Musical Chairs, Writer Finds Blog, and the new Damien Cox

Musical Chairs
As many people have noted, the Leafs have a bit of a math problem in net. Tellqvist, Aubin, and Raycroft all expect to be with the big club this year but we only have two spots (actually one because JFJ has already said that Raycroft is the starter barring a shitting of the bed).

Despite previous statements to the opposite, JFJ is still looking to make some moves to open up cap space and possibly bring Mats that much coveted 'winger' that everyone thinks that he needs. Although, one should note that despite playing with absolute mooks he put up 20-17-37 in the last 25 games of the year. Quite the captain's innings to borrow a saying from cricket (Mats and all his wonderfulness are another post entirely).

Howard Berger provides HockeyBuzz.com with one of its few readable posts by suggesting that Tellqvist and his miniscule $589K salary could be attractive to a team looking for a solid backup to play around 20 games or that needs some goaltending depth. Off the top of my head, Atlanta could use someone of Tellqvist's calibre considering the goaltending disaster they went through last year (about 12 goalies were used, more or less). This would leave prospects (Pogge, Racine) in the Marlies' net as opposed to deadweight and after the frantic finish to last season's campaign everyone in Leafdom can be comfortable with Aubin as the backup.

Kenny Campbell Reads the Blogosphere!
A scant 8 days after Raking Leafs sang the praises of Kyle Wellwood, our own caucasian reporter, Kenny Campbell, has helped flesh out Ninja's analysis with some quotations from the man of the hour.

Wellwood's passing ability will be anchoring one of two PP units but it would be great if, as suggested, Sundin's shooting ability is not suborned by having his passing as the focus of the other PP unit. Mats has one of the best shots in the NHL and, as the Florida game in the stretch last year proved, he works well as the focal point.

Simmons is the new Cox
Of course I mean that in the most contemptible way possible. As if having to suffer through his pomposity on the Satellite Hot Stove was not bad enough, Simmons is starting to pop up with more frequency on television. However, written diarrhea is still his bread and butter as his article from Sunday can attest:

It's commendable the Leafs have gotten rid of Ed Belfour, Aki Berg, Alex Khavanov, Luke Richardson, Tie Domi, Eric Lindros, Jason Allison and Pat Quinn -- at least two and maybe three who are going to the Hall of Fame. But how much better does Mike Peca, Pavel Kubina, Hal Gill, Andrew Raycroft and Paul Maurice really make them? It's not like a team lacking speed and creativity got any.

Where to start? Lindros wanted too much money, Richardson, Domi, Khavanov, and Allison were too slow to compete at even strength, Quinn had lost the plot, Berg was seduced by 22 hours of darkness (Thank God he loves Finland), and Belfour is 41 years old. If those guys had stayed (but some are Hall of Famers!!!) then Simmons would be bitching about that. Kubina and Gill are MASSIVE improvements over any combination of Richardson, Khavanov, and Berg. Raycroft at least has the potential of recovering his Calder Trophy form with Aubin providing an able safety net while Belfour is more likely to throw his back out screaming an offer of eleventy billion dollars to a cop. And Maurice is the kind of coach that is needed in the new NHL and will give the kids a bigger chance (this is where the speed and creativity comes from Stevie) to show what they can do. Thankfully, Cox has been on vacation so there has only been one anti-Leafs Toronto-based columnist spewing absolute bullshit.