Tag Archives: toronto maple leafs

Next Canucks coach? Five candidates worth considering (+ poll)

Posted on May 22, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis said Wednesday he would need a few days to “clear his head” before he began his search for a new head coach. Presumably he has a couple swirling through that head, some with NHL experience and some without.

Here are five that might be on his list (when he starts compiling it, of course):

• DALLAS EAKINS: Currently coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs' American League affiliate, Eakins seems to be the flavour of the month in the up-and-comer category. (See previous up-and-comers like Jon Cooper and, before him, Guy Boucher.) Eakins, 46, was a journeyman defenceman who spent the 2003-04 season in the Canucks system playing for the Manitoba Moose. He was an NHL assistant for two years and has been Marlies' head coach the last four. He guided the Marlies to the American Hockey League final last season and was ousted in the second round in this year's playoffs.

• LINDY RUFF: The...

How the Leafs broke Chris Hadfield’s heart

Posted on May 17, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

The Toronto Maple Leafs have tortured their fans many times over the years — but never quite this way.

In what had to be a Maple Leafs first, the star-crossed squad dashed the hopes of an astronaut just as he returned to Earth.

Chris Hadfield told The Canadian Press in an interview that when he landed back on the planet Monday he asked his wife two questions.

The first was how she was. The second was what happened in the Leafs game.

What happened was a spectacular, perhaps-once-in-a-lifetime, collapse in Game 7 of their series against the Boston Bruins, where they dropped a three-goal lead in the final period to lose in overtime.

Hadfield said he was wearing a Leafs T-shirt under his space suit when he returned to Earth, after five months on the International Space Station.

"I decided that was the best I could do to show my support for the team," he said Friday from Houston, where he is undergoing tests...

Bruins 3 Rangers 2 OT: Marchand tips in winner as Boston draws first blood

Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

BOSTON — Good things happen for the Bruins in overtime. Even for Brad Marchand.

Boston’s leading goal-scorer during the regular season scored his first of the post-season with 4:20 left in the first overtime and the Bruins beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night in the first playoff game in 40 years between the Original Six teams.

"It’s always frustrating" not to score, Marchand said, "but there’s so many other areas of the game. It’s always nice to get the first one and you hope you just keep going."

The win was Boston’s third straight in overtime, and New York’s third straight loss in extra time.

Both teams advanced with Game 7 victories Monday night. The Bruins overcame a three-goal deficit with 11 minutes left in regulation and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Patrice Bergeron’s goal in overtime. The Rangers beat the Washington Capitals 5-0 behind Henrik Lundqvist’s second consecutive shutout.

Marchand scored on a pass from Bergeron....

Banished: Rap sheet and reputation led to Torres’ suspension

Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

If you’re outraged over the Raffi Torres suspension, you may want to pace yourself.

You may need some of that anger next season.

Torres, National Hockey League bad boy, and designated headhunter, will be on the Canucks’ radar this summer as the they look to add size and some, ahem, intimidation through free agency.

Torres brings both, along with his hall-of-shame-worthy rap sheet.

At least, the old Torres would have brought both. Who knows what kind of imprint Brendan Shanahan’s boot has left on Torres’s game after suspending him for the rest of the second round for a hit many around the NHL believed to be clean.

Actually, the suspension was for his reputation and six previous times he had supplemental discipline. The hit? It would have been fine if it was just about anyone else in the league executing it.

Can Torres ever hit again?

If the NHL had its way, the answer would likely be no. The league is out to lobotomize the...

Botchford: Bad contracts not just a Canucks’ thing

Posted on May 15, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

As second-round playoff hockey begins simmering around the NHL, there is still no joy in Mudville.

It’s been nine long days since the Vancouver Canucks last played, and would anyone be surprised if there are nine more before there’s word on Alain Vigneault’s future?

OK, that could be a bit much.

At least the wait to learn Vigneault’s fate is keeping fans distracted from the cruel and unusual punishment of another summer of Roberto Luongo speculation.

If it’s any consolation, the players at the Luongo poker table should have changed. After the embittered, some would say personal, negotiation with the Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s unlikely the Canucks or the Leafs will be willing to go back down the Luongo road.

The Leafs have their guy in James Reimer — they think — and the Canucks should have options. And not just the Philadelphia Flyers, who were kicking Luongo trade tires at the deadline. There will be a lot of moving goalie chairs soon...

Canucks: Loyalty can be deadly

Posted on May 14, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

It was telling in the aftermath of the Boston’s Game 7 shocking win that Bruins forward Milan Lucic admitted he thought it was over.

Not just the game, when the Toronto Maple Leafs went up 4-1 in the third period, but also his team’s run. But the Bruins came back to win 5-4 in overtime.

Looking at that clock ticking down when down 4-1, Lucic didn’t just see another first round bow out, he saw a window closing. He thought the team would be shaken up and maybe coach Claude Julien fired, too.

That’s some benchmark. This is a team that won the Stanley Cup just two years ago.

There are similarities to be drawn between the Bruins and the Canucks, the 2011 finalists, even if Boston is in the second round and Vancouver is not.

Both teams are generally intact from 2011. Both teams have head coaches who have been there for at least six years. Both teams oozed disaffection during the regular...

Willes: Canucks can only make excuses while appearing to wring every nickel they can from fans

Posted on May 12, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

Just so you know, Game 7 of the Canucks-Sharks series was scheduled for Monday night. Can't give you that but we can give you the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports.

* If you listen to Mike Gillis' season-ending press conference, you'll hear the Canucks' GM begin by attempting to take some responsibility for his team's shortcomings, then spend the better part of 40 minutes explaining why it wasn't really his fault.

There was the lockout which completely altered the trade market. There were injuries that made it difficult to assess the team. There was a league-wide trend away from speed-and-skill and towards size-and-heft. There was the Canucks' own success, which hasn't allowed them to pick early in the draft. And there was the Eastern media, who've typecast the Canucks as divers and complainers and the Vancouver media who haven't done enough to change that perception.

Add it all up and it's no wonder the image which exists of this team...

Size matters in hockey, but it’s not necessarily the answer for the Canucks

Posted on May 11, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

Suddenly, Game 7 today between the Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks seems important in Vancouver.

So do the fortunes of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Of all the fallout from GM Mike Gillis’s apparent surrender last week, pushing Canucks fans to cheer for the Blackhawks is the strangest.

What many took from Gillis’s mission statement-like presentation was essentially this: He appears ready to cave, abandoning the forward-thinking, analytics-based pressure offence he brought with him in 2008 for dumbed-down, dump-it-in, vanilla hockey.

Oh joy.

It remains to be seen if he was serious, semi-serious or just distracting those adorable salmon in town who only swim in one direction when it comes to what they think will fix the Canucks — size, size, size.

Well, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ top three centres are Tyler Bozak, Mikhail Grabovski and Nazem Kadri. They’re all under 200 pounds and the team is acquitting itself just fine, thanks. And against the Boston Bruins, too.

Those in Vancouver on the other side of...

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Krejci completes hat trick in OT to beat Leafs 4-3

Posted on May 8, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

TORONTO — David Krejci scored his third goal of the night at 13:06 of overtime Wednesday to give the Boston Bruins a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs and a commanding 3-1 lead in their playoff series.

Krejci beat James Reimer with a shot from the faceoff circle after coming down the left wing.

The Leafs now face a potentially decisive Game 5 on Friday in Boston, where history and the Bruins are against them.

The Bruins are 15-2 when leading a best-of-seven series 3-1. And Toronto is 2-12-1 in its last 15 games in Boston.

Goalies Tuukka Rask and Reimer were both busy in an end-to-end overtime, with Toronto’s Matt Frattin hitting Rask’s goalpost some six minutes in.

Reimer’s wife and mother were in the stands, often unable to watch for the tension.

Joffrey Lupul, Cody Franson and Clarke MacArthur scored for Toronto.

Patrice Bergeron added a single for Boston, with captain Zdeno Chara collecting four assists.

Krejci now has five goals and five...

The Hat Trick: a revealing Luongo, Kassian can’t win, power play revisited

Posted on April 11, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

luongo 1 Hat Trick: a revealing Luongo, Kassian cant win, power play revisited

1. When Roberto Luongo met with the media tonight not only did he provide some honest insight into where he’s at, he also, essentially, slapped his critics upside the head.

It wasn’t so much making 40 saves he relished, it was what they represented. They were the product of some inspired, focused work in practice during the past three weeks when he had every reason to check out mentally.

Some have tried to label him a diva, but you have to be feeling pretty clueless if you thought that way and hear him tonight. What he mostly cared about after the win in Calgary was that he provided tangible evidence to his teammates he’s still all-in on this team.

“I wanted to really make sure that I showed the guys that I am here for the rest of the year and 100...

Iain MacIntyre: Luongo, Canucks mired in lose-lose situation

Posted on April 4, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — It wasn’t Roberto Luongo’s contract last summer that undermined the Vancouver Canucks’ attempt to trade him, but his singular focus on going to the Florida Panthers.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs, run back then by Brian Burke, were ready to negotiate a trade, Luongo reiterated his desire to play only in South Florida.

Wednesday, with the goaltender desperate to go somewhere he can start, the Maple Leafs reportedly rejected Canuck trade offers three times in the final hour before the National Hockey League dealing deadline.

At least new Toronto general manager Dave Nonis answered the phone.

It would make a delicious storyline if Nonis, who always felt Canuck general manager Mike Gillis stuck a shiv in him five years ago, exacted revenge by leaving his successor stuck with Luongo.

But it was likely the goalie’s $64-million contract that scared the Maple Leafs as it certainly has other teams.

Luongo would probably like a do-over on last summer.

A lot of this...

Luongo, Canucks mired in lose-lose situation

Posted on April 3, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — It wasn’t Roberto Luongo’s contract last summer that undermined the Vancouver Canucks’ attempt to trade him, but his singular focus on going to the Florida Panthers.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs, run back then by Brian Burke, were ready to negotiate a trade, Luongo reiterated his desire to play only in South Florida.

At least new Toronto general manager Dave Nonis answered the phone.

It would make a delicious storyline if Nonis, who always felt Canuck general manager Mike Gillis stuck a shiv in him five years ago, exacted revenge by leaving his successor stuck with Luongo.

But it was likely the goalie’s $64-million contract that scared the Maple Leafs as it certainly has other teams.

Luongo would probably like a do-over on last summer.

A lot of this...

Canucks Gameday: Danish rookie to line up with twins tonight

Posted on April 1, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

SAN JOSE — It didn’t take long for some twit with a Twitter account and a lack of imagination to tweet that Roberto Luongo had been dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday morning.

It was followed by the predictable April Fools hashtag and the joke was about as effective as the Vancouver Canucks’ 30th-ranked power play. Then again, the third meeting of the season with the San Jose Sharks tonight at 7:30 p.m. has already been overshadowed by what’s occurring off the ice. Hulking Sharks winger Ryane Clowe is expected to be moved before the Wednesday trade deadline — Philadelphia is the latest rumoured front-runner while Minnesota and the Canucks have kicked the tires on the pending unrestricted free agent — and there is always a buzz around Luongo in a crowded crease. If all he’s going to command now is a second-round pick and a prospect — and not a third-line centre and a backup —...

The elusive Luongo-Bozak trade: Canucks, Leafs play let’s make a deal — or not

Posted on March 30, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

On the most basic level, the melodrama over Roberto Luongo and the trade that dare not speak its name comes down to a simple matter.

The Vancouver Canucks have to fill their gaping hole at center ice and the most efficient way to do that is to trade their $5.3-million backup goalie to the Toronto Maple Leafs. That means Tyler Bozak, who’s a pretty hot commodity for someone who’s never produced more than 47 points in an NHL season, has to be part of the deal. If he isn’t, there’s no deal with Toronto.

That, at least, is the simple explanation but, as you might be aware, this situation is about as simple as family day at a bigamists’ colony. There are so many layers to this drama, so much intrigue and behind-the-scenes manoeuvring, that it’s become appointment viewing around the NHL. Maybe it will reach a conclusion at Wednesday’s trade deadline and maybe it won’t.

But either way, there’s a...