(Kessel joins Lupul and Phaneuf on Chara’s team)

Phil Kessel insists that he doesn’t care, but the Leafs winger has to be ecstatic at having shaken the label of the last NHL All-Star draft pick that he involuntarily inherited a year ago.

Based on his play this season, combined with having an ally in Toronto teammate and Team Chara assistant captain Joffrey Lupul , there was virtually no chance that he’d regain the title, which was passed to Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

This is only the second All-Star game that has used the draft format. But suppose the pond hockey-like format had always been used to establish both teams’ rosters. Which Leafs would have suffered the ignominy of being the last pick?
Continue Reading…

(Leafs winger given “A” on Team Chara)

Take a breath, Phil Kessel.

The embarrassment of a last-pick selection in the NHL All-Star Draft wasn’t likely to repeat itself for Kessel this year, given his 25-goal output so far which is good for a third-place tie in the league.

But now that his long-time linemate (until last Thursday) Joffrey Lupul has been named an assistant captain to Team (Zdeno) Chara, it’s all but a certainty that Kessel won’t be the butt-end of an Alex Ovechkin cell phone photo.

“It’ll be fun, and we’ll try and make it as fun as possible for the fans,” said Lupul at the Leafs’ game-day morning skate at Air Canada Centre where the team will host the Montreal Canadiens tonight.

Continue Reading…

(Phil Kessel is one of two players with 33 games with a point. Can you guess who’s the other?)

Prior to this season, the output from Leafs right-winger Phil Kessel had been mediocre in the first two years he played in a Toronto uniform – good, but not great. The quest for president and general manager Brian Burke had been to find a strong centre to play with Kessel.

Few would have figured that the complementary forward that the Leafs were seeking would come not in the form of a centre – like Kessel had in Boston with Marc Savard – but a winger in Joffrey Lupul, acquired last February from Anaheim.

However at the halfway point of the NHL season, the Kessel-Lupul duo has evolved into the most lethal combination in the league, with both players sitting among the top 5 in league scoring as of games played on Sunday.
Continue Reading…

(Mike Brown had back surgery and missed 22 games)
The Maple Leafs head in to Saturday’s matchup against the Detroit Red Wings under a hat trick of good fortune. The team welcomes forward Mike Brown and defenceman Mike Komisarek back into the linueup who have missed 22 and 21 games respectively. Also, captain Dion Phaneuf will not miss any game action after taking a puck in the face two days ago late in the game against Winnipeg.

“Brown is always aggressive on the forecheck,” said coach Ron Wilson after the morning skate.” You don’t have to remind him to finish his checks. He’s going to finish every check and stand up for his teammates, block shots and do a lot of detail work.”

Continue Reading…

It has been 364 days since James Reimer made his first career start in a New Year’s day matchup against Ottawa. Over the past twelve months, 2011 has been a year of highs and lows for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The coaching staff welcomed assistants Scott Gordon and Greg Cronin, while the Hockey Hall of Fame opened its doors to fan favourites Doug Gilmour, Joe Nieuwendyk and Ed Belfour. Phil Kessel received a dose of infamy by being the last player selected at the All-Star draft in Carolina. However, by autumn those images on Alex Ovechkin’s cell phone were erased quicker than Fabian Brunnstrom’s Leaf career, as Kessel positioned himself among the league’s scoring leaders. Continue Reading…

 
(pictured: Joffrey Lupul is fifth in the NHL scoring race)
Toronto’s 5-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday was a near-perfect representation of both the team’s strengths that propelled them to the top of the NHL standings in October, and the club’s weaknesses that has seen their playoff position slip to a perilous eighth-place in the Eastern Conference.
Continue Reading…