Maple leafs logo

So after allsports was away for his kids Ontario Games up in Sudbury he decided to get caught up on the sports news and sports on the web. He also needed to recharge the batteries so to speak after covering more than 1200 kilometers last week. We were done the day before the closing ceremonies so at $120 a night for a hotel room, allsports got the hell out of dodge missing the last of the political B.S.

I also had to have a chat with one of Ontario’s finest, just north of North Bay as well.You know when this happens that it usually results in a dent to the old pocket book and this case was no exception. He dropped the fine and the speed a bit but still you don’t usually say thank you when it costs you about $140 bucks.

North Bay on the Map

Anyway I digress, so back to the sports news and sports on the web. So I was looking through the sports news for the Toronto Sun on the web and noticed an article that stated ” Kaberle Stays a Leaf“. I had been wondering what was going on between Mr. Burke and Mr. Kaberle for a little while but the last thing I had heard was that Burke had as many as six suitors for Kaberle’s talents. Well I guess either the teams involved were not making very attractive offers for the defense man, or Burke underestimated Kaberle’s worth on the market.

Tomas Kaberle

But whatever it is, the bottom line now is that the window where Tomas Kaberle’s no trade clause was not an issue has evaporated. Kaberle’s no trade clause kicked back in as of Midnight yesterday. So now he can choose where he is traded for the 2010/2011 season. Kaberle will earn 4.25 million this year in the final year of the contract that expires next June. It is a bargain by today’s standards for a puck moving defenseman, but allsports guesses, not enough of one.

Maybe Burke asked for too much in return but in today’s NHL having a defense man that can make that first pass out of your zone is critical. It has to be done quickly and efficiently because with no interference allowed anymore forwards are on you in a heart beat and can hem you into your own zone where nothing good can happen. At 32 years of age Kabby is still one of the best at the first pass to clear the zone but he is getting a little long in the tooth for the Maple Leafs liking. Burke has said all along that he would not give him away and if they have to start camp with him it should make for some good battles to fill the other defense positions.

Tomas Kaberle moving the puck

So now the Leafs have eight NHL ready NHL defense-men for six positions. That is not including Jeff Finger who will likely be hidden away on the farm till his contract is up. At 3.5 million a year he is the last mistake from the Ferguson years that Burke has to deal with. They don’t want his contract on the cap and with the inflated money Ferguson paid him, no other team will have much interest either. Not unless the Leafs pick up most of his salary and they are not about to do that. They would be better off for Finger to help the young guys on the farm.

Jeff Finger

So the Maple Leafs could be in worse positions. It is always better to have more defense than not and it is better looking at it than looking for it. Some teams will need defense once the season starts and GM’s find out that people they thought could play in the NHL can not.  Burke made the right decision in not being too quick to get rid of a player of Kaberle’s caliber. He may find that it may just need to take a bit more time to get what he wants. Re-signing Kaberle would not be the worst idea either. Some might say that he is a little soft but he does have very good hands.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

NHL Logo

Allsports has not written anything in the sports news or sports on the web in a few days because he was feeling a little under the weather but this post has been on his mind for the past week. I don’t know if you watched the hockey game on ” Hockey Night In Canada” a  week ago Saturday and in particular “Coaches Corner” during the first intermission.

Coaches corner last Saturday

So from the video you can see that Don is all for the City of Winnipeg to get an NHL franchise back.  Allsports agrees as I wrote in my post back on April 2nd titled, “Allsports wonders how the NHL Owners like Mr. Bettman now” . As Don states in the video, the NHL may think that Winnipeg is too small with only a population of around 700,000 . Maybe that is a bit small but there are 650,000 hockey fans there. Way more than Phoenix ever will have. It would make economic sense but who ever said Bettman uses good sense. That clown will try and keep the team in the desert so they can loose money every year. The owners have to realize Bettmans agenda is not good for the league and say ENOUGH Gary, you are GONE.

Brian Burke

If you watch further in the video near the end, Don starts talking about Brian Burke stating that back in the old NHL you could bear hug and opponent near the boards so you were not face planting him into them. With the new rules any of that stuff would be considered a penalty. It just seems to Allsports that they have to keep making more rules to counter the rules they put into place without much thought. I wrote about this exact thing way back on January 24th 2009, with my post titled, “Allsports thinks there is Method to fighting in Hockey“

Coaches Corner

The segment I am referring to is located near the end of the article under the spinning hockey puck. Here is the quote I am talking about from it if you don’t want to check the link.

“with the NHL being so critical of little hooks and holds it takes some defensive mechanisms away from the players. That being when you used to go into the boards to fight for the puck you could take one hand off your stick and “wrap” the other player up. You would take the opponent out of the play with a hit into the boards but in doing so you could put an arm around him so he would stay on his feet and not be propelled into the boards. You took him out of the play effectively but both players remained on their skates, the hit was made but the risk of neck and head injures was eliminated. Allowing the players to do this minor bit of holding within 3 feet of the boards would really reduce the risks. Then of course once contact is made the slight hold is removed and the battle for the puck can continue. The ref can then call a penalty when the hold stays in place to long. One or two seconds along the boards could make a huge difference in safety”.

It is satisfying to Allsports when hockey people as astute as Brian Burke and Don Cherry start to mention things that allsports has brought to the table in the past. Hey who knows maybe their reading my articles, LOL.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

So being that it is a slow day for sports news and sports on the web, other than the Maple leafs playing in Boston tonight, which they lost by the way in a shootout. There is really not much going on. The trade deadline has past and allsports did not think of anything to write about.

My cousin sent me this link to a video that I thought was quite humorous so I thought I would share it with my readers. Be fore warned that there is some coarse language in it so keep it away from the kids. For the record my cousin is a Bruins fan. I tell him to give it up as it has been years since Bobby Orr played there.

The video was broadcast on youtube by a guy with the byline of OttawaGh0st. Hope you enjoy it

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

The Olympics are done and allsports has been wondering how to fill the void for sports news or sports on the web. The Maple Leafs were back in action last night, if you can call it that.

As far as allsports could tell the Leafs were still on their Olympic break. They did not show up in a 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes last night at the ACC. It sure does make it hard to stay interested in a Maple Leafs game now after the caliber of play during the Olympics.

Alexei Ponikarovsky

Alexei Ponikarovsky was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins late last night where they got young forward Luca Caputi and veteran defenseman Martin Skoula in return. Skoula was then flipped to New Jersey today for a sth round draft pick.

Lee Stempniak

The only other noise Burke could make before the 3 PM trade deadline was to ship Lee Stempniak to the Phoenix Coyotes for fourth- and seventh-round picks and minor-league defenseman Matt Jones. Another seventh round pick was obtained from Anaheim for goaltender Joey MacDonald. A sixth round pick also had to go to the Penguins for American League defenseman Chris Peluso in the deal.

So that was it for trade deals in Leafs land. For the full trade dealine deals can go to the NHL’s Official website.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

So unless you have been lost on a desert island or living under a rock, you would have heard through the sports news or sports on the web that Maple Leafs President and General Manager Brian Burke’s son Brendan, was killed last friday afternoon.

He was killed in a car crash amid hazardous road conditions in Wayne County, Indiana, trying to make it back for the Miami Redhawks home game against Lake Superior State. Brendan was a video assistant and a student manager for the NCAA’s top-ranked Redhawks.

Father, Brian has had to endour what no parent should have too and that is to bury one of his children. Allsports would like to take this opportunity to send the sincerest of condolences to the Burke family. Being a parent myself I cannot fathom the feeling of loss Mr. and Mrs. Burke are feeling this week.

Brian Burke was supposed to be at the Olympics for the opening ceremonies tomorrow but will not attend as he is still grieving the loss of his son. He may try to meet up with the rest of the Maple Leafs in St. Louis though.

It is events such as this that really put life into perspective. You start to think how insignificant sports can be when put along side the things that truly matter.

In closing, again so sorry for your loss.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

So if your a leafs fan like allsports, yes I know I am a bugger for abuse, lol. My ankles don’t hurt from jumping off the band wagon though. Or if your just a sports fan and keep up on sports news or sports on the web.

You’re aware that Brian Burke finally got his man in Phil Kessel. Kessel is a legitimate front line winger with a good scoring touch and the great thing is that he is only 21 years old. Even at that tender age he has two NHL seasons under his belt. Kessel should help the Leafs push for playoff contention. Kessel will love playing in Toronto where hockey is number one and almost a religion to the Leafs faithful. If he puts the puck in the net as allsports expects he will, he will become a celebrity in this town and will be a busy boy off the ice as well.

Not to take anything away from the great and knowledgeable hockey fans in Beantown but Kessel is now embarking on a career in the center of the hockey universe.

Boston

Allsports as a member of “Leafs Nation” loves what Burke has done in his short time at the helm of the Maple Leafs. The depth on defence is right up there with Calgary as far as being at the top of the league and Mr Burke has kept his promise of making the Leafs a much tougher team to play against. If opposing players want to camp out in front of the net this year they will have to pay a huge price to do so.

Burke also has some bargaining chips with other teams when they start to realize they need help on defence. It is allsports opinion that you can never have enough NHL caliber defensemen in this league. For more coverage on the Kessel deal go Here.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

If you have been paying any attention to the NHL free agency for sports news or sports on the web, you will know that Brain Burke’s trip to Sweden was not fruitless. It may just be one of the biggest free agent signings of the summer so far. Burke was able to sign Jonas Gustavsson (AKA THE MONSTER) to a one year entry level contract . The huge part about the signing is that Burke did not have to give up a single draft pick or trade anyone to do so.

Gustavsson is twenty four years old, six feet, three inches tall and weighs in at about 190 lb. He is also rated as the best goalie in the world that is not under NHL contract. He is still pretty young by NHL goal tending standards and should push Vesa Toskala for the number one position.

Add this signing to the recent one of Francois Beauchemin and the Maple Leafs back end is looking better by the day. Beauchemin is a pretty tough customer and can handle the rough going. He is also a pretty good puck moving defenseman that can score the odd goal.

So now the Maple Leafs have ten bonafide defensemen under contract this year, with much more grit. It will be interesting to see what Mr. Burke will do next. Since you usually only carry a maximum of seven defensemen on your roster, Allsports thinks a couple of them will be packaged up as bait to get a good scoring forward. Hey maybe Joe Thornton, rumour has it the Sharks would like to take a bite out of Thomas Kaberle.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

The problem is neither player is noted for putting the puck into the net which is something the Leafs were lacking last year. Burke did sign Garbovski to a 3 year deal but if they hope to improve on their standing this year some goals will have to be put into the equation. Burke has some money to play with so stay tuned.

One guy the Leafs can forget about for now is Rick Nash, who was due to be a free agent next year. He signed an eight year contract extension with Columbus, so barring a trade, Nash won’t be wearing the blue and white in the foreseeable future.

Here is a video of Orr in action

He did ok considering Georges Laraque is likely the toughest guy in the league.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

Hello everyone, well it has been a while since my last post for sports news or sports on the web. That happens when you have two daughters playing Rep lacrosse on two different teams for their city. I wrote a post a while back on the subject about minimal time for writing. It was titled ” Allsports is having a hard time Finding time to write” and was written back on May 21st.

So if you are a hockey fan and have been paying attention to sports news in the print media or on the web, you will know that the NHL draft took place in Montreal last week with Brian Burke and the Maple Leafs picking 7th. They chose NAZEM KADRIwith the pick although they wanted to get Brayden Schenn who ended up going to the L.A. Kings with the number five pick. Brayden is the younger brother to the Leaks Luke Schenn.

Nazem Kadri

Today at noon,  NHL free agency starts so chances are a few players will be changing their address. Don’t expect too many general managers to jump in with many long term offers for players due to the uncertainty of the salary cap in the next couple of years. Projections indicate that it may drop by as much as five to ten million based on economic uncertainty.

Calgary traded with Florida to get the rights to Jay Bouwmeester, then signed him to a 5 year 33 million contract yesterday before free agency kicked in today. This will give the Flames one of the best back ends in the league.

The main topic for my discussion today as you can see from the tittle is Danny Heatley. If you have been paying any attention to sports on the web, you will be aware that Mr. Heatley asked to be traded from the Ottawa Senators last week. The problem was that he did so in a public forum, not discreetly as he should have done. Like Jim Basillie and the way he went about trying to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes, he raised a few feathers around the league. Speaking of which, Brian Burke has openly stated that he has no interest in Heatley and the way he went about things.

He should have done so quietly in private with Bryan Murray. Instead he put a gun to Murray’s head and now Ottawa is in a tough spot to try and move him. Heatley’s total lack of discretion will be seen around the league by the other general managers as Heatley being a man with little integrity, who lacks commitment to the team that got him out of a bad situation in Atlanta and gave him a very lucrative deal last year of 7.5 million per season. That’s a lot of money for a guy who has not won anything yet. The other GM’s will think he is playing the “blame game” and not a stand up guy. It will be questioned whether you can win with a guy such as Danny boy on your team and that he might be more trouble than he is worth. He could also be viewed as a cancer in the locker room and a pain in the behind for team chemistry.

Allsports does not believe there will be much interest for Heatley and his price tag, although the Edmonton Oilers were willing to trade for him. The deal was vetoed by Heatley by the way because the Oilers were not on his list of teams. So way to go Danny boy you will likely end up back in Ottawa where all the other guy’s know you don’t want to be and they will give you the cold shoulder and likely treat you as an outcast. Can’t say as I blame them.

So Allsports will add Dan Heatley to his list from his post back in March called “Allsports top Guys you won’t win a Championship with“

“No Gut No Glory”

Walt Webb

If your following the sport of hockey on the web or any other media you know that with April showers the NHL regular season finishes up and the new playoff season begins. The Toronto Maple Leafs will be on the outside looking in again this year, the 4th year in a row. At least this year was not a surprise but the kicker is that it is the first time in the history of the franchise that they have missed the playoff’s four straight years. It must be hard for the players to get up for these games when they’re just playing out the string, I know it is tough to watch on my end.

So for those who care, here is what happened this past week in Leaf land.

Montreal was in town last Saturday night and it was a case of turn about being fare play. A couple of weeks back Toronto went into Montreal and spanked the home side. Well this time around the Canadians did the spanking by a score of 6-2 and looked like a totally different time than the last time they played. I am sure Bob Gainey is breathing a little easier these days because the Hab’s may have their game together in time for the playoffs. On a bad note for the Canadians, their top defence pair of Andrei Markov and Mathieu Schneider were injured in the game. Markov’s injury was caused from a hit by Montreal’s favorite son Mikhail Grabovski. Neither of them were available for the Ottawa last tonight, which they lost. Markov is gone for about three weeks with a knee injury and it looks like Schneider is gone for the year and will require shoulder surgery. Needless to say they won’t play against New York on Tuesday, April 7th. This could hurt them as they are still not a lock for the playoff’s and Tuesday is a big game because the Rangers are neck and neck with them, fighting for a playoff spot.

The Leafs split a home and home series with the Flyer’s last week. Last Wednesday April 1st, Joseph played a good game for the Leafs and Biron got pulled after the 3rd Leafs goal in what eventually was a 3-2 Toronto win. Then in the rematch Friday in Philly, Joseph came in to replace Gerber after he let in three goals on nine shots and the game was only 9 minutes old. Joseph then let in a soft one and the score was 5-0 for the Flyer’s after one period. The score was 6-0 before Toronto rallied slightly to make it 6-3 after two periods. Gerber came back out to start the 2nd period. The Leafs ended up loosing the game 8-5 but did not mail it in. They made the score respectable when it could have turned into a laugher. Christian Hanson made his Leafs debut but was uneventful in his first NHL game.

If I am the Flyers I would be a little nervous with my goal tending going into the playoffs.  Marty Biron has been named as the go to guy for the playoffs but in the two games against the Leafs he has looked pretty uncomfortable in the net and exhibited some rather poor rebound control. Philly won’t be around long in the playoffs unless Biron can find his game.

The Maple Leafs close out there schedule with a game in New Jersey tonight, followed by Buffalo at home on Wednesday and finish the season with Ottawa at home.

Brian Burke, president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced Friday that the hockey club has signed free agent forward Tyler Bozak to a two-year entry level contract.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb