The addition of Jay McClement and the penalty kill
Cam Charron
September 26 2012 11:30AM
I wanted to look a little bit at how Toronto's penalty killing can improve with the arrival of Jay McClement, so I took to watching a pair of games to see how the Maple Leafs reacted against one of the better powerplay teams in the league, Pittsburgh, versus a team that had some shorthanded success against them in, coincidentally, the Colorado Avalanche.
The Avalanche, McClement's former employers, had twice the success against the Pittsburgh powerplay as Toronto did, despite playing just as much shorthanded time against them as the Leafs in just two games versus four.
Details of the Leafs' pitch to Brad Richards; Other Leaflets
Cam Charron
September 25 2012 03:03PM
Today I went and picked up Jonathan Gatehouse's new book The Instigator that chronicles Gary Bettman's rise as the most powerful man in hockey. Yet to make my way through it, but I found an interesting passage pertaining to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
We knew that Toronto made an hour-long pitch to Brad Richards, the headline free agent of the 2011 class, but there's a section in this book, looking at Richards' courting, that goes slightly more into detail:
Strombabble: Luongo to the Leafs still a possibility?
Cam Charron
September 24 2012 09:40AM
I've been fairly anti-Luongo-to-the-Leafs for a while now, suggesting back in June that even if the Leafs had the pieces to acquire Luongo the risk of that contract with ten more years still on it isn't worth the trouble.
Of course, that won't stop us from borrowing the 'Stombabble' series title from our friends over at Canucks Army to dissect the latest developments in a potential Roberto Luongo to Toronto deal.
What do we know? We know Brian Burke wants to acquire a goaltender, and that Mike Gillis has one to sell.
A brief chat with 2011 Leafs first rounder Stuart Percy
Cam Charron
September 22 2012 09:20AM
Stuart Percy was drafted in the first round, 25th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2011 Entry Draft out of the Mississauga-St. Michael's Majors. After missing much of the OHL season last season due to injury, Percy played on the Toronto Marlies' extended playoff run.
He's returned to Mississauga, the team is now called the Steelheads, this fall, as the team captain. TLN caught up with him briefly after Mississauga's Friday night home opener, a 3-0 loss to the Kitchener Rangers.
When I first saw you play it was back during the Memorial Cup and you were more of a stay at home guy. It looked like you were taking a few more chances offensively tonight, is that something the Leafs have got you to work on?
Stuart Percy: Yeah, I think in the Memorial Cup and in the playoff run there I was trying to keep it sound and safe back there, but in the regular season I think I'm going to try and make a couple more rushes here and there when I can. I saw a couple of chances today and took them like I did, you know if it's there I'm going to try, but I'm not going to force it too much.
VIDEO: Tyler Biggs instigates a fight in OHL debut
Cam Charron
September 21 2012 07:58AM
It's almost so expected.
You get just ten fights before you start serving two-game suspensions, and first-rounder Tyler Biggs got a leg-up on the competition here, getting into the first fight of the season. Ty Bilcke, who led the league last season with 37 scraps in Windsor, apparently mustered the stomach to turn down a fight with Daniel Zweep.
So a rough OHL debut for Biggs, you'd say. Well, depends who you ask.
