J.P. Nikota

We're closing in on the deadline for RFA's to apply for arbitration, but there's always a few days' between the filing date, and when the hearing actually takes place. Brian Burke doesn't seem too worried about it, anyway: "We are

Like other days this week, there are lots of small moves being made to prepare for the big show on Friday. In this morning's FTB we've got news on Jagr, Erhoff, Varlamov, Dupuis, and Ian White, among several others. Naturally, we're more interested in

In my first post, I took a look at the entire team's shot locations. In this post, I'm focusing solely on shots taken at 5-on-5 while the Leafs were on the road. To a large degree, the patterns are dictated by a players' position, and

No, this is not a Rorschach test. If you see a butterfly or a pelvis in these dots, it's because you're spending too much time doing drugs and not enough time studying the 2010-2011 Toronto Maple Leafs' shot locations. In the chart above, each individual

There are all kinds of little tidbits of news trickling in this week. Minor trades are being made, Jaromir Jagr looks to be on the verge of deciding which team he'll return to, Kirk Muller has a new home, Bieksa's been re-signed, and there's

This morning, we've got a smattering of everything from all the usual suspects. Thoughts on the Mike Richards trade that could have been, more on the draft, the NHL's involvement in the coming Winter Olympics, some thoughts on John-Michael Liles, not to mention some pretty funny

Overall, I'd give Burke about a C+ for his work at the draft. Things started out well, as he made an excellent trade to shore up our blueline, and hopefully keep Lebda-time to a minimum next year. In my eyes, the remainder of the first day was a

I have to say that I'm probably less interested in either of these things than a lot of people. To be honest, watching any awards show is boring, and watching a bunch of NHL players, long known for being some of the most boring people to interview, make

There are a lot of great story lines that were wrapped up last night, but easily the best of the bunch is that Tomas Kaberle will see his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. Congratulations Kaba, you deserve it. Even if Canucks fans, this time green with envy, decided to

As I'm sure most of you are already aware, the Boston Bruins shelled Roberto Luongo in the first period and beat the visiting Canucks 5-2. Matthew Sekeres at the Globe and Mail has a recap: Goaltender Roberto Luongo was once again Wobbly Lou, and was pulled from a

Oh, the Bruins have shattered the Canucks' confidence. Luongo is on a cold streak, and may not wake up until next season. The Canucks' "D" is too worn out and downtrodden to fend off the balanced attack of physical Boston forwards. Vancouver just doesn't

Doo doo doop, doo doo doop, doo dee doo dee doo doo doop. Doo doo doop, doo doo doop, doo dee doo dee doooo. OK, so it's not the Chicago Blackhawks that are savaging Roberto Luongo's confidence, but the Bruins should probably buy the rights to

If you're cheering against Vancouver in this round, I sure hope you watched the game last night. Alex Burrows was tempted to bite Lucic's finger, Canucks were falling all over the place, Luongo got hung out to dry, and allowed the last three shots of the

I guess it should be the Vancouver Canucks' victory over the Boston Bruins last night. Unfortunately for me, I had to work, and only got to check the score towards the end of the second when it was 2-1 Boston. Bummer. The truth is though, most of us here

Although this is not the first time he's made these sentiments known, Jean-Sebastien Giguere recently told Chris Johnston that he'd like to return in some kind of backup/mentoring capacity next season for the Leafs. "I would love to, but I don't know

There are plenty of links to choose from today, and quite a number of Leafs-related ones, to boot, which is a nice shift. Over at the Leafs Nation, Slava Duris has tallied all the Leafs' Power Play scoring chances for the season: The Leafs' Differential-per-60-minutes of PP time

They make me-e so-o steamed. WEEK-ends, I prefer the WEEK-ends. Oh-oh-oh-oh-ohSONOFABITCH. A relatively slow day for Leafs links, but also for NHL links in general. The CHL is a different story, however, with the St. John Sea Dogs winning the Memorial Cup. The win marks the first time a Maritime

For those of you that didn't catch the Boston - Tampa Bay game last night, you missed a good one. For all the talk of Guy Boucher's 1-3-1 system, the stingy misers Tim Thomas and Dwayne Roloson, not to mention the inability of the B'

A win for the B's tonight means the Leafs get another 2nd round pick next year. Go Bruins Go!

Naturally, last night's collapse by the San Jose Sharks is the biggest news to discuss today. There are plenty of great sub-plots, ripe for the picking. The speed and size of the Canucks, the emergence of the Sedins (5 points between them), the Marleau - Bieksa fight, the

For those of you staying up late, know that I got up early to watch this game. Here's hoping the Sharks can even this one up. Comment away!

Since news that True North Sports Entertainment Ltd. is interested in purchasing the Atlanta Thrashers emerged yesterday, more specific information has been slowly leaking into the open. Elliotte Friedman offers a good summary of the happenings so far: Bettman is getting hammered locally for not standing up for the Thrashers

We've got a pile of players in the World Hockey Championship in Slovakia, and they've been our prime source of Leafs news during these playoffs. In all, the Leafs have Komisarek, Brown, Holzer, Müller, Gunnarsson, Grabbo, Kulemin, Phaneuf, Schenn, and, of course, Reimer. (OK, so Holzer

I wasn't slated to do this morning's FTB, as I expected to return to Hà Nội later on today (er, this morning to all of you on EST) from a vacation in central Vietnam, but the train times worked out better than I'd hoped,

Unfortunately for our two first-round draft picks, both the Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins have moved on to the second round. This is exactly where they faced each other at this time last year, and, as many of you are sure to remember, the Flyers came out on top