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.

Official Launch!

Today is the official launch of the blog, and our Facebook page as well as the launch of our twitter account.

Come back as often as you like to get the views and opinions on things going on around in the hockey world. Feel free to ask a question if you want my opinion on something as well.

Game 7...

A friend asked me today, "Jeff, what do you think is going to happen tomorrow in game 7?"

I told my friend that this is game 7. Game 7's are so unpredictable because anything can happen. No lead will be safe, players will be laying it all on the line, and the two goalies will should be the stars of the show. Throw away the stats, and watch the players lay it all out in 1 game, for everything!


There is no reason in my mind that Luongo won't be bringing it tomorrow night. He is at home, he has all the doubts from everyone outside of BC, and even a few inside BC. But in my opinion, Luongo brings it tomorrow night, and he brings it good!

I believe that since so much is on the line, it will be a close game, similar to the low scoring games in Vancouver in this series. I'm thinking its going to be probably 3-2. Thomas is going to be great, Luongo is going to be great. I think the big players are going to bring it for their teams. The Sedins, Lucic, Bergy, Kesler, Marchand all are going to have big games for their teams.

If this game goes to overtime, it will be such an epic game. The player I would have to pick is Thomas Kaberle to get the OT winner if does go to OT.

When I think about the game tomorrow night, all I can see is Tim Thomas hoisting the Cup, right after hoisting his Conn Smythe Trophy. I'm going with my gut and my original pick (Boston in 7)

Remember, this is game 7. Anything can happen.

...And The Smythe Goes To..

Unless there is some sort of shocking revelation in the Canucks dressing room, and Sedin's or Kesler come out and get 15 or 20 goals, or Luongo make 200 save in a shutout tonight, The Conn Smythe Trophy will be given to Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins.

The Conn Smythe Trophy is an annual award given to the most valuable player for his team in the playoffs. The winner is selected by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association at the conclusion of the final game in the Stanley Cup finals.

The Smythe Trophy was presented by Maple Leaf Gardens Limited in 1964 to honor Conn Smythe, the former coach, manager, president and owner-governor of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

-NHL.com

In the event that the Canucks win the cup, and Thomas is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, he will be only the 6th player in the history of the trophy to have won it being on the losing team in the finals. Reggie Leach is the only non goalie to ever win the Conn Smythe being on the losing team.

Thomas in the playoffs has a 2.07 GAA, a .937, and has faced 774 shots on net, nearly 100 more than the next goalie, Luongo. Thomas has been a beast in the finals as well. He has only let in 6 goals in 5 games, posting a shutout in game 4 (4-0 Boston win) and keeping the bruins in the games that were in Vancouver.

I can't see any other player being more deserving than Timmy Thomas. Maybe Luongo can win it if he makes more than 50 saves tonight in a shutout win, but I don't even think that would win it for him. This trophy is Thomas' to lose.

We all know that this trophy means nothing to the players. The big silver one is the only one they care about.

Classless...

My finals words leading into game 6 of the Stanley cup finals. Whether Vancouver wins the cup on Monday night, or Boston pushes it to game 7, there is not much more I can say about this series. What this series symbolizes, is the worst of many things.

The first being Patriotism. Patriotism can be great, but it can also get you in trouble. In this case, the patriotism in this country for the Vancouver Canucks is not good. The entire country is supporting a team that plays with 0 integrity and 0 class. It's giving Canadians, and Canadian hockey a bad name.

The second thing is the refereeing. I never understood, why they enforce the rules one night, and not the next night. I can't begin to fathom why the Rules in game #27 of the regular season are so much different than the rules in game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals. People are always saying "Oh good, the ref put the whistle away and are going to let these two teams play" This does nothing beneficial for the sport. All this does, is let the cheap players play their style and not get penalized for it.

Finally the 3rd thing that series symbolizes, is how Karma is not existent. It baffles me beyond belief, how the hockey gods can allow the same people that lie, cheat and steal their way into the finals, to be the players that score the Game winning goals. All three game winning goals, for Vancouver, have been scored by the rats that plague the ice with their 5th grade antics, whether it be biting or tattling, or whatever else these professional hockey players are doing on the ice. Burrows, Torres, and Ratpierre.

You all wonder why I am Canadian, and I am not cheering for Vancouver? I will not cheer for this team, because it has zero class, and not one ounce of integrity. This team is an outright disgrace to this country. They do not play Canadian hockey, they do not represent Canada, and they do not deserve to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup.

Round 2

I went 5-3 in the 1st round of the playoffs. I predicted Caps, Bruins, Flyers and Lightning coming out of the East and only the Sharks coming out of the West. I hope to improve on my winning percentage this round.

(1) WSH vs. (5) TB
This series might just be the best of the second round. Strong goaltending from Roloson in the 1st round gave the Lightning the series over the Penguins. Crosby and Malkin were both out for the Penguins, which was the basis of me picking Tbay over Pits. When you have your top clutch players out, its hard to win.

Washington seems to be a much different team this year. They let in the fewest goals in the 1st round, and its a mixture of solid goaltending and strong defensive play. I like this Defence 1st type of team that the Caps have become, and I think its going to take them far. Look for Ovechkin to step up this series. Pick: Caps in 6 Standout Player: Ovechkin

(1) VAN vs. (5) NAS
Vancouver blew a 3 games to none lead in the 1st round to the defending champs. A lot of hockey experts say that the team is pretty clutch, and Luongo has finally proved himself to come up big when it matters. I call bullshit to that. Luongo and this clutch team couldn't win games 4 or 5, as well they couldn't find a way to win a close game in game 6 either. This team has proved nothing yet, it was only the 1st round.

Nashville played well in the 1st round. They won a playoff series for the 1st time in their franchise history, and they deserve a congratulations. The round is over and now its time for them to step up, and show them that they WON the 1st series, and that it wasn't Anaheim losing it. Rinne is up for the Vezina trophy and this team needs him to be as sharp as ever. Vancouver might be on empty after that 1st round. Pick: Preds in 7, Standout Player: Fisher

(2) PHI vs. (3) BOS
Boston polished off les Candiens in the 1st round, winning 3 games in overtime. Being able to win close games like that, is great for a Boston team that could still be fragile. You got to think though, that the series win against rivals Montreal, will only help the Bruins confidence. Need a huge series from Chara and Thomas.

Philadelphia baffles me how they cycle through their goaltending in a series and still have better performances than Ryan Miller. The last time these two teams met in the playoffs, last year, the Flyers came back from a 3-0 series deficit to take the series. Also, in game 7, Philly was down 3-0 in that game, came back to win it 4-3. This series is going to be a rough one, that's for sure. Pick: Philly in 7, Standout Player: Briere

(2) SJ vs. (3) DET
The wings swept away the poor Coyotes in the 1st round, and have had a week off to heal up their banged up players. The Wing know what they have to do, they have been here and they have done this before. Cleary and Franzen are going to have a big series. You can always count on Pavel Datsyuk. They should also get Zetterberg back soon too.

San Jose showed a relentless effort in the 1st round, especially in game 3 where they came back from a 4 goal deficit to win the game 6-5 in OT. Both Marleau and Thornton had a good series in the 1st round, look for them to carry it on into the second round. Ian White is a key player in this series. I like the forwards of the wings better in this series though. Pick: Wings in 6, Standout Player: Datsyuk

End of the Kessle Saga?

Brian Burke has been under fire since September 18th 2009 for trading away the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs for Phil Kessel. The trade was Toronto's 1st round pick in 2010 (2nd pick overall, Tyler Seguin) Toronto's 2nd round pick in 2010 (32nd overall, Jared Knight)and Toronto's 1st round pick in 2011 (undetermined). Everyone and their mother has their own opinion of this trade.

Recently, Burke has traded Thomas Kaberle to the Boston Bruins. This trade consisted of Boston's 1st round pick in 2011, prospect Joe Colborne (16th overall, 2008) and a condition 2nd round pick. The conditional pick is a 2nd rounder if the Bruins go to the finals, OR sign Kaberle to a new deal. Kaberle wanting to go to Boston points in the direction that there is a good possibility that Kaberle will resign.

When you look at these trades this is what you may see. The Toronto Maple Leafs essentially traded Thomas Kaberle for Phil Kessel. It doesn't matter that the picks they traded back and fourth are late and early round picks. With these trades, we still need to wait until the fat lady sings on each of their careers, but as it stands, Boston's 1st round pick of Seguin is playing, or sitting on the bench at the NHL level, and the Leafs 1st rounder is lighting it up on the AHL.

Its pretty even so far. Thank you Burke, for silencing the critics for a few weeks.