What I mean when I say it only gets worse is that the Leafs are gonna be entering a bit of a logjam at the end of the 2011-2012 season.  At this point in time the Maple Leafs will be forced to deal with inking new contracts for old players, being forced to resign the likes of potentially key free agents Kris Versteeg, Nikolai Kulemin, Jonas Gustavsson, Francois Beauchemin, Keith Aulie, Korbinian Holzer, Jussia Rynnas and Marcel Mueller among others.

By this time virtually all of these players will looked to have elaborated on previous success, earning themselves a big and hefty raise from what were otherwise lackluster contracts to begin with.  The exception is Francois Beauchemin, but then again with such a young core of defense and many players of that core with strong potential, there’s a good chance Beauchemin will simply walk into both unrestricted free agency as well as the twilight of his career.

It wouldn’t be a wild-eyed theory to suggest that Kris Versteeg will be looking in the four-million dollar range, that Kulemin will be looking at three to four-million, that Gustavsson could be looking at as much as six-million, meanwhile the likes of Rynnas, Aulie, Holzer and Mueller could all be potentially looking for anywhere from two to four million.  At this juncture in time core players such as Phil Kessel, Mike Komisarek and Dion Phaneuf will all still have their hefty contracts on the payroll, and key assets such as Carl Gunnarsson, Luke Schenn and perhaps even Luca Caputi will have already cashed in from old man Burkie.

To say the least it’s an unpleasant situation, especially when you look at the fact that the Leafs aren’t truly competitive now and may not even be two seasons from now if they fail to get a first-line center by then.  Given Burke’s bold moves this off-season the team will surely already be pressed against the cap, and as it stands it looks like some key decisions will have to be made on who stays and who goes.

There is however one thing that could change all of this, and that’s a potential lock-out in the 2012-2013 season.  Nothings official yet, and obviously Uncle Gary would hope to reach a new agreement with the CBA by this time, but should a lockout occur it would presumably give the Leafs virtually an entire year to negotiate with their young studs.  There’s this, but then there’s also the fact that it’s rumored that Bettman and Co want to lower the salary cap ceiling for the new agreement to roughly 48-million dollars.  On one end of the spectrum 29 other teams around the league will be forced to cope with this change as well and likewise shred key assets, but of course this also means that the Leafs could be one of the teams more burdened by this lowering of the max as they will have to depart with more key assets due for big raises.

I should stress that nothing is set in stone and that we don’t even know whose going to be on the team in two years, but as it stands now it looks like the Toronto Maple Leafs could enter their own little cap hell two seasons down the road, and boy oh boy wouldn’t that suck if the Leafs still weren’t a Stanley Cup contender by then.  Better get a move on Burkie Clause, the clock is ticking.

Or perhaps a less dramatic ending would be to say Claude Loiselle has done a fantastic job as the capoligist thus-far.

You can follow me on Twitter here.

No, it’s not my birthday, that’s two months from now.  It is however the potentially historic anniversary of one of the most recent landmarks in Leafs Nation’s fabled existence.  Today’s anniversary marks what started great, went to poor, and ended great again.  It’s an anniversary that both pointed towards better things to come and still represents that very same thing.  It’s a date of hope, much as it was the very first time we experienced what we can now say is something very promising indeed: today marks the one-year anniversary of the acquisition of the Monster. Today, my friends, is Monster Day.

We could go over his season with the Leafs in detail and really disect the ups and downs, but let’s be honest, we all know that it started with hope, lead to fear and with the acquisition of a veteran mentor in J.S. Giguere his year ended in hope yet again.  We know he’s tall, challenges the shooters, had bad rebound control, hated Vesa Toskala, wears #50, was apparently very good friends with the hated bastard Rickard Wallin, that he got a shutout against the Bruins and half of one against the Habs, we know that he had heart problems, that he had seven straight wins in March and we know that he earned himself a new contract that’s dirt cheap for another two years and because of him there is a continued sense of optimism within the organization that Jonas Gustavsson will save the franchise’s life between the pipes.  He’s also my personal favourite Leaf. Yeah, that’s the season in short.  I thought I should probably at least touch on that.

But what our beloved Monster represents is more than just a shy and loveable Swede, more than just a long-term fixture in net.  What Gustavsson represents is the future, and not just in net.  We need to take a look back at the goaltending last October: a horrible tandem of the promising yet poorly seasoned Jonas Gustavsson and the sack of shit Vesa Toskala.  Now fast forward to what we’ve got now: a promising, slowly seasoned Gustavsson, a calming influence of Jiggy for another year, and three promising prospects in James Reimer, Jussi Rynnas and Ben Scrivens.  When we look at how the state of our goaltending looked a year ago it seems bleak and hopeless, much like our forwards core of today.  But looking back on Monster Day and comparing it today, we need to realize that with the acquisition of just one or two players can go a long way in changing the state of things.  Whether it’s the raved trade for Kris Versteeg or the questionable overpayment of a loveable grinder in Colby Armstrong, slowly but surely it seems as though our coveted General Manager Brian Burke has something up his sleeve in his plans to fixate and form foundation upon our forwards.  Hey, it only took ten months to completely transform our netminding, perhaps the same could be said about our forwards.  We can only hope.

So ladies and gentleman, we raise our glasses (or mouses, or keyboards or something) to Monster Day, the day that represents a sign of better things to come.

It wouldn’t be much of a celebration if there weren’t some people to celebrate with me, so I’m wondering, what’s your favourite memory of the Monster from this past season?  Let me know in the comments.

I have two: the first one was getting his jersey this past Christmas, but the other one was something that he actually did:

Click here to view the embedded video.

You know what’s funny about that one?  I didn’t have Leafs TV and I was too stupid to find a stream, so I listened to this game on the radio.  It didn’t make the win or the save any less special though.

You can follow me on Twitter here.

First off, I apologize that it took me so long to get to my 3rd article, just didn’t have that much time to write it properly, as I was out of town last weekend, and this week was quite the hectic week. Thank you for being patient!

Now, you already know that the first two reasons why I defended the trade of the 2nd overall selection were having both Phil Kessel, and Nazem Kadri on the team. The 3rd reason why I defend the Burke trade, is a different reason. It is not just one player, in fact it is having Brian Burke as the GM. I don’t think people realize how lucky we are to have a GM like this, I personally remember what it was like before him, and it wasn’t good. When was the last time we had a GM who would make blockbuster trades for players in their PRIME (key word), and bring them onto our team. When was the last time we as Leafs fans were constantly excited because we knew every single day the team could change for the better. I know that some people disagree with the moves that Burke has made, however, you cannot deny the fact that unlike a lot of GM’s in the league he is doing his best and being proactive to not only try to get the best team on the ice that he can, but also to win a Stanley Cup. That is what I love about him, he doesn’t care if people will disagree with his moves, he will not do anything unless he thinks it is the best move for the Toronto Maple Leafs having the best chance they can to win the Stanley Cup. He doesn’t just sit around, he is continuously doing the best he can, and looking at ALL OPTIONS, and because of the fact that he does that, to me it doesn’t matter that he traded away the 2nd overall selection. Because he really has more than made up for that. Just look at the other moves he made, that if he were not Brian Burke, would have never happened for the Leafs.

Let’s start off with free agency. And I’m not talking about players that have just hit free agency from another team, I mean the college free agents, or even players coming from other leagues around the world, and joining the NHL. Burke clearly has shown that he is very good at convincing these players to choose the Leafs over any other team. What is great about this avenue, is that getting a player at that age, is like getting a good draft pick, but with a few more years of development, so more NHL ready. Just look at what he did so far, bringing in T. Bozak, C. Hanson, B. Irwin, and “the monster”. Now in the Case of both Hanson and Irwin, they are not as talented as a 1st rounder would be, but nonetheless, both played in the NHL last season, and when it comes to draft picks it is never guaranteed that they will make it to the big leagues. Irwin we still haven’t seen enough of to judge, but Hanson has proven that he could play on the bottom two lines and hold his own. And Burke got him for nothing, no draft pick, he just convinced him to play in Toronto instead of anywhere else. But I am not making this argument because of guys like Hanson and Irwin.

Where Burke really impressed me was with prized free agents, that almost everybody in the league wanted. Just look at Jonas Gustavsson, he was a free agent goalie coming into the NHL after absolutely dominating the Swedish Elite League, as he had a GAA of 1.96 and a save percentage of .932%. He also garnered a lot of attention playing nationally for Sweden, and playing incredibly well. He could have went anywhere in the NHL, but somehow Burke convinced him to come to Toronto (and also resigned him after last year). Gustavsson is still very young in goaltender years, was still adjusting to the North American ice, and definitely wasn’t dominant last year in the NHL, but he clearly showed some promise and potential. And once Giguere was acquired in a trade, Gustavsson literally became a monster in between the pipes, in fact during March he won 7 straight starts! He really does seem like he could be something special down the road, he has a tremendous mix of both size, speed, and athleticism. A guy that big is not supposed to be able to move that quick laterally. If Giguere can teach him how to play better positionally, Gustavsson could end up being just as dominant in the NHL as he was in the Swedish Elite League. And let’s just say it doesn’t happen and he ends up completely losing his confidence, and dropping down, the beauty of it is that he wouldn’t even be a wasted draft pick. We got him for free!

The other free agent Burke got that the entire NHL was after, is center Tyler Bozak from the university of Denver. Bozak is 24 years old, just entering his prime, yet still young enough to durastically improve. Bozak was highly sought after a few great seasons at Denver, not only was he a star in the league, but he also made the all WHCA-ALL Academic Team. So he was both talented and very smart, something anybody would want on their team. But somehow Burke convinced him to come to Toronto, instead of anywhere else. Bozak started off with the Marlies last year, and in 32 games, he had 20 points which was very respectable. But on January 12th, he was called up to the pros, and this is where he really took off. In 37 games with the Leafs, Bozak put up 27 points. In essence, he found it easier playing in the NHL than in the AHL. To be honest this is probably because of the fact that he is a set-up man. The more talent you put around him, the more he will produce, which is exactly what Toronto needed for Kessel. For those of you who might not think that 27 points in 37 games is all that impressive, let’s put this in perspective when compared to other rookies. Duchene and Taveres were by far the most productive rookies when it came to points per game. As Duchene had .68 pts/g, and Tavares had .66 pts/g. Players like Benn, JVR, or even Bergfors, the other most promising rookie forward all had under .55 pts/g. So where does this leave Bozak? Tyler Bozak had an incredible rookie season but because he played less than half of it, he stayed really under the radar, as he had a whopping .73 pts/g. So as a rookie he had the most point per game and it was a convincing lead, over two players who had pretty incredible rookie seasons. And considering it was his 1st year in the pros he should have not been able to compete right away. There is no way you could tell me that Bozak was not worth a high 1st rounder at least, simply judging from his production. So if you think about it you could pretty much add in Bozak, Gustavsson, Hanson, Irwin, and even Jussi Rynnas this year, along with Kessel, in the trade for the 2nd overall selection, and next years 1st. In my eyes, this starts evening out the trade a lot more. These are all good solid NHL capable players capable of playing at this moment, and two very high-end prospects in Bozak and Gustavsson. This is the kind of magic Brian Burke works, where it almost makes it okay to trade away draft picks, because he finds other ways to find high-end young talent, without having to use draft picks on them.

However, that isn’t the only way that Brian Burke has made me forget about trading away the 2nd overall. He also made up for it, by pulling off a few trades that I really did not think would have been possible. Think about the 2 trades he made last year at the deadline. Had I proposed either of those on a forum the day before it happened, people would have called me an idiot and said that I am too biased towards Leafs players values, and that the trades would have never happened. Look at the Giguere deal, Burke got us a legitimate number 1 goalie, who has proven he can win, and also mentor a young goalie from outside of North America (as he did with Hiller), but also in that deal Burke got rid of the brutal Jason Blake contract, parlayed with Toronto’s whipping boy Vesa Toskala. Nobody thought anybody would take Jason Blake’s contract without Toronto adding in a draft pick, but somehow Brian Burke found a taker. If JFJ was still our GM there is no way he could have gotten rid of Blake’s contract, we would have been stuck with him until the end of the contract. But if JFJ was still GM, there is no way, that the other trade Burke pulled off at the deadline would have happened. Do you guys not realize that Brian Burke got Dion Phaneuf, a guy with franchise player talent for completely replaceable players who would never become franchise players. Don’t get me wrong I liked Ian White, and Matt Stajan, but both weren’t signed past last season, so both were going to be due for raises. And honestly neither of them even combined would ever equal up to the star power that Phaneuf is capable of. Hagman was the only player that Burke gave up who was under contract past that season, and let’s be honest although Hagman showed flashes of brilliance, he wasn’t going to change this team going forward. Had I proposed this trade 2 years ago, everybody would have called me crazy, and said there is no way you could have gotten Phaneuf for that little. In fact, a few years ago outside of Ovechkin or Crosby, there was pretty much nothing anybody could have proposed for Phaneuf that sounded realistic. And because he had an 2 off years, Burke was able to get him for pretty much nothing of significance.

These are the kind of trades Brian Burke makes, he finds the deals that other GM’s don’t, and he is always willing to pull the trigger on a deal no matter how risky it is, as long as he truly believes it will help his team’s chance at winning a cup. I personally would rather have a GM who is willing to take a chance, than a GM who plays it too safe. Safe keeps you in the middle of the pack. Remember the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. And so far in my eyes, Burke has definitely gotten more for us than he has lost, and has won the majority of his trades. Think about what Toronto has last in value since Burke has been there and what they have gained? Toronto is much younger, more talented, and in a much better position to succeed now than they were before Burke came in, and in my opinion the Kessel trade was not a horrible move for this franchise. I am actually genuinely excited to see what this team could do, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Burke shocks everyone again and gets tremendous value for Kaberle as well, now that all the free agent defenseman have been signed, any team looking for a top pairing defenseman or a powerplay quarterback, is going to have to do it via trade. And as Burke stated, he will not just give him away. And after trading for Versteeg, and signing Colby Armstrong, this team is filling out more and more, I truly believe we are 1-2 players away, from truly being able to contend as early as next year, and the Leafs could still definitely make some noise already in the standings this season. Either way Toronto will not be a fun team to play against for years to come, with tough players like Phaneuf, Schenn, Komisarek, Armstrong, Orr, and Brown. Toronto will be a team that will battle every single night, and depending on the return for Kaberle, and if they bury Finger’s contract could truly become a contender. And the best way for Burke to make people forget about trading away the lottery pick, would be to return Toronto to the playoffs, and give Toronto something to be excited about again!

As I stated in the first two articles, because of the fact that we now have a sniper in Kessel, a potential star forward in Kadri, young talented players in Kulemin, Bozak, and Versteeg, and two potential stars on the blueline in Phaneuf and Schenn, I honestly could not care less that we traded away the 2nd overall draft pick. And I truly cant wait to see what other magic Burke could pull off, to push the negatives about the Kessel trade even further out of our minds. And as I stated before, I will stick to this again Phil Kessel will reach 40 goals in a season before Tyler Seguin will!

The Toronto Maple Leafs kick off the season in a style similar to last season, hosting the Habs on October the 7th.  It’s definitely a schedule different than last season’s as the Leafs don’t make anything that remotely resembles a home-stand until they host the Canucks, Predators and Devils from Saturday November the 13th until Thursday November 18th.  And again, that’s barely a home-stand considering that’s only three games.

As for a road trip, there isn’t one that lasts more than two games until a Western-Canadian road-swing that sees the Leafs play the Oilers, Flames and Canucks from December 14th-December 18th.

The Leafs make a bit of a longer road-trip in mid-January when they play the Thrashers, Sharks, Kings and Coyotes over the course of six days.

The Buds next so-called “home-stand” takes place all the way in March, when from the 10th to the 14th the Leafs will host the Lightning, the Sabres and defending Eastern Conference Champs, the Philadelphia Flyers.

The blue and white will close out the regular season against their most hated of rivals, facing off against all other four teams in their division once apiece in their last six games of the season.

The longest break from action will be five full days without hockey as the Leafs play the Atlanta Thrashers at the ACC on December the 20th and don’t pick up again until boxing day in New Jersey.

Games of Note:

Montreal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs – Thursday October 7th, 2010

The Buds kick off their 2010-2011 campaign on home ice against their most hated rivals.  Carey Price will be in net for the Habs and Lars Eller will go head-to-head against the fabled Tyler Bozak.  Yep, it’s got classic written all over it.

Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs – Saturday October 9th, 2010

Colton Orr and Matt Carkner will undoubtedly duel it out in the pre-season, but if the team’s pre-season record doesn’t matter then why should the result of the fight?  The Battle of Orr-err, Ontario, makes it’s 2010-2011 season debut on the first glimpse of hockey on Saturday since game one of the Stanley Cup Finals.  The Leafs have won four straight against the Sens and Orr is one win away from clinching the series against Ottawa’s triple-OT hero.  This one should be killer.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Philadelphia Flyers – Saturday October 23rd, 2010

The Maple Leafs play the defending Eastern Conference Champs in their own barn for the first time of the new season.  Potentially the NHL’s two toughest teams going head to head here, so look forward to seeing some gritty action.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins – Thursday October 28, 2010

Phil Kessel continues his push to finally score against the Bruins as the Leafs play the Beantown Bears for the first time of the season.  Expect whoever is covering the game to make a big deal over could’ve-been-Leafs Tyler Seguin and Nathan Horton.

Buffalo Sabres at Toronto Maple Leafs – Saturday November 6th, 2010

Not only is it the first time the Leafs play the Sabres this season, but it’s the annual Hall of Fame game that this year will honor such legends as Dino Ciccarelli and allegedly nobody else.

Edmonton Oilers at Toronto Maple Leafs – Thursday December 2nd, 2010

Barring Steve Tambellini’s deeper venture into all-star retardation, Taylor Hall will play his first game in Toronto and apparently Pat Quinn won’t be there to see it.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Calgary Flames – Thursday December 16th, 2010

In case you can’t put two and two together, the Maple Leafs’ captain Dion Phaneuf, as well as Fredrik Sjostrom and maybe even Keith Aulie will return to Calgary for the first time since the big trade went down on January 31st, 2010.  Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman and Ian White will play their old team, the blue and white, for the first time since the trade as well.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa Senators – Saturday January 1st, 2011

The Leafs grind it out in the battle of Ontario for their first game of 2011.  Starts six hours after the puck-drop of the NHL’s other marquee event, the Crosby vs. Ovechkin Classic.

St. Louis Blues at Toronto Maple Leafs – Thursday January 6th, 2011

Just because Client Jaroslaugh HAHAHalak left the conference doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist.

Calgary Flames at Toronto Maple Leafs – Saturday January 15th, 2011

This time it’s #1 center Matt Stajan’s turn to make the long flight home to the team that drafted him.  Expect Mikka Kiprusoff to continue to have the Buds number.

Anaheim Ducks at Toronto Maple Leafs – Thursday January 20th, 2011

Jason Blake makes his much-anticipated return to the Air Canada Center and J.S. Giguere faces off against the team he won a Stanley Cup with.  Jonas Gustavsson also got his first ever NHL win against these guys but it’s hard to imagine Jiggy doesn’t get the start.  Also, Brian Burke will laugh at the Ducks blueline.

Montreal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs – Saturday April 9th, 2011

The Leafs conclude their regular season but hopefully not their season all-together as they cap off the NHL’s most legendary rivalry at home.

You can follow me on Twitter here.

By now we’re all well aware that the Toronto Maple Leafs hold the longest Stanley Cup drought in the entire NHL.  Well, that’s what Damien Cox would like us to believe, but most of us also know by now that the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings hold the exact same miserable feat to their name.

In light of both the recent deal for Jaroslav Halak by the St. Louis Blues (as well as the lack of any other notable storylines in hockey right now) it got me thinking about how all three of these teams are seemingly on the rise, all emerging from the ashes of long and harsh rebuilding processes.  Whenever one long drought ends, the next longest one seems to end within a short span.  So again, with all three of these teams clearly on the quick road to contention it seems only natural that a Stanley Cup win from one of the Maple Leafs, Kings or Blues is imminent.  Let’s take a further look at whose poised to hoist Stanley’s mug next.

St. Louis Blues

You probably know that just a couple of days ago the Blues took part in what I guess you could in fact call a blockbuster deal with the Montreal Canadiens to acquire a 25-year-old goaltender who very recently carried the Habs to the Eastern Conference Finals: Jaroslav Halak.  To acquire Halak they gave up a future third-line checker in Ian Schultz as well as a pretty nifty center prospect named Lars Eller.  Eller was expendable though, considering the fact that the Blues already have the following players down the middle: a future star in T.J. Oshie, a potential star in Patrik Berglund, a quickly rising second-line grinder in Alex Steen and a veteran center who is arguably of the first line calibre in Andy McDonald.

On the wings the Blues have one of the league’s premier power forwards in David Backes as well as a recently struggling Brad Boyes (who when on top of his game is a 30-goal scorer).  The Blues are a bit weak when it comes to the left-wing, as all they have is pending UFA Paul Kariya as well as the wildly inconsistent French-Canadian sniper David Perron.

As far as the blueline goes the Blues should be set for a long time.  They’ve got the NHL’s best prospect in puck-mover Alex Pietrangelo as well as young stud, former 1st overall selection Erik Johnson.  The Blues also have Ian Cole, an arguable blue-chipper as well as veteran shutdown players such as Eric Brewer and Barret Jackman.  One thing to note is that their three best defenseman of the future (Cole, Pietrangelo and Johnson) are all right-handed shots, a rarity amongst most defensemen.  It may be tough for these kids to click if they all shoot the same way.

In net the Blues have two young prospects in Ben Bishop and Jake Allen, as well as Jaroslav Halak now who will more than likely be St. Louis’ franchise goaltender for the next decade.

Los Angeles Kings

This past season they emerged as a playoff team after a long absence, and it looks as though things are only going to get better for California’s most promising team (sorry San Jose).

Up front the Kings have first-line center Anze Kopitar as well as two of the league’s most agitating power forwards in Ryan Smyth and Dustin Brown.  The Kings also have two above-average checking-line centers Michal Handzus and Jarret Stoll, a blue-chip prospect in Brayden Schenn, an underachieving sniper in Justin Williams as well as pending UFA Alexander Frolov.  The Kings also have a young rising power forward in Wayne Simmonds, and have been linked to rumors surrounding another pending UFA Russian: superstar Ilya Kovalchuk.

On the blueline the Kings have a young star who looks to be a franchise player for years upon years to come in former second-overall selection Drew Doughty.  The Kings also have tough guy Matt Greene, shutdown checker Rob Scuderi and the potential star Jack Johnson along with soon-to-be NHL-ready puck-mover Thomas Hickey.

In net the Kings have a young and serviceable goaltender in Jonathan Quick who is on a cheap contract for three more years.  More noteably however, they have former first-round selection Jonathan Bernier who is poised to be a star.  Bernier will compete for a job in training camp in the fall and it will be interesting to see who takes the reigns over the course of a full NHL season.

Toronto Maple Leafs

We all know they had an unbelievably miserable year, but at the same time I think we all know they’re on the rise, whether its this year or three years from now, they’ve got a lot of key pieces in place that just need to develop a bit more.

On the forwards core the Leafs have young sniper, Phil “I think I can score 40″ Kessel, the speedy Viktor “Pretty sure I can finally play in the NHL” Stalberg and Mikhail “Fucking Crazy” Grabovski.  Along with that they have the young second-line playmaker Tyler Bozak and grinding scorer Nikolai Kulemin.  Oh, and let’s not forget the potential star, but still young and developing Nazem Kadri as well as the maybe bust but hopefully decent power forward in Luca Caputi.  They hope to add more to that core this off-season by dealing Tomas Kaberle.

On the blueline the Leafs are probably pretty much set.  Should Luke Schenn finally begin to emerge as the player we all think he can be this year, should Mike Komisarek have a strong rebound year after a horrible injury-plagued mini-season and should captain Dion Phaneuf get his career truly back on track starting next season, the Leafs will have three of the NHL’s grittiest, toughest defenseman to play against.  Along with that they have Francois Beauchemin, a pretty decent two-way guy who provides leadership.  They also have the young and promising Swede Carl Gunnarsson as well as a stacked prospect pool that includes Korbinian Holzer, Jesse Blacker, Keith Aulie and Juraj Mikus.

In net the Leafs have who will probably be their stud for a long time in Jonas Gustavsson, provided the veteran poise of J.S. Giguere helps back him up to greatness next year.  The Leafs also have a promising prospect pool of three near-NHL-ready goalies in James Reimer, Ben Scrivens and Jussi Rynnas.

Conclusion

You guys may not like this answer but I think a Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup victory is not far away.  Drew Doughty could very well be the league’s next perennial Norris Trophy winner, and should Jack Johnson get his act together that pairing will be just as effective as the Chicago Blackhawks’ tandem of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.  They’ve got a ton of grit and guys who are willing to pay the price to win much like the Blackhawks as well, and their depth in net is not far away from being the NHL’s best tandem as long as they can afford to keep it together.

While the Blues and Maple Leafs have a lot of key pieces in place (Blues have the depth at center, Leafs have the blueline depth) they just don’t hold the same all-around structure that the Los Angles Kings have.  The Kings are literally one Ilya Kovalchuk signing away from becoming perhaps the Western Conference’s best team, while the Blues and Leafs need to add more than just one key piece to push them over the edge.  The overall speed, structure, depth, skill and grit is eerily similar to that of the now defending Stanley Cup Champs, the Chicago Blackhawks, and for that reason a Cup win on the coast of California seems all but a sure thing within the next few years.

Let’s hope I’m wrong.

Over the past few months, Leafs Nation has become obsessed with an exciting 23 year old gent who honed his skills with Metallurg Magnitogorsk until 2 years ago. Now the longest serving leaf forward (and they say the roster hasn’t been blown up), Nikolai Kulemin has come off of a year that has left many people excited. But now they’re worried.

Kulemin’s contract expires at the end of the year, making him a restricted free agent. And a lot of people are worried. July 1st is in 3 weeks, meaning he’s close to be able to look at offer sheets, the Kontinental Hockey League, and arbitration. So everybody’s in a rush to sign him. But the thing is, for how much? And are the Leafs as rushed?

Well, the general consensus around the fanbase is they’d be content with anywhere between 2.25-3 million dependant on the length of his contract (less years = less money). Kulemin’s agents like that last number, and have been using it in negotiations. Of course, Burke isnt a fan of it, meaning negotiations have been rather slow, with nothing really being done on the matter in a few weeks.

So I figure I’ll play arbitrator. We’ll take a lot of factors throughout the league, and figure out what his worth is. And it may surprise a lot of you.

Why are we panicking?

Okay, this isn’t an evaluation of his worth just yet, but something that has to be done. Everyone has to stop panicking about the contract not being done yet.

First off, lets look at the list of notable restricted free agents that have signed contracts since the start of the playoffs:

- Jonas Gustavsson

Nice list, eh? Now, I know what you’re about to say. “Well, Jeff, that’s great. Can you give us the list for the entire league, and not just the Leafs?”

Sounds good. Here’s the NHL list.

- Jonas Gustavsson
- Cory Schneider

Yeah, nobody in the NHL has really signed their RFA’s just yet. Who else is left? Talent like Erik Johnson, Blake Wheeler, Wojtek Wolski, Carey Price, Jaroslav Halak, Bobby Ryan, Peter Mueller, Alex Steen, Joe Pavelski, Sam Gagner, Andrew Ladd, Ondrej Pavelec, Braydon Coburn, Devin Setoguchi, and many, many more. I’m just too lazy to write an entire article consisting of notable restricted free agents that still don’t have contracts. The point remains though – we’re not in a bad position compared to the rest of the league. In fact, we may be in better situations than many! Kulemin is the only remotely significant RFA we have, with John Mitchell and Christian Hanson more than likely pouncing on a qualifying offer if (when) they happen.

Another thing to look at – being unsigned in June doesn’t mean anything close to disloyalty. Case in point:

In 2001-02, a well hyped defenceman had a contract dispute with his team. He was a good one too – 23 years old, and had back to back 40 point seasons. They couldn’t get anything done in June. Or July, August, or September. October starts…nothing. He decides to go back to Europe. 13 games into the season, he finally signs a contract with his NHL team and comes back to get 39 points in 69 games, and being an integral key to the team making a rather good playoff run. The fanbase praised him for many years, and is currently trying to run him out of town for draft picks, even though he still is playing rather well. He’s so loyal to his franchise that he’s blocked trades out because he wants to stay.

If you haven’t figured out that I’m talking about Tomas Kaberle at this point, exit this page right now, because you’re probably too stupid to figure out everything else I’m going to say. But yes, Tomas Kaberle held out until late October, early November of 2001 and even played 9 games with Klando of the Czech league while waiting on a new contract. And has followed it with 8 more seasons in the blue and white. So don’t worry that Kulemin not being signed in freaking June means he hates the team and wants out.

Lets Start Comparing

With that all aside, lets get to the contract comparison part of this. This is where, as the name states, I compare Kulemin to a bunch of players in the league. But unlike most people who will just pick and choose 2-3 guys who make themselves look REALLY good in an argument (The Howard Berger/Steve Simmons combined contract argument theory), I’ll save something similar to that for later. What I have now is me making Player X’s – averages of a sample of a bunch of players.

My first chart involves 4 player X’s, and 30 comparison players. In this one, I took one player from each NHL team that was the closest to Kulemin’s exact stat line this year – a combination of stats, and age (players range from 20-27). This is what we got.

Obviously, the players in Red are free agents this year (all restricted with the exception of Raffi Torres, who hits the open market on July 1st). Orange-yellow denotes players who are still on their entry level contracts, so we won’t use them as an example because that would just be rude. Or incredibly unindicative of what a team has ever felt them to be worth, and merely a required contract at first signing. Or both.

Now lets look at the player X’s we have here. First thing you’ll notice – they all average out to be better players than Kulemin, both in terms of this season, and their career, in terms of statistical production. What does this mean? Kulemin’s statistical stuff is absolutely nothing special. Of course there’s other facets to his game, but stats are usually the biggest indicator in a contract.

Secondly – look at the average salary in the Green Player X – 1.97 million dollars. This gets you a player who is good for 42-43 points a year at around Kulemin’s age. That considered, does 2.25-3.0 seem a little odd for a 36 point Kulemin? I personally think so, but its up to you on whether you agree with me or not. Now, you may say “well what a biased chart – the Frans Nielsens of the world are bringing that number down!” Well, many of these guys weren’t far off from Kulemin’s numbers when they first signed. Secondarily, they’re averaged out by the several 3-4.25M contracts in this list. If I went full bias and found a way to avoid using the David Booth’s and Milan Michalek’s for this chart, that number would be even lower.

For further comparison though, I went with another approach (that does use some of the same players) to do this chart. No age concerns or anything, but instead of using the stats to figure out the cap hit, I used the cap hits to figure out the stats.

Two things before I go on – Tomas Plekanec may look like a bit of a biased addition, but do note he got this contract a year removed from a 70 point season, with a lot to indicate the present-at-the-time 39 points were just an off year. Secondarily, you’ll notice that nobody on Philadelphia was used. The reasoning for this was because they had absolutely nobody between 1.1 (Laperriere) and 4.2 million (Hartnell) other than James Van Riemsdyk, and I didn’t want to use rookie contracts. To replace him, I used two players from Phoenix, mostly so I could put Leafs scapegoat Lee Stempniak on the list.

Lets look at our player X – at 2.3 million dollars a year, he gets 7 more points than Kulemin in 5 less games. Once again indicating that even the low spectrum of 2.25-3 could be too much. On top of this, 12 out of 30 players here (about 40%) do a “perfect sweep” of Kulemin – beating him in all 5 stats while still being in the same contract range. In fact, 2 of those perfect sweepers were Leafs to start the year!

Personally, both of these considered, I’m already iffy on him being more than maybe a 2 million dollar player. Lets take a look at some contracts in depth – taking 5 players and seeing what got them what they’re being paid.

The Group of Five

My five players of choice for this are, in order of cap hits, Matt Stajan (1.75), Brandon Dubinsky (1.85), Drew Stafford (1.9), Trent Hunter (2.0), and Alex Burrows (2.0). I picked these guys because at the time of their signing, they were all fawned over by their fanbases for their recent strides as players, with Stajan, Dubinsky, and Stafford all doing it at Kulemins age (with Hunter and Burrows being a bit older). All have something about them that gave the “2 way forward” vibe that Kulemin’s been getting. Here’s a comparison of their contract years.

Yep, if you’re still an apologist of Nikolai getting a more than healthy payday from the Leafs after seeing this, you’ve gotta be a little off. With the exception of Stajan, everyone had more productive years, and were rewarded with under 2 million dollars. Alas, there are a few more angles to go through.

To Russia With A Bag of Money

Another point being brought up in discussion is speculation that the theory that Kulemin could bolt for the KHL, so we need to entice him with a similar amount of money. Lets use Kovalchuk’s recent offer from SKA St. Petersburg to come up with an estimated value. Kovalchuk has been offered 14 million a year, an absolutely whopping number for any hockey player, by far the most in the world. His estimated value in the NHL would be about 8.5 million per year, meaning they’re giving him 164% of his value. First off, lets look at a few of the other well known KHL contracts.

Alexander Radulov’s 3 year deal with Salavat Ufa pays him 4.3 million per year. Using the same formula as Kovalchuk, this would convert into 2.61 million dollars in the NHL (though he had a year left on his contract already). An argument could be made that he would get his after a 58 point season with Nashville.

Sergei Zubov signed with SKA St. Petersbugh for 5 million a year. Adjusted, that’s 3.03M in the NHL, which also makes sense after having an injury riddled 08/09.

Sergei Fedorov’s 2 year deal with Kulemin’s former Metallurg Magnitogorsk earned him approximately 12 Million (9+3), which adjusts to 3.6 a year in the NHL. With speculation that the Caps were willing to offer around 4 million to keep him, this isn’t a shock.

Lastly, Jaromir Jagr took anywhere between 7.5 and 10 million a year on his first contract with Avangard Omsk, and about 5 next year. That’s 4.5-6 million a year. Coincidentally, the Rangers offered Jagr 4.75, and the Oilers 6. Not far off either way. And 5 now would mean he’s worth 3 in the NHL now, which is about right.

Of course, you’re sitting here going, what am I getting at here?

I’m getting at that number, 164%, works to figure out Kulemin’s salary. Now, assuming he’s worth 2 million here, this means he’s worth 3.28 to the KHL (most likely Magnitogorsk). With that considered, do you really think that Kulemin is going to move his family, including his Toronto born kid, back to Russia for an extra million dollars and possibly ruin his reputation in the NHL if he feels he can break out as a legitimate player here? Personally, I don’t see it.

‘First Liner By Default’

Burke was spot on with this line:

“We haven’t exchanged proposals in a couple of weeks now. While they can say: ‘he was on your first line last year,’ there is no one who would say Nikolai Kulemin is a first line left winger. He’s a first line left winger by default because we did not have a very good team. I’m not paying for someone who gets the position by default.”

This is entirely true. First off, for a first line winger, 36 points is underwhelming, even if half the year was spent off the line. If you can’t put up 50 points on line 1, then you simply aren’t able to be a first line forward. Even if you do, you’re a weak one. And face it, at 3 million dollars, unless your team is stacked, that guy should probably be able to produce at a level that can at least be considered a weak first liner, 2 way ability be damned.

Until he can throw a 25/25 season at us, he should be paid like a normal 2nd liner at best.

How Much Has He Even Improved?

Less than, you may think. Check this out. While on paper, it looks like he’s improved pretty much every single facet of his game this year, things change once you adjust the minutes. Here is a stat comparison before adjustment, and one when he plays 20:00 a game for 82 games. And remember when looking at those offensive stats – this is a man playing with Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak instead of Mikhail Grabovski and Flavour of the Week the previous year.

While his defensive game has improved, he did produce at a lower rate than last year. If he’s the Leafs most improved player, its because everyone else who had good years weren’t on the Leafs last year. In fact, he may be the only improved leaf, of those left on the final roster that were also on the team in 09. That line loses a bit of merit now, doesn’t it?

Why We Think He’s Worth More

Leafs fans are happy to give him more money for a few reasons, that are all understandable. For one, we see potential in this kid, and don’t want to lose him. An offer sheet of fair value doesn’t give the Leafs a heck of a lot in compensation, and losing him to the KHL would just suck. We all want to see him here next year, so now that we inch closer to July, people are panicked and just want it over with. Secondly, we’ve become used to overpaying for players to ensure they stay to the point where this would just be another brick in the wall. When Jeff Finger is on your roster, you’d start to argue John Mitchell being worth more than a qualifying offer. Thirdly, Leafs nation likes to root for the little guy. Kulemin is young, and isn’t making a ton of money yet, so everyone is on his side to cash in..for now. The second he has a bad game, we’ll turn on him. It happens all the time. Finally, reports are playing with our minds. We’ve gotten stuff all year saying he’s the best thing since sliced bread, and conversely that he’s going to prove this after this year on another team. People are naturally sick of it, regardless of what they say, and just want to get this over with so we can bomb St. Petersburg and convince Ilya Kovalchuk to sign here instead (okay, that might just be me).

Conclusion

Kulemin is a fantastic young player, who should be with the Leafs for a rather long time. However, people are worrying too much about other factors to take this contract negotiation at face value. Other players around the NHL do more for less than we’re saying would be the right option, including players of the same age and potential. Kulemin would be best suited to sign at the 1.75-2 million range for a contract that would be suitable for all parties, with everything considered. The best example for him in all of this by far was Brandon Dubinsky – an early 20′s forward who came out of nowhere with wicked 2 way hockey and a rapid ascension to a top 6 role due to a lack of anyone good being in his place. He was adored by fans, and everyone freaked out until he was signed. He signed for 1.85 million, which turns out to be just fine for him. And it should be about right for Kulemin. Lets hope Burke agrees.

It’s also no secret how they got there.  Hitting at open ice.  Shot-blocking.  Outstanding goaltending.  Despite a lack of skilled offense, this total blue collar effort has brought the Habs past arguably the two best teams in the league like many Cinderella’s before them.

Which has me wondering: if the Leafs do sneak into the playoffs by breaking in on the last couple available seeds in the Eastern Conference next year like everybody expects, could they do the same?

Looking back on earlier years, I found a few things out about how the Leafs of today, who weren’t Leafs yesterday, compare to the Habs of…today.

In other words, I looked back at 2007-2008 when a truly healthy Mike Komisarek was second in the National Hockey League in hits with 266.  What’s even better is that Mike Komisarek lead the entire league in blocked shots with 227.  Despite playing only 12 games he finished the post-season with 39 hits and a fourth-best 41 blocked shots.

Looking back at the year before, I found that Francois Beauchemin was only about a hit-per-game and blocked-shot per game player.  But as I looked at all of his NHL seasons, I found out that Francois had only topped 75 blocked shots once in a season: in 2009-2010 with the Toronto Maple Leafs, when he finished the year with a spectacular 155 blocked shots.

Then there’s our future Captain Dion Phaneuf, who typically puts up about 200 hits a season as well near 100 blocked shots.  Take his Norris Trophy-nominee year, when he had 194 hits and 88 blocked shots in the regular season.  He also had 36 hits and 9 blocked shots in just 7 games played.  Oh, and let’s not forget the offense he provides.

And of course, Luke Schenn.  He was the only Leaf this year to put up both 100+ hits and 100+ blocked shots.  In his rookie season when he wasn’t hampered by a stunning sophomore slump, he was 17th in the league in hits with 206.  He also finished with 116 blocked shots.

As for the rest, despite his mental mistakes and defensive flaws, Jeff Finger is a hitting and shot-blocking machine, another player who when actually getting regular playing time can surpass 100 hits and 100 blocked shots in a season.  Carl Gunnarsson is a shot-blocking machine, having finished with 77 in just 43 games played.  He also averages roughly a hit per game, and every forward expected to be back next season on the Leafs has averaged at least a hit per game other than Phil Kessel and Mikhail Grabovski.  That’s just fine with me, because I already have Phil Kessel slotted in as the sniper who will score 12 goals in 14 games, like a certain Mike Cammalerri on the Habs.

Also, let’s not forget Jonas Gustavsson.  If anybody is going to put on a performance like Jaroslav Halak is now, it’s the Monster.  I only have two small examples to look at when considering how Jonas does under pressure, and they are two good ones at that: in the Swedish Elite League playoffs in 2009, Gustavsson sported a 1.03 GAA and .961 save percentage en route to a championship.  And in the spring of 2009-2010 when Gustavsson was looking for a new contract, he won seven straight games that saw him allow just 17 goals.

So in conclusion, the Leafs are set up front, on the back-end and in the crease when it comes to open ice hits, blocking shots and outstanding goaltending.  They probably won’t have the most skilled of offenses, but it’s the total blue collar effort that got the Habs to the Eastern Conference Finals, and it’s the total blue collar effort that the Maple Leafs are willing to endorse to make the same Cinderella story next season.

You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/raskofalltrades

I run a separate blog at www.stupidbuthealthy.blogspot.com

As many of you know, I’m a stat nerd. I need to know every single little detail about the world of hockey, to a scary degree. And for this reason, I had some fun with ESPN’s player profiles today.

The cool thing about ESPN’s player profiles is that they let you check out splits. Splits divide stats into ridiculous detail, like months of the year, days of the week, time of the game, days of rest before game day, crazy stuff like that. I didn’t go for all the crazy stuff, but I did want to know the following things.

1. Is there a player breakdown to the Leafs significantly better play at home than on the road this year? The team was over .500 at home, while 9 games under when traveling around the NHL.

2. Does being on Hockey Night In Canada make a huge difference? Everyone seems to think the Leafs play better when on National television. Is there any truth to this?

3. Its been stated that the East is a much weaker conference than the West. How do the Leafs players do against the two conferences?

4. Do the Leafs have players that step it up against divisional rivals? How do our players stack up against the teams that matter most?

5. Are there any players on our team that actually play better when the Leafs lose?

My findings on each question are below. Now, keep the following things in note.

- For skaters, I used points per game as my main statistic. Games played was typically the tiebreaker. however, I did use some lenience if goals were vastly better. (.94 PPG with .6GPG > 1.0 PPG with .3 PPG, for example).

- For goalies, I used a mix of GAA and SV%.

So here are my findings.

1. Is there a player breakdown to the Leafs significantly better play at home than on the road this year? The team was over .500 at home, while 9 games under when traveling around the NHL.

Home: 13 (Bozak, Primeau, Wallin, Caputi, Stalberg, Kessel, Sjostrom, Beauchemin, Exelby, Komisarek, Schenn, Giguere, Gustavsson)

Away: 10 (Grabovski, Hanson, Mitchell, Lundmark, Kulemin, Orr, Finger, Gunnarsson, Kaberle, Phaneuf).

Surprisingly, this was much closer than I thought. At first, when seeing the likes of Bozak, Beauchemin, and Kessel on the Home side, I thought it was an issue of better players stepping up. However, you see Kulemin, Kaberle, and Phaneuf on the away side, and see that as a solution that doesn’t exist.

Then it occurred to me – the Goaltending. Both Gustavsson and Giguere were much better players at home than on the road this year. One issue though – the two, while combining for the bulk of the year, didn’t combine for all of it. What about Vesa Toskala?

As it turns out, I went to look up his stats for this year, and sure enough, 6 of his 7 wins as a Leaf this year came in the Air Canada Centre. His stats were much better at home as well.

Ladies and Gents, this is why fans in most arenas cheer their goalies on for every save, and stop at nothing to boo the visiting tender. There might actually be something behind it.

2. Does being on Hockey Night In Canada make a huge difference? Everyone seems to think the Leafs play better when on National television. Is there any truth to this?

Sunday: 1 (Wallin)

Monday: 3 (Exelby, Kaberle, Primeau)

Tuesday: 1 (Sjostrom)

Wednesday: 2 (Mitchell, Gunnarsson)

Thursday: 7 (Grabovski, Caputi, Kulemin, Stalberg, Komisarek, Schenn, Giguere)

Friday: 3 (Lundmark, Orr, Finger)

Saturday: 6 (Gustavsson, Phaneuf, Beauchemin, Kessel, Hanson, Bozak)

By raw numbers, it looks like the Hockey Night In Canada thing has no merit. I mean, Thursday has one more player, right?

That’s when you look at quality. Saturday has the  best defenceman, highest minute defenceman, top forward, top forward’s centre, and starting goalie. Thursday has a few decent players, but doesn’t reach Saturday in star power.

But just for the hell of it, I went to check if there was a network thing for Thursday…

And sure enough, Thursday is the #1 day for LeafsTV broadcasts, and the other games played on Thursdays were all TSN minus the season opener on CBC.

You guys know what this means, right?

No more Sportsnet. Please. For the good of the team.

3. Its been stated that the East is a much weaker conference than the West. How do the Leafs players do against the two conferences?

East: 15 (Grabovski, Hanson, Mitchell, Primeau, Wallin, Caputi, Kulemin, Stalberg, Orr, Sjostrom, Exelby, Komisarek, Schenn, Giguere, Gustavsson)

West: 8 (Bozak, Lundmark, Kessel, Beauchemin, Finger, Gunnarsson, Kaberle, Phaneuf)

Lundmark and Phaneufs stats are no doubt boosted by the fact they played for the Flames this year, especially Phaneuf, who went on a cold streak offensively when he showed up here. So you can even make the argument they be removed and this goes 15-6, making it even more lopsided than it already is.

Anyway, this kind of removes doubt on the argument. The Leafs are simply better against the East. Considering the Leafs were last in the conference, that says a lot.

4. Do the Leafs have players that step it up against divisional rivals? How do our players stack up against the teams that matter most?

Atlantic: 2 (Primeau, Wallin)

Central: 5 (Kessel, Orr, Finger, Phaneuf, Gustavsson)

Northeast: 7 (Stalberg, Sjostrom, Exelby, Gunnarsson, Komisarek, Schenn, Giguere)

Northwest: 3 (Beauchemin, Bozak, Lundmark)

Pacific: 3 (Mitchell, Kulemin, Kaberle)

Southeast: 3 (Grabovski, Hanson, Caputi)

Amazingly, it appears we do have a lot of players that step it up against our own division. Unfortunately, exactly zero of these guys are high offensive contributors that win us games. Lots of good defence here, but this article has an offensive bias, so meh. Giguere being there is pretty good though.

Mindbogglingly, there’s a lot of people under the central division too, the second highest at 5. Maybe they’re all purists at heart, and are awaiting our return to the Norris Division of old?

Lastly, only 3 for the Southeast kind of shocked me – for a division that’s supposed to be the worst in hockey, its a pretty neutral one in this situation.

5. Are there any players on our team that actually play better when the Leafs lose?

I thought such an occurrence would be more or less impossible. I mean, particularly with offensive stats, you usually will produce more in a win. But sure enough…

Losses: 3 (Wallin, Komisarek, Orr)

Wins: 20 (Bozak, Grabovski, Hanson, Lundmark, Mitchell, Primeau, Caputi, Kulemin, Stalberg, Kessel, Sjostrom, Beauchemin, Exelby, Finger, Gunnarsson, Kaberle, Phaneuf, Schenn, Giguere, Gustavsson)

ARE YOU KIDDING ME. NOT JUST ONE STATISTICAL REJECT, BUT THREE? THIS IS SOME KIND OF J-

Oh, these guys combined for as many points as Bozak had assists in 37 games? Fucking lack of sample size. Then again, Rickard Wallin would probably be there anyway, margin of error be damned.

Some other stats I noticed.

- Phil Kessel REALLY loves playing at home, getting nearly a point per game. This goes for Saturdays as well, along with the Western Conference (14 goals in 14 games? Legend.) Bozak has similar stats in terms of points in these regards.

- Jeff Finger is a 137 point player if he plays against the Central Division 82 games a year. Okay, extrapolating 5 points in 3 games to an 82 game year is a bit much, but still, just throwing this out there – Finger could be yours, Chicago, Detroit, or anyone in the division, for the low price of any draft pick/minor leaguer/thing that doesn’t cost the Leafs much cap space!

- Rickard Wallin is brutal. Like, really brutal. In every regard.

- Colton Orr fights more when he plays against the West too. Trying to get his name spread across the land, I suspect.

- Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Luke Schenn, and Viktor Stalberg must’ve been the kids who followed every single trend as if it were a science during their young years. They’re all part of the majority side in every regard I listed.

- Rickard Wallin is probably the most unique person, in that he only stays with the pack twice out of the five categories, and in both cases, his stats were dangerously close to being the other way. He’s a special man. And not in the good way.

The 5 W’s

Who is he?

Ben Scrivens is a 23 year old Goaltender from Spruce Grove, Alberta. He’s 6’2 and weighs in at 180lbs. A left handed glove, the year coming will be his first year playing at the professional level, and whether it’s with the Marlies or the Royals remains to be seen.

Scrivens doesn’t quite have the pressure fellow goaltender Jonas Gustavsson did in terms of being pegged goalie of the future, but he’s clearly being brought in to make strides towards being an NHL starter, or at least a heck of a backup. Basically, he’s the Canadian Jussi Rynnas, which is why this article will read almost the exact same as the Rynnas one. In terms of what his short-term future holds, he’ll most assuredly be on the Toronto Marlies or Reading Royals next year, with the future of current Marlies starter James Reimer dictating whether he’s the backup of the Marlies, or starter of the Royals.

He’s about to play in the first and only year of his Entry Level contract with unknown financial numbers, though speculated to be 875,000 a year.

What did his stats look like this year?

Scrivens had a fantastic year with Cornell University, starting 34 games and playing to a 21-9-4 record. He put up a massively impressive 1.87 GAA and a .934 save percentage. And its not like he’s just a one time thing – he’s had similar stats for 3 years now. To add to those stats, he had 7 shutouts. He was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, lead all major ECAC categories, and was a first team all star for both the ECAC and Ivy League teams. Throw in leading Cornell to the ECAC Tournament Title, and you have yourself a fantastic year.

When did they acquire him?

Yesterday! Confirmation of his signing came out today via a zillion places. Rumors of interest from other teams, such has Dallas, Anaheim, and Philadelphia, have been circling the rumor mill for weeks now, but the young netminder has chosen Toronto as the place that he’ll start his career.

Where has he played?

Scrivens has spent his entire notable career with Cornell University in the NCAA. And he’s done a LOT there too. On top of all the stuff that I mentioned for this season, he’s top 5 all time in NCAA Shutouts, second in consecutive games played, and top 10 in save percentage and GAA. How amazing is that?

Why was he originally acquired?

Lets face it, between 05-06 and 35 milliseconds before the Jean-Sebastien Giguere trade was completed, the Leafs goaltending depth looked like a disaster. Brian Burke is going all out to have as many backup plans as he can, so he’s not stuck with something brutal like in previous years.

Role Changes

What was his role to be at the start of the year?

Obviously, the Leafs didn’t expect to even have them on their team a year ago. Cornell had him as the de facto starter, as they have had for several years.

What is his current role with the team?

His current role is unknown, as mentioned several times in this article (gotta force it into your minds, clearly). He’s expected to at the very least start with the Reading Royals, and if Marlies starter Reimer were to be moved, become the backup or 1B for next year.

Has he exceeded or failed to reach expectations of him to date?

Expectations with the Leafs? He hasn’t done anything yet. Expectations of his career? Considering the fact he was never drafted, the fact that he’s made it to being signed by an NHL team at 23 without being drafted is pretty impressive, and definitely a sign of things to come.

Will he continue to improve in the future with the Leafs?

Absolutely! The sky is the limit for Scirvens. Hopefully he turns out like the last incredibly hyped Cornell starting goalie.

Is He Worth Keeping?

That goes without saying. Even if it doesn’t work out, we got him for nothing and he stays in the minors for a year before finding another role somewhere. Works out well, in my opinion.

Anything Else?

Philadelphia needs to find a way to get these guys signed. Seriously, how pathetic is it that that team has absolutely no depth between the pipes,with the ability to give anyone they want the starters job, and they STILL can’t get prospects to sign with them. Ha! Their loss.

Play of the Year

Well, its not this year, but its the best I got. Anyway, if he fails to do well here, he can always get a role in the WWE.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ben has played 34 or more games in three of his last four seasons, has averaged less than two goals a game over his two most recent seasons and a save percentage of .930 or better in all three. The 6’2” Spruce Grove, Alberta native, joins a depth chart of goaltenders that already includes in some shape or form Jonas Gustavsson, JS Giguere, James Reimer, Jussi Rynnas and Andrew Engelage. Ben was overlooked during the years of his draft eligibility but raised the eyebrows of a few NHL clubs this past season, the Philadelphia Flyers thought to be foremost.

Today’s signing of Scrivens (coming only six days after the Leafs inked a two year deal with Jussi Rynnas) adds to the speculation that the Leafs 99^th pick in the 2006 draft, James Reimer, will be moved over the summer. Reimer drew attention to his game after putting up impressive numbers for the AHL Marlies last season, at times leading he league in save percentage. After his final press conference of the season, Brian Burke alluded to moving Reimer in return for a pick in either of the first two rounds of the upcoming 2010 NHL entry draft.

Scrivens received a one year, entry level contract from the Toronto Maple Leafs, the most allowed under the terms of the current NHL collective bargaining agreement.