Metal Reviews

First off Mr. Brahm_K I was joking. I understand what you are saying. I don't care about most other sports in the Olympics, but the Hockey is completely different. We are hockey here in Canada, and to have such a talented team, we must win. Especially after no medal in 2006.

My Leafers have really shit the bed the last 2 or so weeks, playing like it is October all over again. We play the Panthers tonight, and the Panters are a team we will need to leep frog to potentially make the post season. I doubt we make it, but the hope is still there. Grabovski is out at least 3 weeks with a fractured wrist and Primeau is out for at elast a week with a knee injury. But we get John Mitchell back from IR, so that is ok. I really don't care too much about the Leafs game tonight though, as the Canadian juniors play the US juniors tonight for Gold. Will be an awesome game, and either way a Leafs prospect will get a gold medal tonight. Nazem Kadri for the Canadians or Jerry D'Amigo (who happens to lead the US in scoring) for USA. Speaking of World Juniors, Switzerland is playing Sweden right now for Bronze.[/i]

So my Leafers are 7 games below .500 again, just like we were at the end of October. We dug ourselves out of the hole, and now we are right back into it. Phil Kessel has not scored in 12 games and only has 1 point in that span. The only bright light has been Jonas Gustavsson. Sure his numbers are nothing spectacular, but remember that he is 24 years old and has only played like 19 games in the NHL. He gets better and handling the puck and we put some better players in front of him and he may one day be a top goalie in the NHL. Another bright spot is Leafs prospect Jerry D'Amigo. Played for USA in the World Juniors and had a great tournament scoring 5 goals and leading the US in points. Best of all, he was drafted in the 6th round, so if he makes the NHL even at just a 4th line role he was a steal.

On Tuesday it will be a battle of the 2 worst teams in the East as my Leafers take on the Canes. If we still had our first rounder, I'd be cheering for the Canes, but seeing as how I don't want Boston to get a top pick, I have to cheer for the Leafs as pointless as that may seem. They have the work ethic part, but the skill is seriously lacking. Plus our PK is pathetically bad. 68%? WTF? I can't remember the last time I saw a team below 70%. Add a shitty PP to that, and you have the mix of disaster. I hate to say it, but I think the only saving grace is if we trade Kaberle for a pick and or prospect. It would suck to lose him, but he's having a great year and could get us a good return.

Oh well, at least I have the olympics to look forward to.

Great Habs game last night. My boy Gionta got two power play goals (still best power play in the league, woo!) so I'm happy. And Georges Laraque got his first goal as a Hab (a year and a half)- ugly ass goal, but seriously, watching his excitement after he scored is heartwarming, especially considering that he scored even though many of his family members are missing in Haiti.

The Kings are still hanging in there. There has been some ups and downs lately but luckily some other teams are slumping too, like the Flames and Predators. Man what happened to the Oilers though? Talk about nosedive.

1 Point separating 6th from 12th place in the East. It's amazingly close. Every game is so important, every point counts. Who knows what's gonna happen. Though one frustrating thing is watching rival teams going to OT/SO and getting an extra point. That has to be the stupidest rule in all of sports, having some games worth more points total than others. I say make all games 3 points like in the Swedish Elite League, giving 2 points to the OT winners and 1 points to the OT losers. That or remove the OTL point all together or simply bring back ties. The current system just makes no sense to me.

The Olympics coming up. That's gonna be a blast as well. Fittingly the Sedins are having monster seasons, hopefully they'll stay hot for team Sweden.

Colorado should stop winning so the Canucks can pass them already.

Wow. Leafs got Phaneuf in exchange for pretty much... nothing (ok, they lost Stajan, a third line player posing as a first liner. Big deal). A cap move for the Flames. And now they've apparently got Giguere in exchange for Toskola, though details on that one are still coming out. Another cap move. Wow. Apparently every other GM in the league loves the Leafs and just wants to give them Kwanzaa gifts. Or at least make sure that Boston doesn't get a good draft pick.

"Calgary Flames’ general manager Darryl Sutter has confirmed that Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers, Matt Stajan and defenceman Ian White are headed to Calgary in exchange for defenceman Dion Phaneuf, forward Fredrik Sjostrom and prospect defenceman Keith Aulie."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/c ... le1450858/

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_ ... burke.html

DW: You're a lucky bastard.

I love both trades, but losing Ian White and Niklas Hagman does suck. But you have to give to get. The fact that Burkie actually got somebody to take Jason Blake is amazing. But who the Hell scores now? Sure Kessel can score, but Hagman was our leading scorer. At least we'll get to see some more young guys in the line-up.

I can't wait for Tuesday.

Yeah that was pretty huge stuff that occured in Toronto tonight. I'm gonna watch the game on Tuesday.

As for the Canes, they've been pretty amazing for the last five games. Staal getting the C has turned things around, as far as I know we're 28th now. Not that it matters much, but winning still beats losing even though we're getting farther from the first overall pick.

A pair of incredible trades for the Leafs. Though I think the trades actually make them worse this season, unless Giguere turns it around completely, for the long term this is a great deal. If they have any money left they could add a couple of decent forwards in the offseason to replace what they lost up front which, in all fairness, was average players. That'd make them an improved team with much, much greater upside.

The leafs have so many UFAs this summer, it will be a completely different team next season.

Stempniak
Ponikarovsky
Primeau
Exelby
Mitchell
Wallin
Van Ryn
Gustavsson


Besides Gus, they can all go.

Big day in leaf land, I wonder what number Phaneuf will wear. He was #3 as a Flamer but the Leafs already have a #3 in Garnett Exelby.

I'm so excited for Tuesday to see the new guys in action.

Canucks have been doing really great since Daniel Sedin got back. Starting to be hopeful that it's more than just a streak :]

Calgary, like Toronto, was busy today...

the Flames trade Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust to the New York Rags for Ales Kotalik and Chris Higgins.

just waiting for it to be finalized

It's been far too quiet 'round these parts.

Ottawa, Los Angeles, and Washington are all rididng some crazy winning streak. Ottawa made it 10 last night, Kinga are at 7 and the Caps are at 11.

Not to mention the big trades. Sure Brahmigula commented about the 2 Leaf trade, but what about the Flamer-Rag trade? The Rags won that trade biiiiiiig time. Why teams keep letting Glen Sather off the hook for his shit contracts is beyond me... First Montreal now Calgary...

Also, Don Waddel -GM of Atlanta- told Ilya Kovalchuk on Wednesday that he can be expecting a trade very soon. Teams said to be in on the sweepstakes are LA, NYR, and Chicago just to name a few.

Niclas Wallin (Canes d-man) expected to be traded to San Jose in the near future.

Leafs d-man Mike Komisarek will not make the US olympic team and will be shut down for the rest of the season. I find Komi to be underrated. Sure he only has 4 assists, sure he is a minus player, sure he takes bad penalties, but look at the Leafs record with him in the line-up and the record with him out. It speaks for itself.

what else have I missed?

Kovalchuk, Salmella traded to the Devils for Oduya, Bergfors, prospect Pratrice Cormier, and a 1st rounder.

Wallin probably headed for San Jose today for a 2nd rounder.

8 wins in a row baby! Kings tearing it up right now. I'm sure this post will end that streak though, every time I post something here the Kings either start a winning streak or start a losing one. And since they're already winning...

Kopitar heating up again, it's a beautiful thing to see. Doughty is a force, he's on pace for 60 points in his second season while still playing some very solid defensive hockey. He even has a mean hip check he likes to use (watch the highlights on nhl.com against the Ducks yesterday for a nice example of that).

Kovalchuk was a steal for New Jersey, instantly making them a solid contender this season. Looked like a no-win situation for Atlanta. It will be interesting to see where he ends up this summer and for what money. My guess is somehow the Rangers will make it work and everyone will be disgusted.

Brian Burke's son dies in car crash... Fuck, how awful. Thoughts to the family.

Thrashers trade Kari Lehtonen to the Dallas Stars for a pick and young d-man Ivan Visnevsky.

shit keeps happenin yo!

Turco out?

Turco has been average to bad for a couple of seasons now, looks like Dallas has had it. Too bad, he used to be a force in net.