Quietly, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager is righting the wrongs that he made in off-seasons past. Gone is veteran defenseman Francois Beauchemin, as is speedy forward Kris Versteeg, with a real possibility of more changes to come. At Monday nights press conference Burke announced that the Maple Leafs would receive the Philadelphia Flyers first and third round draft choice in 2011 in return for Versteeg. Along with that announcement Burke stated that he already had the Flyers third round draft choice in play in hopes of landing another forward to help fill the void left by Versteeg. When you look at next years payroll the Maple Leafs have a total of 12 players under contract at a cap hit of $35,170,000. That leaves Burke with $24,230,000 with which to sign ten players, one of which must be a top six forward,

Heading into tonight’s exciting tilt between the 28th ranked Toronto Maple Leafs and the 30th ranked New Jersey Devils, nobody expected any fireworks. The Devils and Maple Leafs had lost a combined 39 games and own two of the most pathetic offenses in the game. Needless to say, this game had “total bore” written all over it, and it was, that is until Maple Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf and Devils sniper Ilya Kovalchuk dropped the gloves. To be honest, it wasn’t much of a tilt, but in a season that has already seen Sidney Crosby and other super-star calibre players drop the gloves, it was interesting to see Kovalchuk trying to drop bombs. The Maple Leafs were up by a score of 1-0 at the time. In the end the fight did little to change the outcome of the game,

Over the summer, Toronto Maple Leaf fans debated the merits of general manager Brain Burke bringing in another top six forward. Some felt a winger was of the utmost importance, others (including myself) felt a centre was a bigger need, everyone agreed more depth was needed. Those that felt a centre was not necessary felt sophomore forward Tyler Bozak would be able to handle the load on the top line while others pointed to the emerging Nazem Kadri as being the answer. Through 24 games the Maple Leafs had “earned” a record of 8-12-4. The power play was mediocre at best, the penalty kill was a shambles, the offense was anemic and the overall forward group was being criticized for a lack of results. Throughout the first 24 games head coach Ron Wilson tweaked his top-six forwards a number of

While it is still very early in the 2010-11 NHL season there are already more than a few surprises in the overall standings. Teams that were supposed to be world beaters are sitting in the basement, while other teams that were supposed to struggle have come out flying right out of the gate and sit amongst the NHL’s best. Let’s take a look at the Ten Most Surprising NHL Teams Thus Far, for better, or for worse. New Jersey Devils: Ok, so not everybody thought the New Jersey Devils would be world beaters this season, but there sure were a fair amount of experts out there that were suggesting the Devils would be a contender for the Atlantic Division title and/or the Eastern Conference’s top team. Through 13 games the Devils sit dead last in the NHL standings with a

Three weeks and one calender month into the 2010-2011 NHL season, we’ve already begun to be able to pick out the surprises and disappointments of the year. Teams like Buffalo and New Jersey, two top-ranked teams from the Eastern Conference last season, have both struggled to get going and posted a combined 0-8-2 home record, while franchises such as Montreal, Boston, and Tampa Bay have burst onto the stage with a combined 20-7-2 record. Meanwhile, in the West, Nashville, Edmonton, and Dallas started out strongly but have faltered lately, while, on the other hand, youthful squads such as St. Louis, Colorado, and Los Angeles have already begun to prove their legitimacy. But how does the NHL look from a divisional standpoint? Which five-team groups have been the toughest to play in so far, while which divisions have struggled despite their

Heading into Thursday night game against the Boston Bruins many Toronto Maple Leafs fans were anxious to see Phil Kessel play his first game against Tyler Seguin—the player the Maple Leafs could have drafted had Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke not made the deal to acquire Kessel. While nobody expected to be able to end the debate of which team won the trade (which saw Burke give up two first rounders and a second round pick in return for Kessel) we all felt it sure would be fun to watch the two players collide. Handicapped by a roster that did not include Colby Armstrong (hand injury) and Kris Versteeg (back issues) the Maple Leafs were already heading into Boston at a disadvantage, add the fact that Boston dominated the Maple Leafs last season and you had yourself a recipe