What happened to Toskala? Hurt?

Coaches decision.

After spending some time playing behind the Leafs defence, he peeled his own skin off. He's listed as day-to-day.

At least you're in midseason form. :D

Seriously? Holy crap that's not good if Raycroft is beating him out for opening day...

Dola... I hope someone in my hockey pool doesn't hear about this before friday's draft, I can't wait to mock him to high-heaven when he drafts Toskala 15 rounds too soon.

Basically, when the deal went down the Leafs said it was an open competition even though nobody really believed it. It was assumed that Toskala would win the job, but then he was awful in the pre-season and Raycroft was decent. So now they've painted themselves into a bit of a corner, and they've decided to start Raycroft tonight and Toskala tomorrow in Ottawa.

It's not a bad decision, since a.) Raycroft did earn the job, and b.) there's at least a 60% chance the Sens will bomb the Leafs 7-1 tonight and the fans will turn on whoever's in net, so might as well be the guy they already hate instead of the new guy.

I still expect Toskala to be the main guy sooner than later and get 55 or so starts.

So you're saying my new strategy should be to submarine his value by telling everyone Raycroft is the starter or at best they are platooning, then pick him up as a solid back-up in the late rounds.

I like it.

ill take at least 150.

and hey, really great to have one of the 2 early games on CI broadcast in French.

I'm sure the 9 hockey fans in the US who speak French only are very grateful.

Two minutes into the 2nd period of the Ott/Tor game and Pierre McGuire reminds me why I hate him so much...

I love Free NHL Center Ice time.

*sigh* New year, same result. Still can't win in OT/SO as Canes drop the home opener 3-2 against Montreal in OT. Not the best of starts considering Carolina will be out of town for most of October. They get Pittsburgh at home Friday, but then go on the road for six straight after that including complete tours of eastern Canada and Pennsylvania. With such a lack of home games to start with, it wa essential to take advantage of the two they had to start with to build up any momentum at all. Now that they've dropped one, it's going to put a lot of early pressure to win Friday or the Canes could be digging out of an early hole by the time they come home for most of November.

Hey, does anyone know how many games Heatley has played against Toronto, and how many goals he has in those games? I'm really surprised that TSN never mentioned it.

If it makes you feel better, losing shootouts seems to be a Stanley Cup champion trend.

No... no, it's really not.

Signed,
Leaf fans

Lemme see here, ESPN player bio, split stats
07-08 2G/1A in 1 game (1 GWG)
06-07 5G/5A in 8 games (1 GWG)
05-06, 9G/9A in 9 games (1 GWG)
Ottawa sub-total = 16 goals/15 assists in 18 games (3 GWG)
03-04, 1G/0A in 2 games
02-03, 1G/1A in 2 games
01-02, 4G/3A in 4 games (2 GWG)
Atlanta sub-total = 6 goals/4 assists in 8 games (2 GWG)
Career to date = 22 goals/19 assists in 26 games (5 GWG)

That's an average of 0.85 gpg / 1.58 ppg vs Toronto
Vs the rest of the league, he gets 0.48 gpg / 1.07 ppg
(158 goals/190 assists in 326 games)

I sensed sarcasm.

Oopsie. 'Twas lost on me as I wasn't anywhere near a TV during the game (and most likely wouldn't have seen/heard the TSN feed anyway)

No worries. When Maple Leafs discusses the Toronto Maple Leafs, a player dominating the Toronto Maple Leafs, and shitty Canadian TV, he tends to get a little snarky.

Blues - Coyotes tonight!

Paul Stastny was marvelous last night as he notched his first career hat trick. He had a great game defensively as well.

any fantasy players out there, here's a tip. Jaroslav Hlinka is a 30-year old rookie from the Czech Republic (I believe he led his league in scoring last year). The Avs signed him this summer to a $600k contract, and was a mostly unknown to everyone here.

He had a strong preseason, and looked excellent last night. He's playing with Stastny at the moment, so should have a chance to put up some nice numbers. Might be worth a look...

For Fantasy i used my last round draft pick to pick up Peter Forsberg. I then put him on IR and picked up Andrew Burnette who had 3 assists last night. Oh yea, I also drafted Stastny in the 4th round. So good night for me!

The Wings were about 2,500 below capacity last night (an end sellout streak going back to 1996). The Avs were about 500 under capacity, the first time they haven't sold out a home opener since coming to Denver. They had an even longer sellout streak than Detroit's end last year.

but hey, we've got a foothold in England!

I'd assume those people were just busy lining up to buy the cool new jerseys.

I did enjoy the new Sens uni's.Very european.

I didn't enjoy the Flyers...I mean, Panthers new unis.

Briere scores on his 2nd shift as a Flyer!

Anyone see anything on the NHL Network?

Co-worker told me Direct TV was to launch it Oct 1st . I have looked the past few nights for it with no luck.

Here's a picture of Havlat at a Chicago-area comic store:

Nice comeback by the Blues tonight down 3-1 to the Kings!

I have 7th row tickets for the home opener Wednesday!!!

I'm starting to wonder if Atlanta really doesn't even hold training camp or pre-season games, that the news & results from there are just some sort of ruse.

Outshot 34-15 last night (5-2 loss @ TB), outshot 40-29 in the 3-1 loss at home to Washington, at least 3 different centers have played with Kovy in the first six periods. Multiple comments from players about how they just have to get used to working with each other since there's so many new faces, etc.

WTF have they been doing for the past couple of months, just going through the motions?

Pens twice score 2 quick goals last night.
2nd period, 20 seconds apart-- Colby Armstrong on a ridiculous chance that looked like something Crosby would try, and Malkin on the doorstep from Sykora.

3rd period - Petr Sykora (his 2nd of the night) and Ryan Malone alone from the blueline in after Crosby dives to make a pass between Pronger's skates.

Of course, like last year, Pens allowed Anaheim to come back and make it close at the end, but win 5-4

Meh. Washington actually looks a little more serious about playing hockey this year. Carolina rolled the Pens 4-1 Friday, but couldn't touch Kolzig last night in a 2-0 loss. Don't judge the Washington loss too quickly.

The Canes are 1-1-1 through three, but the next five on the road (Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Pittsburgh, and Philly--the last two as a back-to-back) will be a good measure of whether this year will be like last year or two years ago. Anything over .500 and I think this team will be doing alright. Could actually be the toughest road stretch they face since the Southeast is at the Central this year, which means no west coast swing and the Central outside of Detroit and perhaps Nashville is still a muddle (not that the Southeast is any sort of powerhouse). Examining the schedule, I think perhaps the only other swing that may provide greater difficulty is in early December starting at Buffalo on 12/1, then the Rangers, Bolts, Habs, and ending up in Detroit on the 9th. I think this one they're on now is more difficult simply because it's so early in the season.

It's not so much the loss, it's the manner of losing. I mean, they hung the freakin' banner on Friday for crying out loud, the least they could do is show up & be competitive. And outshot 74-44 in the opening weekend doesn't seem competitive, I don't care if they're playing the ghosts of the Montreal greats and the All-Time CCCP All-Stars.

Hartley may not make it to the All-Star break.

my islanders looking good in early season

The Devils just happen to have many of their early games at times that I can't watch them. At least I see that they won 4-1 the other night. I'll periodically check this afternoon's score online, but I wish I were at home to see it. Then I think they play again on Thursday, which just happens to be a bowling night for me, so I won't be home for that. It'll be a while before I get to watch my favorite team play. *sigh*

Jason Blake has announced he has a rare form of cancer...
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=220161&hubname=

He says it shouldn't affect his ability to play and is treatable/manageable in the long-term, which is certainly good news.

you wont even recognize them. its a pretty different style of play so far.

i stand by my "San Jose Dolphins" comment in the off-season thread, and see bucci has agreed:

2. Jeremy and those jerseys
Upon further review, the San Jose Sharks are wearing arguably the ugliest uniforms in any team sport in the history of team sports. When Art Howe was wearing a polyester Houston Astros uniform in the Astrodome circa 1981, maybe that was the worst; but that is hotly debatable because Howe was so hot in '81. When I see these Sharks uniforms on television, I think I'm watching a skit from "Full House" in which Joey Gladstone goes five-hole on a stumbling Uncle Jesse. These Sharks are so 1991, so "Yo! MTV Raps." "Everybody dance now!" These things need to be put into a dumpster, set on fire and rolled down a mountain as soon as possible. Then again, maybe that's why Jeremy Roenick is off to a good start. He thinks it's actually 1991.

well, that explains it. I love the rainbow Astro unis.

So far, so good as the Canes rock Toronto 7-1. Nice bounceback from the blanking at Washington Saturday. Kinda wish I'd have been able to see it, but family obligations kept me out of the house and away from the TV. Hope they can keep this ball rolling as they head over to Ottawa.

At least JFJ has built a consistent club

The Toronto fans are turning on this team very fast. Booed them through most of the third period, even Toskala who actually was great (which is scary when you look at the score).

Highlight was McCabe picking up the puck in his own end, getting booed, skating behind the net at full speed and tripping it over it, wiping himself out as he sent a perfect centering pass to a Cane. Toskala bailed him out or else the Leaf fans would have stormed the ice and eaten his heart.

Wednesday night, 11 days after they started the season, in their sixth game and first within two time zones of home, the Ducks will finally raise their 2006-07 Stanley Cup Champion banner.

I'm looking forward to it.

I agree with ML...Toskala has been great.Without him the score could have been in double didgits last night,and to tell the truth it was'nt even cause the Canes played that well....it was more so because the Leafs played so bad.

I can't figure out why all the pundits say the Leafs are deep on the blueline.I actually think this is the biggest weakness on the team.They have a bunch of 4-6 defencman on the team.IMHO the Leafs need to pick up a stablizing defensive guy.

First meeting of the season between the Oilers and the Wild. The Oilers, in an "attempt" to add some toughness to the lineup recall J.F. Jacques and insert him in the lineup for Marc Pouliot.

Call it a hunch, but I'm guessing Hemsky is still going to have a little chat with Nilsson, Cogliano and Gagner and warn them that when the lights suddenly go out that it's not a power outage, so don't look around, that it's time to duck and cover because Boogaard is *right* behind you.

For those keeping track at home, here's the projected matchup(s):

Boogaard (6'7, 258)
vs
Jacques (6'4, 225)
or
Greene (6'3, 233)
or
Souray (6'4, 233)
or
Staios (6'1, 200)/Torres (6'0, 215)

Yeah, the tag team approach didn't work well last year either. Best bet is to score 2 or 3 in the first and force them to try and play catchup to limit Boogaard's ice time. Even then, boys are going to have to have their heads on a swivel or the injury streak may continue.

Well, it was emotional and thrilling, as you would expect a banner raising to be. The cheers were huge and the ceremony well done. We had a last long look at the Cup. And when Teemu and Scotty were introduced, the arena rocked to "One more year!" as the two of them kinda grinned sheepishly. Come on, guys, rush out to the mike and say "We're coming back!" lol

We also did something I thought I was really cool, although obviously imitated from those Canadian folks. The crowd sang the second verse of the anthem, a tradition they are trying to get going here. Not as loud as the Canadians in Edmonton or Calgary perhaps, but give it time.

Then we had a nice 2-1 comeback win, in which one of our playoff heroes Sammy Pahlsson came back from hernia surgery to be a key player tonight.

All in all, a tremendous evening for the franchise, and solid step toward trying to win a new one.

Dirty hit by Boulirice tonight... he'll be missing some time. Flyers look good otherwise, beating Vancouver 8-2.

Damn, 8-2! Was Luongo in? Or did Toronto lend the Nucks Toskala?