Tim Connolly Always Triumphs!

"It's just a flesh wound", they say. Just another one of those "upper body injuries". Tim Connolly is going to miss between 10 days and two weeks with an undisclosed injury. Of course, the way the Leafs' front office has been diagnosing injuries lately (James Reimer may have been completely decapitated for all we know) it could be even longer. At least James Mirtle can report that it has nothing to do with Connolly's recently injured shoulder:

"It's totally unrelated to the earlier injury," Wilson said. "He got hurt in the game the other night [against Boston]. I said it's upper body; I'm not going to get into specifics. He got hurt on the first penalty kill; he left the ice for a bit and then he felt okay.

Naturally, the possibility exists that Wilson is lying about that aspect of the injury as well. Who knows?

The bright side to all this? Matt Frattin has already been recalled, and will get another chance to finally score his first NHL goal. I guess that might only be a bright side if your name is Matt Frattin.

Anyway, Mirtle's article has the (probable) starting lineup for tonight, as well as a number of other notes and thoughts from Wilson in the audio section, so check it out.

Follow me over the jump for plenty of other great links that will help you get through the day. If yesterday's meager list was the purging, today is the gorging. Enjoy, fatsos.

Leafs Links:

Tim Connolly's Injury Woes Continue
Good gravy, the photoshops alone are fantastic. I think they trump mine. From Dirty Dangle.

Winning Games At Even-Strength
Another article from Jonathan Willis at The Leafs Nation warning Leafs fans to batten the hatches and prepare for the storm that will be Hurricane Regression.

Luke Schenn— the most relieved guy in Leafland
Michael Langlois at VLM thinks Luke Schenn must be somewhat glad to see Franson do poorly.

Rating the ACC
It's mostly for the link within the post, but what do you think of the ACC? The only time I've ever been there, I had standing room right over center ice, and the view was fantastic. The Leafs came from behind to beat Bryan McCabe and the Panthers 3-2 to boot.

Colborne developing nicely with Marlies
This is just a nice fluff article by Samantha Wood at NHL.com, but I'll take all the good news I can get.

Historicist: Arch Enemy of the NHL
A history lesson at Torontoist by Kevin Plummer.

Random celebrity encounters – Johnny Bower edition
The 1967ers should have at least said 'hi'.

Joe Colborne and Jake Gardiner: Forcing Management's Hand
Curt S at Blue Chip Prospects wonders if the play of these two will force Leafs' management to make a trade. Personally, I'm not holding my breath just yet.

Other Hockey Links:

NHLNumbers Podcast: Episode I
Kent Wilson and Jonathan Willis have guest James Mirtle in to talk about advanced stats, among other things, for the inaugural edition of the NHL Numbers podcast.

Faceoff Leaders By Starting Zone
Matchups are key in the NHL - how do teams deploy their forwards by zone? From Derek Zona at The Copper & Blue.

Falcons Sign Lebda to PTO
Link from The Cannon to the site of the Springfield Falcons. Commence laughter... now.

Daniel Paille takes slapper to face in gruesome scene
Myself, I always wore a full cage. But then, I was never that cool, anyway. From Sean Leahy at PD.

Hitchcock had ‘zero discussion’ about Columbus coaching return
In his podcast, Justin Bourne speculated that the Blues moved quickly to hire Ken Hitchcock because of concerns the Blue Jackets would hire him first. Hm. From Greg Wyshynski at PD.

Crosby says it's possible he could return to lineup Friday
Somebody's fantasy team could get a hell of a boost very soon. From Alan Robinson at the Globe via the CP.

Georges Laraque vs. Darren Pang Twitter fight over Gretzky legacy
If you didn't see this on Twitter, Greg Wyshynski at PD has a transcript.

Backhand Shelf Podcast, Featuring Jeremy Roenick
Justin Bourne and his buddy Pizzo have a number of interesting points, though of course, Roenick is the star of the show. From Backhand Shelf.

Roenick: "There are NO Steroids Whatsoever" in the NHL, Wayne Gretzky Wasn’t a Good Coach
If you don't have time, or aren't able to listen to the above-linked podcast because your work is stupid, here are a couple of the highlights from it.

The Columbus Blue Jackets; their start, and their decade of misery
Over at Backhand Shelf, Cam Charron explains that the BJ's (BCWW) have had some tough luck to start the season.

The Dave Tippett Effect: Mike Smith in Phoenix
Feelin' pretty smug about snapping this guy up for my fantasy team when all the other goalies were gone. From Justin Bourne at Backhand Shelf.