performance Art - Joe Pack of The Hockey Writers There are a few current masks that satisfy this writer’s thirst for Heroes and Heels. Nikolai Khabibulin, Stanley Cup champion with the 2004 Lightning, was dubbed "The Bulin Wall" and understandably had a brick wall

A Nick Kypreos tweet from yesterday: #NHL news. #Predators place former #Leafs Lebda on unconditional waivers today. In all probability for purpose of being bought out. Unfortunately for Preds fans, Lebda can't be bought out.  At least not if we follow the rules of the CBA.  Some good

Is August the worst month?  I think August is the worst month.  UUUGGGHHHH.  Here are your Saturday links. How long will Tavares last?Vintage Leaf Memories wonders how long the Islanders have left and whether Tavares will jump ship What is Grabovski worth?Five Minutes for Fighting asks a very

The excerpt below is from NHL.com and the article: How 2010-11 East Also-Rans Can Right Ship. Connolly signed a two-year, $9.5 million contract, and Burke said his well-known injury history is based more on bad luck than nagging issues. The real coup, however, could

I'm sure there will be lots of chatter today about the contract awarded to Shea Weber and Patrick Sharpe's new deal, but this is a Leafs blog, and I'd rather hear about Leafs-related minutiae than other teams' star players. That's

Yesterday brought with it two big stories. The first being the Shea Weber arbitration hearing and the ridiculous contracts by both sides. Weber - $8.5M. (lol) Nashville - $4.75M (somehow more lol). It could be another day until we hear the arbiter's ruling, so don't hold

It has now been 114 days since an NHL team played a regular season game, and 48 days since we last saw any playoff action. It will be another 48 days until the start of the preseason, when on September 19th, (some of) the Leafs will take on (some of)

See below for some fine links this AM. Leafs sign David Broll Official press release has the details Devils sign Zach Parise Only a one year deal.  You know what that means Glenn Hall influence VLM on why Hall is his favorite of all time The Leafs roster (by definition)

There are likely only two open spots among forwards for the Toronto Maple Leafs this fall. One of these is the role of the fourth line center, sure to be an epic battle between replacement level players such as Darryl Boyce and Philippe Dupuis. The other position battle will be

Your morning's links are being brought to you by a live person, but he's made mostly of spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, egg, bacon, sausage, and spam, and has probably been left out of the fridge for too long. Eternally Optimistic Steven J. Irvine at

Looking at the Schedule - Puckin 'Eh Jon S. at Puckin 'Eh breaks down the upcoming season month by month. Here is an excerpt on the most important month: November Average Points by Opponents: 92 Opponents with a better record than the Leafs: 10 out of 14 Leafs Head

As it turns out, the term 'Anchoring' is used to describe a certain logical flaw (or bias) in the way we interpret data. Danny Gray over at The Leafs Nation has a good example: There is a moment during the Ronco Showtime Rotisserie Informercial that you begin to

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It's still pretty hot all across the east coast of North America.  Stay inside and read these links... What made you a Leaf fan? VLM wants to know what got you hooked Q & A with Dave Morrison MLHS has an interview with the Leafs' Director of