https://twitter.com/cbcnews/status/1517476917355634688

Another great abruptly gone.

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1421260662597095424

https://twitter.com/friedgehnic/status/1418660035404738566

Prices are super weird right now. If this sets the market for a guy like Garland then Dubas absolutely needs to be all over that.

https://twitter.com/Gambo987/status/1418667731226828800

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1353357141197910017

https://www.nhl.com/mapleleafs/news/maple-leafs-george-armstrong-statement/c-320643024

Sad news.

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1201296519707680768

Too soon?  Nah!

Here's NHL.com's list of players to watch.  Topping the list is Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin:

https://www.nhl.com/news/rasmus-dahlin-among-players-to-watch-for-2018-nhl-draft/c-291520870

Also on the list:

Andrei Svechnikov
Quinton Hughes
Jared McIsaac
Ryan Merkley
Joseph Veleno
Ryan McLeod
Oliver Wahlstrom
Filip Zadina
Brady Tkachuk
Benoit-Olivier Groulx

Separately, Grant McCagg had this to say about QMJHL Noah Dobson on recruits.ca (subscriber login/paywall):

"This was not without a lot of thought and consideration, and it's still very early so things could change...but so far this draft year Acadie-Bathurst defenceman Noah Dobson has impressed me more than any defence prospect from the QMJHL since Ray Bourque was a top ten pick by Boston in 1979."

A Swedish source says the Leafs have signed Enroth.

[tweet]757329766223577088[/tweet]

Mediocre translation:  "Some transfer news from vacation. World Championship gold goalie Jhonas Enroth signup with Toronto shortly according to my data."

UPDATE: Leafs confirm signing http://www.tmlfans.ca/community/index.php?topic=4008.msg272499#msg272499

[tweet]749352483261218817[/tweet]

One year deal, $1.25M.

I guess somebody ought to post it...

Maple Leafs favourites to land 'model' goalie Mantas Armalis

The Toronto Maple Leafs are the frontrunners to land Lithuanian goaltender Mantas Armalis, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Armalis has spent the last two years with Djurgardens in the Swedish league where he has shared the crease with former Maple Leafs goalie Mikael Tellqvist. The 23-year-old was 16-16 with a 2.42 goals-against average, .918 save percentage and two shutouts in 34 appearances this season.

In addition to his hockey career, Armalis has become known for moonlighting as a male runway model.

I'm not really enough into the advanced stats websites to know the merits and drawbacks to each (including this one), but having more sources of information and analysis is always a good thing.  I think Corsica came online within the last few weeks.

Here you go:  http://www.corsica.hockey

I know it's not remotely an original question, and maybe it's just way too early to call after Phaneuf's departure.  It seems like there's a number of eventual candidates, but none particularly obvious for the next few years.  Rielly?  Komarov??  Stamkos or Matthews....??  I could actually see it being 2 or 3 years before the next captain is named, with the patience the team is showing in all regards.

Anything worth discussing here?

3 years, $36M.

[Preds can do little but wait for prospect Vesey]

Bob McKenzie covers a lot of ground in his TSN article today, but among the topics was the consideration of whether top college player and current Nashville Predator property Jimmy Vesey might end up with the Leafs next summer:

http://www.tsn.ca/preds-can-do-little-but-wait-for-prospect-vesey-s-decision-1.399719

Preds can do little but wait for prospect Vesey

One can only imagine that Nashville general manager David Poile's heart skipped a beat this past summer when the Toronto Maple Leafs hired Jim Vesey Sr. as an amateur scout in the New England region.

That's because Harvard Crimson senior winger Jimmy Vesey  currently regarded as the "best player in U.S. college hockey" - is a Nashville Predator prospect who, if he so chooses, can become an unrestricted free agent on August 15, 2016, by simply not signing with the Preds before then.

The Leafs hiring the father of a top prospect, who could opt for free agency over the Predators, was widely viewed in the NHL community as an all-too-obvious inducement to perhaps skew the player's decision-making process in Toronto's favour.

All's fair in love and war and recruiting of NHL-ready goal-scoring wingers?

Perhaps.

The Leafs, however, maintain it was the elder Vesey who reached out to Toronto about a scouting job. Also worth noting is that Toronto drafted Nolan Vesey, Jimmy's younger brother, in the sixth round (158th overall) of the 2014 draft. Nolan is currently a sophomore at the University of Maine.

There is also a third-party connection between Maple Leaf president Brendan Shanahan and Vesey Sr. that actually led to the hiring. They have a good mutual friend in former St. Louis Blue Kelly Chase. Vesey Sr. and Chase were teammates in the Blues' organization for the better part of three seasons and remain good friends today. Chase and Shanahan were also NHL teammates and remain good friends.

(more...)

http://www.tsn.ca/former-nhl-player-ian-white-charged-with-weapons-offences-police-1.398044?ts=

Former NHL defenceman Ian White was arrested on Friday in Winnipeg and charged with a number of weapons-related offences, Winnipeg police said.

White was remanded into custody after his arrest and was scheduled to appear before a magistrate on Saturday, police spokesperson Eric Hofley told TSN. Hofley said he didn't know whether White has been released on bail.

White faces two charges of careless use or storage of a firearm or prohibited device, two charges of possession of a firearm in an unauthorized place and single charges of unauthorized possession of a firearm, unauthorized importing of a prohibited or restricted firearm, and breach of recognizance.

He'll be joining Buck and Tabler for "upwards of 30 Blue Jays games" in 2016 and 2017.  Great addition.

Dan Shulman to join Blue Jays broadcast team on Sportsnet

So my 10 year old son went away to camp this summer, went fishing, and now desperately wants to fish again.  I know pretty much nothing about fishing and am relying on him to take charge with equipping the rod, the tackle box, and the bait, and I know we need to get a licence or permit.  Anyway, I have no idea where to take him.  There's a canned fishing place close to where we live, but you have to keep what you catch, and we would rather just catch and release.  So... we need to figure out an easy place I can take him around Toronto or north of it to go fishing off a dock or pier for a few hours.  Any recommendations on where to take him?

[Elite Snipers 101]

Here's a pretty good read and great insight into goaltending and facing elite NHL goalscorers, by Jonathan Quick for The Players' Tribune:

Elite Snipers 101

How many times have you heard this line before? "Aw come on, it wasn't a great save. He shot it right into the goalie's glove!"

It always bothers me when people use this to discredit an amazing glove save, because I feel like it means that people don't understand the beauty of my position. In the NHL, 90 percent of the save happens before the player shoots the puck. As a goalie, if you're relying on your reaction time to make saves, you're going to get yanked in a hurry. Keeping pucks out of the net is mostly about intuition and geometry. You're watching the puck carrier and processing all of the guy's options on the ice, plus you're looking at his feet, hands and body positioning. Is he shooting? High or low? Where's his passing lane? What's the play here?

All the variables add up and tell you everything you need to make a decision. Instantly, your brain tells you to push out to the top of the crease and make yourself "big" to close down the angle on the shooter, or to cheat your weight a little bit to push off and cover the pass. Before the shot even comes, most of your work is done. You've committed and you just hope you've made the right decision.

cont.

2 years, $3.75AAV.

[tweet]621351283279028224[/tweet]

$6.875 AAV over 6 years.  He's turning 31 next month.

Marlies sign Rich Clune

Veteran gritty winger, can't say I've heard of him.

Let's put this to a vote!

Do you enjoy fiercely competitive sports brackets?  Do you snicker uncontrollably at ridiculous names?  If so, have I got the website for you:
http://www.nameoftheyear.com

Previous Name of the Year champions include Tokyo Sexwale, Nimrod Weiselfish, and of course the legendary Vanilla Dong.  This year's competition includes such favourites as Cherries Waffles Tennis, Dr. Electron Kebebew, and my personal favourite, Dr. Wallop Promthong.  Be sure to cast your ballot in the Crotchtangle Regional!

Piece of Toronto Maple Leafs' glorious past or elaborate fraud? Wally Stanowski insists teammate Howie Meeker's five-goal game was a work of fiction

I read this article a while back, forgot to post it here, finally got around to it.  It's worth a read, I think.

Just throwing this out there:  Would there be any collective interest or value in people rating the team's performance after each game?  Sort of like we do with the MOTM, except whoever wants to vote simply rates the team's performance on a scale from 0 to 10, and there can be an averaging of the results to come up with a collective rating for each game.  The reason I think of it is that while we can look at the team's record, and we can look at the team's 10 game chunks thread (both of which have value), neither necessarily reflect the overall team performance game-by-game.  The results could go on a graph or chart if anybody had the time and inclination to represent the data that way.  I guess I feel it would be kind of neat to look back over whatever length of time and get a sense of the perception of how well or poorly the team is playing, and what overall trends there may be, regardless of the W-L results.

I suppose this idea occurred to me as a direct result of Wednesday's game, in which the Leafs were horribly outplayed, and yet won the game anyway.  The score and game result really don't tell the story, but people's ratings of the game would, at least in a small way.  Beyond the Detroit game, in terms of W-L results, the team is virtually on fire since the Nashville game, picking up 15 out of 18 points since then, while outscoring the opposition 37-21.  Yet, despite the results, there are some frequent concerns among many about the overall team performance.  Collective team ratings could give a clearer picture of overall team performance and trends.  If it were to be done, there should be no questioning or criticism of others' ratings, and people should give honest ratings, no -5's or 11's for yucks.

Any yays or nays?

Not really sure where this belongs, but Stuart Percy has just been sent down to the Marlies.