It's been a good weekend for the Leafs. A tight 5-4 win against the Rangers, followed by an exciting 5-3 victorious do-over against the Sens at the Air Canada Canadian Tire Centre. The latter game featured some top-shelf helmet cam, sieve-like goaltending, and further examples (albeit brief) of the Leafs' improved cycling, but was most notable for the pre-game ceremony that saw both the Leafs and Senators pay tribute to Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at Ottawa's National War Memorial.
I'm going to enjoy these warm feelings straight through until Wednesday when the Leafs face off against the Bruins for the second time this season (as a Sportsnet commercial just described it: "it's the perfect love/hate relationship .... without the love"). Until then, here are some links to get you through a chilly Monday morning:
A "Legal Look" at the Ashton suspension
A great primer on the Ashton suspension, it's (non-)effect on the Leafs' cap, and the difference between the Ashton and Voynov suspensions (besides the obvious, inhaler use vs. alleged domestic assault)
What’s Going On in the NHL Central?
I've never been much for "patience" or "evidence", so DGB's dissection of how we were all completely wrong about the Central Division only 12 games into the season seems perfectly appropriate to me. The Blackhawks and Blues are under-performing, the Jets and Preds are outdoing themselves, and despite everyone selecting Nathan MacKinnon as their not-so-sleepy sleeper fantasy pick, Colorado has been downright awful. DGB seems to believe that sub- or above-par goaltending is the reason for our loser proline tickets. Stay tuned.
No less than four people sent this link to me last week, but I'm really not sure why. It's hard for me to find anything in a Bruins jersey tolerable, much less cute. Not even a puppy with a free pizza would win me over if he was wearing Bruins gear. But I think it's worth noting that the best fist bumps came from the Canadian players - Paille and Bergeron. It's the little things.
An article on the top 300 keeper league players, aka something that should have been brought to my attention yesterday.
Thornton remains firm, he's staying
Joe Thornton has said "no way (san) jose, I'm not going anywhere". See what I did there?
Your eyes are lying about soft goals in hockey
It seems that my expletive-laced rage blackouts have all been for naught. Apparently, a naturally-occurring shot-bias and my undependable eyeballs are to blame for the rage that I feel over what appear to be "soft goals". Puck Momalytics (a new, stats-based writer over at Puck Daddy) explains how stats are critical to take into account before cussing out your goalie for being a waste of space
Bill Simmons = Ellen DeGeneres
A completely useless and hilarious gif demonstrating how Bill Simmons and Ellen DeGeneres are actually the same person