Maple Leafs News

Opposite pathways
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October 12
Toronto Sun
 columnist Mike Zeisberger
"You are a member of the fabled Montreal Canadiens. You enter the 2008-09 season understanding the weight of an entire city is on your shoulders, this being the 100th anniversary of hockey's most storied franchise. You thought that was a lot of pressure to deal with -- you were wrong. It would get worse. On Sept. 2, the president of your team, Pierre Boivin, pronounces: Om vise la Coupe. Translation: We're shooting for the Cup. The media has a field day with that statement. Le Journal de Montreal runs it in huge letters on the cover, with readers urged to cut out the page and stick it on their fridges as a reminder of how high the bar is being set in Montreal. Now that's pressure. ..."
Leafs' bubble bursts
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October 12
Toronto Sun
 
"The Maple Leafs should have marched out of the Air Canada Centre right behind the 48th Highlanders when the opening ceremony ended last night. Fresh off a surprising 3-2 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings on Thursday at Joe Louis Arena, the Leafs returned home and laid an egg the size of Etobicoke. They had a couple of chances early, but after failing to capitalize, completely fell apart, dropping the regular season home opener, 6-1, to the fleet and creative Montreal Canadiens. "You can't have four or five guys not play hard when you play a great team like that," a sombre Toronto head coach Ron Wilson said. "We had everybody going the other night (in Detroit) ..."
Cujo wins over fans, but not Wilson
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October 12
Toronto Sun
 
"It was one small step for Curtis Joseph last night, and one giant pain in the rear for Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson. After Wilson replaced starting goaltender Vesa Toskala for Joseph to start the third period, the Air Canada Centre faithful began chanting "Cujo! Cujo!" And Wilson wasn't really impressed. He appreciates the loyalty Leafs fans have for Joseph, who played his first regular-season game as a Leaf in Toronto since May 28, 2002 (a 2-1 playoff loss to Carolina). But he's not going to allow a few fans to dictate his goaltending rotation. Even though Wilson wasn't impressed with Toskala in a 6-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, Wilson is going to start the Finn tomorrow night ..."
Pressure mounts in Montreal
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October 12
Toronto Star
 columnist Dave Perkins
"The clock ticks on all sports franchises awaiting a championship, but the Stanley Cup clock ticks louder nowhere than in Montreal. Whatever steam is applied to hockey's most successful franchise, now 15 years and counting without a Stanley Cup title, is sure to blow hotter this year, allegedly the season marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Club de Hockey Canadien. It's semi-complicated and the century references are a little loose, given that the club was founded Dec. 9, 1909, and there was that season lost to the lockout four years ago."
Schenn gets a vote of confidence
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October 12
Toronto Star
 
"Luke Schenn's statistics from his first home opener as a Maple Leaf could be interpreted as a rough night for the rookie defenceman. Schenn committed three giveaways and had two penalties in last night's 6-1 loss to Montreal. The Leafs fell back to reality after a stirring 3-2 season-opening win in Detroit Thursday. But when all was said and done, Leafs coach Ron Wilson gave Schenn a vote of confidence. "It wasn't our young players who laid an egg tonight, it was some of the veteran players, who probably want to say it's our young guys who didn't get the job done," Wilson said."
Shellacking shows Leafs have lots of work to do
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October 12
Toronto Star
 columnist Damien Cox
"It started with the 48th Highlanders getting cut short in the pre-game festivities. And went downhill from there. Call it karma, but when the Zambonis stayed out too long and the requirements of all-mighty television held the bag-pipers to just two tunes and didn’t even let them play themselves off the ice, any traditionalist in the house would have sensed trouble in the air. As it was, the Maple Leafs followed the kilted ones out on to the Air Canada Centre ice surface, skated vigorously for about seven or eight minutes and fell apart. Throw in a bunch of penalties, and the Montreal Canadiens took the local heroes to the woodshed by a 6-1 count that pretty much zapped all the good feeling ..."
Habs rain on Leafs' parade
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October 12
Toronto Star
 
"There were a few things to like last night at the Air Canada Centre. There were 48th Highlanders, piping in the season. Canadian Olympic medallists were honoured in both official languages and the crowd supplied itself with a rousing a cappella version of the national anthem. But after that, there wasn't a lot for Leaf fans to cheer. Outside of hitting posts, there wasn't a facet of the game in which the Toronto Maple Leafs outplayed the Montreal Canadiens. So no surprise the Habs, powered by Guillaume Latendresse, Sergei Kostitsyn and Alex Tanguay, skated away with a 6-1 victory in Toronto's 91st home opener. The Leafs fell to 42-31-15-2 in home openers, their seventh home-opening loss in ..."
Giddy-up in Leafs' mood
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October 11
Toronto Sun
 
"As he made his way up the Air Canada Centre stands to watch the Maple Leafs practice yesterday, general manager Cliff Fletcher was asked about Toronto's rather shocking opening-night victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night. "Not bad, eh?" Fletcher said. "I guess you expect your team to go 82-0 now," a journalist quipped. "Absolutely," Fletcher said, with a laugh. Amusing stuff, although the veteran GM has been around long enough to realize that his off-handed reply won't result in a 'Fletcher expects Leafs to go undefeated!' headline in this morning's newspaper. Still, the mood inside the Leafs dressing room yesterday, as a result of the team's 3-2 win over the defending ..."
Frogren's dream delayed by a decade
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October 11
Toronto Sun
 
"Jonas Frogren is not the usual wide-eyed, peach-fuzzed rookie rube. He just sounds like it sometimes. And, it's difficult to blame him. The 28-year-old defenceman is a professional, wizened and bloodied by a decade in the Swedish Elite League. He was one of Sweden's best last year at the world championship. He pals around with former Maple Leaf Jonas Hoglund and Red Wings playoff hero Johan Franzen. Let's just say that, when it comes to the global ice warriors, he not only knows where some of the skeletons are, he has actually known and played with a few of them personally. But yesterday, less than 24 hours after making his regular season NHL debut, he had a grin on his kisser like a ..."
Finger's foot healing
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October 11
Toronto Sun
 
"Veteran defenceman Jeff Finger, who missed much of the pre-season with a bruised foot, skated at practice yesterday, but is expected to miss the home opener tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. "We're going to have to be patient and let him heal," head coach Ron Wilson said. "There's no rush for him to get back. We have depth on defence. Wilson added that there won't be any lineup changes from Thursday night, when the Leafs beat the Red Wings in Detroit. Rugged winger Ryan Hollweg returns from a two-game suspension for Monday's game at the ACC against the St. Louis Blues, and likely will play. BALANCED ATTACK Wilson said that he will go with a balanced four-line attack for much of ..."
Leafs rookie Kulemin is on the fast track
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October 11
Toronto Star
 columnist Damien Cox
"Already, it's apparent NHL competition this season will be waged at supersonic speed. The league, it's clear, has never been faster. Only a decade ago, there were probably 50 players in the league who could be identified as average to poor skaters. A decade before that, there were probably 100. Dave Andreychuk forged an outstanding career despite being, um, awkward on skates, and Brad Marsh was one defenceman whose ability to think the game far outpaced his ability to get anywhere with speed. These days, those types of players don't exist, or at least they are a dying breed. It's a transformation of the NHL that occurred simultaneously with hardened enforcement of hooking and interference ..."
Leafs are optimistic and it's no joke
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