A Look Back at 2010-2011 Toronto Maple Leafs

What a ride and a disappointment for Leaf fans... It's not necessarily a horrible season and there's hope for 2011-2012 season.

It's fun to look back and grade the players, so let's start!

Starting with Centers.

Tyler Bozak 82GP 15G 17A 32P -29 14PIM

His numbers certainly said he's not a 1st line center but when you're on a team that does not have a legitimate guy, he was fair. However, I think his value is on the 3rd line where he was good at faceoff, penalty kill and chip in when needed.

Grade: B-

Mikail Grabovski 81GP 29G 29A 58P 14 60PIM

At the beginning of the season, I thought Burke should have traded Grabovski for some picks. I guess I was wrong. What a revelation season. He was one goal short of 30. He was a threat on the ice and it was a DRASTIC change from last season. But one has to wonder what else can he bring.

Grade: A-

Tim Brent 79GP 8G 12A 20P -4 33PIM

One game says all about Tim Brent as a player: 3 block shots off Chara. His numbers are definitely not impressive but he was also the "Jack of All Trades" this season. I would love to see him return next season.

Grade: B

Darryl Boyce 46GP 5G 8A 13P 8 33PIM

He literally has the same type of game as Tim Brent on a 4th line role. He's very replaceable but I love the fact that Boyce made it to the NHL the long way. I think all Leaf fans will remember his rearranged face (yuck!).

Grade: B

Forwards:

Phil Kessel 82GP 32G 32A 64P -20 24PIM

There's a lot of holes in Kessel's game but at times, he is what he is. 3 straight season with 30 or more goals. We know what he can do but I haven't seen Keseel elevate his game or make others better around him. He has potential to be better.

Grade: B

Joffery Lupul 54GP 14G 17A 31P -11 33PIM

Coming to the Leafs in a mid-season trade for Beauchemin with Anahiem. I think Lupul may actually work for the Leafs. He had been out of hockey for a year due to surgery and infection but he seems to be picking it up. A full training camp may help Lupul return to a 20-25 goal scorer.

Grade: B

Clarke MacArthur 82GP 21G 41A 62P -3 37PIM

Burke's BEST off-season signing. For $1 million last season, he more then exceeded expectations. Now a RFA, I'm sure Burke will get it done. I'm thinking $2.4 per season in a 3 or 4 year deal. The question now is can he put up similar numbers next season?

Grade: A

Nikolai Kulemin 82GP 30G 27A 57P 7 26PIM

The quiet one. He continues to improve on last season and seems to be a great fit with Russian speaking Grabovski and hardnose MacArthur. The question is can he continue to develop into an even more dangerous player?

Grade: A

Colby Armstrong 50GP 8G 15A 23P -1 38PIM

He seems to be a Darcy Tucker type player... Love him on your team. Hate him if he's not. He was effective when he was healthy but I can't help but think he should be able to put 30-40pts when healthy.

Grade: C+

Joey Crabb 48GP 3G 12A 15P -1 24PIM

Surprise callup and played on the 1st line with Kessel and Bozak but then found a home on the 3rd line. Gotta love the "Alaskan Crabb" joke

Grade: B-

Mike Brown 50GP 3G 5A 8P 1 69PIM

He skates. He fights. What's impressive about Brown (other then his moustashe) is his speed. Great guy on the PK.

Grade: B-

Fredrik Sjostrom 66GP 2G 3A 5P -5 14PIM

He kind of got bumped off the lineup and couldn't get back in. He's another 3rd or 4th line guy with some speed and pop. But only 5pts in 66 games?

Grade: C

Colton Orr 46GP 2G 0A 2P -1 128PIM

He fights. He fights. He fights. Not much can be said other then a fighter.

Grade: C

Jay Rosehill 26GP 1G 2A 3P -6 71PIM

When Orr went down with injury, Rosehill was called up to replace him. He did a decent job in fighting other players. But doesn't present anything else.

Grade: C

Defence:

Dion Phaneuf 66GP 8G 22A 30P -2 88PIM

Freak accident near the beginning of the season. But Phaneuf certainly rounded to form near the end of the season. If Phaneuf can play the entire season like he did in the last 30 games, he will return to Norris Trophy candidate type player

Grade: C+

Luke Schenn 82GP 5G 17A 22P -7 34PIM

For the type of player Schenn is, he doesn't take dumb penalties. Led the league in hits and blocked shots. Pierre McGuire didn't call him a Human Eraser for no reason. He just needs to develop the offensive game... which on one game against Boston, he looked like Bobby Orr

Grade: A-

Carl Gunnarsson 68GP 4G 16A 20P -2 14PIM

Heir apparent to Tomas Kaberle, sorta. His numbers are quite low. He has potential upsides but not like Kaberle. Next season will tell if he can quarterback the PP.

Grade: C+

Keith Aulie 40GP 2G 0A 2P -1 32PIM

Already dubbed "Muhammed Aulie" and was a steady partner for Phaneuf. Couldn't hurt if he put in few more points but still young.

Grade: B-

Mike Komisarek 75GP 1G 9A 10P -8 86PIM

My friends already know I have no love for Komisarek. Probably the biggest signing mistake by Burke but that happens (see Finger). If he can be the steady defenceman and stop turning the puck over, I would be happy.

Grade: D-

Brett Lebda 41GP 1G 3A 4P -14 14PIM

It's quite sad he was put into this position. He was brought in to somewhat help with PP and he did not really get any chance.

Grade: D

Goaltender:

Jean-Sebastien Giguere 33GP 26GS 2.87GAA 11W 11L 4OT 0SO .900SV

His groan. He was steady when he was healthy but that damn groan kept getting in the way. If he takes a paycut and reduced role, he should stay.

Grade: C+

Jonas Gustavsson 23GP 21GS 3.29GAA 6W 13L 2OT 0SO .890SV

What a disappointing season for the Monster. Supposedly the guy of the future. Maybe it was sophomore jinks. He was very weak and then his heart decided to act up again.

Grade: D

James Reimer 37GP 35GS 2.60GAA 20W 10L 5OT 3SO .921SV

Where did he come from? I knew he was playing in the ECHL and had been up and down between ECHL and AHL. And out of nowhere he comes and almost single handedly took the Leafs into the playoffs. The question is is he for real?

Grade: A

Ungraded players:

Nazem Kadri 29GP 3G 9A 12P -3 8PIM

There just isn't enough to grade Kadri yet. We know he has the skills but which role suits him? If Kadri can get stronger in the off season, he might fit quite well with Kessel.

Francois Beauchemin

For what it was worth, he was steady defenceman that just didn't work out.

Kris Versteeg

To hear he didn't want to be here... I just don't have any love for you now.

Tomas Kaberle

Will always love his coolness when handling the puck. Second all-time scoring for Leafs defenceman. I wonder if he'll come back...


Players with less then 10 games

Korbanian Holzer, Marcel Mueller, Matt Frattin, Joe Colbourne, Luca Caputi, Matt Lashoff, Christian Hanson

Of this list... Frattin looked like he's ready for NHL in the game against Montreal but may need some time in AHL.

There are reasons to be excited for 2011-2012 season. The Leafs WILL BE in the playoffs and will finish as high as 4th. You read that here first!

No New Xbox or Playstation til 2014

Wow... am I good or am I good?

Back in February I made a comment about the current gaming console and a prediction about the next Xbox and Playstation?

Well, take a look at THIS article from BGR - New Microsoft and Sony gaming consoles may not land until 2014.

Maybe technology is just too predictable...

Want more prediction? iPhone 5 is already starting production for September 2011 release... there will be some iPhone 6 by 2012, then iPhone 7 by 2013 and so on. Apple is probably the world's most predictable company. But wait, there's more! I predict that iPad 3 is already off the concept table and already have a working prototype somewhere in California. In another words, iPad 3 is coming June 2012.

Bugs Bunny at the Symphony

On Saturday, I went with 2 friends and attended the afternoon show of Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.

Of course, first thought was "must be for kids" or "I'm not interested in cartoons." (you know who you are) But what a show you've missed.

Awesomeness #1, I found a coupon code that gave 50% off the tickets. So, instead of $65 + $9 convenience charge... it became $27.45 + $8.10 = $35.55 for Orchestra seats - even though we were 2nd last row, it was still orchestra and not the mezzanine or balcony... but WOOHOO! Saving!

We went for the 2pm afternoon show and I'm not sure if that was a mistake or just happen so because there were lots of kids. However, they were not as much of a distraction as I thought some kids *could* be.

Conductor was George Daugherty with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra... who had already played the show in Kitchener on April 7th and 8th.

So, onto the show!


It started with "Dance of the Comedians" and as you expected, cartoon playing and orchestra playing. They played the famous Merrie Melody/Looney Tune intro and I must admit, it does sound better with an orchestra. This was not a typical symphony though as George actually talks to the audience and explains a brief of history with Termite Terrace and Merry Melody that the cartoons were used as intermission filler back in 1930s at the movies (really interesting tidbits but doubtful the kids cared).

Right after, Bugs Bunny himself arrives on the screen to conduct... the piece "Baton Bunny." If you don't recall, this is "Bugs Bunny vs Fly" cartoon. To hear a LIVE orchestra to the cartoon is a total difference experience then watching it at home. The music and cartoon were spot on.

The music is done the same way current orchestra and big movies are done. There is a clicker which the conductor uses to synchronize the music to whatever is going on screen.

After Baton Bunny, it was a short cartoon, "What's Up, Doc?" without the orchestra.

Following that was "Rhapsody Rabbit" which had audio from the cartoon WITH orchestra. At first, I thought it was a full audio track with the orchestra playing ALONG with the track but I think they may have reworked the audio tracks where it left out orchestra music. In this cartoon, you had Bugs Bunny performing on piano with the live orchestra. It is quite funny even though I have seen this more times then I can remember, I still laughed when Bugs held out "throw the bum out!" sign when a cough was part of the cartoon itself.

The first half ended with one of my favourite Bugs shorts, "Rabbit of Seville." This is where you realized the difficulty of syncing the audio tracks and orchestra for the conductor. The live orchestra made this piece even more enjoyable.

During the intermission, I stopped at the shop and they sold a plastic viking hat, a fancier program and variety of t-shirts. I really wanted a t-shirt...

Back to the show!


The second half was more of a tribute to other cartoons. It started with an overture. As George put it, "I want you to enjoy the amazing Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra. So, here is the 'Overture to the Beautiful Galatea.' and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra."

George asked if the audience wanted to see some of Bugs' friends... First piece was "Tom and Jerry in Hollywood Bowl" which the cartoon was quite similar to Baton Bunny. It was followed by "Scooby-Doo's Hall in Mountain King." Then "Bedrock Ballet" which was The Flintstones to Can-can music.

The show ended with my ultimate favourite cartoon, "What's Opera, Doc?" It could be my love for Romantic Era music or Wagnerian music... but this is my all-time favourite. What was interested was the audio track was NOT from the cartoon. I recall watching the DVD extras (yes, I bought the Looney Tunes DVD) and they mentioned that they needed to hire someone for one word, SMOG. In the cartoon, the word smog was spoke with such a coarse voice but in this one, the word smog was more mild and toned down.

To demonstrate in words... in the cartoon... "Typhoon! Hurricane! SMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGG!!!!!!!" and in this particular audio track... "Typhoon! Hurricane! Smooooog!!!" which was how Mel Blanc had originally done it. It had a little less hate and craziness...

Here is a 1 minute sample I took of "What's Opera, Doc?" I am quite surprised my blackberry could record this well...


Before the show ended, they played a recap piece of all the Merrie Melody and Looney Tune characters.

What I learned from the show... cartoons ain't for kids - especially when it comes to Bugs Bunny. A 1930s slide guitar was restored to do one thing and one thing only... that "boing" sound that beings Merrie Melody and Looney Tune cartoons are made with that guitar. If this was a once in a life time experience, it was certainly well worth it... if they decided to do another run, I would consider going again but maybe with a more adult crowd...

Job Requirements

Have anyone ever noticed how ridiculous some of the requirement for some jobs are?

I remember reading an article how some job states "x years of experience" is just Years of Irrelevance but when you look at a position like this, it is somewhat a ridiculous request.

For example:
Qualifications
REQUIREMENTS:
- 3+ years reception experience
- some AP or accounting background/experience
- Must have some experience with Word and Excel
- Excellent communication

I find the "3+ years reception experience" is not only ridiculous but laughable. Anyone can do the reception job. There is no particular skill set needed to be a receptionist other then the fact you need to be able to work with others, take instruction and communicate.

Some jobs like a technician or doctor does require the experience which make lots of sense since they require not only knowledge but the skills gained through the years. So, here's a kicker: To get a job, you need experience. To get experience, you need a job.

Companies should want QUALITY and not QUANTITY. Just because someone has the 5 years of experience doesn't mean they are the right person for a job. Can you imagine someone who has been manager for over 5 years but doesn't understand the first thing about working with people and all they know is the boss people around? I think we have seen way too many of those people - you probably know someone like that, possibly your boss.