It's the last weekend of August and we're one month to opening night on September 29th, but hockey is already happening. Leafs prospects are in action now at a tournament in Europe.

We're about at the time where players will start having their informal skates before the start of the training camp, so news should come soon on that front. The summer is almost over! Get ready for back to hockey school, Leafs.

Our weekly recap of the Top 25 Under 25 will be linked right here when it is posted at 8:00 a.m. today.

Other News

Cale Makar got paid ALL THE MONIES! He's the first player to cross the $20M mark, at least in the salary cap era. I really have no idea if someone in the 90's did it, or how you factor in Lemieux's payment in shares of the Penguins.

An interesting note on this is year #4, where the signing bonus suddenly dips and the base salary jumps up, then it reverts back to the patterns of the previous years. Year #4 would be 2030, and guess what happens in that year; the NHLPA/NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement ends, so the Avalanche negotiated in a risk control there, and they did that because they think there is a risk. Something to think about in an era where now owners are looking at star players earning over $20M per season.

Now here's a throwback article from VICE published ten years ago, but still a fun read or re-read.

Throwback Thursday: How A Beer Boycott Caused the NHL and WHA Merger
If the Red Sox had the Curse of the Bambino and the Cubs have the Curse of the Billy Goat, then the Leafs have the Curse of the WHA.
VICETerrence Doyle

A New Jersey Devils prospect has created his own website to track his career stats in great detail, with over dozens of metrics. Sunny Mehta must be happy he inherited him as the new Devils GM.

Mikhail Yegorov #40
Goaltender #40 — Stats Dashboard

Finally, if you are a GO Train user coming into Toronto for Leafs/Marlies games, or any other events downtown Toronto this fall, a note that Metrolinx quietly uploaded new train schedules on Friday night to be effective September 5, and you know if it's Friday night news dump with no PR announcement, it's bad news.

Weekend service is being slashed on Lakeshore West with the 15 minute service between Union Station and Oakville cut to every 30 minutes, while on the Barrie and Stoufville lines weekend train service is almost completely eliminated, with only two or three trips per day. Weekday late evening trips to Stoufville and Barrie are also on the chopping block. Weekday service to/from Niagara Falls is reduced to one train per day. The other lines appear to be status quo, even though I hear riders complain the trains are packed and standing room only at rush hour now on both the Kitchener and Milton lines.

See the current and future schedules here if you want to compare:

PDF Schedules
Download the full schedule for your line or route in PDF format.
GO Transit

Enjoy your weekend.

From The Branches