Perhaps I am a Jinx and a Look at Other Strange Leaf Injuries

No sooner than I heap praise on the unexpected team leader in Matt Stajan, he goes down with a strange non-hockey related injury.

Toronto has had it's fair share of strange and/or ill-timed injuries or other maladies over the years. Here's a look a few:

Doug Gilmour
In his first game back after being traded to Toronto at the deadline in 2003, Gilmour had a career ending knee injury in the second period versus Calgary. Gimlour was clearly in the twilight of his career, however, he had scored 11 goals and added 19 assists in 61 games. Now I'm not saying he would have been the difference maker, but that series against Philadelphia was dreadful and Gilmour certainly could have provided a veteran and leadership presence on a team that managed to lose those traits as soon as the post season began.

Karel Pilar
Once a promising young defenseman, Pilar was well on his way to a solid NHL career. He wasn't a tower like Pronger, or as naturally gifted as Lidstrom, but he had all the tools to be a great player for many years. Unfortunately, in 2002, Pilar was diagnosed with a viral heart infection that was the undoing of his career. He missed too many games in some of the most important years in a defenseman's development. He managed to fight through the infection, recover and return to the AHL in an attempt to recover his career. He may have done it, if it wasn't for a relapse of the same virus that ultimately put an end to his efforts.

Luca Cereda
A player drafted 24th overall by Toronto in the 1999 entry draft, Cereda was touted as one of the smartest players in the draft and could have been a fantastic grab at 24th. But much like Pilar, Cereda succumb to a heart infection that eventually ended his career. He missed an entire season in 2000-01 recovering from heart surgery. He was added to the list of 'what could have been' when he went back to europe in 2004 before retiring in 2007.

Mikael Renberg
December 28th, 2002, while getting ready for a game, Renberg was tying his skates just as he did every game when a small blister on his hand broke. The next day he had a raging infection, high fever and his hand swelling dramatically. Quick work by the team doctors and hospital staff controlled the infection and Renberg recovered within a two weeks. Staphylococcocus Aureus is the medical term for a staph infection. Renberg was lucky. If he waited much longer, it's likely his hand would have been amputated, and at worst, he could have died.

Ed Belfour
Belfour had a simliar, yet not quite as serious infection as Renberg, earlier in the year when he cut his finger on his skate eyelet.

Mark Bell
Just when Mark Bell was beginning to show limited signs of returning to his Chicago Blackhawks form, he got into a fight with Ryan Malone and had his orbital bone shattered. Three months later Bell returned with a full face shield protecting his surgically repaired face and he proceeded to destroy Alfredsson in the hit that I had been waiting for ever since Alfredsson hit Darcy Tucker from behind in the playoffs, separated his shoulder, then scored the tie-breaking goal. See the hit here.

Bryan Berard
Marian Hossa managed to change the face of the Toronto defense corps for years to come when he proceeded to scoop out Berard's eye with an uncontrolled follow through. Careless use of the stick they call it. Thus began my hatred for Marian Hossa. You can read all about it. Berard was a fantastic talent that had great potential as a puck moving defenseman with a great shot and sound defensive awareness. He would never be the same after this. Sorry for poor quality, it was all I could find in my 30 seconds of youtubing.

I'm sure there are many other odd injuries that relate to the Leafs that I am forgetting about. If you can think of any, throw them in the comments. I'd love to have a refresher.

You can read a similar list as it relates to all sports over at Bitter Leaf Fan.

Don't look now...

Our much maligned local boy Matt Stajan is leading our Leafs in scoring.

Stajan is currently tied with Antropov with 29 points, including 20 assists. At some point between last season and this one, Stajan has channelled his inner Adam Oates and become a playmaking specialist. He's doing a lot of things right at both ends of the ice and has been a genuine treat to watch this year.

Stajan has had a rough go of it since his first year in the NHL under Pat Quinn. While arguably being a victim of the Leafs patented 'Rush the youngster to the NHL scheme' (ala Jeff Farkas), Stajan has toiled with relative mediocrity and 4th line filler status for much of the past few seasons. He has been a victim of fan animosity on more than one occasion for his soft play in the corners and lack of offensive production.

But this season has changed for him. He has put on some weight and has begun to get his nose dirty in the rough parts of the ice; The corners and the front of the net. Stajan is always there working hard, digging and getting those pucks loose for his shooter linemates to bury goals. The ones that dont' go in, Stajan is one of the first there as johnny on the spot banging home the rebounds.

Much like Antropov and Ponikarovsky, it appears Stajan has grabbed the bull by the horns and taken full advantage of Sundin's departure.

Stajan has been one the most improved forwards in the NHL this season and in a season full of positives, has been one of the brightest.

Apologies for my absence. I hope to be back in full gear.

Is Jason Blake alright?

In forty one shots against Montreal tonight, Blake only registered one.

Seriously.

Perhaps tonight can be a learning experience for the grizzled veteran. He was effective and played a decent game tonight despite the fact he didn't fire that many shots. He was a bulldog crashing the net and creating ruckus all around. His speed and tenacity is what makes him an effective player. If he can forget about trying to score a goal on every possession, we could see him become the player he is designed to be. He took a few penalties tonight, at least one of which is directly attributable to a crash the net style of play.

Poni seemed to cuddle right up to Antropov after the brilliant goal. Perhaps there's more to their friendship than meets the eye....

Very fun game to watch.

Vesa has got to start stopping some more pucks. After the 3rd goal, it was only 12 shots against. A .750 save percentage. Terrible. Granted he stopped the last 8 when they mattered, but he has to get that percentage higher overall.

The west coast swing should be fun. It's always a good time to head into Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. We'll get to see Kyle Wellwood up close and personal again. Can I still call him fatty? He's on a tear. It looks like we could have another Steve Sullivan/Freddy Modin in the making.

Not that it matters much when Grabs, Hagman and Kulemin are playing some absolutely dominant hockey right now.

Until next time...

Fatigue and Joseph

Antropov's bonehead tripping penalty in the dying minutes of the 3rd when Carolina was on their heels can only be explained by one word: Fatigue. It was physical and mental laziness. With 4 games in 6 nights, you can easily understand how a team as feisty as the Leafs could be tired.

While the penalties taken in the second stanza certainly were troubling, it wasn't nearly as troubling as the play of Cujo.

Once a premier goalie in the league, Cujo has looked merely a shell of his former self. He's been out of position, appears reactive rather than proactive and cost the Leafs 2 points tonight. While the Toronto defense certainly isn't without blame, the stabling force of solid goaltending props up your defensive core. Joseph has looked shaky and had Toskala been between the pipes, this likely would have been a win.

The Ruutu goal was a direct result of Joseph being out of position. As Ruutu came out from behind the net, Joseph was down to cover the wrap around nicely. When Ruutu didn't complete the move and instead headed out towards the faceoff dot, a goalie is supposed to go upright again then step out and cut down the angle. Joseph remained in the wrap around prevent position which totally exposed the short side high portion of the net. Not surprisingly, Ruutu buried it in this exact spot. Even Tommy Salo would have made that save... Ok.. maybe not.

The Larose goal was also a result of Joseph being out of position. Joseph has lost some agility that he has been trying to compensate for by going down early as he tries to make cross crease plays. Unfortunately, that lack of agility makes it hard for him to recover. Larose made it count by going high on the resulting scrambling.

While these 2 were glaring errors, it was a common theme all night. Joseph went down early time after time and on many of those, look awkward trying to get back into position. He didn't come out and challenge shooters leaving many corners open and seemed to be lacking a lot of confidence.

He needs to get a win soon to get his confidence back, or this could be a very trying season whenever Toskala is given the backup role. There is of course, the possibility that the NHL has finally passed him by. I love Cujo, however, if this trend continues as the season goes on, it will be his last.

Leafs get a day to recoup and will have a chance to redeem themselves on Tuesday against these same Hurricanes.

I suspect they will.

Currently One of the Best in the League

This Leaf team is really starting to impress me.

In back to back games, they managed to play their best game in many years, then surpass it in the following game.

What more can you say about a team that fired more shots at Brodeur then he has faced in his career? I know! They scored 5 goals in just over 5 minutes against one of the best defensive teams in the NHL this season.

The Leafs are playing so well right now, it's not out of the realm of possibility to consider them currently one of the best teams in the whole league.

Now before you scoff, let's take a look a the results so far: Beat Stanley cup repeat favourite Detroit; 5 goals against Brodeur; 5 goals in 5 minutes in a win over the league's best team so far;4 times clawing back from a 2 goal deficit in the past 2 weeks, 7 points in those games; and they are outshooting opponents 235-149 over the past 6 games including an almost 2 full period stretch without giving up a shot.

If it weren't for a bad start to the season, Detroit game notwithstanding, this team would be near the top of the league.

It seems they are finding scoring and that's a good thing. I do have a very big concern on how long they can keep this intensity up, however.

Eighty-Two games is a long time to be playing this style hockey.

I'm loving it, however.

An Open Letter To Leaf Fans

Dear Most Valuable Losers:

Yesterday, continuing a long-standing trend, another Toronto reporter took a cheap shot at Leaf fans. This time it was Howard Berger who called us "losers" but we've seem the same cookie-cutter article from virtually everyone who covers the team.

Quite frankly, we've had enough.

As fans, we believe that those most deserving of our praise and our scorn are directly involved in the game, whether it's on the ice, in the press box or in the executive corridors. Fans don't pencil in the starting five, make bad trades, or write the headlines of the day and shouldn't be blamed (or praised) for the totals in the wins and loss column.

Hockey may be just a game but it's also a passion. If you're looking for passionate hockey coverage that offers insight and humour and you're sick of being blamed for supporting a team you're passionate about, you have a better option.

It's time to leave the media superstars behind. There's compelling, timely, wide-ranging content waiting just for you online in the Barilkosphere.

Many have found this better way of following the Leafs, but not every Leafs fan has been so lucky. Please send this message to your fellow Leaf fans via e-mail or postings on message boards and let them know that they do have a choice.

We hope you'll join us here in the Barilkosphere and become regular readers.

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Berger Needs To Be Fired, Now.

What an absolute joke.

Howard Berger's latest entry is nothing short of a complete disgrace to the entire company of Rogers Communication.

It is a disgusting diatribe that reeks of unprofessionalism.

It's not even worthy of a rebuttal.

Howard Berger needs to be relieved of his duties immediately.

The only acceptable reason not to fire him would be if there is evidence that this posting was not his own.

Because even by Berger's standards, this entry is extremely belittling. So perhaps it was not actually written by him. How he manages to John-Kerry-Flip-Flop from "the NHL’s surprise team of the first three weeks" to "Arguably the worst team in the National Hockey League since the lockout" in less than 24 hours is unexplainable. The style of the entire entry doesn't even read like normal.

It all likeliness, however, it was Howard's writing.

Somehow, he's managed to find a new low. I didn't think it was possible.