Playoffs?

Whether or not the Toronto Maple Leafs will be playing in mid-April is totally up to them. Right now the Leafs sit in the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference with 62 points, 1 point ahead of Ottawa, 3 points ahead of Florida for 9th and Winnipeg sits 10th with 56 points. As of now it seems unlikely that there will be more than those 10 teams fighting for a playoff spot when the end of the season comes around and there are only 9 points separating 9th from 2nd, so the East, as of now, is wide open. Nevertheless, the Leafs have a very good chance of making the playoffs. With 28 games to go, the Leafs are a mere 6 points back of recently-mediocre Boston for the Northeast division lead, which would move them all the way up the standings into 2nd place.

Great hockey teams (like Detroit and Boston) win the Stanley Cup when they have a hot goalie, that's just the way it is. Good teams (like the Leafs) make the playoffs when they have a hot goalie, and good news for Leafs fans: we have two goalies that are capable of getting hot. James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson are both B level goalies, and that is okay. As we just saw with Reimer's shutout streak, when a goalie is playing well, the Leafs win. I would not be surprised to see coach Ron Wilson use the "if you win, you play the next game but if you lose, you don't" tactic on these young goaltenders that are both fighting for ice time. If both guys are able to stay healthy and continue to play well, the Buds will make the playoffs.

All good teams need a guy who can just put the puck in the net, the Leafs have that in Phil Kessel. In a losing effort on Tuesday night, Kessel scored his team-leading 30th goal of the season, and it was beautiful. It won't make any highlight reels, but Phil is skating and getting his shots through, his quick release is killer for goalies and as he does here, when he is cutting across the middle of the ice the shot to the far side is an impossible save for the goalie as he is tracking Phil through the middle of the ice. Whether you like him or not, Kessel is our best player and it is awesome to see him finally playing like it. In his first two years with Toronto he had -8 and -20 ratings, this year he is +7. In his first two years his shooting percentages (goals per shot) were 10.1% and 9.8%, this year he is at a career high of 15.6%. If Kessel and the two goalies stay consistent, the Leafs will make the playoffs.

The Leafs are in Philly tonight and will play against an undermanned Flyers team that has lost 3 in a row for the first time since last March. Danny Briere is still out and Ilya Bryzgalov will miss the game due to the flu. Jofferey Lupul will make a return to Philly to play his old team, he was never able to score more than 50 points as a Flyer and he already has 56 this season. I doubt that many Flyers fans will care/remember him. I see his relationship to the Flyers' fans similar to Leafs' fans relationship with Kyle Wellwood. He never did much for us and we often forget he is in the league until we see him on one of the three teams he has played for since Toronto, and Leafs fans say in unison: "Hey, that's Kyle Wellwood! I remember him..." and that is about it. Don't look for Simmonds or Hartnell to run Lupul or anything like that. Do, however, look for Kessel to score for the fourth game in a row or Grabovski's line to get back on track after being blanked in Tuesday's loss to Winnipeg. Prediction: 3-1 Toronto.

Until Claude Giroux wins the Conn Smythe for the Maple Leafs
-Riley

But I Have to Study...

Tonight has the capability to be one of the best nights of sports in recent memory. As a Leaf fan, the leafs have a chance to beat the best team in the NHL tonight, the New York Rangers because Martin Biron will get the start and we are at home. Tim Tebow is squaring off against Tom Brady in the AFC Divisional game, but he doesn’t have a chance to win, right? The Raptors are playing the NBA leading Chicago Bulls tonight so if there is a commercial in the Leafs game, the Football game, the Intercontinental Curling Championships and The King’s Speech, feel free to tune in. Finally, arguably the most anticipated game of the NBA season so far will tip off at 10:30pm EST when the Lakers and Clippers play for the first time this season.

Approximately 7:09 pm. Leafs and Rangers drop the Puck. Right now we (the Leafs) are sitting in 7^th place and a win tonight would bump us into 6^th. Phil Kessel has gone two games without a point for the first time this season, which in the long run is probably a good thing; the slump (I love that he is so good that I can call two scoreless games a slump) will help him mature as a player. This is the first time in his five seasons in the NHL that he has been consistent on a game-to-game basis, so it will be interesting to see how he reacts tonight. Ron Wilson hasn’t said who will get the start in between the pipes tonight but I would not be surprised to see James Reimer in goal after a shaky start from The Monster last night that essentially cost us the game. Prediction: Leafs win 4-2 and Joey Crabb scores his first goal at the ACC this season.

Approximately 8:04. Broncos win the coin toss (there is no such thing as luck when Tebow is involved, duh!) Matt Prater kicks a touchback. Then one of two things will happen. Tebow will lose, as he should, or Tebow will win. The way that the whole world is watching (the Steelers vs. Broncos game was the most watched Wild Card game ever) there is no other outcome. Yes, if Tebow loses it will most likely be due to Tom Brady scoring more points than Tebow is capable of, but Brady will not receive as much credit as he should. And if Tebow wins, well, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised anymore. But I, as a long time football fan, watch Tebow, and watch Brady, and simply say “but he can’t win!” well, I can’t wait to see what happens. Prediction: I am going to do what Mike Wilbon did on Pardon the Interruption yesterday and not say anything simply because I will be wrong.

Also at around 8pm, Amir Johnson will win the tip off for the Raptors, then Rasual Butler will hit a shot for the Raptors to go up 2-0, and that will be the extent to our success. The Raptors play terrible offense and the Bulls are the best defensive team in the NBA. But hey, I am not going to give up on the Raptors just yet, I will take the Raptors at +20 simply because the Bulls will have that lead at the end of the 3^rd and will rest their starters for the fourth. Prediction: 89-72 Chicago.

Finally, at approximately TEBOW TIME (10:41pm) the Lakers and Clippers will play for the first time this season. Kobe Bryant is proving that he is not too old, not the seventh best player in the NBA (as ESPN ranked him before this season) and most importantly that he is a viable candidate for MVP this season, at age 34. I mean the man is insane, he has a torn ligament in his wrist but he wants to play so badly that he takes a shot of cortisone before every game and has said multiple times that his hand is so numb he can’t even feel the ball in his hand. Well, three straight 40+ point games has silenced everyone, and tonight’s game he will have extra(!) incentive to win because the temporary title of best team in L.A. is on the line tonight. Blake Griffin will do something awesome, Andrew Bynum will dunk over him and Chris Paul will do Chris Paul type things. It will be an awesome game. Prediction: Kobe wants it too badly, 106-102 Lakers.

Until Chris Paul throws an Alley-oop to Jarryd Bayless. 

Riley 

Cross-Sport Power Rankings

I got this idea from ESPN, but they don't do a very good job. Cross-Sport Power Rankings are essentially a list that ranks players from different sports in terms of how well they are playing at the time I write the post. ESPN does like 500, I think I'll stick to a top 10.

1. Aaron Rodgers
He has a season Passer Rating at 122.4, second place is Tom Brady with 104.8. He is the only player in NFL history to have a passer rating of above 110 in 5 straight starts, he has done it in 7, and counting. He has a completion percentage above 70 percent and is averaging almost 10 yards a pass. He has already thrown for 17 touchdowns and rushed for 2, that gives him more personal touchdowns than 24 NFL team's have scored with their whole offense. He has thrown 3 INT's, and his team is 7-0. MVP, here we come, back to back Super Bowls? Why not.

 2. Mike Napoli
Napoli joined Mickey Mantle as the only player to have multiple RBIs in 4 World Series games. He made two game winning plays last night (he hit a two-run double to go up 4-2, and threw out Allen Craig at 2nd for the second last out of the game,)and who knew that was even possible!

 3. Phil Kessel
Maybe a little biased.. but he is leading the NHL in goals and points, and leading the leafs to a 5-2-1 start. I BELEAF

 4. Derek Holland
I am going to try to fit as many baseball players in here as possible because it is their last chance to be here until April. Either way, Holland deserves to be here. 8.1 innings of shutout ball against a team that had erupted for 16 runs the previous night. If this series goes 7, because of the off day, I would bet Holland will be the starter.

 5. Drew Brees
 31/35, 5 TDs, 325 yards, 0 INT's. Automatic? Unfair? Yup. The Saints are 5-2 and look like the early favourites to win the NFC South, and it is all to do with Drew Brees. He has only thrown under 320 yards once and has thrown for at least3 TD's in four of his seven games.

6. Johnathon Quick
Quick is 5-0-1 with a microscopical 0.81 GAA and a save percentage of .972. In six games, he has three shutouts. Dallas will not be able to keep up their hot start and the Kings will win the Pacific conference, and (Prediction) make it to the Stanley Cup Final.

 7. Neftali Feliz
This guy is so much fun to watch. He throws almost 100 MPH and walks enough guys to at least make his saves interesting. Other than the walks, though, he is lights out. In 3 appearances (2.2 innings) he has given up no hits and struck out five. He has walked one player in each appearance, but stranded them every time. Going against my previous prediction (sorry) Feliz will throw the last pitch of the 2011 World Serires.

 8. Albert Pujols
Ok, you must have noticed by now, I love Pujols. He probably doesn't deserve to be on the list given the last two games when he has been really quite. But three days ago he became one of three players to hit three home runs in a World Series game. Joining arguably the best clutch hitter of all time, Reggie Jackson, and dis-arguably the best hitter of all time, Babe Ruth. Pretty good company.

 9. Sergio Aguero
This guy plays soccer for Manchester City, they just beat Manchester United 6-1! I didn't know you could score 6 goals in a match. Well Sergio is leading he Premier League in goals with 9 in 8 games... keep it up!

 10. Dirk Nowitski
I miss the NBA, but i bet Dirk is still on fire.

 Just missed: Adrian Beltre, Nikolai Khabibulin, Allen Craig, Brodie Smith #21, every college football player.

Until Aaron Rodgers is the QB of the Toronto NFL team,
- Riley

Wait... You're Supposed to Skate?

In a previous post I said that Phil Kessel was due to score 40 goals, I am now revoking that statement and saying that Phil Kessel is due to score 50 goals, IF he is able to keep his feet moving. Now for those of you that do not play hockey you may think that that is pretty much a gimme... why would you ever be standing still? As a lazy forward (yes, P-Kess is lazy at time) I can vouch for him that often it feels like you are in the right spot and that you should stay there, at least for a few seconds, for your teammate to find you. This is often not the case and, especially in the NHL, you have to make your own goals sometimes. That is exactly what Kessel is doing.

I was able to find an online stream of the Calgary game and right as I turned it on I saw 2-1 Calgary and they were on a 3 on 2... awesome. Then I make the game fullscreen, it buffers, and we score! I am sitting there wondering how it happened, it buffers some more, and I saw something beautiful. Kessel used his quickness, and his speed to blow past the Clagary "Defender" (sorry Clagary fans you won't win 35 games this year) then used his true scoring ability to slip the puck bye Mikka Kiprusoff for the tying goal. Yes, Kessel did get off two a fast start last year (3 goals in first four games) only to cool off to a brutal 7 combined goals in October and November, but I do believe that somebody in the Leafs organization finally got to Kessel and made him realize how good he can be.

Not every goal you score can be picture perfect though. And as any hockey coach/player/announcer would say all you have to do is put the puck to the net and good things will happen. That's how Kessel scored his 2nd goal of the night, it bounced off of former Leaf Lee Stepniak and trickled barely over the line... but it turned out to be the game winner. He now has 5 goals, 3 assists, 11 shots on goal and is +7(?!?...he finished -20 last year). Also, for those fantasy owners he got 2 PIM minutes in last nights game, so it's good to see him getting down and dirty in the corners. Kidding, he got a delay of game penalty for shooting it over the glass... but thanks for the 0.5 fantasy points anyway!

If P-Kess is able to keep his legs moving, stay healthy and have his line mates continue to feed him the puck, and have Optimus Reim save 30 shots a game all season (that is for another post, no pun intended) then the sky is the limit for Phil this season.

Until Kessel scores an "Ovechtrick"
-Riley

Can You Say: Due?

The last time the Leafs were in the playoffs, i distinctly remember where I was, if only I knew that i wouldn't have That Thrill™ for a very long time.


Let us start with the obvious. The leafs are one of two teams to have not made the playoffs since the lockout (yes, now we are being compared to that sorry excuse for a franchise in Florida.) In total, that would be six straight seasons. We are due for the post season.

A Hart Trophy candidate. Every other team has had one in the last decade... why can't we? It is about time Phil Kessel starts playing like the superstar we all know he can be, whether he has a centre that can set him up or not, he should have more of an impact on the game at both ends of the ice. Yes, it would be awesome to see Naz on the first line with Phil and Lupul, but that won't happen until Tim Connoly fractures a finger or rolls his ankle getting out of bed (for those of you that don't follow Buffallo the Leafs acquired a human feather in Tim Connoly.) But basically,Phil Kessel is due to score 40 goals.

A good goaltender. A good goaltender has not been in Toronto since Eddy the Eagle, and he was really only good in 02-03. However, last years late "playoff" push brought us James "Optimus Reim" Reimer, and boy was he fun to watch. He was called up J.S. Giguere was suffering from "I'm playing in Toronto, do i have to try" syndrome and Jonas Gustavsson was complaining that his pads were made of trampolines that aimed the puck onto the oppositions sticks and that his chest protector actually had holes in it? Anyway, Optimus Reim went 20-10-5 last season with 3 shutouts, a 2.60 GAA and a .921 save percentage, it would be pretty awesome if he could keep that up for a whole season. The Leafs are due for a top 10 goaltender.

A highlight reel goal from Nazem Kadri. Come on Naz!! You have all of these preseason and Junior dangles, why can't you do it in the show? Oh yeah, 10 goals would be nice too... Naz is due for a few beautiful goals.

A whole season without heartbreak. Oh, wait, nevermind...

Anyways, the Leafs lead off the season tomorrow against the Canadians. I won't be able to watch the game because I will be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, which may be a good thing because if you recall the Leafs went 4-0 to start the last season... and we all know how that turned out. A good start would be nice, but in the long run it doesn't mean much.

GO LEAFS GO