Congratulations Cujo for win #450

To say Curtis Joseph has had a disappointing season is a bit of an understatement. Coming into lat night's game against Atlanta, he'd appeared in eight games, posted an 0-4-1 record, a 4.12 goals against average and a .843 save percentage.

And he'd been waiting for win No. 450 on his career all season, a milestone he finally reached in a 4-3 overtime victory in front of an adoring home crowd. In honour of the milestone he was named first star of the game. He stays in fourth all-time in sinds behind, Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, and Ed Belfour. This might be an appropriate time to say farewell. I don't see many more high points in Cujo's career from here on until he is inducted in the Hall of Fame.

Sundin has landed

Based on the media crowd you would have thought it was David and Victoria Beckham arriving in Vancouver. It was just Mats Sundin with his renewed passion for hockey - oh and $8.6 million for just over 1/2 a season.

Another classic Ovechkin goal

Planning on seeing the Winter Classic in Chicago?

You might be watching college football instead. The temperature in Chicago has been in the 50s the past several days just like here. Seems ice-making has been difficult despite state-of-the-art equipment. The NHL is saying that the ice is almost thick enough and expects colder weather this week to allow for finishing off the ice. Supposedly there is a rain date of January 2. They will play in warm weather but not in rain.

Wishing you some sprinkles

Merry Christmas Storm Nation

The 5 most wasteful NHL moves for 2008

5. Tampa Bay's free agent spending spree


Rookie Lightning owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie decide to run their own team and sign 16 free agents committing the organization to about $100 million in salaries without any thought to team chemistry or needs. Most signings were a bust and 2 players (Chris Gratton and Radim Vrbata) have already been waived through the league. Then they sign Barry Melsrose as coach for 3 years and $2.25 million despite being out of hockey for 13 years. He last 16 games and then dumps on the team and owners. What a circus.


4. Dallas spends $15.5 million for 23 games of Sean Avery


For some reason Brett Hull felt that what the Stars were missing was a side show like Sean Avery. Hull signs him for 4 years and $15.5 million which is about what Niklas Hagman signed for with the Leafs. Avery embarrassed the league and himself one too many times and is now been sidelined. Oh and Hagman is one of the Leafs best players this season.


3. NHL allows 'Boots" Del Baggio to purchase Nashville but he has no money


The NHL spurns a perfectly good and generous offer from Jim Balsillie to purchase the Nashville franchise because he planned on moving the team to Hamilton. So instead the team went to Del Baggio who it turns out had no money. He turns out to be a crook and headed to jail. The NHL claims to have done due diligence but did they really.


2. Rangers spend $52.5 million on 2 defensemen then can't afford Sundin


This summer the Rangers spent $32.5 million over five years for Wade Redden and $20 million over four years for Michal Rozsival. Both have been mediocre and have a combined +/- of -15. When Mats Sundin finally decided he wanted to come back to the NHL he decided on the Rangers. Only the Rangers had no cap space and no one would take either Redden or Rozsival off their hands. So Sundin signed with the Canucks (supposedly his first choice). Finally the salary cap working to take away the financial clout of the rich teams.


1. NHL continues to allow Phoenix to lose $30 million per season


Team owner Jerry Moyes has been ensuring the Coyotes cover their losses, which are expected to be more than $30-million (all currency U.S.) this season, and as much as $200-million since he and former partner Steve Ellman bought the team in 2001. But Moyes's chief business, Swift Transportation, is in severe financial difficulty. It was hit by the economic downturn that crippled many trucking companies, which calls into question his ability to fund any hockey losses. The Coyotes have a 30-year lease at Jobing.com Arena with the city of Glendale. While the lease does give the team most of the revenue from the arena operations, there are items such as parking in which the city takes money from the Coyotes. The only way the team can break its lease and relocate is by declaring bankruptcy.

Tim Thomas is one of the reason the Bruins are at the top of the standings

Toskala v. Raycroft

I never thought I would be making this comparison but Andrew Raycroft's numbers look better than Vesa Toskala's. Not by a lot but Toskala is being paid five times what Raycroft earns. Something about the Leaf defense that must bring the worst out of a goalie.

	Toskala	Raycroft
Games	31	8
Wins	13	6
Losses	10	1
OT Losses	5	0
GAA	3.30	2.95
SA%	.882	.886
Salary (millions)	$4.0	$0.8

Building a rink at Wrigley Field

The NHL released this preview of the rink at Wrigley Field for the Winter Classic, which is 8 days away:

Latest NHL Power Ranking

The Maple Leafs are hot but still getting no respect. Stajan and Antropov are close to a point a game pace and Jeremy Williams has scored a goal in 5 out of 6 games since being called up. Hey Justin Pogge even got his first win. Is there anyone left on the Marlies besides Mark Bell?

The Hockey News: 19 (+3)
National Post: 21 (+4)
Sportsnet: 22 (0)
Fox Sports: 22 (+2)
ESPN: 24 (+3)
CBS Sports: 24 (+1)
TSN: 24 (+1)
Sports Illustrated: 25 (+3)

Happy Hanukkah!

...from the leader of the free world!

Leaf fans upset with Mats Sundin

There is a lot of back and forth on whether Leaf fans are justified in being upset with Mats Sundin. Many fans believe he owned the loyal fans some payback for the his huge paychecks by allowing the team to trade him for prospects. While others feel he has been very loyal to the organization that has failed both him and the fans.

Frankly no one is wrong on this one. Fans have a right to be upset. He refused to waive his no trade contract which he had every right to do. He indicated that he did not want to be a rental player. He suggested that he would only be comfortable playing for a team right from the start of the season. He repeated over and over that he could not see himself wearing another team's jersey. He could displayed his "undying" loyalty to the team and city by working with management to facilitate a trade that would benefit both he and the Leafs. Unfortunately he couldn't find it in him to do that. Players like Ron Francis, Brian Leetch, Ray Bourque accommodate their teams and in some cases landed on a Stanley Cup winner.

However, he had no obligation to help a team that no longer really wanted him. He was a model players for 14 years that never knocked an organization that at times was a laughing stock. He was one of the most productive players ever to wear a Leaf jersey although very well compensated. He gave it all he had although management never provided him with any decent linemates. He never jumped ship until he was literally push overboard.

Many fans were expecting more that he was able to give and because of that he legacy as a Leaf may be tarnished. Only time will tell. He was a great player although I never felt he carried the team through even a single round of the playoffs (unlike Gary Roberts or Curtis Joseph). Somehow I doubt he will be able to do with with the Canucks. I wish him well.

No delivery available

Storm winning streak interrupted by snow

For the second year in a row, the Storm's final game of the calendar year was canceled by a Winter Storm. So circle January 17 as a tentative rematch with Markham-Stouffville at Roding arena.

Last year our make up game was also the day of a major storm so let's just hope history doesn't repeat itself.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Coach Willie

Are the Leafs the only team that dump captains?

Much has been made of the fact that George Armstrong was the Maple Leaf captain to retire with a Leaf jersey on his back. The media will have you believe that somehow the Leafs treat their players worse than other teams. Just not true.

Let's look at the New York Rangers captains during the last 25 years.

Mark Messier was the last captain prior to Chris Drury and he did retire as a Ranger. However, he also left the Rangers in 1997 while a captain to sign as a free agent with Vancouver. He returned in 2000 and was made captain again.

While Messier was in Vancouver, Brian Leetch was appointed captain. I believe he finished his career as a rental player with the Leafs.

Prior to Messier's first run as captain, the Ranger captain was Kelly Kisio. He finished his career with San Jose and Calgary. Prior to Kelly Kisio there was Ron Greschner who retired as a Ranger.

How about the Boston Bruins? There last captain before Zdeno Chara was Joe Thornton. The two captains before him were Jason Allison and Ray Bourque. All were traded.

I could go on and on. Hockey is a business where assets are traded. Even team captains.

Just turn right at Montreal....

Alaska is an emerging hockey hotbed

Alaskans have been into hockey for some time now. Sarah Palin brought this passion to the surface when she labelled herself a Hockey Mom in front of a national audience.

The first Alaskan to play in the NHL was Scott Gomez - a pretty good player. Although he played junior hockey in British Columbia and then went off to college. There are currently five Alaskans in the NHL, and nine players born in the state have appeared in an NHL game. This year's group includes Gomez, Ty Conklin, Matt Carle, Brandon Dubinsky and Nate Thompson.

Currently, Alaska is ranked 10th among states in terms of producing NHLers. The big producers are: Minnesota, Michigan, New York, and Massachussetts.

Deadline Day for Sundin? Not likely!

Mats Sundin's agent J.P. Barry has suggested that today is Decision Day for Mats Sundin. So 256 days since he last played an NHL game he has finally decided where he wants to play the remainder of the season. I doubt it!

Let's face it nothing has really changed since last April when Mats suggested he would decide by the end of June whether he would play again. Then there was the August 1 deadline, the late August deadline, the start of training camp deadline, the end of training camp deadline, etc. The former star player has made himself look utterly foolish and irrelevant. No one really cares anymore.

History has shown that players that sit out training camp and a chunk of the start of a season struggle to regain their fitness level and skills. The game today is so much faster and physical that you just can't show up one day and say "I'm ready to play now."

At one time there were as many as 20 teams interested in signing Sundin. Today there is only one - Vancouver. Sure the Sundin camp is suggesting that the choice is between the Rangers and Vancouver but unless Mats is willing to play for peanuts (something he has always refused to do) then only one team has cap space for him. Sundin never eliminated any team from consideration, they all lost interest in him. Only Mike Gillis foolishly kept cap space in the event Sundin decided to continue his hockey career. Every other general manager spent their budget elsewhere to ensure they would ice a competitive team.

I doubt Sundin will make any decision today. It is evident that he is not interested in Vancouver. They have been dangling $20 million in front of him since July 1 without even a bite. For Mats it's either sign with Vancouver or go back to Sweden to count his money.

But take your time to decide. Baseball spring training starts in a few weeks.

UPDATE: Well it looks like Mats is heading off to Vancouver. Watch him try to convince everyone he was always interested in Vancouver. In the end the Canucks were the only team with money. Yes, it came down to money.

Toronto Maple Leafs: After 30 games

The Maple Leafs had a more successful 10 game stretch and earned 11 points (5-4-0-1) which equals their point total during the first 10 games of the season. Their success is largely attributable to the return to the style of play they exhibited at the start of the season – speed, relentless forechecking, physical play and team defense. In some respects that past 10 games were more successful because for the first time the Leafs managed to win 5 out of 10 games. In fact they are currently riding a season high 3 game winning streak.

Statistically the team has not changed much. The offense is good (11th in goals scored per game) but the goaltending is not (26th in goals given up per game). The powerplay is rated 9th in the league but the penalty killers are still near the bottom of the league (28th overall). Interestingly, the team averages 32.3 shots be game which is 4th in the league but their shooting percentage is low – only 11% which is one of the worst in the league. This either suggests that they lack NHL calibre snipers or the team takes a lot of low percentage shots (we already know Jason Blake is prone to that). Considering the high number of shots taken it is a reasonable assumption that the team tends to shoot a lot whether or not there is a legitimate scoring chance.

During the past 10 games, Brian Burke and Dave Nonis have finally joined the management team with a lot of fanfare. However, their impact will not become noticeable for some time. In fact, Burke has promised no roster moves until December 27 which is 10 days longer than the mandatory 8 day period mandated by the league. Jeremy Williams has again been called up and displayed his excellent scoring touch. He has scored 3 goals on just 8 shots as well as a shootout goal last night. However, Williams has been criticized for getting too comfortable after his call ups. Let’s see if Ron Wilson can maintain Williams’ much needed hustle. Mats Stajan continues to lead the team in scoring with 25 points which puts him in a tie for 59th in the league. Their leading goal scorer is now Nik Antropov with 11 which puts him tied 42nd in the league. Rookie Luke Schenn is 10th in the league in hits even though he has missed the last 3 games. Mikhail Grabovski leads all rookies in goals (10) and is 4th in points scored (19) although he has cooled off considerable since Niklas Hagman has been out of the lineup with an injury. The big surprise is the team’s +/- leader – it’s Ian White (+4) who was a health scratch 12 games.