Pizza from a Vending Machine

Now I would be very impressed by a vending machine that sold chinese food.

Not Soon Enough Buddy

Deadline Deal

The Leafs lost out on the Gary Roberts sale and it appears scrambled to make a last minute deal to pick up Yanic Perreault. I like Perreault. He is very smart with the puck, one of the best in the league on faceoffs, and has "soft" hands. But he is also soft in the corners, can't kill penalties, and is easily pushed off the puck.

And the Leafs gave up a number 5 or 6 defenseman in Bell and a 2nd round pick for a player that will only play 20 games for them. The Leafs could have had him for nothing at the start of the season. No one wanted him. Now Perreault has had a great year but he is looking for $2 million next year so the Leafs will likely let him walk.

Too bad he can't play net. That's where they really need help.

Please Note

This Sunday

How's Your Diet?

You Are 68% Healthy

Your diet is quite healthy, but you don't too crazy with what you eat. You know how to eat what's good for you, but you're also careful not to deprive yourself.

How Healthy Is Your Diet?

Our next practice will be in Lake Ontario

The lake of Weissensee in southern Austria hosted an unusual sporting event this weekend, with divers taking part in the first-ever ice-hockey world championship - underwater ice-hockey, that is. Eight international teams from Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, competed under 30 centimetres of ice in 2-degree Celsius water and without oxygen tanks.

The players, decked out in wetsuits, masks and flippers, chased a styrofoam puck around a "rink" six metres wide and eight metres long, having to resurface every 30 seconds for air. Each game was made up of three periods, according to ice hockey rules, but playing time was reduced to 10 minutes from the usual 20 and a 10-minute break was afforded between periods.

Playoff Race

Eastern Conference (93 points)

1. Buffalo - 2-17-0
2. New Jersey - 3-14-1
3. Pittsburgh - 9-11-0
4. Ottawa - 7-11-1
5. Tampa Bay - 8-8-1
6. Atlanta - 9-7-1
7. N.Y. Islanders - 10-8-1
8. Montreal - 10-5-1
9. Carolina - 11-6-0
10. Toronto - 12-6-0
11. Boston - 14-5-1
12. N.Y. Rangers - 13-5-1
13. Florida - 15-3-0
14. Washington - 17-1-0
15. Philadelphia - Eliminated (max 80)

What is this?

It's all based on the premise that, if you get 93 points in the Eastern Conference standings, you'll make the playoffs. It lists what each team needs to do in their remaining games to finish in the top 8.

Sorry Leaf fans, but it looks real grim. Weak team defense and inconsistent goaltending, combined with a brutal schedule makes a .667 winning percentage just not in the cards. Yannic Perrault doesn't begin to address these problems and will not get them into the playoffs. So they have now wasted a decent prospect (Bell) and a high draft pick (2nd round, 2007).

High Tech Football

This looks interesting. Sensor determines distance ball is thrown (on impact) and LCD readout shows distance. Accurate to within 1 yard. Only $20 but made out of foam.

via the Discovery Channel store:

Sunday's game is early so you may need this...

Caffeine jolt comes quicker this way.

Dominant, Yet Ineffective

Much has been said about the imposing physical play of Sundin, Ponikarovsky, and Antropov. I think their effectiveness has been overstated. The line controls the puck along the boards almost at will and can eat minutes in a game. However, I thought the idea is to score and not just puck possession in the offensive zone.

I think Sundin summed it up well last week, about needing to be "more effective." What should be happening is either Ponikarovsky supports the puck and Antropov plants himself in front of the net, or vice. It drives me nuts watching this line control the puck for extended periods of time with two players facing the boards while a third sits in a position that is either too acute of an angle for a quick shot, or blocks a wall-sitter from coming to the front of the net with any efficacy.

And to further magnify this deficiency the third line of Pohl, Bates, and Kilger cycle the puck with speed and anticipation. How many times have you seen the passing lane open up only for Ponikarovsky to recognize it late and pass after the lane has closed, or Antropov waiting for the centering pass so close to the goal line you can see Sundin's facial expression say "Guess I'll have to drive the net for a wrap-around"?

I just don't see Ponikarovsky and Antropov as first line players.

Didn't know they allowed body checking

Darcy Tucker is Signed

That means that the Leafs have $26.3 million committed to just 6 players (Sundin, Tucker, Kaberle, McCabe, Kubina and Raycroft) for next season. Three of the players have "no trade" contracts to boot even if they were tradeable.

Other Storm Teams Advance

Not only did the Midget B Storm team advance to the next round of the North Metro playoffs but so far, the Bantam AA, Bantam A and Midget BB teams have also move on. Congratulations to all the teams!

Shootout Duds

The Leafs went 3-8 on the shootout last year and missed the playoffs by what, two points? This year, the Leafs are 3-7 in shootout games and remain life and death to make the post-season. That’s too many points left on the table for such a desperate club.

Management continues to insist that no overhaul of the team is needed. This is despite that fact that the core of the team couldn't make the post season last year and the same core is struggling to qualify this year. So if you are just fine-tuning then why not acquire a shootout specialist so you can get those few extra points you need to grab a playoff spot.

What would one of Petteri Nummelin (6 for6 in shootout); Mikko Koivu (8 for 13); Erik Christensen (5 for 8) or the ever-deadly Jussi Jokinen (5 for 9) cost the Leafs? These aren’t the big names that get thrown around in trade talk hype or as prime off-season acquisitions, yet they’re helping to put those much-needed shootout wins on the board for their respective teams.

At a collective 6-13 lifetime in the shoot-out, something certainly has to give. Poor Alex Ponikarovsky is dead last in the NHL shoot-out this season (0 for 7) and yet Maurice keeps calling his name and sending him over the boards. Quinn was criticized for doing the same thing last year.

Always Check the Merchandise

Storm Washes Away Dolphins

Rebecca R. lead the Storm today with 3 short handed goals as North York easily defeated Etobicoke to sweep the best 2 out of 3 series. Even killing penalties, the Storm were a controlled the play and created numerous scoring chances. The story of the game was Rebecca who dominated the opposition with her aggressive forechecking and speed, and kept the Dolphin defense off balance all game long. In fact she scored twice on one penalty kill which pretty much decided the game. Paige and Jasmine had strong games on defense and forced the Dolphin goalie to make some tough saves from shots from the point. The other goal scores today were Sheri and Jasmine. It was undoubtedly a tough season for the Dolphins who were outscored 17-4 by the Storm in 4 games this season. The next round of the North Metro playoffs see the Storm face Whitby.

Note: I've been informed that the official scorer was incorrect on the Storm's 5th goal and it was scored by Jackie with an assist from Sheri.

I bet he didn't pay either

Playoff Race

Here's a look at the record each team needs to attain that 95-point mark and (essentially) guarantee a playoff berth including Thursday's games. The Leafs need to win 2 out of every 3 remaining games. If you look back at their last 10 games they are 5-2-3 which means they are essentially at that pace.

Eastern Conference

1. Buffalo - 4-17-0
2. New Jersey - 6-14-1
3. Tampa Bay - 10-9-1
4. Pittsburgh - 9-12-1
5. Ottawa - 10-10-1
6. Atlanta - 11-7-1
7. Montreal - 12-6-1
8. Carolina - 13-6-0
9. N.Y. Islanders - 13-7-1
10. Toronto - 14-7-0
11. N.Y. Rangers - 16-4-1
12. Boston - 16-6-1
13. Florida - 18-2-0
14. Washington - 19-1-1
15. Philadelphia - Eliminated (max 84)

How the NHL Salary Cap Works

The Basics of The Cap

The first thing we need to know is that the NHL Upper Salary Cap Limit this season is $44 million. Because there are 187 days in the 2006-2007 regular season, a team is allowed to spend $235,294 each day in cap dollars.

Each player's cap figure is simply the average salary through the life of his contract. For example, Bryan McCabe's cap hit for this season is $5.75 million because he signed a five-year deal which pays him $28.75 million although his actual salary this season is $7.15 million.

Each team's cap figure can change on a daily basis, depending on a variety of reasons. If a team does not use all of its $235,294 daily cap allowance, they can bank the unused amount and use it later in the season. This unused amount is called the team's "payroll room." At no point in the season can a team ever go over its payroll room. This means a team's payroll room cannot be negative, even if the team plans on evening it out later in the season. Basically, you can't borrow money from the future.

Who Counts Toward The Cap?

In short, every player on a team's roster is counted toward the cap. That includes the team's 23-man active roster along with any other player who is under contract — including injured ones. Also included are those contract bought out (Belfour and Domi).

Furthermore, players who are on a team as of 5 p.m. on any particular day count toward their team's cap allowance for that day. A player will also count toward the daily cap allowance if they were assigned to the minors on that same day they either practiced, played or traveled with the team prior to 5 p.m. So having the Marlies in town allows the team to easily transfer players on two-way contracts to save some dollars.

Long-Term Injuries (LTI) and How They Affect The Cap

This is one intricacy in the NHL's new CBA that does pertain to the Leafs . And reports on how it works vary from source to source. If a player has an injury that causes him to miss at least 10 games or 24 days of the season, he can be put on long-term injured reserve. What this does is give the injured player's team additional cap room — only if needed — to replace him. So if a team has a season-long cap figure of $43 million and they place a player who has a cap hit of $3 million on LTI, that team's upper cap limit becomes $46 million, $1 million of which goes against the cap and the additional $2 million the team is allowed to exceed as per the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

As with all good things, there is a catch. Once the injured player is ready to return to the lineup, the team must come into compliance with the cap again before re-activating the injured player. This means the team's upper cap limit is lowered back to $44 million. Also, if a team chooses not to replace the injured player, that extra cap allowance does NOT get banked.

So this is where long term injuries to Tucker, Wellwood and Peca become interesting. The Leafs do not save money by having long term injuries, it only allows them to spend above the cap during the period that those players are injured. According to various reports the Leafs have only about $1 million in cap space leading up to the trading deadline. Therefore, if they were to acquire expensive players at the trading deadline, they would have to dump salary. Now if Peca were to be injured right into the playoffs then I understand the higher cap would continue which would allow the Leafs more cap space when making a deal.