Leafs Daily The Toronto Maple Leafs have been active and appear to be nowhere close to finished as the Feb. 29 trade deadline approaches. This is a part of a very interesting plan that I, for one, find far more interesting than 90 percent of the games the team has played for the last 15 […]

LEAFS DAILY Not only did the Toronto Maple Leafs lose last night and gain valuable points in the reverse standings, they did so in spectacular fashion, losing 7-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks. Now, when you lose by five, it might seem like a stretch to find any positives, but the Maple Leafs played a much better […]

LEAFS DAILY What if I told you the Leafs had a player playing way over his head and being given responsibilities he isn’t equipped to handle? You’d say: But Jim, we just traded Dion Phaneuf! But I would actually be talking about Morgan Rielly. Given top-pairing minutes this season — paired with Matt Hunwick, the […]

LEAFS DAILY Dion Phaneuf is one of, if not the most, unfairly maligned player in Leafs history. Though Leafs fans gave him a hard time and blamed him for being the best defensemen on a horribly constructed and coached team, he is and was one of my favorite Leafs of all-time. It isn’t his fault […]

LEAFS DAILY After a one-month hiatus, Leafs Daily is back and taking stock of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the All-Star break. In our month off, we missed the James van Riemsdyk injury and a whole bunch of losing. My personal opinion is that the Leafs got a huge break when JVR went down, essentially making […]

LEAFS DAILY: The Leafs played three games this week – and say what you will about this team – they were three of the most entertaining games all season.  This week the Leafs scored at least four goals in three straight games, and made us forget all about how low goal-scoring has been in the […]

LEAFS DAILY: I think the general consensus surrounding the Leafs is wrong: They are not just starting a rebuild, they’re close to competing. Now, a couple of points before we unpack that statement: I didn’t realize this either until recently. Just because you have what you hope can be a decent core in place, doesn’t […]

We spend a lot of time writing about the best of the NHL, but what about the worst? I hate to be terribly negative, but I thought it would be interesting to see who are the most ineffective players when you combine stats, ice time and salary. Dan Girardi Dan Girardi of the New York […]

LEAFS DAILY: A double-shot of Leafs Daily today. I Thought it would be fun to go through the Leafs roster and take a guess at who’ll be moved and what they’ll bring back. Tyler Bozak Odds of Moving: 100 % Why He needs to go: Symbolic of the era all Leafs fans want to forget, Bozak is […]

LEAFS DAILY: So the Leafs took a week off and so did I. I was hoping something interesting would happen during the week to pull me back in, but alas, there was nothing. Last night’s game was  a dud and with virtually all newspapers ripping Jonathan Bernier this morning, I’ll lay off.  We all know […]

I think it is fair to say that the NHL has undergone a statistical revolution over the last several years. Whether it is the move towards looking at possession stats like Corsi or Fenwick, placing a premium on even-strength production, or using tools like Hero or Bombay Charts to  compare players, the ability to analyze […]

LEAFS DAILY: Wow, that was one boring weekend of hockey games. The Leafs won one, lost one, and both games featured about a combined one minute of scoring/scoring chances and 118 minutes of boring, goaless hockey. The win against the Hurricanes was nice because the team was able to come from behind and at least […]

LEAFS DAILY: It’s funny, just a couple of weeks ago I wrote how the Leafs were playing well despite not getting any positive results. As is usually the case, they have now balanced that out by winning some games where they haven’t been playing as well. Currently the club is sitting on a three-game winning […]

Leafs Daily: According to TSN, the Colorado Avalanche are interested in shaking up their roster by trading Matt Duchene. Currently in his seventh NHL season, the 24-year-old Duchene is a former third-overall pick, and one of the highest profile players to be on the trade market in some time. His name coming up, however, is not […]

LEAFS DAILY: The Leafs are in Nashville tonight to face the Predators after improbably beating the Stars for the second time this season on Tuesday night. Tonight will see the return to the lineup of Jonathan Bernier, although just in a back-up role. James Reimer will make his sixth straight start tonight.  I think he’s […]

A popular question when Connor McDavid went down with a broken clavicle on Nov. 3 was “Do you think he can still win the Calder Trophy?” While it’s more of  a silly hypothetical than a serious question, I don’t think anyone expected that it would take less than 10 days for McDavid to lose his rookie-of-the-year […]

LEAFS DAILY: Once again the Leafs played an excellent game only to be destroyed by bad luck, and suffer yet another loss. But this is rebuilding, baby. The Leafs are probably discouraged and the players on the team probably hate the fact that they have two wins so far this season. That doesn’t change the reality, […]

When the Oilers drafted Connor McDavid this past June, he was their fourth first-overall draft selection in the last six years. The hype surrounding McDavid is massive and justly so – he is a rare and amazing talent.  Add in the existence of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle, plus the rise of Oscar […]

When the Edmonton Oilers selected Connor McDavid first overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, he became the 53rd player picked at the top of the draft. The first was Gary Monahan, back in 1963, selected by the Montreal Canadiens. Monahan isn’t very famous, but he did play 768 NHL games for the Habs, Leafs, […]

Sometimes reality doesn’t mesh well with public perception. When it comes to Nazem Kadri, that is the case almost every time. Whether fans are complaining about his attitude, his effort, defense or point totals, no one ever seems to give him the respect his stats say he deserves. For instance, I wrote that stat for […]