Survivor: Toronto's Blue Line

No, this year does not feature an ethnic divide but rather a health divide. As in, the healthy players will start the season and the injured guys will have to wait for their chance. Thanks to bad ice (Kronwall) and two ottawa senators the Leafs D will be made up of Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe, Pavel Kubina, Hal Gill, Ian White, Jay Harrison, and Andy Wozniewski.

Bell, the victim of a Dany Heatley lumberjack attack, is out of commission for at least 5-6 days until further tests can reveal the extent of the damage suffered when he was confused for a tree. Right now they think it is a bruise and that he'll be out three weeks but I have also read that there is damage to the 'structure' of the foot. Whatever that means.

Carlo, the victim of a pick by Vaclav Varada, has recovered from his concussion but is suffering from headaches because of all of the hard work that Maurice has had the team do during training camp. He's been out since day one so a stint with the Marlies to get up to speed is not out of line.

Staffan Kronwall, who sprained his right ankle sliding into the boards, is out for at least three weeks. Same for Kronwall, time with the Marlies to get up to speed and if any of the three up do not perform then he will get his chance

UPDATE: Looks like Heatley will be getting off with a verbal warning from the perennially inept Colin Campbell. Hopefully, Colin will agree that Tucker was aiming for Heatley's stick when he breaks his hand on October 4th. Just kidding, I do not condone revenge but apparently Campbell wants to encourage it. Idiot.

Training Camp Update

The Leafs have announced their first large roster trim. Nothing too surprising other than the fact that it looks like this year's first draft pick, Jiri Tlusty, will be starting his North American career in the AHL (Update: The Leafs are not sure where he will play). One more day of practice before the final cuts will most likely be made. Wednesday will see both the Leafs and Marlies in action.

Looking at who is left you see that there are no surprises.

Here are the guys that are locks to be on the full roster come October 4, 2006.

Forwards (10)
Nik Antropov, Chad Kilger, Jeff O'Neill, Michael Peca, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Matt Stajan, Alex Steen, Mats Sundin, Darcy Tucker, Kyle Wellwood

Defencemen (4)
Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe, Pavel Kubina, Hal Gill

Goaltenders (1)
Andrew Raycroft

Depending on what Maurice decides to carry (13/14 forwards, 7/8 defencemen, 2 goalies)

Forwards (3-4/6)
Bates Battaglia, Brad Leeb, Ben Ondrus, John Pohl, Aleksander Suglobov, Erik Westrum

Defencemen (3-4/7)
Wade Belak, Brendan Bell, Carlo Colaiacovo, Jay Harrison, Staffan Kronwall, Ian White, Andy Wozniewski, Brad Brown, Marc Moro

Goaltenders (1/2)
Mikael Tellqvist, Jean-Sebastien Aubin

The Leafs have three pre-season games left: Wednesday against the sens and a home and home starting Saturday against the Wings. Judging from the way that Maurice has set his roster for the games thus far I think that he will use the ottawa game to make his final cuts. On the defence side it will be easy to dress almost the entire bubble squad because of the injuries. In the forwards, Mats, Darcy, and Peca at least will probably get the night off. This will set the team up nicely to dress their opening night squad for the game against the Wings.

If I was to handicap the races based solely on the three games this weekend (not taking into account whether Wellwood is used as a winger or whether Maurice wants a grinders-only fourth line or whether people have been injured) I would rank the players as follows:

Forwards
John Pohl, Bates Battaglia, Aleksander Suglobov, Brad Leeb, Ben Ondrus, Erik Westrum

Defencemen
Ian White, Brendan Bell, Jay Harrison, Andy Wozniewski, Staffan Kronwall, Wade Belak, Carlo Colaiacovo, Brad Brown, Marc Moro

Goaltenders
Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Mikael Tellqvist

We will probably know the final roster by Thursday but with a new coach it is a little hard to hazard a guess as to who will make the final cut. All I can hope is that the players are all healthy for the first regular installment of the Battle of Ontario and are ready to get the Leafs back in the playoffs.

Sundry Monday (Tuesday in Indonesia)

The funny thing about writing a personal blog is that you are really responsible to no one. Last week I made some vague promises that I would write about the following:

• What defencemen will stick with the big club?
• What will the lines look like?
• Where will the goals come from?
• Is JFJ trying to undermine Maurice already?

But what happened when Queen's Homecoming derailed my plans? From what I know, only a couple of friends noticed (one also noticed that initially the post said 'Tomorrow' and then I edited it). Aside from that I guess some poor ex-pat in Indonesia might not have the time to read all of the Leafs' stories in the Sun, Star, Globe, and Post. For him, here is a wrap up of those questions and the training camp news before tonight's pre-season opener against Buffalo. I have LeafsTV so I'll have a game report of some sort (not sure how I want to write them up) although Prison Break is on so I might have to wait for the hour-long edited version of the game.

Defence Battle

After leaving the first practice with suspected post-concussion symptoms Carlo Colaiacovo (that might be the first time I write that correctly without having to check) will be handled gently by the Leafs. Knowing the trials and tribulations that the Lindros Brothers had with head injuries it is good to see the team taking the measured approach.

This setback does open up the door for the other defencemen vying for the last two or three spots on the blueline. The most interesting line from that article covered the contract status of the Marlies Sextet:

But "status" could have an impact. Two of the players, Kronwall and White, do not have to clear waivers to return to the minors. The others do. That makes it a lot easier to move those two back and forth — perhaps using one of then as a seventh defenceman — than players who are eligible for waivers and could be claimed by another team.

The general consensus has been that Carlo would partner Kubina with Gill getting a partner skilled with the puck, someone like White (I heard that seeing the 6'7" Gill partner the 5'10" white looked pretty funny). However, if this contract situation plays a part in the decision - and it should only become a factor if two players are in a dead heat - then this gives Jay Harrison and Brendan Bell a bit of an edge. At the end of the day, the benefit that the Leafs will have in making this decision is that Paul Maurice will have had an entire season with the Marlies and a training camp to assess these six.

The Depths of Madness?

I had my anticipated/desired lines for this year's team thought out since about June. It was a long process of exchanging e-mails with some equally busy friends. We made a few revisions to slot in new signings but are holding off on releasing the full lines until we see some pre-season games. Other people have not shown that same foresight and have released depth charts. tsn.ca has a season preview (surprise: kids need to score more and Raycroft has to be good) along with their chart. The Star counters with some interesting lines. They both agree that Carlo and Kronwall will be holding down the open spots. Here is the fun part of making lines, apparently you can slot in players anywhere without regard for their actual position. Wellwood's a centre? TSN does not care. Wade Belak is a perennial Leafs' management favourite? TSN does not even include him. Actually, I agree with that. Toss in a new coach and you can see that devising possible lines is a exercise akin to throwing darts in the dark.

Got Goals?

James Mirtle asked the question du jour the other day: Where will the goals come from? Well, Raking Leafs thinks that one source will be an improved Kyle Wellwood. Tucker will be trying to show his love for Toronto by at least matching his total of 28 goals. Realistically, the fact that the team has lost big names like Roberts, Nieuwendyk, Lindros, and Allison means that guys that have floated under the radar will have to step up and either match their potential or move on.

Actually, Wellwood, Stajan, Steen, and Ponikarovsky are not on the bubble but they will be expected to improve on their stats from last year. Antropov, however, is probably serving out his last contract with the Leafs if he does not continue on his strong end of season stint with Mats and Poni. To be fair, the Leafs are only looking to replace about 40 goals. A combination of faster forwards teamed with better puck moving defenders should be enough to plug the gap. That and McCabe getting about 7 PPs worth of one-timers a game.

JFJ Mind Games

Howard Berger saw the Machiavellian undertones of Fergie mentioning that both Aubin and Tellqvist might be with the Leafs in some sort of three headed goaltending system. Of course, Maurice would probably hate this because everyone knows that there are only two nets on the ice. Only in adult movies does three go into two and it is just as awkward as trying to split up the practice time for the tenders.

Chances are that JFJ is wary of the chance of losing Telly on waivers for nothing after investing so much time in developing him from a young, scared Swedish goalie that played so deep it looked that he was hiding into a serviceable NHL back-up. JFJ knows that his future lies with Maurice's ability to mould the club into a playoff team so it is in his best interests to leave these decisions to Paul.

Leafs v. Buffaslugs

LeafsTV is having some technical problems but Maurice had a good quotation about the fishbowl that is the Centre of the Universe:

"I know that no matter what happens tonight there will be a three-hour conversation on the radio discussing what tonight's game means to our Stanley Cup aspirations."

GAME TIME! God I missed hockey.

Training Camp!

The countdown is almost done! Leafs' training camp opens Thursday September 14th so it is time for that Fox Favourite 'Skating With The Stars'. Just kidding, Dave Coulier will not be there but these stars will: Leafs Training camp invitees.

Since the Leafs have said that they will only have 50 participants at the camp that means that there will be nine more invitees. Most will likely come from the Rookie Tournament roster.

Hockey's Future has a good preview of the battles that will rage at camp. This year there actually will be these battles taking place between young, hungry players. This is a nice change from past team's when the veterans only had to show up to camp while the kids knew that they would be back with their junior teams or to the AHL in a couple of weeks.

The forward spots are mostly set with the only real decisions left for Maurice are who will flank the skipper and who will fill out the fourth line. The interesting battle will be between the Marlies for the 5th and 6th defence position.

This Week:

• What defencemen will stick with the big club?
• What will the lines look like?
• Where will the goals come from?
• Is JFJ trying to undermine Maurice already?