Hmmm...

https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/1178072277923049473

Does anybody really care?  Besides seeing Matthews and Rielly on the young guns team, is there anything that gets you motivated to watch this?

I feel there's been minimal hype around the city and it just seems so forced. 

With training camp days away, figured we could close the book on last year's thread and start this year's.

Gary Bettman is going to formally announce an expansion process.  Not the greatest kept secret.  Congratulations to Las Vegas in advance.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/nhl-to-announce-opening-of-expansion-process/

Well that came out of nowhere...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/new-jersey-devils-name-ray-shero-gm/

...who do they pursue to coach this team?

Much has been made about waiting upon Babcock's availability.  And if not him, then maybe a McLellan if fired by San Jose, or Paul MacLean, maybe Pete DeBoer, etc.

In the case of Babcock, unless the Leafs offered him something like a 10-year, $40 million deal to see a true rebuild through from beginning to end, would he really want to come here when the team is years away from contention (not like this current team is any closer)?

So who would be good candidates to set a rebuild in motion by developing players properly?  Would Jeff Blashill from Detroit's minor team fit the bill?  I would have suggested Dallas Eakins had he still been with the Marlies and continued to show success in developing the players.  But that ship has sailed. 

Which way would you pursue it? 

Much is being made ado (by media members at least) about the subtle change of pushing back 29 games (22 home, 7 away) from a 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. start time. 

Where do you stand?  Do you care?

On the eve of the election, this is the most I've ever been in tune with an election trying to understand each party's platform.  I generally have minimal interest in politics as I think pretty much all politicians are lying fools, but this election has me intrigued. 

Unfortunately, it feels like you have to wade through to see who the best of the worst is.  It seems as though we are in for a struggle regardless of who is chosen. 

I think the previous thread ran its course.  With training camp upon us, let's flip the page to the new season and continue our chatter here.

We've seen MLB drop the hammer on Braun, and plans to do so to many more.  Here's a snippet from an article on TSN which bred this poll:

"Fischer told "Outside the Lines" that at least one player from various leagues had received PEDs from Tony Bosch, the clinic's founder. In addition to Major League Baseball players, Fischer cited NBA players, NCAA players, professional boxers, tennis players and MMA fighters. According to Fischer, Bosch had no clients in the NFL or NHL."

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=428482

We may be in denial thinking hockey players are clean.  Maybe they just are.  I see the argument for both sides.

Didn't think Tampa Bay was willing to spend the money to do it.

I'd be all over him as a 1st line centre for this team.  And all it would cost is money.

8 years, $76M -- $9.5M cap hit.

The Pens put to rest pretty quickly all the speculation that was already growing.  Can't go wrong securing two of the best players in the world for at least the next eight years.

MacLean, Boudreau and Quenneville.

I'm sure many expected Carlyle to be up for this award, with a similar argument to be made for Therrien and even a guy like Todd Richards.

All did great jobs, but none are more deserving than MacLean in my eyes.

Hotly debated issue.  I'm not firm on an opinion either way, but understand both viewpoints.

This topic has been moved to All Sports But Hockey.

http://www.tmlfans.ca/community/index.php?topic=1243.0

The NBA is set to have ads placed on their jerseys starting in the 2013-14 season.  With Bettman known to follow the NBA's footsteps, many believe it's only a matter of time before the NHL also taps into this revenue resource.  Some even suggest this could become a topic in the CBA discussions where players settle for a lower percentage of hockey-related revenue if revenue streams, through means such as this, are increased. 

What do you think -- would you mind if ads were placed on jerseys?  Could you accept seeing a McDonald's logo on the beautiful blue and white Leafs' jersey?  Would you be deterred from buying jerseys in the future?

Personally, I hate the idea of it.  Everything is advertised to death these days and I could never get myself to spend $200 on a jersey with a McDonalds/Toyota/Burker King, etc. logo on it.

However, I understand the NHL is a business trying to maximum their revenues and I would be more shocked if they didn't go down this road.

This topic has been moved to Non-Hockey Chatter.

http://tmlfans.ca/community/index.php?topic=991.0

Tomorrow the inductees for this year will be announced.

This year is of particular interest to us Leaf fans as Sundin is on the ballot for the first time, along with Sakic, Shanahan and Roenick.  Holdovers such as Bure, Lindros, Mogilny and Andreychuk will have another shot. 

Who do you think gets in?

My guess: Sakic and Shanahan are shoo-ins, Sundin does get in as well on the 1st ballot, and Bure rounds it out.

I want to keep this as a separate discussion from the trade itself wherein we can concentrate solely on Schenn and his tenure here.

Schenn, the guy deemed to be the start of a new era in Toronto, a #5 pick who was labelled as a future Leaf captain from the get-go, a player that was supposed to anchor the Leafs' D for 10-15 years -- gone just like that after four years.

So what happened?  Was Schenn rushed into the NHL as an 18-year when he should have gone back to junior for another year to continue to hone his skills?  Was he, despite being a high pick, just not that good and more expectations were placed on him than there should have been based mainly on where he was drafted?  Was it his coach...the system?  All of these?  Or none and he needed more time, and the tutelage of Carlyle, to bring out the player in him? 

For me, Schenn blew me away as an 18-year old -- he held his own much better than one would expect at such an age.  But he regressed pretty significantly in my eyes, but I don't know if Wilson could be entirely blamed for that.  Wilson couldn't entirely control his foot speed or lack of shot. 

While I do wish Schenn was given a bit more time to see what Carlyle could do with him, a part of me also thinks he is what he is and maybe the expectations of him being a high pick were just too much for him to live up to.

You would think the whole Phoenix saga will come to an end one way or another this year.  A lot of steam was building up that Quebec was the primary candidate for the Coyotes, particularly with the fact they intend to build a new arena the next couple years.

Seattle was always mentioned, but the Key arena was insufficient for hockey.  However, new plans of a new NBA/NHL arena was proposed today:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017517805_hansen16m.html

I assume that vaults Seattle to the top of the list of cities which the Coyotes would relocate to.  It's a region the NHL is lacking.  With that, the NHL could always expand into Quebec and another Canadian city (southern Ontario) and reap a huge sum of expansion fees.

Going to get interesting.

If Burke quit talking about the playoffs as a goal all the time, and instead proclaimed that he was going to follow through with a traditional rebuild, would you be more at ease/comfortable with the state the team is in?  Would the losing, deficiencies, bad play, and growing pains be easier to swallow?

It sounds like Crosby's return to the Penguins lineup is imminent, and could come as soon as tomorrow at home against the Stars.

We all know what he's gone through these past 10 months, and there is likely to be a bit of transition shaking the rust off and getting back into the swing of things. 

Now, the season is not even a quarter of the way through and the highest point getter at the moment is Kessel with 22.

Question is -- can Crosby still take home the Art Ross?  He was producing at a 130-point clip last year which would have hammered D. Sedin's 104 which he won with.  There are factors working against Crosby, but let's face it, this is Crosby we're talking about.  If anyone can do it in today's NHL, he's the one.

As we all know and have discussed, this area has been a huge weakness under Wilson's tenure.  Whether or not it was the doing in of the team (meaning, making the playoffs or not) these past few years is up for debate.  But the talent has been put in place and the expectation is that there is no excuse now for the team to not succeed. 

For the team to reach its goal of the playoffs, it's been said the special teams have to improve immensely.  Well, 8 games in, the boys find themselves 17th in PP% and 25th in PK%.  The latter is obviously a huge area of concern. 

Perhaps we can use this thread as a way to update throughout the year the team's progress (or lack there of), discuss tendencies, praise the good things, and of course, pick apart the bad.

I'll start by focusing on the PP.  It's a new thing they're trying where the team has someone carrying up the puck through the neutral zone only to have a trailer in behind get the pucked dropped to them.  From there, they try to penetrate the zone.  I'm not certain who is in charge of the PP from the new assistants, but it must be their doing.

I just find this isn't really working.  For one, I have found that the extra two or three seconds in which the trailer picks up and carries the puck forces the remaining three players to stop dead in their tracks come the blueline.  There is no penetrating pressure since they are almost at a standstill.  With that, it's almost as if the opposing teams put a wall with 4-across and thwart any rush within seconds.

That's my perception -- perhaps others see it differently.  I don't have the solution, and don't know if the Leafs are quick enough nor strong enough to try to dump it in and retrieve it, but things have to change.

Thoughts?

A few months ago my daughter threw my cell phone on the floor, breaking it and making it no longer functionable.  I was told it likely can't be fixed.  Which I don't mind.  But I have over 100 photos on there that I'd like to retrieve. 

For one, does anyone know if this is possible?  Secondly, where would be the best place to get this done?  Rogers said I'd have to send the phone in, along with a note detailing what I'm looking for, to possibly have the photos retrieved.  But apparently they wipe out your phone first (according to my wife and whatever that means).  Would anyone know of any other alternatives?  Any of the kiosks in the mall?  Any way to do it yourself or someone who is tech savvy? 

Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated.