A few weeks ago I wrote a post looking at Colby Armstrong’s no good horrible year.In the 22 games prior to that post, Armstrong had 3G 2A and was having a miserable season by any (and every) measure. In the six games since I wrote that post, Armstrong has 2G 4A, has chipped in with a shootout goal and played some pretty good hockey. (I've jokingly been referring to this turnaroundâ...

Colby Armstrong yaps. He agitates. Some claim he's a hitter, but he's just 6th among forwards on his own team in hits per game.He can supposedly play in all situations but doesn't: he is 10th among Leaf forwards in Power Play TOI per game; 5th among forwards in short-handed TOI per game.Acquired to play on the 3rd line, Leafs GM Brian Burke said Armstrong's best...

I didn't read much this year.Maybe it was discovering the HBO series The Wire and watching seasons 1 to 3 in the month of November, maybe it was the Sunday nights spent watching the Walking Dead, or maybe I'm just getting lazier.I only read 45 books this year (43 actually, I haven't finished Miller's City of the Century and I only read a big chunk of Orwell's...

Former Cox Bloc writer Godd Till has an interesting post up over at Pension Plan Puppets, where they're doing a Leaf-centric 12 days of Christmas (I wrote day 5, which can be read here).Till's wish for day 6 is that the Leafs put-up six consecutive years of consistent play, complete with post-season appearances. His post reminded me of how long it's been since the Leafs...

Originally posted at Pension Plan Puppets...Jonas Siegel has a great entry up today at his Eat. Leafs. Sports. Blog where he lists 10 games this season where the Leafs gave up a cluster of goals in a very short time. For those of you scoring at home, the Leafs have been torched for multiple goals in three minutes or less in 30% of their games this season. Seems like an outrageously high number to

There are a lot of kids hockey books out there. There are a few that I love (Mike Leonetti's My Leafs Sweater, The Magic Hockey Skates) a few that I tolerate (my son's love for Roch Carrier's The Hockey Sweater is troubling) and a few more that I want to use as kindling (the Leafs can't even win the *&$@! Stanley Cup in the Casey at the Bat knock-off Clancy with...

As a kid, three things terrified me more than any other: quicksand, Bigfoot from the Six Million Dollar Man, and bottomless pits.When Catwoman fell into that bottomless pit, I was horrified. First off, what a waste of Julie Newmar (seriously) and secondly – a bottomless pit? Really? Falling forever, right through the planet? That is some worrisome stuff to a nine year old (although my kids sure

The Leafs don’t have a lot of prospects in the system. Trading away eight of your 10 first round draft picks in a decade can sneak up on you like that.Forward Nazem Kadri is the closest thing the Leafs have to a blue chip talent.You’d think when prospects are this scarce their optimal development would be an organizational priority.But you’d be wrong.Nazem Kadri gets his second taste of NHL

“If you want to take the bows when the team is winning, then you better take the heat when it’s not winning. It is ultimately my responsibility. I drive the bus, I decide who gets on the bus, I decide who gets off the bus. If the bus is stuck in the ditch, then ultimately that’s my responsibility."Leafs GM & President Brian BurkeI'll play along...Before the bus...

Most people pegged the Leafs to be 12th in the East and they're certainly playing down to expectations.That said, the two biggest and most common question before the Leafs' season started - is Bozak ready to be a #1C and who is going to score for this team - have turned out to have rather ugly answers so far (No; nobody).It's hard to believe that the Leafs scored more...

I'm not smart enough to know if Ron Wilson is the "problem" in Leaf land. Actually, I'm not sure that there is a so-called problem.One look at the Leafs' roster and it's pretty clear that goals are going to be tough to come by this year. This is a roster whose first-line centre went un-drafted and has all of 50 NHL games experience. With so little offensive...

When I wrote about the Leafs social media strategy for the Maple Leafs Annual I focused almost exclusively on their use of twitter, facebook and their proprietary on-line site "LeafsSpace"One the elements that I didn't really get into was the actual on-line content provided by MLSE. To provide some of that content, they hired Mike Ulmer, a former Sun columnist, to write...

When Cliff Fletcher first joined the Leafs (Gah, nearly 20 years ago!) he often spoke about evaluating a team's performance every 10 games. I imagine it was a large enough sample to see some trends and a short-enough time frame that GMs and coaches could make the requisite changes.On the eve of the 2010-11 NHL season, I posted a series of questions about the state of the Leafs line-up. In the

Every few weeks I do a podcast where I talk all things Leafs with the fine fellows of Leaf blog Pension Plan Puppets.In Episode 12, Chemmy, PPP and I discuss:The Leafs six games in;The Brett Lebda/ Carl Gunnarsson shuffle;Sports journalism - why so much Hyperbole;Bruce Dowbiggin, Damien Cox and Puck Daddy Radio;The fate of the Ottawa Senators (will Kovalev score 35 pts this year?); andHow many

On the morning of October 17, Clarke MacArthur was the #1 topic on Twitter in Canada. For Leaf fans, and those perplexed as to why MacArthur was in their twitter feed, I've put together a quick reference chart to track MacArthur on Twitter through to January 2011.Find all the best pubs for watching Leaf games at YellowPages.ca

Each new hockey season supposedly brings with it plenty of hope for the faithful. After the debacle that was the first 10 games of the 2009-10 Leaf season, I'll happily forego hope and settle for relief.It was great to see the Leafs get their first win right out of the gate. I never would have guessed that Tim Brent would be the first Leaf to light the lamp. Here's a quick...

As the Leafs get ready to start their 2010-11 season at home against the dreaded Montreal Canadiens, the team has more question marks than Frank Gorshin’s Riddler suit.Have the Leafs finally fixed their goaltending situation?The team has suffered from horrific goaltending since the lockout, but Burke may have finally found a tandem in Gustavsson and Giguere that can provide some...

The Vancouver Canucks put centre Brendan Morrison on waivers today. As the 29th best team in the NHL last season, the Leafs have a very good shot at winning a claim, should they put one in.I don't normally weigh in on short-term roster moves or hypothetical personnel decisions, but the Leafs are awfully thin at centre and while they're not swimming in cap space, they do have...

I was never much of a Darcy Tucker fan.He was a small man who played a big man’s game. He threw big hits, would fight just about anyone and excelled at the cross-crease tap in on the power play. While that may have brought him the adoration of many Leafs fans, he was also a pylon on the defensive side of the puck and had a terrible propensity for taking dumb penalties.Say what you will about +/-

Inspired by a comment by clrkaitken at uber Leafs blog Pension Plan Puppets, I decided to take another shot at a Venn diagram. This one contemplates just who phones radio shows like Leafs Talk.Find all the best pubs for watching Leaf games at YellowPages.ca

If Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Nazem Kadri doesn't start the year in the NHL, he certainly won't be the only first round pick from 2009 playing in the minors. Of his immediate draft group, Scott Glennie has already been demoted by the Dallas Stars, Brayden Schenn is fighting for a 4th line role with the Kings and Calvin De Haan may stick with the Isles only because of the injury to Mark

Damien Cox has an interesting take on Ron Wilson's upcoming season with the Leafs. He raises some good points about this being Wilson's first season where major changes at the GM or player personnel levels aren't expected.In amongst these salient points, Cox weaves in this tasty bit of Leaf gossip:Most of the moves that have been made [Wilson] endorsed, particularly those that sent

The Leafs have invited 60+ players to this year's training camp. That's about 40 more than the Leafs have room for. There are just 23 roster spots to fill and most teams only carry 22 players to get a bit of minor cap relief.Six goalies are in camp, but the Leafs are set with JS Giguere and Jonas Gustavsson...Of the seven d-spots, at least five are already locked down:1....

Doug Gilmour did it. So did Felix Potvin. Bryan Berard and Dimitri Yushkevich did it at the same time.When Keith Tkachuk did it, Cam Neely went to the media to question Tkachuk's values.Petr Nedved once did it for nearly 18 months straight and Alexi Yashin did it so frequently fans, GMs and team-mates were more than a little sore.But nobody seems to be doing it much anymore.For...

This article was originally posted at Pension Plan Puppets.For those of you interested in media relations and the inner-workings of media access and credentialing, Greg Wyshynski has put up a must read post, that reveals, among other things, that certain NHL teams want to control who has access to their locker room when they're on the road. I can't say I blame them. I also...