Leafs scorers: Moore (6), Williams (4), Frogren (1), Hagman (9), Kubina (7), Ponikarovsky (10), Antropov (13)
Penguins scorers: Malkin (15), Sykora 2 (12)
Links: Game Summary | Stats | Discussion boards
Forward Lines: Ponikarovsky-Stajan-Antropov, Stempniak-Grabovski-Hagman, Williams-Moore-Blake, Kulemin-Mitchell-Deveaux
Defence pairings: Kaberle-Kubina, Finger-Sifers, White-Frogren
Goaltenders: Toskala (Win 59:35 minutes, 20 saves, 3 GA), Joseph (0:00)
The Leafs will have Niklas Hagman and Jonas Frogren in the lineup tonight when they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins at Mellon Arena (7pm, CBC, AM 640). Meanwhile, hard-luck defenceman Mike Van Ryn – who suffered his second concussion of the season on Thursday in Boston, will be out for the remainder of the Leafs’ road trip.
There is still plenty of reaction in Toronto and Vancouver, just two days after Mats Sundin’s announcement of his signing with the Canucks.
In last night’s World Junior pre-tournament game, Canada outlasted Sweden 4-2 in a matchup that featured the top two draft-eligible prospects for 2009: John Tavares and Victor Hedman.
In AHL action, the Marlies dropped a 4-3 shootout decision to Providence.
Here are the headlines of stories relating to the Leafs and the Marlies in the news this morning:
The team roster and salary cap information has now finally been updated.
The current salary cap and payroll commitments now reflect the “normal” roster after the St Louis trade (Steen and Colaiacovo for Stempniak) and Stralman’s transfer to the Marlies.
After accounting for the players currently on the IR and called up, it seems as though the Leafs are running with a 22-man roster, which means that Burke has left himself a free roster spot to showcase an extra Marlie (as he is currently doing) or perhaps to ensure that he has the available roster spot in case a player of interest is placed on waivers by another team.
I should point out that the cap totals reflect the players currently on the roster, but do not reflect the exact, actual team cap situation. For instance, there will be some additional cap cost associated with the days that Steen and Colaiacovo were on the Leafs roster, and a corresponding cap reduction to Stempniak’s cap hit for the days when he was on the Blues’ roster. Similarly, various players have been on the IR — with Marlies called up to replace them — which affects the actual cap situation. Further, there have been several roster moves (Tlusty and Stralman to the Marlies, etc.) which are accounted on a daily basis and aren’t reflected here.
The bottom line: the cap hit and cap space shown should be treated only as a very rough approximation.
The Leafs Active Roster has also been updated to reflect the approximate current roster, but the line combinations should be taken with a grain of salt. As we’ve seen, coach Ron Wilson doesn’t hesitate to shuffle the deck both in practice and during the games, so it’s almost impossible to present anything that’s completely accurate (or at least we’d need someone updating it full time, which isn’t currently the case).
At present my schedule doesn’t allow me to maintain a completely current, daily update of the data, but it is my hope that I’ll be able to make monthly updates to both posts. Please bear that in mind when reviewing them. I’ll include a “last updated” line to let you know when the last update was made. I expect to do the next update sometime in early-to-mid January. Thanks for your understanding.
The Toronto media has two juicy stories to focus on this morning: the 8-5 drubbing that the Leafs suffered last night at the hands of the Bruins, and the late Thursday news that former Leafs captain Mats Sundin has signed with the Canucks.
It was a wild affair last night in Beantown. All four goalies got into the game (Vesa even got in twice!), 22 different players recorded at least a point, and if you’re a fan of tight-checking, defensive games, you probably didn’t enjoy this one.
Yes, Mats has finally decided to play this season, and the lucky recipient of his talent is the Vancouver Canucks. Read all you want (and probably more than you want) in the links below.
Several (current) Leafs managed to garner mention in the press: The Sun has a piece on Mike Van Ryn (who was injured again in last night’s game with another concussion) and Marlie call-up Jeremy Williams, while the NHL Northeast Notebook has a prominent feature on Ian White’s versatility.
In spite of all the hoopla about Mats, the press also found space to report that the players for the Top Prospects game have been decided (Tavares and Ellis to headline) and devoted a few inches of space to Canada’s upcoming WJC team.
We close out with Burke being a little upset with the Canucks organization, and no, it has nothing to do with Mats. Check it out!
Without further ado, here are today’s top stories:
Leafs scorers: Kubina (5), Ponikarovksy (9), Antropov (12), Grabovski (11), Blake (6)
Bruins scorers: Sturm (7), Krecji 3 (11), Savard (9), Kessel 2 (21), Ryder (11)
Links: Game Summary | Stats | Discussion boards
Forward Lines: Kulemin-Stajan-Antropov, Stempniak-Grabovski-Ponikarovsky, Williams-Moore-Blake, Hollweg-Mitchell-Deveaux
Defence pairings: Kaberle-Kubina, Finger-Sifers, White-Van Ryn
Goaltenders: Toskala (24:15 minutes, 7 saves, 4 GA), Joseph (Loss 35:09 minutes, 12 saves, 4 GA)
After 309 days of speculation, former Leafs captain Mats Sundin has signed with the Vancouver Canucks.
“We are very excited to have Mats join the Vancouver Canucks,” said Mike Gillis, Vancouver Canucks General Manager.
At the conclusion of the 2007-08 season, Sundin held the Maple Leafs franchise record for most goals (420) and points (987) in a Toronto uniform.
Vancouver visits Toronto on Saturday, February 21.
Links: SportsNet.ca | TMLfans.ca message boards
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