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Home / Archive: December 2008
by Ben Dover… In the minds of most Toronto fans thought they were getting the best of the deal. Alexander Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo were both huge underachievers for the organisation, Steen had at trade time only lodged two goals and two assists in his twenty-odd games and Colaiacovo due to his constant injury problems, the most dispensable of Toronto’s packed blue line.
At the time of the trade, Stempniak was performing quite well for St Louis, 13 points from 14 games made up of three goals and 10 assists. However, since joining his new team, Stempniak has struggled to keep the momentum going. After 15 games with the Leafs, Stempniak has only two goals and five assists, an almost 50 percent decline in production in a similar time frame.
So what can be attributed to his loss of scoring fortune. Obviously, joining any new team can have its curtailing affects. New coach, teammates, strategies and location, all go hand in hand in settling a player. Finding a comfort level in a new organization is a huge hurdle to overcome, more so playing in hockey-mad Toronto.
The truth is though, that professional hockey players need to be mobile and ready for upheaval. Professional athletes can be traded and moved at any minute, and are expected to perform regardless of the shift.
Could it be that Stempniak is skating on a lesser line, God forbid, a lesser team? Stempniak started out on the second line with Grabovski and Hagman, displacing Kulemin. As much as Wilson hoped, the line just was not generating any chemistry.
Wilson gave Stempniak his fair chance up front and he now finds himself since the game against New York on the fourth. Since joining the Leafs, his shots on goal percentage has dropped to 0.063 and his shots fired to 32, 11 less than his time with St. Louis at the start of the season. Arguing that his skating partners are not the strongest is tough, as Hagman and Grabovski have been one of the better and most consistent of the Maple Leafs this season, combining 22 goals between them.
Before the game against the New York Islanders, Stempniak told reporters “It seems like I’ve been getting some chances, but I’m just not cashing them in.” Stempniak is going to have start cashing in big time if he plans on having a future with the Maple Leafs. His $6 million, two-year contract is being paid for bigger things. The goals better start coming or he will find himself on Brian Burke’s chopping block in the not-too-distant future.
by Frankie Anetzberger…
Bryan Colangelo has flirted with idea of brining a D-League team to Southern Ontario. He would like to have one handy to keep an eye on young talented players. This idea probably had something to do with Jamario Moon, who made his way through the D-League. Moon actually made more of an impact in the Continental Basketball Association than he did in the D-League. But what would intrigue Colangelo to do this? There are only so many Jamario Moon’s around and bringing a D-League team to Toronto may not be the answer.
The Developmental League was founded in 2001 with all of the teams located in the southeastern part of the United States. Since then, most teams have been located in the western part of the United States. Unlike the NBA, players are eligible for the D-League at eighteen years old. In the NBA, you must be at least nineteen years of age to be eligible. Each D-League team is allowed twelve players, 10 D-League players and 2 possible NBA players. NBA teams may call up D-League players throughout the year by means of a Ten-Day Contract. This agreement is specifically made for players called up from the D-League. The NBA team will assign a player a ten-day contract which lasts at least ten days or three games, which ever comes first. A team can sign a player to a ten-day contract only twice. After the second time, the team must sign the player for the rest of the year at the minimum NBA salary.
The league has had its flaws. None of the original nine teams are still around and teams are liable to fold anytime during the year. Most of the successful teams are based around successful NBA franchises. For example, the Los Angeles D-Fenders are the D-League affiliate for the Los Angeles Lakers. The Austin Toros are owned by the San Antonio Spurs and are in no position of being folded.
Bryan Colangelo is looking to bring a D-League team to Toronto so he can keep an eye on players. First of all, I don’t think Colangelo has enough power to just flop a D-League team in Toronto. Secondly, I don’t think a D-League team in Toronto would be successful. If Colangelo wanted team that he could keep an eye on, he should try an ABA or CBA team. Jamario Moon gets credited by making his name in the D-League but he really made his name in the CBA. He put all of his best numbers in the CBA and played the most in that league.
Toronto has enough trouble getting their NBA running like they should; I think a D-League team would just be another thing to worry about for Bryan Colangelo.
by Jon Grilz … 
It takes something special for a grown man to yell out the phrase, “Oh momma!” to his television screen. The annual Victoria Secret fashion show is one. The annual Lingerie Bowl is another. A man receiving a vicious knee strike to the testicles the other.
Just under three minutes into the first round of fight against Mostapha Al Turk at UFC 92, Kongo received an unintentional knee strike to the groin. A strike sufficient enough for the heavyweight to take some of his allowed five minutes to regain his composure, and for his testicle to drop out of his abdomen.
Fight again began, the slightest high pitched sigh could be heard from the newly crowned soprano Kongo, who avoided going for the clinch in favor of protecting his reason for living.
The two fighters pawed at each other as Al Turk seemed to be having no success at taking Kongo to the ground.
About a minute later, Al Turk found himself on the receiving end of an “unintentional” knee strike right to his goodie bag. Referee Steve Mazzagati separated the two fighters and could be heard saying, “I hope that was an accident.”
Al Turk too took a bit of time to get the taste of his own ball out of his mouth before fighting resumed. Kongo eventually won the fight at 4:37 of the first round, which made for one of the longest first rounds, just over seven minutes, in modern UFC history.
There is no doubt that there was some extra ice needed by both fighters in the locker room after the fight.
So, was either knee intentional? You be the judge; see the video here.
by Abdi-Fatah Ismail… 
He has all the tools to become perhaps the most skilled big man in the league, but lately I’ve been getting the feeling that this will probably never happen, especially in Toronto.
Why, you ask?
Here is a player from Europe making a transition to the NBA, and he’s got a lot of pressure on his shoulders. To me, he can make that transition, but he won’t do so playing behind the likes of Chris Bosh, maybe the best power forward in the league, and Jermaine O’Neal, the man who was the best power forward in the league.
Bargnani is not better than these guys yet, but one thing the best big men in the NBA have received early in their careers is playing time or, in other words, time to grow. They have had time to make mistakes and learn from them. No matter how hard you work in your off time, it’s nothing compared to real game play.
In his rookie season, Bargnani averaged 11.6 points per game, which is more than Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, and even Kevin Garnett. However, one thing these three players had after their inaugural season was more playing time, which went up dramatically in their second seasons along with their numbers.
Bargnani’s numbers, on the other hand, have gone down, along with his playing time. Asking a young, big, and relatively new NBA player to learn a new position (he constantly moves between SF and C) makes it an even tougher transition.
One position he never plays in Toronto is the power forward spot, his natural position, and the one he was drafted to play.
Bargnani has no clue where his minutes are going to come from, and I don’t think the coaching staff does either. One thing he does do is play well when he starts and when JO isn’t in the lineup. For example, he had a 16-point performance off the bench in Oklahoma Friday night after JO had gone down with a sore left shoulder.
I’ve heard the cliché many a time that you have to earn your playing time. However, with Bargnani, I think he earned a lot of it after his rookie season and he plays much better defense than Bosh and JO in the backcourt.
He was third in the league in blocks for a short time before his spot in the starting lineup and playing time were thrown out the window as he was delegated to backing up Jamario Moon. (Are you kidding me?)
I understand you can’t give Bargnani a starter’s role or even significant minutes with Bosh and JO on the same team. The Raptors have been losing a lot lately, and there have been rumblings out of Toronto to trade Bargnani. If that happens though, GM Brian Colangelo will regret the deal as long as he lives because Bargnani will become a household name with almost any other team.
However, you can’t keep him and have him play behind Bosh and expect it to happen. Maybe after Bosh opts out of his contract and signs elsewhere, then you can start building around Bargnani, but until that happens there will be no Bargnani and definitely no consistency out of him.
by Graeme Boyce… A few days ago, and a mere week after the debacle in Boston, we saw yet another debacle as the Leafs went down to defeat against the last place Islanders and a few days before that the Leafs were soundly clobbered by the Stars. All Leafs fans knew (and were expecting) a clobbering, due to the road trip and their collective sore legs, and all hope for a victory was quickly dashed in the opening minutes.
The debacle in Long Island proved statistics mean nothing. Any team can win on any night.
So, onto Washington. And Alexander Ovechkin. The teams played recently and the Caps won, but it was close. Prior to this game, the hometown team was also honouring a former Leafs speedster, Mike Gartner. This could only serve as inspiration. Oddly, it did seem like Grabovski was inspired out of the gate—though likely for another reason: Ovechkin. I doubt they like each other.
Hagman scored a beauty to open it up, a real nice pick in the top corner off a broken play. Yet “broken” only because in the confusion Grabovski caused controlling the puck deep all opposition eyes were on him and not Hagman who was patrolling near the circle. Perhaps like a shark.
Luckily, for all concerned, Toskala did not let the first shot in, and played well throughout the first, without the threat of Pogge ensuring his dismissal.
The Leafs were not thinking about the previous two (or three) debacles, nor thinking about upcoming games against the Thrashers or Sabres. Nope. They were off to a good start and quite focused on the task at hand: beating the Capitals in their own vaunted arena. Especially Ovechkin.
Too bad about Stajan, yet I was truly hoping Mayers would step up, or Williams. However, it seems the latter has now been taking shooting lessons from Antropov. In the first period, the Leafs should have gone up 2-0, but Williams shot it into the chest of Theodore. Nonetheless, despite this, the game progressed nicely.
Kulemin was finally showing some spark, since the outset of the season when he offered some serious promise. After the debacles, maybe he was told to. With Schenn still down (due to Ovechkin), it is refreshing to see a new defender, Sifers, come in and replace the injured budding star.
As a Leafs fan, given our history over the years, you can really see a goal coming a mile away in the dreaded dying seconds of any period… so, as the Leafs were flubbering around in our own end as the second was coming to a close, who else was causing havoc in the span of 10 seconds? Ovechkin.
Yes, a puck that went right through Toskala. That shot set the scene for the third.
After getting a goal against the lowly Islanders the other night, Stempniak needed to keep his scoring streak alive. Getting away with a little goalie interference in the second likely helped. He had his chances, so did Grabovski. Stempniak and Grabovski need to shoot more, and on the net.
Blake should have come through though at the end of the day. I predict Deveaux and Williams are not going to stick around much longer, nor Kulemin—but the players who I thought let the team down were Kaberle and Kubina. I am not going to mention the play of Antropov, or should I say Mr. Invisible. Actually, I think Poni had a better game.
Kaberle never demonstrates “brilliance” (yes, there is an occasional decent rush, and an occasional decent shot, but surely tossing the puck out from behind the net to a rushing forward late in the game is simply bone-headed. Not since the days of Bob McGill playing back there have I seen a gaffe like that.
Kubina needs to learn (a) to deliver the snapshot, and (b) stop taking penalties. When Schenn comes back, I would keep Sifers up and deal Kubina in a heartbeat. In the meantime, we are back home for four straight and first welcome the Thrashers, then the Sabres.
So, we will be out of this minor slump soon enough.
by Melissa Hashemian… A couple of years ago, you would never hear about Nik Antropov scoring big goals for the Leafs. In all honesty, the only time his name was ever brought up was when analysts listed the Leafs’ injured players.
He always seemed to sustain some kind of minor abrasion throughout the season, and from what I remember, he was the 6″6 player who failed to create many constructive plays and fell down every time someone touched him.
Things have changed significantly since then however, as Leaf Nation is finally getting to witness the real talent of the 230lb forward.
Antropov was drafted 10th overall (first round choice) by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. He was 18 at the time, and in many eyes was thought to become one of the future stars of the organization.
As years go by, his stats continue to amaze us.
Antropov registered 31 points (12 goals, 19 assists) in the ‘05-’06 season, 33 points (18 goals, 15 assists) in ‘06-’07, and 56 points (26 goals, 30 assists) in ‘07-’08.
