J.P. Nikota

Total 686 Posts

Advanced Stats Just Starting To Catch On

It's been a long time coming, but the Moneypuck revolution is here. NHL teams are finally cottoning on to what is becoming a very useful set of tools for evaluating player performances. As James Mirtle at the Globe and Mail explains: Desjardins's work at behindthenet.ca

Leafs-Sabres Recap and Notes

For Joffrey Lupul's birthday, Ron Wilson decided to ice a team made up of most of the Leafs' regulars. The Lupul-Connolly-Kessel line looked dangerous, the MGK line was effective as usual, and Nazem Kadri showed us how to stick handle in a phone booth. That the Leafs

Your Very Late Links

Hey gang, sorry for the tardiness - my bad. Anyway, Here are your links, starting with a recap of last night's efforts, and a focus on Bozak's strong game from James Mirtle: "We kind of figured that it could potentially be a line combination,"

So What Would You Give Schenn?

We've heard everything from Mark Staal money ($3.9M/season) to Chemmy's estimate, based on comparable (though perhaps underpaid) players of $2.26M. This feels like a reasonable comparison except for the fact that the cap has gone up. In 2008-2009 the salary cap was $56.

What's In A Rookie Tourney?

Last season I was thrilled that the Leafs were holding their prospect camp in London, Ontario, because it offered me the chance to go check out Leafs youngsters on the cheap. Heck, at just under $20 a game, I even went to a Penguins - Senators prospects game. Danny Gray

Every Game Is A Try-Out?

Sure, Michael Langlois can accept the practical reasons for which the Leafs' roster is more or less set before camp even begins, but he's not happy about it. For one thing, knowing exactly who makes the team beforehand is less fun than being surprised, but for another,

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Well, it certainly won't be a bunch of idiots wearing vacuum cleaner backpacks. I'm referring to a group of people that sucked in a slightly less literal way. What I'm asking is, given the option of calling any making a drunken phone call to

The Tributes Are Flowing In

It seems that everyone has something nice to say about Wade Belak, and I'm sure it's no coincidence. Everyone from mainstream media members, to bloggers, to casual fans who met Belak tell similar stories. From Jon S., over at Puckin' Eh: It was these circumstances

Sean, you're my same height. That is neat.

Sure, it's a stretch, but referring to the part in Orange County where the dean of admissions trips out on E (at least, I think that's what they wind up giving him) actually does relate to today's featured article. You see, as it turns

Jump!

Just jump for your links. Van Halen references or related comments are punishable by death. VLM ponders a new potential rivalry I can't say that I have any particular memories of the Leafs playing the Jets. Do you? Glendale Officials Optimistic About Coyotes Sale "Listen lad, I

Are Our 3rd + 4th Lines Ready To Contribute More?

Well, Michael Cuttell seems to think so. The Leafs are expecting to see some major improvements in their bottom six forwards over last year’s starting roster. Last year’s group failed to consistently provide any of the criteria intrinsic to bottom-six role players. Improvements to this group, as energy

Guestimating Divisional Rivals

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

Shameless Self-Promotion

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 to discuss,

Better In Front Of Reimer?

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's

Selective Exposure

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

Leafs' "D" Possession Numbers

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 why

Hockey Solstice

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)

Fond Memories of 2010-2011

Sunday is always a bit slow, and we're in the dead of summer, so why not take a stroll down recent memory lane, and enjoy reminiscing about some of the Leafs' better games and plays this year. If you have more (and yes, there are many more)

MEAT BOT 3000 HAS YOUR LINKS

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

I Thought 'Anchoring' Was For Boats

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

It's Mirtle Time

Since the Leafs have been out of action, we haven't featured as many James Mirtle's articles as we normally do around here, and it's a cryin' shame. Fortunate then, that this morning, we've got a trifecta of Mirtle "win"

Oh, Nazem.

Probably the best piece of Leafs-related web content available this morning comes to us via TSN Radio, as James Cybulski & Co. interview Nazem Kadri. The conversation drifts from golf to off-season training regimes, to his thoughts on playing wing instead of center. For me, the highlight of the interview

Your Late Links

We're doing a bit of line juggling here at PPP, as today's scheduled FTBer is busy with a move today. If you've got more Leafs-related links, please toss them in the comments for dissection, inspection, and debate. Today's featured article is a

Read these links and enjoy them.

"Why?" Because I said so. Here's where you're going to start: it's an article by Cam Charron at The Leafs Nation. The issue with Zigomanis last season was his save percentage on-ice on the penalty kill was .800, so he was very

The Management Dream Team

I haven't checked, but I think it's safe to say that the Leafs have the highest-profile, if not the largest front office (leaving aside the effect of Toronto's media to inflate their visibility). I'd wager they're the highest-paid bunch, too.
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