Leafs Open At Home With The Battle Of Ontario.

By Jason Sutcliffe

The new look Toronto Maple Leafs will take to the ice at the ACC tonight for their home opener against the Ottawa Senator’s. The battle of Ontario is one of the best rivalries in hockey and is sure to be a hard-fought game. The Leafs have started off the season very well, but the Senators led by goaltender Craig Anderson will be a good test, and tell us a lot about the depth of our team.

With Clarkson sitting out his ten game suspension and Fraser injured for approximately ten games, The Senators will test our depth as both players are key pieces to the puzzle.
The upside is that we will get our first glimpse of highly touted prospect Morgan Reilly in regular season action. Reilly skated with the Leafs in practice and was paired up with Jake Gardiner, but Carlyle has said he is unsure who Reilly will be paired with come game time.

It is going to be interesting to see how Rielly handles the pressure of playing his first NHL game in the middle of the Hockey Universe. There are very high expectations for Reilly, and his skill set is certainly deserving of those expectations. There is going to be an adjustment period for sure, and he will need to adapt. Personally I think his skill set is suited for the fast paced game, and we should get a glimpse of that tonight.

Reimer and Bernier are both fighting tooth and nail for the starting position, and it is unclear as of yet who will get the nod the home opener, but I have to think that it is Reimer’s job to lose. It is a good time to be a Leaf fan with two highly skilled and reliable goaltenders between the pipes.

It is a new look in Ottawa this season as for the first time in ten years the “C” will not be worn by Daniel Alfredsson; instead the reigns have been handed to number 19 Jason Spezza. Spezza was groomed for this role right from his draft day. I am curious to see how they respond to a new leader as I am a firm believer that attitude reflects leadership.

Normally the loss of a guy with the offensive ability of Daniel Alfredsson would crush a team, but the addition of Bobby Ryan from Anaheim I believe makes them stronger. This is going to be a good, competitive hockey game, and I am looking forward to these divisional rivals bumping heads all season long.

The Senators have a lot of good, young talent, right from the net out, but I believe the Leafs are the stronger team. The Leafs have the depth that Ottawa does not have. We have three solid lines that can score goals, and a lot of young talent on the blue line.

Also, with so much depth it gives Carlyle more options. He can throw many different looks at teams if things are not working out. Having those options readily available makes coaching a lot easier.

The ACC will be rocking tonight, the boys will be ready, and Rielly will make his debut on the biggest stage in the hockey world. I can’t think of a better home opener than the battle of Ontario. Tonight is going to be a great game.

Kessel Contract Was In Order, If You Take Everything Into Account.

By Jason Sutcliffe

There has been discussion surrounding Phil Kessel and his new long term contract that has him making $8 million-a-year for the next 8 seasons. There are a lot of people who believe that Kessel is not worth that, and the Leafs have grossly overpaid for him.

There are some glaring faults in Phil’s game that is for sure. However, if you look at Phil Kessel based on performance he is right where he should be in regards to his scoring. He was 8th in the league, 6th the year before that. Both years he was a handful of points away from cracking the top five in the league.

It is true that, guys like Crosby and a few others missed a bunch of games and may have finished higher than Phil, but that is part of the deal. Phil is reliable and durable; he has not missed a game in the past three seasons. It has been almost impossible to keep all of our scorers healthy, but Phil has been a mainstay in our lineup.

At the end of the day, what this comes down to for me, is simple; how many people are there that can do what Phil Kessel does, and out of those players how many are available during the next off-season. Phil was quite possibly going to walk next July, and you can not just replace a point-a-game guy. There are less than 10 in the league, and we have one.

Also, Phil proved he was able to perform in the playoffs, and did so facing the team he has had the most trouble scoring against. He had 6 points in 7 games.

I am not a fan of certain parts of Phil Kessel’s game, but I am a realist, and just letting Phil Kessel go is not an option. It is extremely hard to snag players who have the upside of Phil Kessel.

One stat that jumped out at me though was that last year Phil was a –4. That is unacceptable if you are going to be our big scorer I would think that being a plus hockey player is imperative. Phil will have to continue to improve defensively, and become a little more aggressive along the boards in order to become a complete hockey player, and gain the confidence of the best hockey fans in the world.

The added depth and secondary scoring added to the Leafs lineup should open up the game for Phil a little bit. Teams can no longer just shut down our top line and walk away with two points. Our lineup will force teams to spread out their defensive specialists putting some of the focus on our 2nd and 3rd lines. If Phil can stay healthy, this could be the year that he breaks the top 5 in league scoring. GO LEAFS GO!!!

Hockey: It’s More Than Just A Game.

By Jason Sutcliffe

I was originally going to write about the Toronto Maple Leafs and what they mean to the city of Toronto and Torontonians. However, when I began to brainstorm, and started reflecting on my childhood memories and the role the Toronto Maple Leafs and hockey played in my life—well, I had a much more personal story to tell.

My first memory of hockey goes back to when I was about 3 or 4 years old. I was in the living room of my house at Woodbine and Gerrard. I was running around with my little stick, and ball well my Dad and my uncles watched hockey night in Canada on Saturday night. Saturday night was a special night for me as a kid. That was the night I got to stay up late and hang out with the guys (as my Dad would say). Those were great nights, eating chips, drinking a bit of pop and watching the leaf game—so cool!

Some of my favourite times with my Dad were when he would take me to the Leaf games at Maple Leaf Gardens. I was about 8 or 9. We would do that like 3 or 4 times a year. I got to see Wayne Gretzky play that was awesome.

As a teenager, when we were not seeing eye to eye, and he did not agree with the things I was doing or the decisions I was making we could find common ground with hockey. We could talk about hockey or take in a hockey game. It always seemed to help us find a way to work out whatever problems we had. For us hockey is not just a game, it is a passion, it is part of who we are.

I am now 32 years old with a family of my own. My Dad he is now an old man, and in poor health, but still every morning we get together for a coffee at the local coffee shop. We sit out in his car, have a coffee and talk hockey. We share a passion for the game Of course there are other reasons why we are so close, but I would like to think that part of the reason we are best friends today is because of our love for the sport of hockey.

It has been almost 30 years since I was that young boy running around with my little hockey stick, scoring goals on my little net. I now have a son. He was born on March 6th of this year. A couple of weeks after his birth he sat with me on the couch and watched his first Leaf game.

My wish is that one day I will be that old man having coffee with him talking about the leafs, and he will be curling up with his son on Saturday night to watch the greatest game on Earth. We grow older and time passes, but the game—the game stays the same.

That is what hockey means to my family and me!

Some Are Doubting Our Leafs, I Think They’re A Serious Threat

By Jason Sutcliffe

There has been a lot of speculation about how the Leafs are going to do next year. I just finished reading an article on the Bleacher Report, about CF%, FF%, POD and a bunch of other stats I know nothing about. To make a long article short it said that the Leafs are going to be terrible next season.

Me, I think differently, I operate on my understanding of the game, and what I watch. The Leafs were right in the mix in the Eastern Conference, tied with Washington for fourth with 57 points, putting aside the fact that Washington had one more win then we did and that they were gifted third spot in the conference over Boston by the previous method of playoff seeding.

There were some teams in the East that had their fair share of injury issues, but so did the Leafs. Right at the start of the year we lost arguably our best player, Joffrey Lupul who only played 16 games due to injury and a short suspension. We lost our starting goalie James Reimer for a 2-week stretch in February and we lost Gunnarsson for 11 games as well.

We suffered in the face-off circle in both the offensive and defensive zone, with only one solid face-off man in Tyler Bozak. Our leading scorer Phil Kessel started the season with 4 points in the first 9 games, and had two stretches where he went 9 games without a goal. Also we lacked some size up front, given the style of hockey that Carlyle expects these guys to play.

Our PP and GA/Game were average at 14^th and 17^th in the league respectively.

All that being said we were able to ride into the playoffs on the back of the 2^nd best PK in the league and the 6^th best GF/Game.

During the off-season, Dave Nonis has done his best to make us stronger where we are weak and I think he has done a better than decent job. He has made us bigger and stronger down the middle and on the wing by acquiring Dave Bolland from Chicago and David Clarkson from the New Jersey Devils.

Bolland should fit in nicely as our third line center adding some size, grit and making us stronger in the face-off circle. He also adds a great deal of experience, after winning two Stanley Cups and scoring the Cup winner this past season, he knows what it takes to win.

Clarkson could very well be the best addition to our second line that was available, adding size, toughness, and a decent scoring touch he should fit into Carlyle’s style like a glove, and compliment Lupul and Kadri very well.

With the addition of some size, scoring ability and depth right through to our third line, it should take some of the attention off of Phil Kessel and allow him some breathing room, with teams being forced to spread their defensive specialists out to provide coverage for a very talented second line.

With Reimer having had some issues with injuries over the past couple of seasons Nonis went out and provided a little insurance and quite possibly a new starter, when he acquired Bernier from the Los Angeles Kings. This could end up being the best goaltending duo in the NHL next season; it would not surprise me at all. I think Reimer has earned his spot as the number one, but an injury or a run of a few bad games could change that easily.

The key like most teams in the NHL is our ability to stay healthy. We won’t be able to avoid injuries all together but if we can keep them to a minimum we should be better than good.

Maybe three-quarters of the way through last season I said that the only team in the East that we would have a problem with come play-off time would be the Bruins. After what has taken place in that organization during this off-season I am even more confident that with our style of hockey we could walk out of the new Atlantic division and the conference.

I think our team is built to win play-off games and I strongly disagree with people who think that we will be un-successful this upcoming season. There is not a team in our conference that the Toronto Maple Leafs is incapable of beating.

Two solid goalies and four lines–well, I have seen teams with the cup with less. I think our boys are a serious threat to every team in the league, I like our chances.

Nonis Gets 5 More Years…I Like It!

By Jason Sutcliffe

Thursday afternoon the Toronto Maple Leafs announced  they had locked GM and Senior Vice President David Nonis in for another 5 years. A move I personally think is the right one. He has been consistent to his plan for what he and Carlyle want to see here in Toronto.

Last year the Leafs had more success than they have in a decade. After finishing fifth in the conference and showing a lot of heart coming back from being down 3 games to 1 against Boston to force a game 7. For Toronto fans it was a different feeling knowing we were a competitive team in the Eastern Conference. Truthfully, I think the city was still skeptical about feeling optimistic until game 6 ended.

After the tears dried and the pain subsided following our meltdown in the final 10 minutes of game 7, it was clear to Leaf fans that the club was headed in the right direction.

The holes in our team game were exposed and it was painfully obvious what pieces of the puzzle needed to be added in order for us to succeed in the upcoming season; most importantly we needed to get better and stronger down the middle, tougher on the wings without compromising skill, with Reimer’s injury issues over the past couple years we needed a reliable back up, and we needed to add at least one solid defencemen.

Nonis had checklist for the off-season. So how has he done? Well as far as getting stronger down the middle, he took care of our present and helped out our future on draft day when he drafted Fredrick Gauthier, a 6’4”, 214lbs centre from the Rimouski Oceanic, and added Centre Dave Bolland from the Blackhawks for a 2^nd round pick and two 4^th round picks.

It cost us fan favourite Mikael Grabovski but that was the necessary loss, as we needed to resign Tyler Bozak to stay strong in the face-off circle, which Nonis was able to do. I was impressed with Nonis’ ability to make the tough decision and make the right one, to resign Grabovski regardless of work ethic and fan appeal would have been counter productive.

He was able to give us some size and grit down the wings by adding free agent David Clarkson in early July when the free agency market opened up. Clarkson may prove to be the perfect addition to our second line as his style of hockey should mesh very well with Lupul and Kadri.

I was one of the few who was happy that he kept to the script and added the skill set that we required to fit into Carlyle’s brand of gritty, hard-nosed hockey. There were a number of other names available through free agency and the trade market that were high-profile but did not fit into Carlyle’s system. Nonis did not just jump at players because of a name he followed the plan and obtained the pieces he felt best completed our puzzle.

Before any of those acquisitions, Nonis went out and got Bernier from the L.A. Kings, the back up to Jonathan Quick who in many eyes was only a back up because he was playing behind Quick. This gives the Leafs a solid pair of goaltenders between the pipes. I am curious to see who will get the nod for the Leafs when the season starts.

With a couple of months to go before the season starts there is still time for Nonis to add the last required piece in my opinion, which is a solid stay at home defencemen. They have signed Ranger who may be able to fill that role but only time will tell. I would imagine that Nonis will be keeping his eye out and working on something before the season starts, unless his plan is to work with what we have in the minors.

Whatever Nonis decides to do he has earned my trust by taking our organization in the right direction, and attempting to add the necessary players to take us further into the post-season in the 2013-14 campaign.

It has been a long time since it has felt this good to be a Leaf fan. Go Leafs Go!