Don't Blame Reimer, Blame Wilson for The Last 3 Games...

 With a few more performances like tonight, even he knows he won't keep his job....

I was watching the Leaf game tonight and , for the 5th straight f-ing game, they were down early and down by 2 goals within the first 10 minutes of the game. Talk about deflating. For a team that has been floundering over the last 10 games (1-8-1 on that span), their confidence in both themselves and each other, has been slowly eroding over the last 3 to 4 weeks to the point now where it appears to have been stripped away completely. How else do you explain giveaways mounting like they are and giving up early goals on such easy plays and turnovers?

You really can't blame either of them lately...who's the #1 Goalie Ron? You don't even know do you?

It would be easy to (once again) point out the horrendous officiating in this and many other games (hacking and slashing is way, WAY up and yet overall, the total number of calls being made by officials are way, way down), but that's not the main issue with this team. I mean there are many other areas that need to be looked at such as Phaneuf not playing like his true self (will you just lay some asshole out already and make a statement? Please?), or the inconsistency of the 2nd line (which hadn't had a goal between the threesome of Kulemin, MacArtur and Grabovski in at least the past 9 games before tonight), or the disappearing duo act being put on by both Lombardi and Connolly (each of whom seem to vanish on the ice when they are needed to play some defence (where were they on the Panthers 2nd goal tonight?).

 The only time he is visible lately is when he is hurt in the press box...

You can't even really blame the piss poor play of the defence (Komisarek and Schenn are just brutal, Gardiner made a brutal giveaway on the 4th goal tonight and Phaneuf needs to focus on his man and not worry about helping his goalie make a save....and WHY is Franzen the odd man out? He is WAY better then Schenn!!!).

I still don't know why he gets into games at all at this point....he is their worst defender by FAR!!!

No, despite all these things, the main problem, as Leaf fans tonight were chanting his name derisively, is the coach; Ron Wilson must go.

He seems to have lost the room. He's lost confidence in his goaltenders as can be seen by his constant flip flopping (until recently at least) between Reimer and Gustavsson.. He's juggling lines mid game even if players are playing well (What was with his moving Bozak off the top line in the middle of the first and putting Connolly out there with Kessel and Lupul? What did Connolly do to deserve that? He was invisible after costing them the 2nd goal of the game by losing the face-off and then not back-checking fast enough to cover a stupid pinch by Komisarek).

He even seems to have lost his own confidence as could be seen tonight after the game in his post-game news conference when he was about as passive as I have ever seen him. He didn't really react as he normally would when he was asked about his reaction to the fans chanting "Fire Wilson!!!" in the 3rd period (which was expected since Burke choose not to upgrade ANY aspect of the team at the trade deadline, the fans are going to vent their frustrations somewhere). Any other time of this season or years past, and he would have practically ripped Mike Brophy's head off just for asking that question. Instead he choose to play it passive and say that he understood the fans frustrations (?) which is so unlike him it left me shocked.

Has he given up on this team? Is this how he reacts to not having had any of the upgrades he needed to help this team make the playoffs this year? Is this his way of protesting the fact that Burke did nothing to help him? He seemed to almost agree with the fact the fans wanted some changes at the deadline and are upset at the team for standing pat. He almost sounded like a coach reserved to the fact that his fate is tied to a a bunch of substandard players who just can't learn his system.

That defeated look on Wilson's face, is the same look most of his players have had for over a month...

Easy fix would be to fire him right now but Brian Burke won't do that. He will let Wilson fight it out with this motley crew of players, clearly seeing that there is a chance for one of 2 things to happen; Either the team totally turns it around and makes it into 8th this year, playing the Rangers in the first round (a team they have played very well against this season), or they continue this freefall, all the way down the standings and get a top 5 pick in the draft (which they can then peddle to the Blue Jackets in the summer in a package for Rick Nash (one of the rumoured reasons they refused to accept the Leaf package of players for Nash was the uncertainty of the Leafs 1st rounder this year, which could be anywhere from 14th to 3rd overall mainly due to the parity in the league this season).

It is entirely possible that the Leafs could continue down this horrific spiral they are on, all the way down to last place in the Eastern Conference. That could push them all the way into the Draft Lottery as the only 2 teams that are pretty much assured of their spots in the draft at this point are the Blue Jackets and the Oilers (the 2 worst teams in the West). Last place in the Eastern Conference is only 7 points behind the Leafs right now (Montreal is last at 58 points and Toronto is 10th at 65 points).

It's time to point the arrow of blame at the right person for the failures of the Leafs to stay in a real Playoff hunt this season. That man is the same man who has led the Leafs to 3 straight losing seasons and the only Leaf coach to remain on the job after 3 straight non-playoff seasons. After his fourth, this year, he will assuredly be gone but he really needs to be canned now if they want to save the season. It won't happen of course but if the 19800 who were in attendance tonight at the ACC had it there way, he would have been out before the end of tonight's' game.

Could Randy Carlyle be the next coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs? Hmmmm

Subways and Spending Cuts....

It has taken the media, and his opponents both within city council and outside of it, all of about a year to help create the image of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford as that of a fat ogre, intent on forcing budgetary cuts (that no one seems to comprehend are needed) to keep the city functioning without going into severe debt. There have been continuous jests aimed towards his weight and his politics over the last 14 months that in some ways, many people don't even take him seriously anymore.

Even now as he continues to try and steer the City of Toronto into a mass transit plan that would bring the city into the 21st century (and beyond), there are countless opponents who can't grasp the concept he is trying to bring into reality; we need SUBWAYS not Light Rail Transit!

In his most recent post for the Globe and Mail, Rob Ford expressed the exact same sentiment (as you can see here http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/a-better-way-to-retool-torontos-ailing-ttc/article2346836/ ). Toronto and the surrounding area deserves better then just a stop gap measure to help our ailing infrastructure and mass transit system. Despite his conservative leanings with regards to his fiscal policy, the fact that Mayor Ford is trying to have the TTC modernize and build more subways (a costly venture to be sure) shows that the man is a progressive thinker. I have already stated the case for subways in a previous blog but let me reiterate one major point; We will never be a World Class City until we have a real mass transit system that connects and moves people smoothly and efficiently. Stop focusing so much on the messenger and focus on the MESSAGE instead!!!!

Still along these lines, the Ontario Government had an independent report released this week with regards to "suggestions" to help make the necessary cuts and adjustments to the 2012 Ontario Budget. I understand the need to have someone with a background in Economics do the report but the man they hired to do this report, a Mr. Don Drummond, was the former head of TD Bank. The only thing he was ever going to do when it came to its content was to look at cold, hard numbers and go from there.

Logically, some of his recommendations make sense, such as having full day kindergarten delayed before being fully implemented so as to save costs, increasing some class sizes in high schools (which had dropped from around 30 when I was in high school to around 24 nowadays) to 26.5 on average. But some of them reek of nothing more then someone who worked in the banking industry and would rather make one person do 10 things then hire a 2nd person and split those same 10 items in half. His suggestion to cut EA's (Education assistance) and other support staff by over 70% tells more about the man and what he values then anything else.

Anyone who knows a teacher knows that if anything, they need MORE staff, not less. Kids today are pretty much a mess. We bombard them with so many different forms of stimuli and mixed messages about them, their families, our environment, gender roles, etc, that they come to school and really don't have a clue what to think. Some are so messed up that they start displaying different syndromes which only leads to more problems both for them and the other kids around them as they take away from the ability of a teacher to educate all the children in their class appropriately. When you add to that the fact that Mr. Drummond is suggesting that there is a need to both increase classroom size and remove support staff, he is following the same banking model he instituted while at TD Bank; who cares about the teacher, make them do more and work harder then they already do with less support. Typical banker.

Still with bankers, have you ever noticed how the Bank of Canada is the one that comes out and says things like there may be a housing market bubble or how they say (like today) that we are still having way too much debt accumulation as individuals and as households. You never hear one of our major banks come out and say either of those things or support either of those ideas, quite the opposite in fact when it comes to the housing market. They will NEVER come out and say that there may be a housing market bubble as that would cut right into the heart of their main market; mortgages and their combined value and worth.

While we will never have the kind of housing market crash like we saw happen in the US, the simple idea of a housing market bubble will never be tolerated by any of the banks and will always be refuted because of the simple fact that as prices for homes continue to rise disproportionately to the amount of income each of us earns (except for CEO's of big businesses all over the country of course, who are still earning WAAAAAY more then they should), the need for people to "keep up with the Joneses" means that families will continue to plunge themselves further and further into mortgage debt to own that larger home, that newer car, that 80 inch 3D Plasma TV. You get the point.

They create goals and targets for their employees (both in branches and in their call centers) around (almost) force feeding customers with their products at every turn be it credit cards, mortgages, investments, you name it. They will never back the Bank of Canada's assertion of Canadian households overreaching with regards to having too much debt because just like an addict needs a dealer to supply them, the banks are our credit  "Dealers", insisting that there isn't a problem and trying to get people to move along to something else by insisting that there is "nothing to see here" with regards to this concept.

If Canadians drop their total debt ratios, that cuts a huge amount of profit out of the pockets of the big banks and their CEO's who earn millions of dollars a year (while their staff has to fight it out for the scraps left over). Which leads me to my final point today; There should be a new tax bracket created just for CEO's who earn ANYTHING over $100,000 a year which would see them pay a 65% tax on every dollar they earn over the $100,000 base salary. They are getting paid an exorbitant amount of money and, to be blunt, the vast majority of them don't deserve it.

The heads of all our major banks combined earned over $12 million last year...JUST IN BONUSES!! The heads of the biggest hospitals in the GTA all make well over $750,000 a year at a time when they are laying off nurses (despite DESPERATELY NEEDING THEM) who earn no more then $35,000 a year. The head of one of the local community living residence programs in Ontario (a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the mentally and physically disabled) is the richest woman in her city and earns well over $100,000 a year while the program she is in charge of struggles to make ends meet and has (in some cases) 1 manager for up to 3 facilities (all poorly run by these middling middle managers with facilities that are in need of more funding).

How is it possible that a non-profit organization actually pays someone $100,000 to head their organization when there are funding shortages just about everywhere else within the organization? And they wonder why they have issues with keeping their staff happy and working for them without burning them out.

So many issues, so little time.

Until next time....

 

Being Portuguese in Canada Sucks...

I have a few things I need to get off my chest about the things I have seen and endured over my life. From the title of today's blog, you will obviously decipher that there will be some clear and present issues I will espouse about with regards to my ethnicity and how it is perceived in the GTA and surrounding area by other people and by other Portuguese in the area. After 34 years of it, I think its fair to say that I have a lot of insight in this area that needs to be expressed.

To make it easier, I will break it down numerically. Without further ado....

#1. Even though Portugal has a rich and storied history, it is always overshadowed, neglected, pushed aside by other nations and never given the credit it (and we) deserve. 

The Portuguese created the trade routes to China for all of Europe. They were the first colonial power in the 14th and 15th century and it was their discoveries that fueled the fire of other nations to follow suit. Is this ever mentioned in any history books in Canada? Nope. How about the fact that John Cabot had Portuguese roots? Nope. Or maybe some mention of Portuguese explorers basically traversing the world before Columbus was even born? Nope.

Portugal essentially was the first true world power in terms of having colonial control of nations all over the globe; Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Goa (part of India), East Timor and Macau off the coast of China. At some point right now, there are people of EVERY ethnic group (whether its Caucasian, African, Indian or Asian) who can honestly tell you that they learned Portuguese as their first language. There is of course the bad side of that history in that many of the first colonies also employed the first use of slaves but Portugal was also among the first people to abolish slavery in all of their colonies. None of this is ever brought up in World History because we are so brainwashed to adhere to the British version of history that we gloss over other important facts.

#2. The moronic "Gino" and white trash Portuguese young men who are raised in downtown Toronto (and surrounding areas as well, but to a lesser extent) are giving all Portuguese-Canadian men a bad name by their actions and lack of education.

One of the edicts that we learn growing up is that we have 2 options as men; Go to school or go to work. Our parents, for the most part, don't give a crap which one we choose as long as we pick one. This leads many of the young men in the Portuguese community to drop out of high school and go to work in menial jobs (mostly following in the footsteps of their dads into Construction work or as roofers), where they become accustomed to working 14 hour days for close to $30 per hour. They become a caricature, falling into an ever increasing stereotype of brutish, thug-like, abusive, uneducated, unfaithful husbands who use every opportunity to demonstrate just how much of a raging alcoholic they are by the sheer volume of beer they drink on a nightly/weekly basis.

Sure, we work our asses off. We are among the hardest working people on this planet. Many of these same men, for all their faults, have helped to build this city and province with their bare hands but the problem is that instead of making education an priority for ALL our kids, members of the Portuguese community have chosen to focus on ensuring that mostly their daughters get the education, opting to give their sons an entirely different direction.

This leads to my next point which I will explain in a moment but let me just clarify the last one to you in another way. There is a clear perception among many in the Portuguese community that education is not the most important thing. The main thing is work. Working hard is all that matters to many. Not working smart, or educating yourself so that you don't have to work your ass off for 14 hours a day to make ends meet, just working hard. This failure to emphasize education has led to a "dumbing down" of Portuguese people in and around the GTA.

One of the worst things I have ever heard is how whenever a woman is dating a Portuguese guys from the GTA, the woman's friends instantly start to wonder about the relationship and worry that she may be in an abusive relationship. The impression out there about how we treat women is so negative that it has gotten to the point where being a Portuguese male is now perceived as a negative by many others. How sad.

#3. Because many of the men in our culture are not as educated as the women, it has created what I like to call the "Portuguese Princess" syndrome.

Having lived with Portuguese women for almost all my life, I have seen this perception of mine morph into this theory because of the previous point. Let me elaborate. Because of the lack of education of the men in our culture and the focus in some families to make sure the girls ARE educated, you have a generation of women in the age range of 25-40 who, rightly or wrongly, feel like they are smarter then men of the same age and culture.

My theory goes like this; They were brought up in a family with a father who was one of those hard working, uneducated construction workers I mentioned earlier. Like my family, most likely the father turned over all of the financial management to his wife, who was a stay at home mom. With the mother having that kind of power, and her brother (if she had one) most likely following in the father's footsteps, this created the impression in that girl of what a typical Portuguese man would be like; just like dad.

If and when they ever encounter someone different from their perceived stereotype of men from their own culture, they don't know how to react or how to treat them. They can't deal with someone of their own culture who is an actual equal intellectually. Hence, when a Portuguese man marries a Portuguese woman in the GTA, it's almost always doomed to fail. Just saying...

#4. We are clearly an ethnic group yet how often do you hear anything about the Portuguese community (Other then something negative)?

Every other ethnicity in the city gets some kind of recognition. We are not a visible minority in the city so we get pushed aside easily. When the first wave of Portuguese started coming to this country in the 1970's, they endured many hardships. There was no free language lessons for them, nor was it as easy back then as it is now to get social assistance or a good job.

They came after the massive influx of Italians to this area in the 1950's and 60's and were subject to the residual resentment and prejudice that the Italian immigrants had gone through. Because they were Caucasian, it wasn't an obvious form of prejudice that they had to endure but it wasn't easy for many of them who had fled the socialist dictatorship of Salazar.
 

#5. Every other ethnic group in the city is visible and united, not the Portuguese Community. 

If you have ever met a Portuguese person (who lives in downtown Toronto in particular), you will have met a person whose family is from either the islands or the mainland, one island or another, one particular region or another, supports one particular soccer team from the homeland over another. Ask them about people from another area, island or supporters of another Portuguese team and just listen to the venomous hatred that is spewed.

We are a broken and scattered group of people who would rather put a knife in the back of our fellow pork chops then actually see them succeed. The old women in the community would rather see something bad happen to someone they know in order to feed their gossiping instead of something actually happening that is good.

Community unity is not our strong suit as you can see by the fact that instead of having one general area of the city where Portuguese people are known to be in (like little Portugal) with street signs displaying what part of the world the majority of the inhabitants of that part of the city are from, there is a secondary area with signs displaying the Portuguese Islands. Why doesn't the entire area just have Little Portugal signs on it? Why segregate? Because, of course, there was some moron who wanted it that way, again keeping the community divided. We just never seem to learn.

I know this sounds like a lot of whining but after the weekend I have just had, where I couldn't seem to get the message through to my own parents that I need to change my diet because of the high cholesterol I was told I have by my family doctor, I needed to write about some of the challenges that I have to face on a daily basis. It's next to impossible trying to change the views of people who are so set in their ways that to even suggest the need to change the way that we cook is met with cries of how insulting it is to make such a suggestion.

We can't even talk about it because it becomes an emotional issue. Try telling a woman in her late 60's that her cooking methods are not healthy and see how she reacts. Then add in the fact that she's a stubborn Portuguese woman who can never admit when she is wrong and you begin to see some of what I have been going through.

Leafs Whipped, Again....Time for Changes - RIP Carter, Houston

After watching yet another horrific performance by just about every Leaf player on the ice last night, in a 6-2 drubbing at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks, Brian Burke must have had an active cell phone all night trying to do something (ANYTHING!) to address the needs of his team. The only problem is that after last night, they appear to be many areas that need to be addressed not just one or 2.


The problem with this team isn't nearly as many as they appeared to be last night. When this team seems to lose lately, it isn't even close. They have had recent results that look like they are either over-matched or that the pressure is getting to them. 6-2 last night, 5-1 against Calgary, 5-0 against Montreal, 5-3 to the Flyers. All of these losses have seen a combination of poor goaltending, shotty defensive play, forwards not playing the way they were only 2 weeks ago and reactionary coaching. Goaltending switches, line juggling (that has yet to work), poorly run powerplays, benching the wrong guys, sticking with guys that should be in the AHL (That would be you Joey Crabb and Darryl Boyce), has all contributed to this teams' poor play over the last 2 weeks which, miraculously, has somehow kept them clinging to the 8th and final Playoff Spot.

In a previous Blog, I mentioned the need to make some massive changes to this team. After their recent string of poor outings, I think it's clear that they do in fact need a major shakeup before they completely fall out of the playoff picture.

In the past week, we have seen 2 people pass away, both of which have made international headlines. Both of which (one could argue) had completely different lifestyles yet both effected millions of people over the course of their respective careers. Gary Carter passed away of Brain Cancer while Whitney Houston died of either drowning in her bathtub or overdosing first on booze and prescription pills before being found in the same bathtub last Saturday, the night before the Grammy's.

I find it easier to accept the death of Carter then I do that of Houston as Carter, from all accounts, did everything the right way. He was an all-star player for the Montreal Expos in the late 70's and early 80's, who always did things the right way (to a fault). He was nicknamed "The Kid" because of his almost limitless enthusiasm and consistent smile that was almost permanently glued to his face during the majority of his career. Even years afterward, whenever he would be interviewed, Carter was always all smiles and always a positive influence on others. He never gave up even when he was told it was a terminal disease and he fought tooth and nail to his dying breath.

Which is part of the reason why I don't feel quite as bad when I hear about someone who had it all and just couldn't find it within themselves to stay sober enough to enjoy it. Yes, there are those that say addiction is a disease as well but for the most part, you have the ability to at least listen to those around you and follow the steps of the professionals who try to help you in rehab. Free will is still part of everyone.  We each have the capacity to accept the advice of those around us and try to fight through whatever addictions we have in order to live normal lives or to ignore everyone and do what we want. It's sad that Whitney choose to ignore those around her and felt the selfish need to indulge herself in her addiction time and time again, but it isn't a tragedy because, for the most part, it was self-inflicted (many will point out that the addiction started because of Bobby Brown and his abuse. It's true that he had a lot to do with it but at some point, you have to accept responsibility for yourself).

A terrific person and a once-incredible voice have left us this week. Each of their stories should be a lesson for all of us; one on how to live your life to the fullest, the other of what not to do with your life if you ever have the fortune to have everything that she did.

Rick Nash will be a Leaf....Here's Why

It's time Ricky moved on

 
It's been 9 days since the Leafs won a game, yet somehow they are still hanging on to the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. As I write this, they are about to take on the Edmonton Oilers (the last team the Leafs actually beat mind you), a young, fast team that plays MUCH better at home then they do on the road (which seems to be true of all young teams).

While it's not exactly time to panic, it IS time to make some moves and really go for it with regards to trying to secure that elusive playoff spot and, at the same time, expedite the teams' growth into a playoff contender (because, as Brian Burke has stated, he doesn't just want to make the Playoffs, he wants to "bloody a nose or two" once they get into the big dance).

With the title of this blog, it should be clear what and whom I think they could and SHOULD go after but there is more to this then you think. Rick Nash should be a Leaf before the Trade Deadline but the deal I am proposing is a lot more radical then just getting him alone, and it would vastly re-shape both Columbus and Toronto so get ready to try and follow this mess I am about to propose. (The players listed below will have their salary and remaining years on their contracts included as well) Here goes;

To Columbus:

Tyler Bozak - Center - ($1.5, 2 years)
Nik Kulemin - Left Winger - ($2.35, Contract expires after this season)
Nazem Kadri - Left Winger - Currently in the AHL - ($1.72, 2 years)
Joey Crabb - Right Winger - ($750K, Contract expires after this season)
Luke Schenn - Defenceman - ($3.6, 5 years)
Mike Komisarek - Defenceman - ($4.5, 3 years)
Jerry D'Amigo - Currently in the AHL - ($1.08, 3 years)
Ben Scrivens - Currently in the AHL - ($600K, Restricted free agent after this year)
Marcel Mueller -Currently in AHL - ($1.1125, Restricted free agent after this year)
2012 First and 2nd Round Picks

Total Salary Cap hit:  $15.02 million (if Bozak, Kulemin, Kadri, Schenn, Komisarek and Scrivens all are called up to the big club after the deal) for this year, but much more salary flexibility and youth injected into the lineup.

Sorry boys, but you both will be much better off in Columbus, Ohio

To Toronto:

Rick Nash - Right Wing - ($7.8, 6 years)
Jeff Carter - Center ($5.273, 12 years)
Derrek Brassard - Center - ($3.2, 3 years)


Total Salary Cap hit: $16.273 committed to 3 players long term but it would greatly bolster the Leafs Top 6 in terms of Talent and give them the big, strong Center and Winger that they covet.

In better times with the Flyers, Carter would be the perfect fit for the Leafs Top Line

I realize that this has the makings of the biggest deal in NHL History, in the sense that it involves 12 players and 2 draft picks but if you are either team wouldn't you just jump all over this? Let's look at this from each side and see the pros and cons for each.

If you are the Columbus Blue Jackets, you are currently in last place in the NHL and going nowhere this season. Your two top players (Nash and Carter) are both available on the trade market (with one having openly asked to be dealt back in November and the other quietly giving the team a list of places he would be willing to allow them to deal him to, including Toronto). You have one of the highest payrolls in the NHL this season and you have a lot of money tied up in just a few players (mostly with Carter and Nash both being signed to deals that expire closer to to the year 2020).

If someone were to offer you ths chance to essentially start over by getting those massive deals off their books while re-stocking both their NHL roster with capable players (Bozak, Kulemin, Schenn and Komisarek) and potential NHL players (Kadri, D'Amigo, Mueller) as well as an upgrade over their current Goaltending situation (Mason and Curtis Sanford have been absolutely brutal this year), while also supplying you with a first and 2nd round pick in this coming draft, why WOULDN'T you make this deal?

 Luke has never seemed to comfortable in the media driven hockey Mecca of Toronto...

You keep a decent team on the ice (while allowing yourself the chance to secure the #1 pick this summer and kickoff a badly needed re-build of the team), you give yourself salary cap room (which may be even more important given the fact that the new Collective Bargaining Agreement may have a lower Salary Cap number per team after September) and you have picked up some decent young players as well to bolster your soon to be extremely young line up on the ice in the coming years. You would be getting 2 decent NHL Defenders in Schenn and Komisarek (that should help solidify their defense for the next couple of years and they are a vast improvement over what they currently have on their blueline), 2 solid players in Bozak and Kulemin and a trio of young players who could all range between the good to very good range once given a real crack at the NHL.

This picture kind of summarizes why the Blue Jackets need to look for some goaltending depth

In my mind, the Blue Jackets would be all over this and I could hardly blame them. On the other hand, as much as it would hurt to deal this many pieces off your roster, if you are the Leafs, you have to do this for a variety of reasons.

If the old adage of whomever it is that gets the best player in a trade wins it, then the Leafs would EASILY win this proposed deal, hands down. Carter and Nash are already former NHL All Stars and Brassard is widely considered to be an up and coming young player with potential. While this move would vastly change the Leafs Defence, Keith Aulie is ready to step in now and deserves a chance to play regularly in the NHL. Their are at least another 3 guys on the Toronto Marlies who are either close or just chomping at the bit to make the move to the Leafs right now that would allow the team to make this kind of a blockbuster, "I'm ALL IN" type of move that would free up playing time on the big club.

Yes, this deal would mean a couple of large contracts that you would have to absorb as a team but with the kind of money the Leafs make, if things don't pan out, they can always buy their way out of this kind of mistake (but this would not be a mistake). Carter needs a change of scenery and he is the ideal #1 center the Team is looking for. Pairing him with Nash and Kessel would only rejuvenate both of the Columbus players coming over to Toronto and make the Leafs top 2 lines incredibly potent. The 2nd line would now be Grabovski between MacArtur and Lupul, pushing Brassard to the 3rd line with Lombardi and Connolly. That's 3 solid lines right there. Here's the full breakdown for both teams;

These two could both be Leafs if......

Blue Jackets

Forwards
Prospal-Vermette-Umberger
Johansen-Bozak-Kulemin
Kadri-Paulsson-D'Amigo
Crabb-Letestu-Mueller

Derek Dorsett Extra

Defence
Wisniewski-Komisarek
Tyutin-Schenn
Johnnson-Nikitin

Grant Clitsome (horrible name) as the extra


Goalies
Steve Mason the Starter
Ben Scrivens as the back up



Leafs

Forwards

Kessel-Carter-Nash
Lupul-Grabovski-MacArtur
Lombardi-Connolly-Brassard
Brown-Steckel-Armstrong

Boyce Extra

Defence
Phaneuf-Aulie
Liles-Fransen
Gardiner-Gunnarsson

Korbinian Holzer or Matt Lashoff Extra


Goalies
Reimer Starter
Gustavsson backup

As far as I can tell, this would be a win-win for both teams. It would be a record setting deal that could be the biggest franchise altering move for both teams in terms of their futures, but sometimes you just have to go for it (and sometimes you just have to start over). Both of these teams need to make a move. Columbus has the "for sale" sign up on just about everything they have. Its up to Brian Burke to make sure he pays the right price to get exactly what the team needs to become the kind of contenders that he and everyone else in this city has been craving them to become since 1967.

Health Care Nightmare and more....

So I had no choice but to go see my doctor today as he had asked me to come see him last week. I was sick about a month ago and missed a week of work due to the fact that I was about this close to having bronchitis for the 4th time in my life. After having not been to see my doctor in about 4 years (probably closer to 5), and feeling like crap for a few days, I finally caved in and went to see him.

He gave me a week to rest and asked for blood in return!!! Well, no, he asked for me to get my heart ECG'd and do up some blood work. The reason he wanted to see me this week (last week actually) was to tell me that my cholesterol is "dangerously high" which means a total diet change coming for the next month. No more red meat (no steak, no burgers, no hot dogs....I didn't know you could classify hot dogs as "red meat" but sure....and no more french fries) until it comes back down to a manageable and safe number.

Enough about my health issues, the biggest problem I have is that with regards to 2 trips to the doctor, i spent a total of about 7 hours waiting to see my family doctor for a total of around 8 minutes. Nevermind the fact that he has been my family doctor since before I was born, nevermind the fact that he only takes walk-ins, the biggest issue i have is with people who go to the doctor over the smallest of issues and then create artificial wait times like the ones I have experienced in my only 2 doctors visits after 2005.

It's bad enough that we have a shortage of family doctors already but when the ones we have are treating  people who have happened to have thrown up the night before because of the possibility that they MAY be sick, that's kind of when we know that there is a problem and it's not really a shortage of doctors, its the way our doctors are being utilized. I spent over 7 hours waiting because of people like that.....


Some sad news (But really, not altogether that surprising considering) in that Whitney Houston was found dead on Saturday night. She died because of a lethal does of Zantax and booze (which was also the title of the mocking song made up by the Dean Blundel Show....maybe a bit too soon but it was actually a funny bit this morning on the show). It wasn't really that big a shock given the fact that she has been fighting her drug addiction for years. She had been in and out of rehab clinics for most of the last 10-15 years trying to control her addiction to the point where she could be a permanently functioning member of society. Unfortunately, her demons ultimately got the better of her. She was 48 years old when she died on Saturday.

The biggest news of the night was the way Adele stole the show. I will admit that before Sunday, I had no idea what she looked like and the only thing I knew with regards to her was that she has a couple of decent songs. I learned by watching that 60 Minutes feature on her about her throat issues and where the inspiration for her songs came from. I admit, before the show on Sunday, the Grammy's, that I was pulling for her. She won pretty much everything you can possibly win and her performance was amazing. This should be a lesson to the Lady Gaga's of the world; you don't have to be a freak and dress up like a moron to be successful on the music industry. Your VOICE should be enough. Another great thing; The Foo Fighters won a couple of Grammy's....that was cool. Rock and Roll LIVES!!!!

People are in such a rush everywhere you turn that its getting to the point where being rude is kind of the norm now, especially on our roads. Just in the past week I have seen some of the worst driving you could imagine. City of Mississauga buses running red lights at rush hour (twice, once at Highway 10 and Dundas and the other at Erin Mills and Dundas), people rudely cutting others off without realizing the reason why some one may have been going a little slower and almost causing an accident (today on the way home, I'm giving someone some space on the highway to change lanes in front of me, a guy driving a truck with a trailer attached, and this absolute prick jumps out from behind me, nearly hits me as he dashes in front of me and nearly sideswipes the truck and trailer as well. Had he actually hit them, it would have caused at least a 7 car mash up with ME right in the middle of it), and even some blatant reverse racism (3 black kids in a car honking and yelling at an old white man who was stopped in front of Shopper's dropping his elderly wife off at the front door. He had his signal on and they could see the old woman getting out....I doubt they would have been acting that way if the old man was black).

Little things like this seem to be on the rise lately and its quite disturbing that not only are our traffic laws being violated with impunity but that people feel they can do, say and act in whatever way they see fit on the roads and our police officers seem to only give a shit when our speed is anywhere near 50 km/h over the speed limit. We need to take the quotas away from police officers and have them focus on the actual infractions being committed instead of the sheer volume of infractions they supposedly see. Fat chance that will happen though as with cities fighting for every dollar within their budgets, the easy cash grab of a traffic ticket will be seen as guaranteed revenue for our police services and, if anything, those quotas might go up to help keep cops on the streets.

Speaking of city budgets, there is a story in the Toronto Star about how many kids baseball leagues are now suffering from sticker shock after the City of Toronto stunned them by asking them to (gasp) actually PAY to use city parks for their games and practices. GASP! News flash to all the people in Toronto but you SHOULD be paying for using the parks. Adult leagues have been paying through the nose for years to use city parks and it's a little unfair that we have to subsidize kid league when we barely get enough parks to even RUN our leagues. I have been playing in Mississauga all my life and we have never had ANY city field reserved so that we could get practice time, we have businesses in the surrounding areas bitch and complain and call city parking enforcement on us and we even have bogus complaints filed about us with the city by a-holes who whine about supposed swearing they allegedly see.

The league I play in has been around for more then 2 decades and yet we have had an on-going feud with the city over what parks we can use and we have had to fight just to keep the ones we have because kid leagues, that barely use the parks as it is, want to take the one major field we use (and keep immaculate throughout the summer) for themselves. This change in the way Toronto (and Mississauga) charge kids baseball leagues is LONG overdue. I'm sorry but in Mississauga, we have some leagues that have been allowed to reserve several diamonds for all 7 days of the week despite only using them for 2 of the 7 days (1 for their weekly game and the other for their practice day). It's asinine and its an embarrassment and it's about time it was changed.

It was leaked out late last week that one of the Election campaign promises made by that liar Dalton McGinty
with regards to all day kindergarden, may be among the very first of his promises broken as an independent report being released this week would call for the province to save their money and opt not to fully implement the program. Get ready Ontario. You were the ones that voted for this creep to stay in power so now you will have to live with this kind of "leadership" for another 4 years. This is also the man who could quite quickly quell all the rhetoric and back and forth bickering going on at Toronto City Hall with regards to their transit problems by stepping in and going one way or another, but he instead has opted to waste time (and money) by letting the situation linger while damaging Mayor Ford more and more with each passing day this situation is unresolved. Great job guys!!! You picked a real winner!!!

Then again, the other option, Tim Hudak, was a mess and really didn't do enough to earn the trust of the people of Ontario either. Clearly, this past provincial was a battle of attrition fought between a couple of men (and Andrew Horvath was in there too for the NDP, but no one votes NDP in the Ontario elections anymore right? You can thank Bob Rae for that....) neither of whom really deserved the job. I was shocked to learn that this past weekend, Hudak was able to retain the role of PC Leader in the Ontario PC convention. Most of the other positions (including provincial party president) now have new people elected but somehow Hudak is still the leader of the party. We can only hope that he grows into the role more then he has shown so far.

That's all for today. If anyone has any suggestions for me with regards to meals, feel free to comment and let me know because without burgers, steaks, whole cheeses and french fries, I feel like I won't have a clue what to eat....HELP!!! 

Leafs Roll Out the Welcome "Mats" - Sundin To Be Honoured

Tomorrow night, the Toronto Maple Leafs will honour their long time Captain, Mats Sundin, by raising a banner with his number on it, up into the rafters of the ACC. Despite the way his days ended in Toronto (with just about every single fan calling for the team to find a way to convince him to allow the team to trade him to a team like Detroit to help expedite the current re-build of the franchise), for the most part, fans have chosen to overlook the ending, recalling how good a player he actually was during his time with the team. I will try to quantify his contribution to the team as best I can, by going over the beginning, middle and end of his tenure with the team.

After being drafter 1st overall in 1989 by the Quebec Nordiques (The first European trained player to be selected 1st in the NHL Draft), Sundin made his debut with the Nords in the1990-91 season and scored his first goal in his first game on October 4th, 1990 against the defunct Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes). He would go on to record 135 goals and 199 assists for 334 points in 324 games with, what was when he arrived, a pretty bad Quebec team (albeit they had a boat load of good, young talent such as JoeSakic, Owen Nolan, Peter Forsberg, Scott Young, Valeri Kamensky, Bryan Fogarty* and Adam Foote, they just were very green).

*Bryan Fogarty was a record breaking point producing defenceman whom the Nords drafted 43rd overal in the 1989 draft. He had a hall of fame OHL career, breaking records set by Bobby Orr and Denis Potvin. He was consumed by his alcoholism to the point where he would go on benders drinking so much that he would have to be carried back to his hotel room each night around 3 am and yet he would somehow be the first player out on the ice at 6 am practise that same morning as if nothing had ever happened. He would be out of the NHL by the late 1990's and ended up battling alcoholism for the rest of his days. He retired from professional hockey in 2001 and was actually clean and sober for the final year of his life before going on a fishing trip with his wife's uncle. He and the uncle apparently got really really hammered after checking into their motel. He was not able to awake the next morning and it was determined that he died of an enlarged heart on March 6th, 2002.

It wasn't until after having had 2 unsuccessful playoff runs with the Nords that Quebec and Toronto pulled off a blockbuster deal with the Maple Leafs acquiring Sundin on June 28, 1994. The Nordiques sent Sundin, Defender Garth Butcher, prospect Todd Warriner, and a 1994 first-round draft pick (which had been acquired through the 1992 Eric Lindros deal but was then traded to the Washington Capitals, used to pick Nolan Baumgartner) to the Leafs in exchange for then Leafs Captain Wendel Clark, Defender Sylvain Lefebvre, young prospect Landon Wilson, and a 1994 first-round draft pick (used to pick Jeff Kealty).

Despite having had 2 successful playoff runs, culminating in losing in the conference final in back to back seasons (in 1993 against Wayne Gretzky and the Kings and in 1994 losing to the Vancouver Canucks), Cliff Fletcher was convinced that, for the betterment of the Franchise (long term) it would be best to deal for one of the top young centers in the game. Sundin had just come off of 2 of his best seasons ever and was widely considered to be a cornerstone to build a franchise on for the next decade afterward. It turned out to be 13 good years instead.

Fans resented him at first (Some would say there was a special part of Leaf Nation that never stopped resenting him), but eventually he would become the face of the franchise. After the 1996-97 season, the team had traded away their best player in franchise history when they had dealt Doug Gilmour (then team Captain) to the New Jersey Devils at the trade deadline. It was clear that the team was going to build anew around Mats so the most logical thing for the team to do was to offer him the chance to be the captain of the team.

At first, Sundin admitted, he wasn't sure if he should take on the responsibilities of being the Captain of the most scrutinized Hockey team in the world. He choose to ask his boyhood idol, and former Maple Leaf great Borje Salming, what he should do. Salming's advice was to take it as he too had been offered the chance to be Leaf Captain in the early 80's (after Darryl Sittler had been traded to the Philadelphia Flyers) and had refused. It was his one and only regret he had in his time with the Leafs and Salming's words forced Mats into action as he accepted the next day.

He was the first European trained player taken 1st in the NHL Draft and the first to be named Captain of an NHL Team, a position he held for 10 years. Both of those already have made him a legend in his native Sweden. He holds team records for goals (420), assists (587) and points (987). He led the team in scoring in 9 of his 10 seasons as Captain and was widely considered to be the best player in franchise history as they were perennial Stanley Cup contenders for much of his time as team captain.

One of his only real faults in Toronto would be his career playoff stats. While he did have 70 points in 77 career playoff games, he was never able to push his team to the Stanley Cup final. In fact, both times the Leafs made it to the Conference Finals (1998-99 against Buffalo with an injured Dominik Hasek missing much of Games 1 and 2, and 2002-2003 against an inferior Carolina Hurricanes team that ended up getting swept in the Finals by the Red Wings), most people would agree that the Leafs SHOULDN'T have lost to either team.

The teams last real shot at winning anything was the 2003-2004 season when the team loaded up on veteran players (Brian Leetch, Phil Housley, Owen Nolan, Doug Gilmour, Ron Francis) and faced off against the Flyers in the first round. At this point, Future Hall of Famer Ed Belfour was in net and coming off a stellar regular season. But the Flyers were no push-overs, having also added several veterans to their line-up. Ultimately, Mark Reechi would score in OT of Game 4 and then Jeremy Roenick would seal it in Game 6 in OT, ending the last actual season that the Leafs would be led to the Playoffs by Mats.

After the 2004-2005 season was wiped out by the lockout, the Leaf Captain, having decided to take the entire year off from hockey, was unable to lead the team back to the playoffs in '05-06 and '07-08. Despite some questionable moves by the General Manager at that time, John Ferguson Jr., the team looked lost and the fans started to demand a rebuild of the team. The older veterans on the team unfortunately, including Darcy Tucker, Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe, Pavel Kubina and, of course Mats, were all refusing to allow the team to deal them anywhere as per the clauses in each of their contracts (which stipulated that the team could only trade them away if they had the players permission to do so).

In many ways, these 5 players set the team back several years in their rebuild with their refusals, which of course led to fan resentment. The 2007-2008 season was the final season of Sundin's contract which made him an even more attractive option for Cup contenders at the trade deadline. Instead of helping the Franchise which had paid him nearly $70 million over the 13 seasons he played for them, he opted to invoke his contract clause, angering many of his once loyal fans.

So in the summer of 2008, Sundin was granted permission to speak to other teams before his contract ran out, including speaking with the hated Montreal Canadiens. Thankfully, he did not sign with them but when he did return, Sundin signed on with the Vancouver Canucks and played 41 games out west, scoring 9 goals and 19 assists in the regular system as well as another 8 points in 8 playoff games. An undistinguished end to a glorious career.

Once he finally retired, things seem to have finally relaxed a bit with regards to the venom that many in this city were spewing towards him. Even in the one game he came back and played with Vancouver against the Leafs, the fans gave him a 5 minute standing ovation after the team displayed a tribute video on the jumbo tron during a commercial break. When CBC came back from commercial, the standing ovation was only half way through and continued on and on.Clearly, many members of Leafs Nation felt it was time to start forgiving right then and there. Others took more time.

Earlier this year, on a request from Tie Domi and some others, Mats returned to the city for the first time and attended a game in the stands with the very same fans he used to thrill and entertain on a nightly basis. Even the team appeared to be surprised when they learned he was in attendance and, again, a tribute video was displayed with the caption on the screen announcing that the team would be honouring Mats by raising his number to the rafters tomorrow night. Clearly, Tie Domi and others had set up Mats in order to spring the team honour on him in front of a full house, which, once again, gave him a long loud standing "O".

It may have taken some members of Leaf Nation longer then others, but clearly Mats is recognized as one of the classiest and most genuine in his time as a member of the Leafs. Even in his staunch refusal to leave, he showed a strength of character that, although at the time seemed a bit self-serving, showed that his belief in HIS team never wavered. His NHL career will easily land him a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame but it is the class with which he always conducted himself that will live on in those whom he played with and against throughout his career and his life.

Congratulations Mats, You deserve it.

Why Can't the City of Toronto Figure Out their Transit Plans?

For weeks now we have seen and ongoing feud brewing between Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and the Chair of the TTC, Ms Karen Stintz, over the fate of the Eglinton Light Rail Transit (LRT for short) and how it will be constructed over the next decade. The biggest issue has been the contention by Ms Stintz that it would be a better idea to use the LRT above ground as opposed to Mayor Ford's contention that it's best to build subways, both along Eglinton and Sheppard.

This whole debate, and the fact that there are so many small minded people in Toronto City Council that oppose the Mayor's plans, show exactly why the City of Toronto will NEVER be a world class city. World class cities such as London, New York, Paris, San Fransisco, (Hell, even Lisbon) have large, interconnected subway lines that intersect vital areas of the city as well as the airport. They transport vast numbers of tourists and commuters on a daily basis, all around their cities to and from the airport, arenas, ball parks, soccer stadiums, museums, cathedrals, other historical landmarks and on and on, helping to lower pollution and emission levels while keeping these cities thriving and moving at a high speed pace.

The fact we have people on the current city council that actually think it's better to continue to congest traffic on our already crowded streets, by still contemplating the idea of dedicating above ground lanes on Eglinton Ave all the way to Laird Street tells me that we really don't have any forward thinking people on this council. It may be the more expensive option right now, but in the long run, if we really want to stake a claim that Toronto is a WORLD CLASS CITY, then we need to get out of this small town, small minded, short sighted thinking and start investing in a transit plan that will REALLY help to alleviate the traffic issues that we currently have in the city. Subways ARE THE ANSWER!

I would even go so far as to suggest that we need to build even more subways than what Mayor Ford is suggesting. He wants to bury the LRT on Eglinton to Laird. Great idea. He wants to expand the Sheppard Subway line east. Another good idea but he should also look at connecting it all the way west to the Airport and beyond. Here's my idea; Why not create a subway line that would run almost directly underneath the 401, connecting to the Sheppard line but also running all the way to a subway hub that would go both north an south along the 403/410 interlinks to attach themselves to both Mississauga and Brampton?

By running this line along the 403 to Square 1 and along the 410 up to either Bramalea City Center or Shoppers World (or even to both), you would then have a main portal that would greatly reduce the number of people from Mississauga and Brampton that would need to drive to the airport. They would have a connection all along Peel Region which would aid both cities in reducing traffic along the 403/410 for people who live in one city and work in the other. The fact that this connection would then allow them to reach the airport and then even head to down town Toronto would only further reduce the number of vehicles on the roads as it is, further reducing traffic as well as pollution caused by all the car emissions being emitted on a daily basis.

The sheer number of jobs that these projects would create would fuel a new economic boom for this area that would stop the massive amount of skilled workers that are leaving Ontario for Saskatchewan and Alberta, where both of those provinces are in such great financial shape that there are some media members that are looking into the possibility that both Western provinces may have to help "support" Ontario in the not so distant future.

The simultaneous creation of 4 subway lines (Eglinton to Laird, Sheppard extension both ways, Brampton and Mississauga) would take well over a decade to complete but it would then make this region world class in my estimation, and it would show that we have people in Government who have the foresight to see that we need to do something to combat not only the volume of vehicles on the roads but also the pollution that they emit.

Unfortunately, we have Premier Dalton (who refuses to step in and do anything about the stalemate at Toronto City Hall because he disagrees with the tactics of Mayor Ford or he just is clueless about what to do) and Ms Stintz who clearly is in over her head at the TTC and has a clear agenda just to disagree with subways in general.

We have short sighted people in positions of power in this province and in the Toronto City Council who would prefer to try to bog down government process and worry more about their own political future then the future of a city that could be among the best in the world.....if they would just plan for the future and not worry so much about their own.

Pats "Dropped" The Ball and Some NHL Trade Suggestions

I am totally disgusted with the way that game ended yesterday. I can't believe the Giants were able to pull it off because the Patriots receivers were simply not able to hold on to the ball (and their best receiver, Gronkowski, was a shadow of himself - Thanks POLLARD!!! You DOUCHE BAG!!!). Brady outplayed Manning and, again, he was able to get a couple of calls to go his way to secure a win (sorry but that was NOT intentional grounding....what was the official thinking?!?!).

That is the last time I will mention the Giants win because, quite frankly, they didn't deserve it and, to paraphrase a line from the Count of Monte Cristo...."I Don't like the world we live in when Eli Manning has beaten Tom Brady in the Super Bowl...twice"

On to something to change my thought process: The NHL Trade deadline is fast approaching and I have a few suggestions for a couple of teams that are on the rebuild and a couple of others that need a jolt to make the playoffs.


Trade Proposal #1: Three Team deal...

Montreal gets: Center Jeff Carter, Columbus 2nd round pick

Vancouver gets: Defenceman PK Subban, Goalie Steve Mason

Columbus gets: Goalie Cory Scheider, Center Scott Gomez

Seems a bit tricky but here's the thing: Each team needs to make this deal for several reasons. For Montreal, it's a lost season, plain and simple. They started slow, blamed an assistant coach for their trouble and fired him. Then, when things still didn't get any better, they fired their coach and created more controversy by hiring Randy Cunneyworth as the interim coach. Only problem was he doesn't speak any french which is a major issue in Quebec.

Then there is of course the ongoing issues whenever PK Subban does anything. He can't do or say anything right it would seem as he even gets blistered in the Montreal papers over his actions (or in-actions) of practice. Add to that the fact that another of their players has played so poorly that he has angered fans to the point where they have a website that has an ongoing tracker to show how long its' been since he scored his last NHL regular season goal (it's up over a year now, and counting Gomez)and another player mouthed off about the team playing and acting like losers and was traded the next day (Mike Cammallari).

With all these issues, the team has just flat lined and now finds itself in last place in the Eastern Conference.

Then there is the plight of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who spent to the max with regards to the NHL Salary cap this off-season, only to get off to their worst start in franchise history at 0-7-1. Their goal tending has been crap for over 2 years now as Steve Mason (after his great rookie year) seemed to think things would be simple from then on and has either taken summers off to drink himself stupid or has totally lost the magic he had that year. Their top off season acquisitions in terms of talent and contract value (Jeff Carter and his 12 year, $5.27 million per year deal and James Wiesniewski and his 4 year, $22 million total deal) have been mostly hurt (Carter) or both suspended and hurt (Wiesniewski).

Vancouver has been just as good as they were last year at the same point in the season. The only thing they seem to need is that trigger man on the power play and their only real bargaining chip is their Back up goalie, Cory Schnieder, who has played like a #1 goalie in waiting. Only problem is that in Vancouver, he would be waiting another few years before that would happen and, given how perilously close the Canucks were to winning it all last year, it would be best of them to make a move now when they are in a position of strength, to bolster their back line, before their window of opportunity to win it all closes.

Vancouver could certainly use a player like PK on their PP. While Mason is a downgrade when compared to
Schneider, Mason needs the change of scenery and playing behind Luongo might be what it takes to get him back on track. Montreal would get the chance to reboot with a big, young, talented center and get rid of 2 media whipping boys in the process, while Columbus would get a proven NHL level #1 goalie and a chance to get out from under the massive contract of Carter's and only have 1 year left of Gomez deal to worry about.

Personally, I would think this could be a win-win-win deal for all parties involved.



Trade Proposal #2: Leafs Deal for Ryan Getzlaf, Sign Grabo 

Leafs get: Ryan Getzlaf

Anaheim gets: Tyler Bozak, Luke Schenn and Nazem Kadri

To put it bluntly, Ryan Getzlaf has been a shadow of his former self since he hurt his ankle 6 weeks before the 2010 Olympic Hockey tourny. He hasn't produced at nearly the same clip as he was doing so before and, despite the fact that Corey Perry won the Hart Trophy (League MVP) and Rocket Richard Trophy (Most Goals scored) last year, Getzlaf really wasn't mentioned all that much in terms of being his setup man.

This year, he has struggled defensively as he is in the negative double digits in terms of his plus/minus for the year (very bad) and the team has struggled for the most part (their 9-1-1 record prior to the all-star break notwithstanding). He needs a change of scenery and the team needs to go into the rebuild mode. If they continue to refuse to deal Teemu Selannne, the ageless wonder and their best player by far, then Getzlaf would be the best bet to get dealt since he would be able to get them a few of the needed pieces they need to start over.

Nazem Kadri has world class talent. Everyone who has ever seen him play knows that to be a fact. He just has not gotten a fair shake with the Leafs and, given the depth the team now has, it's time to use that depth to give him a chance somewhere else and improve the team overall. Dealing him to Anaheim will give him a chance to flourish while playing with Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan. Luke Schenn, while a solid contributor to the team, is simply not gong to be a top 4 guy on this team now that they have added John-Michael Liles and Cody Fransen this off season and with the growth of Carl Gunnarsson. As well, the Leafs have a dearth of good, young Defenceman on their way up through the organizational ranks that they can, again, deal from a position of strength to improve their overall talent base.

Tyler Bozak is having a career year, which means that given he is 26 years old and projects out to be a 2nd line center (at best), it's best he gets dealt now and ends up on the West coast as well, playing between Teemu and Saku Koivu on the Ducks. This deal could help both teams immensely, both now and in the future.

While all these players change teams, the Leafs would then sign Mikail Grabovski to a new 4 year deal at a good $4.125 million per season, anchoring the teams 2nd line with a solid 2 way player at a fair deal for both player and team.


Trade Proposal #3: Leafs deal Komisarek

Leafs get: James Van Riemsdyke

Philly gets: Mike Komisarek and a 1st round pick in this year's draft.

Leafs get some salary cap room as Mike hasn't been playing lately and doesn't fit in to the teams' long term plans. This deal opens up a spot for Keith Aulie to jump into the NHL line-up on a permanent basis. The Flyers need NHL depth at defence and he would be a great fit for them. Dealing away JVR would hurt in the short term for them (and creates a really strong 3rd line for the Leafs as they would have JVR with Connolly and Lombardi) but with Pronger probably being forced to retire, they could really use a tough, mean defender to help them in the playoffs.



Trade Proposal #4: Boston Gets Ruutu, Bryan Allen from Carolina

Boston gets: Tuomo Ruutu, Bryan Allen

Carolina gets: Andy McQuaid, Daniel Paille, Zach Hamill and a 2nd round pick

Boston looks like they are about to make another run at the Cup and they have the depth to go ahead and pull off this type of deal. Bringing in a guy like Ruutu to bolster their top 6 forwards just seems to perfect. He may be a Finn, but he plays the game like a Bruin. He has an edge to his game, he hits, he scores and he isn't afraid to mix it up with just about anyone.

Dealing a solid 3rd line player in Paille and up and coming defender in McQuaid will hurt but the sting will be lessened if they can get their names on the Cup for a 2nd straight year.




Trade Proposal #5: Oilers deal Hemsky and Horcoff in 2 Separate Deals

Oilers get: Nikita Filatov and two 2nd round picks

Ottawa gets: Ales Hemsky

Oilers get: Daniel Carcillo, Rostislav Olesz, Hawks 2nd round pick this year

Hawks get: Shawn Horcoff


Both of these current Oiler players are not going to be in the long term plans for the team so it's best to get something for them now while the team still can. If the team is serious that they want to continue to build through the draft, then they could use the 3 extra 2nd round picks to move up (if they want) in the draft or to just build more organizational depth. Of the 3 players they would get in these 2 deals, only one (Carcillo) would jump into their NHL lineup as Olesz is in the minors and Filatov is in Russia.

The Hawks dealt for Brendan Morrison earlier last week but from all accounts, he is done. They could really use the talent upgrade that adding Shawn Horcoff to their lineup would do for them. With the talent they have on that team, a 2nd line with Horcoff between Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa to follow their first line of Kane, Toews and Stallberg leaves David Bolland centering another potent line with Andrew Brunnette and Michael Frolik....Can you say Cup Final for the Hawks? If they ever get their goal tending in order, it's a real possibility.

Ottawa getting Hemsky seems a bit odd but it's a no risk deal since his contract is up at the end of the year and they could certainly use the talent upgrade on their forward lines if they want to have a chance at staying in the playoff race.

This would also free up the Oilers to keep Sam Gagner. In case you haven't heard of the kid, he is the 22 year old Oiler center who had a career in a night when he had 8 points (4 goals and 4 assists) Friday night against the Blackhawks and has continued to play at a torrid pace, getting 4 more points in his next 4+ periods ever since. He had been having a horrible season until injuries forced him to play on the 1st line with Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle. The results have been tremendous and they are showing the Oiler brass that maybe they can use him in a more offensive roll as a 2nd line center going into next season.

Got any other ideas? Disagree with mine? Let me know what you think.....

Super Bowl 46 Prediction and Some Friday Morning Musings....

Alright, we are now a little over 48 hours away from the Super Re-match of Super Bowl 42, which saw the same two teams play in one of the most stunning Championship games ever in NFL History. A fluke play on a throw that should never have happened, with at least 4 holding calls being missed, gave the Giants great field position and then resulted in a touchdown pass on the very next play, which gave the Giants a 3 point lead they would hold on to for the upset victory (All of which is still engrained in my memory along with several other horrible events I would rather not think of ever, ever again).

Just like how I hate to think about it, and I'm just a Patriots fan, I can't imagine how difficult it is for the likes of the 7 remaining Patriots who are still on the team from their nearly perfect season 4 years ago. One of them is Tom Brady. I think we all know him. He would be the future Hall of Fame QB who had the single worst playoff game of his career only 2 weeks ago and (at least in my mind) is itching to tear apart the "vaunted" Giants Defense, of whom we have been bombarded by story after story of how they think they can get to him and how they are "SO GREAT".

Before we go and crown the Giants (like so many are already doing in the Media), let's take a look at some facts. Yes the Patriots had one of the worst regular seasons when it came to their defence in terms of total yards allowed. They ranked 32nd out of 32 teams, but the Giants ranked 29th in that category so it's not as if they are the 1986 bears we are talking about here. And even with their defensive deficiencies, the Patriots still went 13-3 in the regular season and are currently on a 10 game winning streak. The Giants had to sneak their way into the playoffs, finishing with a 9 and 7 record before destroying the Falcons and heavily favoured Packers but when everything was on the line 2 weeks ago, they barely beat the 49ers (thanks to Kyle Williams) to make it to the Super Bowl itself.

I would argue that the Patriots defense is on par with that of the Giants right now. They only surrendered an average of 15.6 points per game (ranking them 15th in the league) and they have held their 2 playoff opponents to a total of 30 points in 2 games (an average of 15 points per game). To me, that is evidence of their steady improvement over the course of this season.

The spread on this game is 3 points in favour of the Patriots. Something tells me that this will be a blow out. All the hype of the Giants and how they are on a roll against the Patriots is going to get to their heads. Eli will show the world that he is the 2nd best Manning brother and Brady will avenge the Super Bowl loss with a surprising amount of running by the law firm of Ben-Jarvis Green-Ellis (their main running back) and Danny Woodhead. They will gash the Giants defence for large chunks of yards which will surprise the Giants and change their all out blitzing attack on Brady, eventually giving him time to carve them up. Final Score 35-17 Patriots. Brady MVP and the Dynasty continues as the Patriots are young at just about every position and they have two first round picks and two 2nd round picks in this years draft.

A couple of quick side bar notes here. Don't you just love hearing how the banks feel that there really isn't any kind of housing bubble? Of course there is a housing bubble going on. How else do you explain the insane rises in prices of homes over the last 25 years in the GTA? Houses that used to sell for $127 000 in 1986 are now selling for in access of $440 000. New townhouses in Mississauga, that used to sell for about $150 000 are now STARTING at $300 000 with ridiculous maintenance fee costs and property taxes. The last thing any bank wants is to come out publicly and admit that the current housing market conditions are not sustainable because then, all the mortgages that they have granted to their customers will potentially be in a perilous state.

Imagine if suddenly their was a market correction like the one we saw in the US where homes suddenly were worth much, much less then they had been in the past. The values of the homes drops, then the mortgage amounts people would be asking for would begin to drop. People would need less and less mortgage amounts which would create a problem for banks because one of the biggest sources of revenue for banks is the interest they make off their mortgage customers. The first 10 years you have a mortgage, you are basically paying almost entirely interest. If the majority of people suddenly had more money and less mortgages, banks would see their record profits being to fall and then they would start to raise interest rates to make up the difference.

Basically, the spiral of problems for banks if they admitted the truth is greater then the need to actually admit the truth. So don't forget that the next time you hear a report from one of the Canadian Banks about our housing market.

So I read a report on the Globe and Mail website that somehow the patriarch of the Shafia family still gets to determine the way his remaining children are being raised and even who takes care of them. Newsflash people: He was convicted of killing 4 people, 3 of which WERE HIS OTHER KIDS!!! How in the hell is he still allowed to determine ANYTHING about his other kids? Why haven't the Quebec children's aid workers done anything to change who has control of them?

Someone really needs to snap to attention about this situation. The man is a killer who shouldn't be allowed to have any dealings with his children. It's appalling that no one thought to remove his ability to do this sooner.

Just goes to show that not everyone is always working with the same goal in mind. A Parent accused of killing their child and then convicted of doing so, should automatically loose all parental rights over their remaining children. Just a thought.....

That's enough for today.

Have fun Super Bowl Weekend

Until next time..

GO PATRIOTS!!!!!

Capital Punishment Clarification

I think, given the way I worded my defense of Conservative Senator yesterday, I need to write a simple clarification.


As much as I wish we could take out serial killers like Bernadro and Homolka, we don't have the death penalty in Canada and we won't get it back. Rightfully so might I add. While it is rare to find a case where we are exactly 100% certain of the guilt of a person, especially in the case of murderers (unless of course there is videotape evidence, several eye witnesses and overwhelming DNA evidence all in combination), there is always the possibility of convicting an innocent person of a capital crime and potentially wrongfully putting them to death.

The one case that comes to mind immediately is that of the West Memphis 3, who, in 1993 were convicted (at the age of 16 no less) of killing three 8 year old boys. They were essentially put behind bars by;

-Spotty police work. They focused solely on their one theory (that it was the three 16 year olds that killed the three 8 year olds in a barbaric satanic cult ritual. They interrogated one of them (who has the IQ of a 10 year old) for over 13 hours until he just started agreeing with anything they said and only used 41 recorded minutes of their interrogation on court. 

-An overheated and biased environment. Everyone involved in the persecution of these boys took one look at the main accused, a goth guy with dark hair and known for listening to heavy metal music, and they could all see him as being a devil worshiping cult member.It was in this kind of prejudiced environment that police willfully chose to focus only on them and not even bother to properly canvass the neighborhood where these kids lived. Had they done so, they would have found witnesses who claimed to have seen one of the 8 year old boys step-fathers with the 3 boys around the time they were believed to have disappeared.

-A judge who willfully disregarded glaring legally questionable actions by the prosecution.Their were suspect "experts" who had mailed in PHD's, there was the 41 minute audio-taped confession of one of them from an illegal 13 hour interogation  that not only didn't have a parent present nor did it have a lawyer or childrens' aid worker there to protect the kids rights.

There was even the fact that after being found guilty, as you can see in the HBO Documentary: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (the 3rd such documentary on the West Memphis 3) that he seemed to enjoy vividly describing to the main accused (the Goth guy) how he would have 3 needles inserted into his arm which would then inject him with 3 different chemicals (which he named off as well) that lead to his death.

This same judge somehow was allowed to continue to preside over the multiple appeals over the years that kept the 3 of them in jail and one of them on death row for over 18 years.

It wasn't until this a$$clown somehow was elected to the Senate to represent the State of Arkansas (an may I say, what a great state representative this guy is) that their was a glimmer of hope as a new judge was about to grant the WM3 a new trial based on new exculpatory DNA and physical evidence (which points directly at Mr. Baggs, one of the deceased children's step-fathers). Instead, what ended up happening was that the DA in the case offered the 3 men (all in their mid 30's now) the chance to use a new type of Guilty plea (The Alfred guilty plea, first used in South Carolina) to essentially plead guilty in court, maintain their innocence and be allowed to leave prison because of their time served. They were let out of jail back in November.

Basically, given the amount of new evidence in the case, the DA was trying to save the State from the insane amount of money they would have had to pay out to the 3 of them for wrongfully imprisoning them for nearly 18 years. With their "guilty" pleas, the 3 of them cannot file a class action suit against the state unless they are able to somehow prove who the real killer was therefore filing to have their pleas overturned, the case re-opened and on and on.

I just happened to watch this documentary recently so this kind of opened my eyes a bit to why capital punishment is not something that we can really bring back into Canada. There are just too many variables at play when it comes to a capital murder trial in order to 100% guarantee that the verdict of guilty and the sentence of death is justified. There have been way too many cases of innocent people having been executed, particularly troubling is the fact that many of them are happening in a supposedly democratic nation like the US (not counting of course the biggest offenders like China and Saudi Arabia who execute into the thousands each year for various things including having differing political views).

It is for that reason that I have somewhat altered my view of capital punishment. Hopefully this sheds some light on my views. 

Leaf Pens Game Blog....3rd Period

Looks like the 3rd is starting off with a bit more pace then the first 2 periods tonight....both teams have exchanged scoring chances so far

Pens have been getting away with little subtle interference plays all night, slowing the Leaf fore checkers down substantially.....I haven't seen one interference call yet on the Pens....Hmmm, no wonder the Leafs are looking "Slower" tonight...


Total BS call as Richard Park gets dumped in front of his own net....fine, he did have his stick in the area but that should have been called a dive for the way Park collapsed to the ice....


Looks like the game has finally started to open up a bit after killing their 19th straight penalty off. A couple of good chances at both ends and the Pens continue to get away with hacks and whacks that should be called penalties

That was the best chance of the night and it SHOULD have been called a penalty shot as Grabo was slashed hard on the hands during his breakaway....it's time to put these pesky Pens away

Another wild slash goes uncalled, then Bozak gets held up in the corner....no calls


Finally, after outplaying the Pens all night, the Grabo line comes through with a goal by Clarke MacArthur on a great set up....1-0 leafs with just over 5 minutes left.....now they just need to hold on and they will know that they deserved to have gotten all 4 points out of this back to back set...

Leafs get a powerplay with 4:55 left...Pens complaining about an interference call that didn't go their way.......hahahaha...they must have forgotten about all the ones they got away with tonight

Just over 2minutes left and Kulemin nearly ices it....Johnson makes a nice save....

30 seconds left, Pens empty net, call timeout and faceoff in the Leafs zone....lets see if they can hang on

Reimer and the Leafs hang on for an impressive 1-0 win with Reimer looking a bit like his old self again.....like I said, this might be the start of a nice run for him and the team....