The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that James Reimer will start between the pipes tonight when the Leafs meet the Boston Bruins in the second part of back-to-back contests. Reimer, 23,  has been out of the Maple Leafs lineup with concussion-like symptoms since October 22nd, missing a total of 18 games. While the Maple Leafs have missed Reimer, they registered a reasonable 9-8-1 record in Reimer’s absence. Combined with Reimer’s 4-0-1 record, the Maple Leafs currently own a 14-9-2 record, good enough for sixth overall in the Eastern Conference and second in the Northeast Division—just one point behind the Bruins, who have two games in hand on the Blue and White. Boston has dominated the Maple Leafs in all three meetings thus far, embarrassing the Buds by a combined score of 19-5. The Bruins have owned the Leafs in the

Heading into Sunday nights tilt against the Anaheim Ducks there was a lot of talk about the return of Joffrey Lupul and Jake Gardiner, the two players Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke received from the Ducks in the Francois Beauchemin deal. While Gardiner never really got a taste with the Ducks organization, Lupul watched as numerous players moved up the Ducks depth chart while injuries and a lack of belief in the former Anaheim first round (seventh overall) pick conspired to put Lupul on the back burner in Anaheim. As the saying goes, “one mans garbage is another mans treasure” and Lupul and Gardiner have been just that for the Maple Leafs, treasure. Heading into Sunday nights action Lupul had 11 goals and 27 points through 23 games, while Gardiner has slowly established himself as a legitimate top-four

Buffalo Sabres fans were up in arms after their starting goaltender Ryan Miller collided with Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic a little more than a week ago. The result was Miller being put on the injured list with a concussion. After the incident Sabres fans and players alike were embarrassed by the teams lack of response to what many felt was a despicable act predicated by Lucic. Despite a call for action by the good people of Buffalo, NHL chief disciplinarian Brendan Shannahan rightly deemed the incident unworthy of a suspension, which once again caused Sabres fans to protest loudly. Whether you agreed with Shannahan’s decision or not, one thing was clear, everybody agreed that the Buffalo Sabres’ players did next to nothing in response to the collision, which had Sabres fans shaking their heads, while rival NHL players and fans

Fresh off the heals of an embarrassing  6-2 loss to the Boston Bruins, it’s easy to throw mud at the entire Toronto Maple Leafs lineup. As much as “the players play and the coaches coach”, there can be a tendency to blame the Coach for a loss from time-to-time which, in this case, may be the appropriate response for Thursday nights debacle. Sure, the players are responsible for their fare share of the carnage, but when you look at the lineup decisions Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson made, he prepared the Maple Leafs for a gunfight by bringing a knife, and we all know how that usually goes! Let’s examine the facts, shall we? Wilson had to deal with two of his forwards (Colby Armstrong and Clarke MacArthur) having to sit out of the lineup due to injury

Unless you were living under a rock last season you would have witnessed the line of Clarke MacArthur, Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski dominating the NHL at times last season. The “Misfit” line as I like to call them, established themselves as a dangerous unit throughout the 2010-11 season, combining for an impressive 77 goals and 97 assists, for a total of 174 points on the season. The Misfits’ effort was good enough to emerge as the 11th most dangerous line in the NHL, not bad for a line that was often the Toronto Maple Leafs second line of attack. Perhaps even more impressive was this trio’s ability to play defense, emerging with a combined plus +18 rating, proving once and for all that despite the criticism and trade rumors surrounding these players that all three could play at both

Since joining the Toronto Maple Leafs in November of 2008, Brian Burke has raised more than a few eyebrows with his aggressive moves. Of course, the most talked about move, and perhaps Burke’s biggest to date, would be the acquisition of sniper Phil Kessel from the Boston Bruins for two first round draft choices (2010, 2011) and a second rounder in 2010. While it will be years before we can truly evaluate the trade, Burke has always maintained that he is happy with the deal and if presented with the same circumstances, would do the deal again. The Bruins selected Tyler Seguin with Toronto’s first round draft choice in 2010, followed by the selection of Jared Knight in the second round. Seguin had an inconsistent rookie season which saw him light the lamp a total of 11 times through 74