Grading the 2011-2012 Toronto Maple Leafs

So another year... and another season out of the playoffs.

Here's Globe and Mail report card. Now, I have read it and agree with a few and disagree with some. Here is my grades:

Forwards:

Phil Kessel: A-
37G 45A 82P
For all the people that says he can't play defense and he's a one dimensional player. You can't fault what he has done this season. He scored 82 points... last person I can remember that had that many point was some guy name Mats Sundin. Sure, his -10 is terrible but he's expected to score and he delivered with 37 goals.

Joffery Lupul: A+
25G 42A 67P
The toss in for the Gardiner deal. I would say it worked out pretty well. Lupul was more then what we expected as a 1st line winger and was the perfect compliment player to Kessel on the other wing. Lupul would have likely scored another 10-15pts in 16 games he missed due to injury.

Mikail Grabovski: B+
23G 28A 51P
The only thing that prevented Grabo from a grade A was his points total. He was great offensively and defensively, always entertaining. The perfect no. 2 guy. Now that he signed a 5 year contract, let's hope he can keep up with the points total and more.

Tyler Bozak: B
18G 29A 47P
Ping-ponged between 1st and 3rd line. He did pretty well as a substituted no. 1 centre but those numbers just won't do it. He is skilled and sound defensively. However, if we stay with Bozak as no. 1 again, he HAS to break into 60 points mark and improve that +/- number.

Clarke MacArthur: B-
20G 23A 43P
He sort of took a step backward but still reliable player. I'm hoping to see he will crack 50 points next season.

Tim Connolly: D+
13G 23A 36P
I contempted between D+ and C-. He was brought in to fill the no. 1 centre role temporary and did it fail miserably. He then fell into no man's name and started playing wing. He was a -14! Good news, we only have him for another year. Bad news, we have him for another year.

Nikolai Kulimen: D
7G 21A 28P
The ONLY thing that keeps me from failing Kulimen is the fact that he plays well defensively. The fact that he couldn't even score 10 goals doesn't mean he didn't tried. The whole season, he tried everything but just couldn't put it into the net. But even if he doesn't score, you will he will back check.

Joey Crabb: B-
11G 15A 26P
Started with Marlies then found a spot with the Leafs. He filled the 3rd and 4th line role perfectly and scored the occasional important goals. No complains here.

Matthew Lombardi: C+
8G 10A 18P
I may be generous but no one knew exactly what to expect from Lombardi this season after missing 80 games last season from concussion. He played mostly on the 3rd line and was a good penalty killer with his speed.

Matt Frattin: C+
8G 7A 15P
For the 56 games the played, the totally can be more. He had a difficult time to start the season and was sent to Marlies. Once he came back up, he looked different. The potential is there and will be interesting.

David Steckel: B
8G 5A 13P
We got him to do what he was suppose to do, win faceoffs. I don't expect goals from this guy but he did his job, win faceoff on penalty kill and on occasional played on the powerplay to win the faceoff.

Mike Brown: B-
2G 2A 4P
Injuries limited him to 50 games but he was effective in the 50 games. He has speed, can put in the occasional goal, will fight, kill penalty.

Colby Armstrong: F
1G 2A 3P
He just can't seem to get a break with the Leafs. Another season filled with injuries... the Leafs missed his leadership though.

Jay Rosehill: D
0G 0A 0P
Well, a less skilled version of Mike Brown or a more skilled version of Colton Orr. Would have been nice if he scored some points but he is what he is - a 4th line tough guy.

Phillipe Dupuis: F
0G 0A 0P
Why did we sign him to begin with? It certainly was NOT for the powerplay. Banished to the Marlies for Darryl Boyce, who was claimed off waiver by Columbus (curse you, Columbus!!!).

Ungraded:
Nazim Kardi
5G 2A 7P
Look, I love the kid. I am rooting for him. He has the skills and I think he sometime have defensive lapse... I want to see Kadri gain a bit more weight and start throwing it around.

Joe Colborne
1G 4A 5P
Still developing. He needs to learn to use his big body at centre. It takes time.

Colton Orr
1G 0A 1P
Only played 5 games and got sent to the Marlies. He is only typical tough guy.

Ryan Hamilton
0G 1A 1P
Feel good story of the year. Played 2 games with the Leafs and got one point. He finally got to play his first NHL game and in one game, he certainly "took care of business."

Carter Ashton
0G 0A 0P
Got from Tampa Bay for Keith Aulie. We will have to see what type of player he'll be.

Defence:

Dion Phaneuf: B
12G 32A 44P
I know I'll get crap for this. Fans and media put too much into Phaneuf as captain. I think he's done a fair job. You can't blame him totally for the February slide. He did get the points and flashed of brilliance. He just needs find consistency and crack the 50 points mark.

Jake Gardiner: A
7G 23A 30P
Where did HE come from? He was not expected to even BE in the Leafs lineup. He really picked it up the 2nd half and show the potential of what he will be. If he doesn't run into the sophomore slump, I expect Gardiner to score 5 more goals and maybe 10 more points. He may definitely be a lock for 40-50 points next season.

John-Michael Liles: B-
7G 20A 27P
Brought in to quarterback the powerplay. He was doing well until the injury and was never the same. He's signed for 3 years and will be an important leadership voice.

Luke Schenn: D+
2G 20A 22P
Too much up and down this season. His inconsistent play is why he's a C-. Some nights he's awesome, and some nights he looks lost. We need him to be the human eraser that he is.

Cody Franson: C-
5G 16A 21P
I liked Cody Franson. He should be on the first powerplay with Phaneuf and they can have all the one-timer they want. He needs to find his confidence again.

Carl Gunnarsson: B+
4G 15A 19P
He's the rock for Phaneuf. He covered for Phaneuf if any mistakes are made. Although, I thought he can score a few more.

Mike Komisarek: F
1G 4A 5P
I dislike Komisarek. I'm not going to hid that. However, watching him play was as bad as watching Aki Berg or Cory Cross play. He can't do anything right. He makes WAY too much money to warm the press box.

Goaltenders:

Jonas Gustavsson: C
17W 7L 4T 4SO 2.92GAA
He was too inconsistent. There were flashes of brilliance but you can't seem to figure out what you will get the next night. He had the opportunity to take the no. 1 job and ride with it. It's almost like he got on and fell off.

James Reimer: C
14W 14L 4T 3SO 3.10GAA
Almost the same story to Gustavsson. He looked really good in the first game but once Gionta (And I'm still wondering why that wasn't a penalty) elbowed Reimer's head, he hasn't been the same. Hopefully a full off season, he will be back into form for next.

Ben Scriven: B-
4W 5L 2T 0SO 3.13
Ben is like the Reimer of 2011-2012 - coming out of nowhere to show that he belongs. It's hard to say with just 12 games but he helped the Leafs weather the storm back in Oct when Reimer went down. There's still some holes in this games, might need another year in AHL.

Jussi Rynnas: N/A
0W 1L 0T
Can't grade a guy who only played 2 games but definitely will be back the Marlies next season.

So, here we are. Those are my grades. Now the Leafs have the 5th pick in this year's draft... obviously, Yakupov will already been chosen. But I'd like to see one of these names: Mikhail Grigorenko (Grabo and Grigo... that'll be fun), Filip Forsberg (no relation to THE Peter Forsberg), Matt Dumba (do all D-man).

Is Bo (Lost Girl) a descendant of Xena: Warrior Princess?

I started watching the show because the darn commercial teaser of Anna Silk as Bo holding a cool weapon caught my eyes...



Now that season 2 has completed... I am more and more convinced that Bo is probably a descendant of Xena.

Shall we begin?

1. Long black hair

vs


CHECKED.

2. Loyal Side-kick/Best Friend


vs


CHECKED.

3. Awesome Fighting Skills - has an arsenal of weapons at her disposal


Her trusty chakram and that's just one of her many skills... don't forget her sword, whip, staff, bow and arrow, and whatever she can grab to use as weapons (including fish and frying pan).
vs

And that's only a SELECTED few... she has a katana hidden in her room somewhere...

CHECKED.

4. One bad boy who just never let go...


The God of War... he'll do whatever it takes to have Xena by his side again.

vs

Ryan Lambert, the Dark Fae... almost got Bo to marry him... also known as Loki, the trickster god.

CHECKED.

5. A Dark Past


The Evil Xena, also known as the Destroyer of Nation. Now she fights for good and tries to atone for her past.

vs

I know she's not evil but she has the potential to turn into Super Succubus (and be evil). But she's fighting the urge to fight for what is right.

Need I say more?

What do you think?

Fantastic Weekend: Part 2

This one is ALL about the Lost Girl.

Showcase, what I liked to consider the Canadian version of HBO/Showtime as they play great shows you don't see on other channels. So, a few week ago I saw the contest. Ironically, I entered my 200 words essay submission (yes... essay) as to why "I'm the Biggest Lost Girl fan." Last day and a few hours before contest closes. Why not? And week later, I had received an email from Showcase that I had won a pair of ticket to attend a pre-show taping for Lost Girl.

Fantastic, I had already plan to go to see the Leafs game and now to cap off the week going to the set of my favourite show!

The taping was delayed an hour but that's ok. I picked up my friend and we were quite excited about this. It's not everyday you get to go to the live taping!

When we got there, we waited in the room with other winners. A guy comes up to me and say, "wait a minute, I know you." I stand there thinking, "really? I am not a famous person because and I don't know you."

"My name is Curt or Faenonymous."
"OH, the twitter guy!"

We actually waited for 45min before we were lead through the set to a room...



It's the DAL RIATA!! Seriously, it looks bigger on TV...



They showed us the episode for that night and at first they played S02E08. I actually cannot believe I knew which episode that was... After 2min of the episode, they realized it was the wrong episode. They had to "borrow" one of the actor's copy and showed up S02E21.

After that they brought out the entire casts for Q&A and there were funny moments. I did meet the cast at the Fan Expo 2011 but they are such nice people to see again. Someone actually grabbed the actor's ass. It's not lie. He turned around with the "who's hand was that on my butt?"

How about just pictures??

Head writer, Steve... a very funny guy.


You command, Anna... we'll obey!


Bonus Anna picture ;)


Kris Holden-Reid


Ksenia Solo


KC Collins and Paul R. Amos... KC has such a great smile. How can you NOT love him? And Paul? That accent is real! It's fantastic!! I think I have a new found liking to Vex...


Zoie Palmer... *sigh* lol


The Triangle...


KC Collins were going to hand out free beer at the Dal... til we realized the tap was empty...


See... it says "The Dal Riata" I WAS THERE!

And... for you Team Dyson people... I did find my way to his apartment...


Dyson must have knew we were coming... he kinda packed up and left town...

I couldn't find Bo's place or Lauren's place... It would have been nice...

And we get to go home with a Lost Girl prize pack!

Sign photo of cast... a water bottle... a nice bag... a notbook... buttons (which is the same pictures as the one I got at Fan Expo)... and a t-shirt...

Now I have a new project...

Get the cast of Lost Girl to sign that t-shirt!

Fantastic Weekend: Part 1

So, with a 3 months hiatus. I'm coming back with 2 part posting! Lucky you!

It actually began more like 2 weeks ago when I received an email and a voicemail that I won a pair of Toronto Maple Leafs tickets from a radio station. That's awesome part 1. Then it was winning 2 free coffees from Tim Hortons. Sure, coffee is only work about $3 but a win's a win! And then I find out that I was a draw to be part of a pre-show for my new favourite show Lost Girl.

So Saturday, March 24th was to be good day but then we (me and Septicor) found out there was a free skate PLUS autograph with Leaf's legend, Darryl Sittler. So, I'd figure why not? It's going to be a full day of event.

And so it began, we went to Mississauga for skating and lined up for autographs. And I am much closer to my goal of getting who ever is still alive on the poster signed.

What you see there is a banner poster of "All-Time Leaf" greats. Completed signatures include: Johnny Bower, Borje Salming, Frank Mahavolich, Doug Gilmoure and now Darryl Sittler. I am missing just 2 that was still alive: Lanny MacDonald and Dave Keon. Anyone know where I can find a "Tim Hortons" signature stamp? He's in the poster!

So we did some skating and Septicor has not skated since he was in elementary school - to put it in simple terms, it's been a LONG, LONG time. But considering it's been that long... this video is him after 20min.



After an hour of skating, we drove down to downtown and went to the Spaghetti Factory for food. We really didn't know what to eat... not really sure WHY we went to Spaghetti Factory. Maybe just one of those days.

I went with the Blue Cheese Farfelle with Chicken. First, blue cheese is an acquired taste because it's strong and second, it's not cheap (but not overly expensive). AND it was with bow-tie pasta. I found the blue cheese a bit stronger then I wanted... oh well, still good and washed it down with Mill St. Organic.

We proceeded to the Air Canada Centre for the game. Leafs lost in shootout but it was an entertaining game. We had these 2 (1 guy and 1 girl) who disappeared after the 1st period. The girl kept complaining about something. Septicor tried to explain the game to her and she asked him if she was annoying him. Then she asked me for a girl's opinion which automatically alerted and "uh oh... what does she want??" And it turns out she wanted to know if she should go use the toilets now or wait for the period to be over to avoid the line up. But they never returned.

On the other side, I had a father-daughter together at the game. I thought that was cute. It's too bad she couldn't get on TV.

The greatness of Mats Sundin honoured beside his hero, Borje Salming.


Anthem time.


Powerplay time!


Now who doesn't like Timbits hockey? This time it was actually girls. There was this one girl who was slightly better then others and everyone cheer for her when she scored.


A little close up shot.


And Leafs scores!!


Mr. Nifty Mitten, Nazem Kadri in the shootout.


Part 2 will be coming soon...

How do Yu do?

Have a look at Richard Griffin's blog regard the latest Japanese sensation, Yu Darvish.

Now, it has been reported that the Toronto Blue Jays have won the posting bid for his services.

I am agree completely what Griffin said and here's why...

1) The Blue Jays have gone Back to the Future with the jerseys and they are HOT and SEXY! The Blue is back in BLUE Jays!

2) Darvish is only 25 years old and he will fit in perfectly with the young Blue Jays core of; Ricky Romero, Brett Lawrie, JP Arencibia etc. Win together, lose together but most importantly, building a winning team together.

3) Impressive record in the Japanese league; 93-38... Now, I don't expect Darvish to actually pitch something like 20-5 in 2012 but I think if he pitches 15-10 with an ERA of 3.45 and finishes somewhere in Top 15 in statistical records in AL. That is a win. A rookie of the year award would be the cherry on top.

4) The Blue Jays needs some stability in the 3rd or 4th pitching slot. Ricky is Ricky; defacto numero uno. Brendon Morrow (if he can find consistency) fits nicely right behind Ricky. Then we had Brett Cecil and Kyle Drabeck who both struggled and sent to triple-A. I do hope these guys will be better in 2012. Out of nowhere came Henderson Alvarez and in a short audition looked really good. You can't forget Dustin McGowan. You hope 2 shoulder injuries are behind him and he can regain to 2008 form. If Darvish can be a consistent 3rd starter and get around 15 wins. The Blue Jays may find themselves in the wild card hunt.

5) The most important part is getting the fans back into the seats. The regular 20,000 fans will show up every game but now with Darvish, the Jays can market the team like Seattle Mariners did with Ichiro Suzuki. But the most intriguing part of this is that not only can the Blue Jays capitalize on marketing Darvish to the young Asian community; Japanese, Chinese (including Taiwanese) and Korean, it's possible to even market into the Persian community. Two birds with one stone. It's the perfect opportunity to capitalize on the Blue Jays young and exciting core. Homerun king, Jose Bautista. Home-grown Canadian talent, Brett Lawrie. Home-grown drafted talent, Ricky Romero. So forget the 80s or 90s night, let's go with cultural night. Toronto really is such a vibrant city with many cultures; Japanese (or Asian) Night, Persian Night... There is a large Japanese community that will go and support. Darvish Night special... 10 tickets in the lower bowl for $450 + tax that includes an autograph photo or photo-op. (You say photo ops? Trust me... with his mixed heritage, there will be plenty of girls at the stands! Remember the Eric Hinske commercial?) Hey Rogers!! Are you listening? I've got plenty of ideas! Hire me! Send me a private message on twitter!!

Last year was the wait the Brett Lawrie's arrival... This year is seeing how quick Darvish adjust to MLB and possibly dominate. If the Blue Jays staff manages the way they have been in these past few years, 2012 edition of the Toronto Blue Jays will be quite exciting!

Play ball!

NHL Alignment... Four Conferences. Really?

This new NHL realignment is really a joke. Four... FOUR... conferences??

Ok, I admit, I think it would be pretty awesome to have a possible Leafs-Habs Stanley Cup final but still... 4 conferences? What were they thinking? What are they going to name them? Revive those old names? Smyth? Campbell? Wales? Or new names? Sittler? Richard? Yzerman? Something just doesn't sit well with four conferences!

So, here are some of my previous realignment solutions...

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3


It's great to have every team play each other twice. Frankly, as a Leafs fan... I would like to see more Leafs vs Wings or Hawks and we don't see enough Columbus or St. Louis.

I don't think there's any problem with East and West Conference and 2 divisions each set u[... Really, the simple solution should be this

East Conference
Great Lakes (or keep Northeast): Buffalo, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
Atlantic: Carolina, Florida, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, New York Islander, Tampa Bay, Washington

West Conference
Central: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg
Pacific: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, LA, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver

So, if Phoenix gets moved to Quebec or wherever, they can be placed into the division with Toronto and Montreal.
0)
Each team play it's division team 6 times, (35 games for East and 40 for West), they play teams in the other division within the conference 4 times (28 for East and 32 for West), play each team in the other division once (16 for East and 14 for West). With the 3 games left for the East, they can be randomly for rivalries. So teams like Leafs, Habs, and Bruins would get the opportunity to play one more game against Hawks, Wings and one team.

Or

Each team can still play each other twice (58 games) and play 1 more game against team in the other division in the conference (7 or 8 games, total 65-66 games) and the rest of the games are left for division play (17 for East and 16 for West).

The playoff format would be like this. In each conference, the division winners will be placed 1st and 2nd accordingly to points. From 3rd to 8th, will be positioned by standing. And in each round, home ice will be determined via point standing in regular season.

Now, an alternative solution could be top 4 team in each division head into playoffs. They play within division playoffs and then winner of each division within the conference play each other and winner of that will play for the cup.

See? Easy simple solution...

iPhone vs Blackberry and a dash of Android: Who wins?

Where do I start... I am a Blackberry user aka a Crackberry. And obviously, I'm going to say Blackberry but with my admission out of the way, I will tell you why Blackberry is still cooler.

Let's start...

AppStore vs AppWorld vs Android Market

Well, this one is sort of a no brainer... with a gazillion of mindless, useless apps... iPhone wins hands down.

iPhone 1 Blackberry 0 Android 0

I used to sell cellphones to people. The company made an issue of selling smartphone first since it's where it generates the most commission and revenue. So, when I sell phone to people, you need to know who will be using, why they need it and for what.

For easy of use, iPhone wins again. Seriously, how hard is it to use your fingers to poke and pinch? Android is a close 2nd...

iPhone 2 Blackberry 0 Android 0

So what about texting and emailing? What sets Blackberry apart from other phone is the keyboard. Once you go Black(berry), you can't go back. The keyboard is bread and butter of the phone. Forget the Storm or the new touchscreen Torches... The Blackberry Bold is the standard. Unfortunately, Android phones are made by 3rd party (HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson). Therefore, it's up to those company to make a nice keyboard... nope, that doesn't exist. Blackberry FTW!

iPhone 2 Blackberry 1 Android 0

Keeping you entertained... iPhone wins... barely. iPhone has an mp3 player as do Blackberry and Android. iPhone takes pictures. Blackberry and Android do that too. iPhone has games to keep you entertained. Sorry, Blackberry. Point to iPhone and Android.

iPhone 3 Blackberry 1 Android 1

Keeping your data safe. Blackberry wins. There is a reason why the president of the US uses a Blackberry and most executives use Blackberry. Because it is secure! It's also a reason why India and Saudi Arabia threatened to shut down RIM servers. Those countries know a revolution can be started via BBM without being spied on by the government. I know KiK and WhatApp exist but it just doesn't live up to BBM.

iPhone 3 Blackberry 2 Android 2

Virus... Hello, Android! Have a look at this video. Point for Blackberry and iPhone.

iPhone 4 Blackberry 3 Android 2

Next on the list is something that make me go facepalm way too much and this only happens to iPhone...

Please... click on THIS and THIS. You can't google this for other phones... Point to Blackberry and Android.

iPhone 4 Blackberry 4 Android 3

Celebrity sitings! They use blackberry...

iPhone 4 Blackberry 5 Android 3

I'm not sure about you... but iPhone (and iPad) is the ONLY phone I see people trying to destroy. Just click this. I wonder if these people were looking for a bulletproof iPhone... and seriously, you shot the phone with a .50 rifle and expect Apple to make an exchange for you? Really?

iPhone 4 Blackberry 6 Android 4

Songs about the phone...

The iPhone Song?

It apparently it's not just about iPhone...


This is not catchy...


This is funny...


LOL!


Soulja Boy & Sean Kingston


Some Swagberry, baby!

But THIS song TOP them ALL


Blackberry wins hands down!

iPhone 4 Blackberry 7 Android 4

And to finish this blog with some UK humour!