Game 8 - Leafs Host Bruins - Predictions

The Leafs, Senators, and Canadiens will simultaniously be holding a tribute to the fallen soldiers at their respective home games tonight. More info can be found at the NHL's website.

Bruins: The big bad Bruins aren't so big and bad anymore.  They lost Boychuk over the summer to a trade to get cap compliant.  Most recently Chara has torn his PCL.  He is out a minimum of 4-6 weeks.  Can he recover from something like that at his age? and his height?
Record:  4-5-0 8Pts, 5 in the ATL, 10th in the East
Point Pace: 73 Points.  That would put them well out of the playoffs.
Leading Scorers: Kelly 2-5-7, Krejci 2-5-7, Soderberg 2-4-6


Leafs: The last game the Leafs were suppose to play was postponed until Nov 8th.  They were to play the Ottawa Senators.  The last game they actually played they took a beating to the New York Islanders.  Leafs have been playing alright in their last 5, going 3-1-1 in that span.
Record: 3-3-1 7Pts, 6th in the ATL, 12 in the East
Point Pace: 82 Points.  That would put them well out of the playoffs
Leading Scorers: Kessel 4-4-8, Bozak 3-4-7, van Riemsdyk 3-2-5

Mike 0-7: 3-1 Leafs, JVR witht he game winner.
Jeff 0-7: 4-2 Leafs. Kessel gets a hatty with Chara out!

Don't forget to check out our latest Francis Report!
Also Mike's latest article - Toronto, Where NHL Stars Never Shine Their Brightest

Questions for the next Report. Comment here, send us a tweet, a message on The Facebook, or an email to questions@thefrancisreport.ca


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Round #1: Leafs VS Bruins

9 years, blah blah, who cares at this point.  The Leafs are facing the Bruins in the 1st round of the 2013 Stanley cup playoffs.  On April 20th, the Leafs beat the Sens 4-1 to clinch a playoff spot.  

This was my reaction..

Everyone knows the Leafs have had a hard time with the Bruins over the last 40 some games. Also how Kessel seems to turn into a ghost when playing the same Bruins, scoring something like 0 even strength goals in 22 games.  Although he does have 3 power play goals in that stretch, ya, I know, no big deal.

Here are the keys to the series that could be a big deal.

Patrice Bergeron:

The best two way forward on this Bruins team could be a huge factor.  He ould shut down the Leafs while scoring big time points, or he could be hit on the 1st shift in game 1 and have another concussion.  Flip of a coin really.

Tuukka Rask:

Every goalie who wins in the playoffs, does it with better numbers than the regular season.  Rask is a great goalie, and in the regular season, is as good as any in the East, maybe in the entire league.  One thing that stands out to me tho, is his record in the playoffs.  7-6 with a 2.61 GAA and a 0.910 SV% in the playoffs.  Not very good compared to his career regular season stats, 2.20 GAA and a 0.926 SV%.  

Don't forget the year (2010) that Rask and the big bad Bruins had a 3-0 series lead vs the Flyers and blew it, losing the series 4-3.  Rask let in 15 goals in the last 4 games, including blowing a 3-0 lead in game 7 of that series.

Chara, Redden, Jagr:

Playoff series combine where these 3 players eliminated the Leafs: 0

Some people may think I'm grasping at straws, and hey, maybe I am.  But Phil Kessel struggles against a specific team, and why can't other players struggle against specific teams?  Who cares if they played the Leafs 10-15 years ago in the playoffs, I'm trying to do whatever I can to give faith to a Nation that hasn't had much to cheer for nearly a decade.

James Reimer:

Please save everything.  I'd like nothing more than 4 straight shutouts from you Optimus Reim.  We have never seen Reimer in the NHL playoffs.  I'm not going to write him off, though he definitely needs to make sure he has the best 4-7 games of his career.   

Lupul:

Joffrey Lupul needs to not get hurt or suspended.  He has not gone more than 6 games this year without being hurt or suspended, and it's hurt the Leafs in certain ways.  Example. He has 11 goals and 18 point in just 16 games played this season.  Including a nice goal from beside the net against Boston, during his 1st game back after being suspended 2 games.

Kessel:

Kessel doesn't have to do a single thing this series other than keep trying his hardest.  Bruins want to spend all their energy shutting down Kessel, go right ahead.  Lupul and Kadri will continue to light the lamp while Julien keeps putting Chara on Kessel.  It would be nice to see Kessel get some mad points this series.  Maybe all this negative attention from the media will light a fire under his arse and he might score some goals.  Who knows.

You're Outta Here!

It was announced during the 2010-2011 playoffs, that starting during the Stanley Cup Finals last season, that Brendan Shanahan would take over as the  National Hockey League's Vice President of Hockey and Business Development and Head Disciplinarian.  Everyone hoped that Shanny would bring constancy and transparency to the disciplining of the NHL players.  Boy, has he made a difference already.


In one week of preseason action, there were seven suspensions.  Most of these suspensions were from either hits to the head, or boarding.   Shanahan has made a video of him introducing himself (see video below), and showing a clip of the incident.  He then goes on the show you exactly in the video where the hit occurs, and what parts of the hit are key.  He then goes on to explain why that hit was an illegal hit and reads right from the section of the rules where it bans such incidents.




If Shanahan continues to do this down the road, I think it will take away a lot of the "heat" that comes with this job.  By showing in his videos, WHAT he is suspending this player for, and telling us about what incidents such player has done in the past, he is completely justifying his suspension and hiding behind nothing.

Not that I am looking or hoping for something like the Chara hit to happen again in the future, but it will be interesting to see what his ruling would have been on such a controversial hit.

I like Shanahan in this position.  He is someone who was such a great player during his time in the NHL.  He is the typical power forward, netting tons of points, while piling up a lot of penalty minutes, but not being known as a dirty player in the least.

Keep up the good work Shanny!

Season Ending Recap

The NHL season ended on a positive and negative note this year. Congratulations goes out to Zdeno Chara and hit Boston Bruins on snapping a 39 year Stanley Cup drought! As well, congratulations goes out to Tim Thomas on your Conn Smythe Trophy, well deserved!

The other side of the line is the Vancouver Canucks. 1st of all, I want to congratulate the Canucks on a wonderful run. Setting aside all statistical data, you were in game 7 of a Stanley Cup finals, you overcame one of your toughest obstacles that has haunted you the last two years, the Chicago Blackhawks, and you did all this with key players hurt. That being said there are a few questions that they have to ask themselves next year. I'm not going to mention that 4 letter word starting with R, that took place after game 7.

The Maple Leafs finished the season off on a high note. Finishing higher in the standings than last year, on a near magical run from the All-Star break on. James "Optimus Reim" "Busta Reims" "The Reim-inister of Goaltending" Reimer finished with a 20-10-5 record with a 2.60 GAA and a 0.921 Save%. He also got 3 shutouts. His 1st career shutout coming against Carolina on February 3rd 2011.

The Leafs made a few trades later in the year to acquire some draft picks and some decent talent for the farm. Sending Thomas Kaberle to Boston and receiving C- Joe Colbourne, Boston's 1st round pick and a conditional 2nd round pick in 2012. The BOS 1st round pick turns out to be 30th pick, because Boston won that Stanley Cup. The conditional 2nd round pick is based on Boston making it to the Stanley Cup finals, which they did. Nice to have that extra pick in the draft cupboard.

Also the Leafs traded Chris Versteeg to the Philadelphia Flyers exchange for the Flyers' 1st round and 3rdround draft picks in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, which starts next Friday.

That leaves the Leafs with 3 picks int he top 39. #25 (PHI) #30 (BOS) and #39 (TOR).

Leafs are looking for a top 4 puck moving defenceman, a top line center for Kessel and Lupul. and perhaps someone that can replace Clarke MacArthur if he does not resign.

Leafs need to get Luke Schenn under contract, he is an RFA as of July 1st.

Next up for Toronto and the NHL? Awards show Thursday, June 22nd, Draft June 23rd, July 1st is free agent day.