Built Ford Tough

Yeah, he can be called back up at some point during the year.

These are the Leafs I know. Awful PK. Dreadful PP. Defensive breakdowns. Putrid offense (aside from Kessel). Only bright spots so far tonight have been Gardiner, who has easily had his best game so far, and Kessel. Lupul hasn't been bad either. Everybody else looks awful, especially Schenn, Komisarek and the KGM line. The Leafs really need somebody other than Kessel to start contributing offensively. He has been involved in something like 10 of the Leafs 14 goals this year. Their secondary scoring realy needs to pick it up. EDIT: To add to what I just posted, Kessel and Lupul have accounted for 28% of the Leafs shots this season, according to Cuthbert. Simply unacceptable.

Reporters are having a blast waiting around for 15 hours. Some of these tweets are pretty awesome: In a bit more serious news, Berger is doing an interview and he made these comments (paraphrased over at Real GM) -there has to be some progress for this meeting to be going on for so long -it's easier to say things and make a concession if the other side is not in the same room while you have a mediator -board of governors meeting is still on for tomorrow night - in his opinion, tonight's meeting should take a higher priority over the board of governors meeting tomorrow; a deal needs to be made first right now he's on the flex tax and the BRI... -need to have more revenue sharing, but you can't increase the luxury tax to teams that can't afford it, while at the same time you have to distribute the amount amongst all teams equally/proportionately -he's optimistic due to them being in the meeting for so long (and still going), and he's pessimistic because they still have a lot of 100 small details to fix... but it's feasible they can fit the season in a compressed schedule and get those games back, and the owners can use it as a negotiation chip (players can make back that $200mil lost) *Interesting*

Ahh, I missed that one. I probably shouldn't have assumed you were talking about the Del Zotto one simply because of the timing of your post. Lundqvist was brilliant tonight. He played a great game, but the Rangers defense deserves a lot of credit too. They did an excellent job of blocking shots (something like 20 for the game), getting in the passing lanes and clearing the front of the net so that Lundqvist could see everything. The times that the Rangers defense was a bit suspect, Lundqvist bailed him out because, well, that is what he does. McDonagh had an awesome game as well, or at least 3rd period, from what I saw. His goal was an impressive shot and the play he made to set up Gaborik for the 4th goal was very nice as well. Granted it was only 1 period, but he looks like he is really benefitting from Staal's absence. Pretty hard to believe that they trade Scott [expletive]ing Gomez for him.

I'm guessing you are talkng about the Del Zotto penalty? If so, I don't really think Hansen dove there. He went to split the D as Del Zotto went to deliever a hit. and DZ's skate hit his. Maybe a little embelishment on Hansen's part, but that was a valid penalty and I wouldn't call it a dive. I'm not paying much attention to the game as I have it on but am studying for a mid term, so I could be wrong.

Giradi is on pace for like 35 minutes tonight.

Doubt it. They met for something like 9 hours and all that came from that was them deciding to cancel the first 2 weeks of the season. For all we know, they mediator left and the two sides are just sitting there playing 2K12. That seems about as likely as a deal being reached.

Konopka isn't really much of a fighter, though. He just holds onto you and tries to tire you out, then he finally starts throwing punches. 90% of his fights that I have seen ar enothing more than him hugging the opposing fighter. I can't stand anything Sens related, so I definitely have bias towards Konopka, but I still don't think he is much of a fighter. He did a great job of running away from Orr in the Leafs/Sens game earlier this year and only chirping when there was a ref between them or they were on the bench, though. I'll give him credit for that as he is oustanding at that.

Paul is too high. When he is fully healthy and playing up to his capabilities, like in 08-09, I can agree with him being top 3 or 4 but considering the injury problems he has had and the fact that those injuries look to have hurt his game, I can't put him in the top 5 despite how much I like him. He isn't the 22/11//4.5/3 player that he was a few seasons ago and I don't think it is reasonable to expect much more than 18/10 or so from him in the future given how much the injuries seem to have slown him down. I agree with Dirk being ranked over Durant, though, at least based on last season. Durant will overtake him very soon, probably even this upcoming season, if there is one, but if we are strictly going off of last season Dirk is definitely a top 5 player, but I am a huge Dirk homer so I may be bias. My top 5 would be something like: 1. LeBron 2. Wade 3. Dwight 4. Kobe 5. Dirk

Had a mid term last night during the Avs game so I missed it, but from watching the highlights it looks like the Leafs blew a chance at getting the full 2 points. Reimer let in two really weak goals in regulation and it looked like the Leafs missed some real quality scoring chances (like Kulemin hitting the post and Mac sending one through the crease). Oh well, at least they managed to get a point out of it as they usually find a way to lose these types of games. Nice to see Kessel score another goal. I don't expect him to keep up this kind of pace and compete for the Richard and Art Ross, but I really hope he can manage to get around 40 goals and 70-75 points this season. We all know he has the talent to do so but it always seemed like he just coasted on his natural talent. It seems like he is finally starting to put in the work required to be a star in this league. Since the Leafs acquired Lupul and got Crabb off of his wing he has been over a point per game, so I'm not just basing this off of his first 4 games. I still need to see him do this for an extended period of time before declaring him as a 40 goal/80 point type of player, though. If only Conolly wasn't made of glass as Bozak is clearly better suited to a 3rd line center role. That is no slight against him as he has played well so far this year, but he just doesn't have the offensive ability or creativity to center a guy lie Kessel.

I don't remember for sure, but when Stamkos struggled for the first half of his rookie season I think there was talk about how he should've spent another year with Sarnia. Obviously it was more of a coaching issue and he had a great 2nd half but there was talk about how he should've spent another year in the O, at least as far as I remember. I'm not disagreeing with you, though. I do agree that Nugent-Hopkins is the least hyped of the recent first overall picks. However, watching him for the first couple of games has made me second guess my opinion of him. I thought Edmonton should've drafted Larsson 1st overall as I didn't think RNH was all that special but he definitely looks like he could end up being better than Taylor Hall or Patrick Kane. I'd still take both of them over him if a draft had all three, but he has closed the gap in my minds. Of course, it is only 4 games and 4 games alone won't make my opinion of him change as I will need to see a lot more from him. He does look like he is going to be better than I thought, though.

Gardiner gets scratched for Franson tonight against the Flames. Looking forward to seeing Franson make his Leafs debut. How soon before Gardiner is in the AHL? Burke said the only way he stays with the Leafs is if he is getting a decent amount of playing time, but so far in the first two games he is only averaging around 12 minutes a night and tonight he is in the press box. I imagine it is only a matter of time before he is playing for the Marlies.

Pray for this guy. http://vmedia.rivals.com/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/ANDRE-DRUMMOND_6-1_150A.JPG Possibly this guy. http://d.yimg.com/i/ng/sp/ap_photo/20110326/all/l5111629.jpg And if all else fails, hope for this guy. http://jackpilgrimsuknews.yolasite.com/resources/Anthony%20Davis.jpg

I think that Gilchrist would be an outstanding fit, assuming the Clippers get a point guard who is a scoring threat. His defensive ability would be a great compliment to Griffin's offense. Gordon is an excellent defender as well and the pair of Gilchrist/Gordon would be a very formidable perimeter defensive duo. I like how a lineup of: Jordan Griffin Gilchrist Gordon Offensive minded PG compliments each other. Griffin, Gordon and the PG would provide the offensive punch, with Jordan and Gilchrist being athletic finishers. On the other end, Jordan would provide the lane intimidation, Gilchrist and Gordon would be the defensive stoppers and Griffin would control the glass. I like the mix of offense/defense in that lineup. However, as much as I like the fit that Gilchrist would provide, if the Clippers have a chance to draft Barnes there is no reason to pass on him (unless Drummond proves to be Howard-esque). He is too talented and is also a fantastic fit to pass up on. I disagree in Shaliq's assessment that he doesn't have as much upside as other potential small forwards. I think he has just as much upside as any small forward in the draft, aside from maybe Miller. Miller's offensive upside may be too much to pass up as well. If he reaches his potential, he may end up as Durant-lite and the thought of pairing Griffin and him on offense, with Gordon being one of the best 3rd options in the game, is drool worthy. So my order would be: 1. Barnes 2. Miller (have to see how he bounces back from his knee injury before I can put him above Barnes) 3. Gilchrist Neither Anthony Davis or James McAdoo are going to be small forwards in the NBA if you ask me. I think both of these two will be best served playing the 4.

I agree.

Picking Irving was the right decision in my mind, but anybody who really paid attention to my posts around draft time would know that I am not nearly as high on Williams as other people. Many thought it was a 1A/1B type of situation, but I never really thought there was ever an argument for Williams to go over Irving. 7 I also think that there was too much of a drop off between Irving and Knight to warrant picking Williams 1st. However, I do agree that Thompson wasn't the best selection. I don't think it is nearly as bad as Newman is making it out to be as Thompson is going to be better than some stiff that plays 12 minutes a game, but I do think that both Kanter or Valanciunas would've been better picks. Both of them have more upside than Thompson (although both of higher bust chances imo) and since the Cavs lack talent basically everywhere, I think they should've took a chance on a higher upside big than playing it safe with Thompson. I would've went Irving/Valanciunas. Thompson makes sense if they were already set and were looking for a very good role player, but considering their situation, I don't necessarily like the pick (although I don't hate it).

He had another two games, but for some reason, he isn't getting many minutes. I know he is one of the better bigs on the team so I'm not quite sure why he is only playing around 15 minutes a night. Anyways, in one game he put up 4 points, 4 boards and in yesterday's game he put up 7 points, 1rebound and 1 block on 3/3 shooting in 13 minutes. I hope he starts to get some more minutes since watching/reading about his development this season, along with college ball, was about the only basketball related thing I had to look forward to this year and if he is only playing 10-15 minutes a game, it is hardly worth following his development.

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2011/10/14/raptors-derozan-pleads-for-patience-from-fans/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Obviously I can't comment much on the actual improvements that he has made in his three point shooting, but if this is true I am very excited about seeing him play again, whenever that may be. If he can consistently knock down long range jumpers to the point where opposing defenses have to come out and challenege him, it is going to do wonders for his game. Defenses currently sag so far off of him that it is difficult for him to get to the rim on a consistent basis and it results in him settling for mid range jumpers quite a bit, which isn't necessarily a bad thing since he is a very good mid range shooter. Still, if defenses are forced to guard him out there it will open up so many dribble drive opportunities for him. If his confidence is warranted and he can become a threat from deep, I don't see any reason why he can't average 20+ next season. With that said, I hope he doesn't become trigger happy from deep. The best aspect of his game is, and will always be, his ability to attack the paint and his mid range game. Having the ability to hit threes is great, but if it comes at the expense of other stronger parts of your game, I'd rather him not be able to his threes. When Carter developed a great outside shot he became way too complacent on offense and with his ability to attack the rim, it hurt his overall game. I hope that nothing like that will happen to DeRozan, should he ever develop a good/great outside shot.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_raptors_gm_search_101411 Good news as far as I am concerned. I'd rather have Bower ahead of Stefanski since I think he has made some pretty good moves with the Hornets. I know Pritchard's reputation has taken a huge hit over the past few years, but even then I would still rather have him over Stefanski as well. I'm kind of curious as to what the "snag" was, though. Also, Woj confirmed that Dennis Lindsey pulled himself out of the running, which is unfortunate as he was who I wanted.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/13/rodman-thinks-nba-players-paid-enough The article is actually about Rodman's thoughts on the lockout, but I thought this little extra bit was worth posting. I'm not expecting any sort of discussion out of this since we all know that Rodman is right and Bargnani's rebounding is sad.

Ahh, the joys of being young and naive.

I don't really follow football all that much but didn't the Pats miss the playoffs that year because of a tiebreaker or something? That doesn't seem like a valid comparision considering the Colts have already lost as many games as the Pats did the season Brady was hurt.

Expected lineup for Saturday against the Flames: MacArthur - Grabovski - Kulemin Lupul - Bozak - Kessel Frattin - Lombardi - Armstrong Steckel - Dupuis - Brown Gunnarsson - Phaneuf Liles - Schenn Gardiner - Franson Reimer Gustavsson Scratches: Orr, Rosehill, Komisarek

I haven't watched any Bruins games yet so far so I can't comment on anything he has done thus far, but I can't help to think that you sound exactly like many Habs fans did after they first acquired him from the Wild. He had 24 points (15 goals) in the 39 games that he played for the Habs in the 2010 season and many people were saying that the Habs had found their "first line, power forward winger". Then he proceeded to completely disappear in the playoffs, posting 2 points in 18 games and the following year saw him slowly fall down the depth chart and eventually becoming a healthy scratch during the playoffs. I hope he does well, though. Even if he is playing for the Bruins, I've always liked him and thought that he could become a very good player. He is still only 25 years old so he definitely still has room to grow. Also, if any team can get him to use his size, it is definitely the Bruins.

Derp Herp?