The Toronto Maple Leafs GM Search

I have stumbled upon some pretty insider-y information when it comes to the Maple Leafs new GM search. With that being said,  I think it's time to step out of retirement. The Francis Report is no longer a dormant blog. We're back baby, and we're worse than ever before.

I little birdy sent me some inside information. It just happened to come from inside the Leafs organization. I need you to do me a favour though. You can't tell anyone what I am about to tell you.

Promise?

Well, a bit of a back drop here. The Leafs fired their GM, Kyle Dubas last week after the Leafs failed to make it out of the 1st round again second round. You may say "Well actually he wasn't fir" Shut up. They were bringing him back and then they didn't  because of something he did. They didn't lay him off, they didn't go their separate way mutually, plain and simple he was fired. 

Anyways, now to the juicy stuff. After one of the Jonas brother wrote an article about people crying and life as we know it is over at The Leafs offices, which may or may not be located at the Ford Performance Center, I decided to reach out to one of my contacts there to see how the search was going for a new GM.

I got a text back from my source. This shocked me as much as it did you. They sent me the top four candidates for the Leafs GM job.

Here they are in no particular order. 

Milhouse Van Houten

I'm not sure about this guy. Kinda looks like the last guy, just as nerdy too. Maybe the next guy will do a good job.

A Potato

I like this guy. He is very versatile. I feel like you could use this guy in nearly any situation. Doesn't talk much, that's an asset.  We already know he was a better GM than a couple of them out there.

If we are talking about someone coming out of retirement, then this brings us to our next candidate on the list.

Maggie the Macaque

Now, she is officially retired, she could come out of retirement and do a victory lap. She has good energy, a positive attitude, and won't take no shit from anyone, she might even throw some her self.

Tops on my list so far.

Speaking of taking no shit. The last candidate that was on the list is no slouch either. 

Sam Jackson

This BAMF right here might just be the best person on the list. Like Maggie, Sam Jackson won't take anyone's shit. He wont be pushed around by any snake GM's in the NHL. He is a great leader, assembling a world saving team in The Avengers. A++ candidate.

Now that The Francis Report is back, keep a watch for new content. But please, keep this article to your self, the information in this is super duper confidential. I can't let my source get caught.

Leafs vs Sabres: March 5th 2018

 Believe it or not, but tonight is the first meeting of the season between the Leafs and the Sabres. They face off 4 times in the next 5 weeks. This would be better if the Sabres were, um, in the middle of a playoff race, but as it turns out, not every scorched earth rebuild works.

The Leafs head into this game on a bit of a cold streak, although they have 2 points in their last three games, they have failed to win a game on this current road trip so far. This includes a 5-2 loss in Annapolis, at the hands of the Washington Capitals. Last Monday the Leafs acquired Thomas Plekanec from Montreal and haven't won a game since. I don't think this streak is anything to be worried of as of yet. The Leafs do have an insurmountable lead (one would think) on their playoff spot. Sitting 15 points up on the Florida Panthers. MoneyPuck has The Leafs sit at a 98.29% chance to make the playoffs.

The Sabres on the other hand have won 2 of their last 3, including a 2-1 OT victory over division rival, Tampa Bay Lightning, as well as a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins the game before. To say this season has been a season to forget for the Sabres would be a gross understatement. They handed out a huge contract to franchise player, Jack Eichel at the beginning of the year. I'm not saying that they over paid. Eichel is an excellent player, but maybe they should have waited to sign that massive 8 year 80 million dollar contract. Maybe he could have slid in at a bit of a cheaper price. The Sabres currently sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and only 1 point up on the Arizona Coyotes, for bottom spot in the league.

Mitch Marner Leads the Leafs in scoring with 53 points.
Jack Eichel leads the way for the Sabres with 53 points as well.

Matt Martin returns to the #leafs lineup in Buffalo tonight.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 5, 2018

Matt Martin gets back into the lineup tonight. Hasn't played a game since Jan 22. Let's hope this isn't a long term thing.

Stadium Series 2018: Leafs At Capitals

The Washington Capitals host The Toronto Maple Leafs, in what will be both their 3rd outdoor game in team history. This will be the second time the Caps host an outdoor game, and the second time the Leafs will be the visiting team.

Both teams happen to be undefeated in 2 previous games. On January 1st 2011 they beat the host Penguins 3-1 and on January 1st 2015, they beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. 

In the two previous outdoor games the Leafs have been apart of, they beat the Red Wings both times. The first time was January 1st, 2014 at the Big House in Michigan, by a score of 3-2(SO) in front of a record crowd of 105,491 fans. Then again January 1st 2017 at BMO Field, coined as The Centennial Classic, by a score of 5-4 in OT. The red Wings tied it up late, with less than 1 second left on the clock to send the game to OT, where rookie phenom Auston Matthews scored the OT winner.

This game, part of the NHL Stadium Series, will be hosted in Annapolis, at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. On Friday, there were some heavy winds that caused the Leafs to practice indoors. The NHL claims to be monitoring the winds to make sure that the game is safe for the players.

Notes:

Ovechkin is 1 goal away from 40 on the season and 3 goals away from #600. 

Backstrom is currently only 3 games away from #800.

van Riemsdyk is 7 games away from #600 and 9 goals away from #200.

Carlson is 10 games away from #600.

Polak is 1 assist away from #100.

Big prediction by our Junior reporter.

The Great 8 vs The Great One

When Ovechkin broke into the NHL scoring 52 goals in his first season, I remember thinking to myself, "how many times does he have to do this to break Gretzky's all time goal scoring record?"

Watching him get 50+ goals year after year, I started thinking that if he could stay healthy, that maybe, just maybe, he might be able to play long enough to squeak past by a goal or two. Then, what seemingly felt like out of no where, Ovechkin, for the first time in 6 years, missed the 40 goal mark. He had three consecutive seasons where he got less than 40. One of those being the lockout shortened season in 2013 to get 32 goals in 48 games. 

After that season, Ovi was able to string together back-to-back-to-back 50+ goal seasons again. Last season was a season that he dipped back down to under 40. However he looks to be on pace for 50 again this season (as of March 3rd). That should put Ovi on pace to hit 607 goals for his career by the end of this season. 

 Wayne Gretzky had 894 goals in his incredible career. That is 297 more than where Ovechkin sits at. #99 is ahead of him by around 500 games. If you take Ovechkin's pace of goals so far, and extrapolate that to the amount of games it takes him to catch Gretzky, the math says that Ovechkin will beat Gretzky by a handful of goals. If Ovi drops his pace, and it takes him longer to reach Gretzky's goal total, than he will have to rely on playing longer to achieve this unreachable record.

Is the following out of the realm of possibilities?

Adjust them how you see fit. Maybe he breaks 50 again next year, and that allows him to score less later on down the road. 

It is still a far ways away, but it's going to be interesting to keep an eye on. Personally, I'd love to see someone challenge one of Gretzky's perceived "unbreakable" records. It will never be his point record, but his goal record, that will be interesting.

The Curious Case of Cody Franson

The 2015 free agent crop was one of the weakest in recent memory. Comprised of mostly depth players and second to third pairing defensemen, the fact that Cody Franson remains unsigned is curious.

In both the 2013 and 2014 offseason Franson and his agent negotiated with Leafs management late into the offseason, ending up with a one year deal and pay increase on both occasions. Since being acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs 2011, Franson had been seeking a deal with more money and a longer term commitment from Toronto. Even after being traded to the Nashville Predators (where he began his career) prior to last years trade deadline, Franson made it publicly known he would love to return to Toronto in the offseason.

The 28 year old defenceman was having a solid season for Toronto with 55 GP, 32 points and averaging 21:23 of ice time (not too mention great corsi numbers), he was a rare bright spot on a terrible Leafs team, and looked poised to finally earn the contract he had desired since arriving in Toronto. At the time, being traded to the Predators (a playoff bound team) appeared to be a great opportunity to increase his chances of landing the big contract either in Nashville, back in Toronto or with another NHL club. However the move to Nashville may in fact be the reason he is still unsigned today.

Franson saw his ice-time reduced to an average of 17:40 per night, and an even worse 14:16 per night when Ryan Ellis was in the lineup. This may not come as a surprise, seeing as Franson went from a defence with names like Roman Polak and Stephane Robidas to a Nashville unit with Shea Weber, Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis. Although he kept up his underlying stats and great corsi numbers, Franson just never seemed to be able to make an impact with the Predators. The approach for the Cody Franson camp would be an interesting one to watch coming off the poor experience.

So now we sit in late August, training camp right around the corner and Cody Franson is still a free agent, which begs the question, why hasn't anyone signed the 28 year old? Did the experience in Nasvhille really sour his image so badly that no team wants to offer him at the very least a match to his 2014-15 contract? Perhaps Franson is trying to block out the whole Nashville part of last season and thinks he is worth the contract he was headed for following a solid season in Toronto. Whatever the reason, Franson should find a home before training camp commences for the 2015 season, it will be interesting to see not only where he lands, but for how long and how much.

What do you think is the reason Cody Franson remains unsigned? Where will he end up and what will his contract look like? Let us know your thoughts !


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The Francis Report - Ep12 - 12 Days of Leafsmas

Latest episode of The Francis Report is out! Mike and I write our own version of the 12 Days of Christmas.  Talk about if the Leafs are for real this time, about The Big Ice chat, and what the Leafs should do to shed some salary.

Jeff's Holiday Song!

Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the rink,

Not a Ducks fan cheering, They’re all pukin in the sinks

Bozie and Getzlaf faceoff on the dot,

Phanuef starts laying checks, getting Jackman all hot.

Kessel bringing dekes, turnin Fowler all blue
He even beats Bryzgalov, for a goal or two.
With Kessel & Kadri scoring all over the place,
Bryzgalov could do nothing but bury his face.
Robidas start chirpin, getting the Ducks all riled up,
Boudreau sends out Jackman, and says “Enough is enough”
Jackman starts pushing, Phaneuf on the ice,
In comes the Ref to make them play nice.
The Leafs light up Anderson like a pretty Christmas Tree,
Making all the Leafs fans scream with glee,.
The final whistle blows, The Fan Deck sighs in relief
Because the Ducks gets their butts beat, by the Toronto Maple Leafs