James Birkett

Why the owners should be mad at other owners and the players should be mad at other players.

Got a few links, mostly CBA related for you folks. The Narrowing Financial Gap between the NHL and NHLPA New stuff from mc79hockey Why are there so many conflicts in pro sports? Deepak Malhotra with a special piece for Forbes Marlies win 5-0 over Hamilton Cam Charron has the recap

While a new CBA remains in limbo, fresh rumors about Roberto Luongo to the Leafs have sprung up across the vast wasteland that is the internet. How serious should we take these rumors?

Game 2 of the Marlies' march to the Calder Cup goes down at Ricoh this afternoon.

Hockey returns to Toronto

Ben Scrivens and the Toronto Marlies open their season against Rochester tonight.

I was one of the (un?)lucky thousands of Maple Leaf fans who were awarded the opportunity to purchase tickets to the 2013 Winter Classic through MLSE. On July 31st, I purchased four tickets via the Leafs' Ticketmaster site. I did so fully cognizant of the likelihood of an

Without the media knowing, the NHL & NHLPA met again on Friday in Toronto. Both sides asked the other for a new proposal. They plan to meet again this week. More on this and other Saturday links.

With the preseason already scrapped and the first regular season games just a few days away from being cancelled, the NHLPA and NHL finally returned to the negotiating table today. While the core economic issues were not discussed, it sounds as though there was progress on a few other issues.

The Toronto Marlies opened their 2012-2013 training camp with a new look.

Francois Allaire responds to Brian Burke's suggestions that he is done as a goalie coach.

How about a few links for Saturday afternoon? Be sure to check these out and if you want to comment, I'd suggest The Copper & Blue for this weekend. We can all enjoy some AHL hockey now VLM on the lockout and the Marlies Get to know the

With the lockout ongoing, there's little Leafs news up for debate. So I was having a chat with skinnyfish earlier today and we were talking about Brian Burke's tenure thus far. I distinctly recall watching an interview with Burke where he was asked how he would

Former Baltimore Ravens/Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell passed away Thursday. He was not a well liked man in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Modell's passing got fellow hockey blog Five Minutes for Fighting thinking about other owners who were not-so-highly thought of. The most obvious one that

Just two links for you this morning. Talk about whatever. GO LIVERPOOL. The Essentials: Toronto Maple Leafs edition A must read over at Puck Daddy from mf37 Rogers to buy The Score for $167 million Some of our favorite blogging friends work for the Score, so this is big news

Here are some Saturday links while I watch the EPL. Sheltering Nazem Kadri Cam Charron has a new piece over at Leafs Nation Is Brian Burke working on a blockbuster? Nope. Please stop suggesting this, people. The silence around the league is due to labor uncertainty Do the Rangers have

First, a good read from the New York Times' Slap Shot blog on the looming lockout: And the idea that a 50-50 split means the owners and players are equal partners in the N.H.L. as a business? Fehr doesn’t buy it."If we are partners,

Talk about hockey and the Olympics and stuff. I don't have any links for you.

It's August. We're beyond speculating on free agency, but not quite ready for predictions on the upcoming season. So what do we do? Speculate on the state of the franchise, especially it's future. Jesse Blacker is a part of that future. Here's

Don't have any Leafs related links for you this morning. Did find one small tidbit regarding the CBA negotiations from Larry Brooks of the New York Post: So the CBA negotiations basically can be summarized thusly: The big-market teams don’t want to pay the small-market teams, the

So news broke yesterday afternoon that the Leafs had signed 2012 first round pick Morgan Rielly to an ELC. He had been one of only a handful of players from the first round still without a contract. The news was not terribly surprising, although I'm curious why the

We're just days away from the most boring hockey month of the year! So close! That said, Vintage Leaf Memories is musing about some less common discussions. Today's post covers individual awards. When was the last time a Leaf won one? Is any current Leaf capable

Bull Durham is one of the greatest sports films ever made and this is the first line uttered by Crash Davis in that movie. In seven words, the audience gets almost all they need to know about the character's background: Davis is an afterthought in the realm of

Twitter can be great sometimes. I had a pretty good laugh when I came up with this one last night for "#RemoveOneLetterFilms". It seemed exceptionally accurate for some of the daily discussions that happen on that platform (and here as well). If you're not a stat

That's right kids. The Muscle from Magnitogorsk has re-signed with the Leafs on a two year deal. Ryan Fancey of the Leafs Nation had this to say about Kulemin's new deal: The Cliff's Notes is that Kulemin is a positive play driver on the