Falling Like Flies

Pavel Kubina will be out a minimum of four weeks and that could be extended depending on further tests. From JFJ's description of the diagnosis as "simply through manipulation" it sounds like the knee might still be too swollen to perform an MRI. This is bad news for a player that was bedding himself into the defence corps pretty well. It's nice to see the Leafs go from 'Who will win a spot on the defence' to 'who will survive playing defence'.

That brings the IR to:

• Carlo Colaiacovo (fatigue)
• Brendan Bell (assault)
• Andy Wozniewskit (shoulder)
• Staffan Kronwall (bad skates)
• Pavel Kubina (clumsy 'bury boy)

The popular opinion is that Bell might be ready to go on Thursday in New Jersey. If not, then the alternative is either putting Belak on the backend, which proved to be a disaster in the first game of the season, or to call up a Marlie like Brad Brown or Marc Moro. My choice is Brown because he is my friend's parents' neighbour and that would make two Leafs that are just 2 degrees of separation away from me.

Update: Pavel will be out four to six weeks with a strained MCL but will not need surgery! The scenarios are rife for dealing with the injury. To the above you can add trying to sign Brian Leetch with the money saved via the LTI clause (Thanks Lou!) or making a trade. Seeing as the Leafs have only $1M under the cap and Leetch made so much last season I would guess that JFJ will do as he did last year and work with what he has available. That means that Belak will most likely move back for a game or two until Bell returns and Suglobov will make his return to the fourth line.

Colon Campbell Punishes Leafs

Yes, his name is technically spelt incorrectly but this way makes more sense seeing as he has his head up his ass once again. A scant week ago Colon was defending Dany Heatley's right to swing his stick wildly noting his lack of past history and a lack of intent on the senator's part. A suspension would have been a boon for the Leafs as they face ottawa in their first two games. Instead, it is the Leafs that will be missing two defencemen.

Today, pro sport's world discipline czar is expected to hand Leafs rearguard Pavel Kubina a one game suspension for an incident in last night's pre-season game against the Red Wings. For those of you that do not get LeafsTV the incident in question was a cross-check to Jiri Hudler's chin. Now before you say 'A CROSS-CHECK TO THE CHIN! THAT'S OUTRAGEOUS!' keep in mind that you probably did not see the play, it was as close to a love tap as you will ever see on the ice, and was used to keep Hudler from continuing his shoving. Not to mention that while Bell will start the season on the injured reserve Hudler stayed out to start the five minute powerplay.

I guess in this case Colon could tell that Kubina's intent was to hurt Hudler even though he did not and did not even come close. I wonder what he though Heatley was trying to do when he started a swing at his shoulder and followed through Bell's ankle? probably assumed he was going for a pokecheck.

Colon does not like to have his decisions criticized so Kubina was probably the wrong guy to victimize.

Update: Kubina will miss opening night. Jay Harrison will take his place.

The Silly Season

Well, today at noon it finally started: Free Agency.

The early leaders in the 'Buying Improvement' contest are the Boston Bruins and...the Leafs?

I know, I know. We didn't sign Elias today or Chara (Elias is likely out of our range and the Bruins pipped us to Zdeno) but there was a big difference from last year and that is that JFJ was awake this year. Sure he was probably awake last year since it would be tough to sleep for that many months if you aren't a bear (TERROR ALERT!) but he clearly was not quite sure how the new market was going to play out.

This year has been a study in contrasts. JFJ has been decisive (at least) and made moves ranging from 'not bad' to 'could be good/great' to 'solid'. Granted he did make 1 'odd' move (Pohl's one way deal) and one questionable move (McCabe is making a lot of money for a defenceman that can't really defend. Bring back the Can Opener!). However, he has avoided the inaction of last year as well as making any truly boneheaded deals (of course, that Allison rumour is lurking). In fact, he has cleaned up some of his idiot moves. Give Belfour a pre-lockout 3 year deal? Don't exercise the option and buy him out. Sign Tie to a two-year deal at the Friends and Family rate? Realize he can't make the minimum contribution he used to make, buy him out. Together these moves will constitute a hit to the salary cap figure but at least they won't be making a hit to the team's wins and points figures. Anymore.

Now I am not really saying that the Leafs made the second biggest improvment out of all teams but they did fill two big holes on defence by getting Hal Gill from the Bruins and Pavel Kubina from the Lightning. Now, on their own maybe neither signing would be that great. Kubina's would definitely be seen by some as over-paying (especially in light of the contracts that Willie Mitchell and Jay McKee signed). Those people would be right. $5M/yr is a lot in light of those deals and taking into account what Kaberle ($4.25/yr) and McCabe ($5.75/yr) are already being paid.

However, taken together, they provide the Leafs with a solid second defence pairing (my assumption is that they will play together since Kaberle and McCabe are a pretty much undisputed to pair). This is something that was seriously lacking last year and that will allow the 5, 6, and 7 spots to go to three of the kids that filled in last year. Gill and Kubina complement each other pretty well. Both are big, strong defencemen; especially Gill who will be our 6'7" answer to Chara. The symbiosis in this relationship is that while Kubina has put up back-to-back solid offensive seasons while Gill (minus last year's disastrous season for all Bruins) posted +/- numbers of 16, 21, 16 over the last three years.

These two moves work to build a better defensive foundation in front of our new # 1 Raycroft. They are also signs of JFJ having a pulse and a clue, both good things for long suffering Leafs' fans. Granted, their success depends on the return to form of two Bruins but they will be entering this season on the back of a full off-season of training and camp not a year long lockout.
Free Agency Grade (thus far): C+