The Official LEAFS NATION Hockey thread

Doc Holliday said:

He was due to make his Leafs debut tonight in Ottawa. However, the Leafs today recalled Garret Sparks from the Marlies due to a minor injury to McElhinney. If he can't go, then Sparks will get the start.

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It turns out that McElhinney will be able to play tonight. He'll be facing former hab Mike Condon.

It's another back-to-back game for the Leafs and Ottawa is playing well. It'll be tough to beat the Senators on the road, but if there's a team that can do it, it's the Leafs.

Go Leafs Go!!! :thumb:

lgna69xxx said:

He played great! Leafs with the win tonight are now 8-0-2 in their last 10 road games and are one of the hottest teams in all of the NHL since dec 1.

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Yeah, McElhinney surprised the heck out of me! Don Cherry said on his Coach's Corner segment that the Leafs stole him from Columbus and he couldn't figure out why the Jackets let him go. He predicted greatness from McElhinney for the rest of this season whenever he'll be called upon to defend their net. Cherry even hinted that Andersen should be worried. I doubt it.

Frankie Corrado lives!!!!!!!!

Indeed, the Leafs have called up defenceman Frank Corrado to take over Morgan Rielly's spot in the lineup for tomorrow's game against the slumping NY Rangers. Corrado has been in coach Mike Babcock's doghouse over the past two seasons. Here's hoping that this good guy performs well tomorrow night! :thumb:

Seth Griffith back with the Leafs

The Leafs just picked him off waivers again. He played very well against them both times when they faced the Panthers. My guess is that they regretted letting him go so now they brought him back.

Now if only the Rangers set Michael Grabner back to the Leafs. Grabner has had a career season with the Rangers and last season the Leafs tried to trade him at the deadline, with no takers. Nobody wanted him at the time. Babock today referred to him as a very good guy and told the media pk coach DJ Smith begged the organization to re-sign Grabner after the regular season ended since he was one of their top penalty killers.

Auston Matthews is tied in 4th place in goals scoring with Ovechkin and Malkin. Imagine if he wouldn't be playing alongside two rookies all season long.

Frederik Andersen has been among the league leaders in save pct. since early December. I heard last week that he was #2 statistically since that time.

The rookies are ALL playing extremely well (Marner, Nylander, Hyman, Brown, Carrick, Gauthier, Matthews, Soshnikov, Zaitsev) and i must admit that i'm shocked at how well Zack Hyman has been playing. I'm starting to wonder if he won't be named the next team captain, to be honest. I thought it'd be either between Matthews and Rielly, but i'm blown away by Hyman's work ethic and leadership. By the way, Freddy "The Goat" Gauthier has been nothing short of exceptional on the faceoff and i'm extremely impressed by his work ethic. He's also a very smart player.

Jake Gardner has played like a top 2 defenceman all season long. Kudos to the coaching staff for his tremendous progress over the past year or so. Nazem Kadri is playing his best hockey ever since he joined the Leafs and is a strong candidate for the Selky trophy, although never playing on the pk will hurt his chances. Morgan Rielly has been a stud defenceman all season long and he's far from having reached his potential. The likes of Polack and Hunwick have been steady and have provided much needed leadership to this young defence, which has played extremely well over the past few weeks. I'm also starting to appreciate the presence of Martin Marincin, whose size is much needed on this defence.

And finally, the veteran players (although still young men) have provided great support to this young squad. I tip my hat off to the likes of JVR, Komarov, Martin, Polack, Hunwick and Bozak.

Much of the Leafs' success is due to not only the great coaching staff they have, but management. Success starts at the top, just like failure. I can't say enough good things of Brendan Shanahan's management team, all the way through and down to GM Lou Lamoriello. Team ownership also deserves credit for willing to spend in areas that most people cannot see but which are crucial to any team's success. Did you know that no other team in hockey spends as much on analytics?? They employ about 10 people in their analytics dept. Guess who comes next? Nope, it's not an NHL team. It's Hockey Canada. Putting a large emphasis on analytics is greatly responsible for the team's success and the development of its young players.

By the way, the Leafs are #2 on the power-play and #4 for penalty-killing. Special teams have been crucial to the team's success this year.

Go Leafs Go!! :thumb:

Babs to shake up lines tonight

My sources tell me he may shake up his lines tonight, inserting Willie Nylander on the Matthews line along with Zack Hyman, while Nazem Kadri will take over for Tyler Bozak between JVR & Mitch Marner. Bozak will then be centering the third line between Komarov & Connor Brown, with the fourth line remaining intact. Morgan Rielly won't play tonight due to his ailing ankle. Frankie Corrado will once again be watching from the press box.

Freddy 'The Goat' sent back to the Marlies

The Leafs sent down Frederic Gauthier to the Marlies in order to make room for Ben Smith, who'll be re-inserted on the fourth line for tonight's game. Gauthier surprised many during his recent call-up and turned out to be the best Leafs center on faceoffs. He was a banger on the 4th line and i can't wait to see him back with the big club! :thumb:

Leafs destroy Islanders 7-1 last night

Great game by future Calder trophy winner Auston Matthews, scoring two big goals and being dominant all night long. Big game by the Danish Wall, Frederick Andersen. Morgan Rielly may have played one of his best games as a Maple Leaf. Mitch Marner was all over the ice and skated through and around the Islanders all night long! Big game for the Buds!!!

By the way, the only Isles goal came on a penalty, which should not have even been a penalty. This was possibly the worst penalty call i've seen all season throughout the league!! Everyone who saw the play were incredulous!!! Dean Morton was the referee who called this phantom penalty and the league needs to investigate!

Leafs trying to acquire star forward

I don't know how reliable this report is, but a source of mine claims he heard that the Leafs are in active talks to acquire either Matt Duchesne or Garbriel Landeskog from the Colorado Avalanche. Personally, i'm surprised to hear this since i figured they would rather go after a defenceman. However, everyone is after a defenceman so the fact they have the cap space to accomodate a big contract (they deleted Robidas, Horton and Lupul's contracts from their cap amount) shows us there may be some truth to that story. I have no doubt JVR or William Nylander are part of those talks.

Sol Tee Nutz said:

Very quiet on the Leaf front, bad loss to Buffalo last night.

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I wasn't surprised the Leafs lost against Buffalo last night since i don't remember the last time they ever won in Buffalo.

The main reason for the loss was the injury to starting goalie Freddy Andersen at the end of the first period. He's been nothing short of great for the Leafs this season and if his injury is serious, it wouldn't surprise me if the Leafs missed the playoffs. His value to the Leafs is nearly equal to Carey Price's value to the habs.

Good news, Leafs fans. It looks like Freddy Andersen's injury wasn't as serious as we feared. He got hit on the jaw by a player during Saturday night's game and was checked out by the Sabres doctor after the first period, who then ordered him benched for the rest of the game as a precaution re: concussion protocol.

Andersen practiced in full gear this morning and told the media he may play in tomorrow's game against Florida. Garrett Sparks was called up by the Leafs as a precaution in case Andersen can't go. The team also called up Kaspari Kapanen from the Marlies since Soshnikov and Fehr are both injured. It also looks like Ben Smith's days with the team are once again over.