Metal Reviews

You obviuolsy haven't been paying attention to the Leafs the past week. They have been a completely different team, far from the worst in the league. Our PP is top 3, Gustavsson makes the big saves when we need them, and even without Kessel we can still score. There is no way Boston drafts Taylor Hall, unless Hall has a shit year and falls hard in the draft.

Oh, I realize that. But you guys are still the worst in the league in points, and that's what matters for the draft- now, that's mainly due to some shitty luck, or goaltending. But that shitty luck can continue, even if Kaberle keeps on scoring 37383883 points a week. And hopefully Kessel can turn that luck around, because like I said... If you fuckers give Boston the draft...

It's the first month of the season. Yes it was a completely horrible month, but now we have 2 healthy goalies and our forwards are starting to click. I am not saying we make the playoffs, but there is no way we finish 25-30th aka lottery pick contention. Plus, how does anybody know that Taylor Hall will be amazing in the NHL? Not every player who is lights out in junior translates that in the big leagues.

just sayin...

this was beautiful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObdRn1MW ... r_embedded

I'm not saying you guys are going to get 25th to 30th, but it's certainly possible. And whether or not the first pick is Taylor Hall or not is irrelevant; chances are whoever it is is going to be good. That's why teams like the first pick- generally it's a pretty safe bet. So come on, don't act like Boston getting the first pick isn't a big deal.

Oh, I'd be pissed if they got a top 5 pick, incredibly pissed. But what I am saying is, when is the last time the Leafs picked in the top 5? Yeah 2 years ago to get Luke Schenn, but we had to trade up to get him. All I am saying is I doubt it's a top 5 pick that Boston gets. The last top 5 pick we had that we didn't have to trade to get was Wendel Clark back in 1985, just to put things into perspective.

So, 2 wins in a row and 7 straight games with a point. Seems we have turned this thing around. Playoffs are still a pipedream, but it is nice to see them go out there and play hard. It is also very nice to have a goalie who makes the big saves when they are needed. Even though we beat Detroit 5-1, it was Gustavsson who stole the game for us in the 1st period. I also love the fact that Gus hates to lose. Every goal he allows, which isn't very many lately, he gets pissed. Was also nice for Kessel to get his first goal as a Leaf last night, sure it was going in anyway but you can never be too sure.

What about them Canes? 11 losses in a row. Staal, Whitney and now Ward out with injuries. Kinda weird for a team that made it to the conference finals last season. I don't think they stay 30th all season, but if Ward is out for an extended period of time there will beno playoffs. Leighton is just not good, plain and simple. What does Thomas have to say?

Oh and Habbies, at least the Leafs could get a point out of TBay. And, the Leafs have more regulation time victories than the Habs. Nice.

Leafs are playing much better- good job on the Detroit win.

Poor Carolina though- I seriously have no idea how they're this bad. And now Ward's gone for a month- holy shit.

Too bad we didn't win last night- we completely outplayed TB but good goaltending and some extremely fluky goals got them the win.

Man oh man, I am so depressed right now, we played two decent games in a row to be honest and got a little unlucky, at least against Toronto, and Florida too for that matter. The main problem is that Maurice doesn't mix up his tactics anymore like he did last year. Mixing up his defensive system with Lavi's offensive system worked like a charm last year. Now it's just defense, defense, defense. Which admiteddly have been better than the offense.

He's using our top players wrong, Staal can't execute a thing when all your offense relies on dump and chase. There's no plan over our attack, which is horrifying to watch. It isn't even a slight bit exciting watching us play. Whenever we get a lead it's fall back and protect, which rarely works with a one or two-goal lead (see: San Jose, Toronto, Colombus etc.).

I am impressed by both Boychuk and Sutter though, they've had good game, and Sutter has netted three already. Don't know if I like that Boychuk is used as a winger on the top line, but at least he gets matched properly. We need more young legs seeing as how 3/4 of our team is 30 or more.

Another factor is how Rutherford only went for size, grit and PK this off-season, which is understandable, but adding 4-5 mediocre players to the roster and not even considering getting a top winger for Staal or getting some fast players at all was a mistake, and I think he's gone and admitted that already.

Our injury situation is really bad now. Ward is out for a minimum of 3 weeks, and Leighton didn't exactly put on a show against the Flyers (1-6). Bring up Murphy as a back-up at least. Unorthodox goalie that reminds me a little about Tim Thomas and Brodeur. Would be nice to see him getting som starts down the stretch. Whitney and Staal is out as well, our two most important players except for maybe Ward. However, none of them have been producing anywhere near the level I expected before the season. Ruutu is a concern as well as Gleason. So there goes, there's not much more that can go against us right now. We have a bunch of talent in the AHL right now that should get a chance. Bowman, Dwyer, Murphy, Boychuk, McBain, Samson and Sutter should earn some starts now, and Sutter should replace Yelle permanently on the fourth and maybe swap places with Brindy, so he'll get more top line minutes.

My cheapest solution for this is that Ron Francis and Maurice swaps jobs. I'm willing to give Maurice 7-8 more games, and I doubt JR will give him more. We'll see.

If all else fails, just go for Taylor Hall. A 1-2 punch of Eric Staal and Taylor Hall will be deadly in just a few years.

Yeah, I've been fiddling with the thought.

By the way, didn't Vancouver lose like 11 in a row last year? THey made the playoffs so the chance is there.

Carolina signs Manny Legace to try and save(possibly make) ground with the injury to Ward.

Yeah, didn't like that much. Was a disaster for St. Louis last year when he played

More good news after the 13th straight loss game last night. Yelle, Walker, Gleason and Whitney injured. That makes the injury list:

Cam Ward
Eric Staal
Ray Whitney
Scott Walker
Tim Gleason
Stephane Yelle
Joni Pitkanen

Mike Komisarek out 3 weeks with a quadricep tear, placed on IR. Carl Gunnarson called up.

Gunnar is a good young d-man, he was awesome in the pre-season. I am excited to see him play, sucks that it comes with the loss of Komi though.

So Gunnarson comes up and is by far our best dman last night, in our 3rd straight loss. Kipper was huge last night stopping 38 of 40 shots, The Monster had his first bad game. And Toskala coming in relief was ok but god damn does he need get a fresh start with another team.

Carolina wins! GASP! About goddamn time.

So this is how it feels like to win. Damn. Feels good.


Feel free to enlighten me on how we ALWAYS HAVE TO MAKE IT SO DAMN GUT-WRENCHING. JESU CHRISTO!

Woo! Thankfully the Habs pulled a win out of there through Kostitsyn and Price; it would be a shame to have lost to the worst team in the league when we outplayed them all game (no offense, metal_xxx). Now that they've faced us, Carolina is now allowed to win more. And hopefully the Habs will step out of this funk, get Gionta and some of our defencemen back from injury, get Gomez to play better than people who are paid five million less than him, and keep it up above %500 until Markov gets back.

...then the cup.