Apologies, NHL Playoffs Begin & Ready for Another Provincial Election?

 I would believe it if it didn't feel so damned insincere based on the lack of firings,  Re: Burke, Brian

So let me get this straight. It took a season in which the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had been sitting in 6th place as short a period of time ago as February 6th, completely collapsed into the bottom 5 worst teams in the league before someone in the Monolith of MLSE decided to step up and apologize to the fans. Not for the last 45 years of futility, or the last 7 years which have seen the longest stretch of playoff futility for the team in their long and storied history, but for the way in which the team performed this particular season? Huh?

Brian Burke put this team together (with the blessing of ownership) and has been at the helm for 4 years now. The day he took over, he boasted that he would not be following the Pittsburgh or Chicago models of bottoming out and drafting sure fire NHL Stars as his plan, whatever it was, would be faster and get the job done. His hatred for the way those teams have become powerhouses is really baffling considering that he as the one that traded up as the GM of the Vancouver Canucks to select both Sedin brothers, the cornerstones of that powerhouse team for well over a decade.

I would give Burke credit for drafting Ryan but at #2 behind Crosby, it was kind of a no-brainer...

So why is it that he is so insistent on trying to do it so differently here? It probably has to do with the fact that it took him all of 2 years at the helm of the Anaheim Ducks to win the Cup. He just happened to walk into a situation with a team that already had Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Scott Niedermayer on it along with a Conn Smythe Trophy winning goalie at the top of his game in JS Giguere (and a quality back up goalie in Ilya Bryzgalov as well). He made 2 alterations to that team, 1 trade, 1 free agent signing, that turned that team into a Cup Champion: He brought back an Anaheim stalwart when he signed Teemu Selanne and traded for Chris Pronger (who was having marital issues and had been accused of cheating on his wife with a weather girl in Edmonton forcing his demand for a trade out of Oil country).

 Burke lucked out that Pronger couldn't keep it in his pants....

In retrospect, we should have known that Burke was going to cut corners and try to do it his way since he really has never had the true patience to wait for young players to mature. He was canned out of Vancouver when his win it quick schemes failed for 3 years in a row and he only won in Anaheim because Bryan Murray built that team up through the draft when he got Perry and Getzlaf, their 2 stars. His moves in Anaheim worked only because of the foundation that had been laid in place by the previous administration. When he has had to start from scratch, he has been a failure.

 ...and getting Selanne to "come home" didn't cost him much....low level gamble on a solid human being

Sure, one of his other former teams, the Canucks, are a powerhouse now, but his main reason for failing with them is the same as the biggest problem he has with the Leafs : Goaltending. He trusted in Dan Cloutier so much so that it cost him his job. Dave Nonis, his current assistant GM with the Leafs, replaced him in Vancouver and the first thing he did was go out and get Roberto Luongo from the Florida Panthers, who, despite his struggles at times, is one of the premier goalies in the NHL.

 Replace Cloutier here with the Monster and you see Burke has a history of sticking with crappy goalies....

Mr. Tannenbaum's apology was hollow because of the fact that the real changes that need to be made with the Leafs are centered around the man making the decisions: They need to replace Brian Burke. He has already cost them Tyler Seguin (who looks like he will be a good to great player in the NHL for the next 10-12 years), who knows what other potential stars he will cost this team with his inept decisions with regards to the draft.

The Playoffs started last night with 3 great games to get everyone going. Philly and Pittsburgh got it started, Detroit at Nashville (with some WWE moves thrown in at the conclusion) and a nightcap that featured LA at Vancouver. All 3 of these games had various levels of drama and intrigue involved in them and, as the night wore on, the casual viewer would probably begin to realize that there is a very real possibility that these might be three of the best playoff series we have seen in a long, long time.

As you can see from this exploded view....The Pens should have stopped the OTHER 2 goals from being scored....but they were screwed on this one, that's for sure....

The Flyers looked like they forgot the start time of the game as they were down 3 after the first period. The 2nd and 3rd periods the team seemed to wake up and took the game back from a Pens team that seemed to sag a bit after being up so much so early in the game. As much as Penguins coach Dan Bylsma wants to push the off-side goal aside, it was a pretty big turning point in the game. The emotional lift that the goal by Briere gave the team shifted the momentum of the game entirely as Philly began to attack the Penguins more and more after that, knowing that if they got the next goal, and cut the lead to 1 going into the 3rd period, they had a chance. And that they did as they won the game in OT.

The winner of this series will go to the final. There, I said it. I'm banking on the Flyers as they are just so deep. Even Brayden Schenn, who is a 3rd liner, is a stud in the making as he had 3 points last night. My first prediction for this series? PAIN!! My 2nd prediction is the Flyers will take it in 7.

Nashville (or as the the locals refer to themselves: SMASH-ville) loaded up at the trade deadline by going out and getting Paul Gaustad from Buffalo, Andrei Kostitysn and Hal Gill from Montreal and getting back Alex Radulov from the Russian Hockey League (who had bolted to make a ton of tax free money in his native land 4 years ago). With these additions, the Predators (still a stupid name for the team, Cougars sounds way better) were able to sub-plant the Red Wings in the race for home ice advantage finishing 4th in the West with Detroit finishing 5th. This means that a very good Red Wings team has to try to win games on the road in the playoffs this year where they struggled all season long. Not unexpectedly, the Preds were able to hold on to a 3-2 win but not without some rather interesting situations arising.

 Webber must have watched Wrestlemania last weekend....That was a pure "Rock" move....Lucky he didn't throw a People's Elbow in there or he may have had more then just a $2500 fine on his hands...

With 5 seconds left, Gaustad did what he was brought in to do for the team, he won a key face off into his teams' corner where Shea Weber was met by a Henrik Zetterberg hit from behind (very slight but it obviously set off Weber). What he did next was straight out of the Rock's WWE wrestling move handbook as he punched Zetterberg in the back of the head, then grabbed him by the helmet and coco-bonged his head into the glass as if it was the top turnbuckle of a wrestling ring. At the same time, Gaustad took 2 hacks at the back of the leg of Pavel Datsyuk which he retaliated to in-kind.

A wild melee ensued after the final horn went off to end the game with punches being thrown and Zetterberg (who had crumbled to the ice slowly after having his head smashed into the glass) getting himself up and screaming at both Weber and the officials. The fact that Weber was only given a pathetic fine of $2500 for his wrestling-inspired move tells me that its very possible there will be a ton of bad blood coming for Game #2 tomorrow night.

The final game of the evening featured a #1 seed (Vancouver) against a #8 seed (LA) but just looking at the numbers, this series is and will be much closer then your typical 1 vs 8. LA did have a coaching change about halfway through the season and since Darryl Sutter took over the team, their record is 23-15-4. They had the best goaltending in the league all year round as Jonathan Quick finished the season with 10 shutouts and a goals against average of 1.95. Ridiculous numbers to say the least but the most telling fact about this team is that before they acquired Jeff Carter from Columbus, they were having trouble scoring goals (averaging 2.3 goals scored per game). Since his first game with the team, that number has jumped to 3.2 goals scored per game (61 goals scored by the team since the trade) or nearly a goal more scored per game.

Both Carter and Richards, former Flyer teammates who were basically made out to be the scapegoats of the teams failures over the last few years, have reunited and it feels so good for them to be back in the playoffs together. The 2 of them have a real chip on their shoulders as they want to prove to everyone that they were not the problem that the Philly media and management of the Flyers seemed to imply they were with their sudden trades this past summer.

Not sure why a pic like this would lead to both players being traded away but it may end up coming 

back to haunt the Flyers very, very soon...

The game itself, against possibly the most hated team in the league, was all LA. They came out guns blazing and despite being tied 2-2 entering the 3rd, the Canucks were only in the game because of some stellar goaltending from Luongo and some fortunate bounces (Richards hitting the post on an empty net tap in and Alex Edler's incredible bounce shot that bounded past Quick after hitting a defenders stick, then going straight up off the ice and into the upper half of the net). 


The game winning goal may have looked like a fluke but Jeff Carter knew what he was doing when he used his skate to re-direct a pass from Richards over to Dustin "Flapjack" Penner for a tap in and (eventual) game winner. In my view, going into this series, even with both Sedin brother healthy and in the lineup, I was still favouring the Kings to pull it out given the fact that they have een playing playoff hockey all year long. They lost 11 games 2-1 and 6 more by 1-0 scores, all in regulation. Vancouver has been off and on all year long. They started the year slow (another victim of the Stanley Cup Final Hangover as Boston started slowly as well) only to turn it on from mid-November until February. After a small swoon, they finished the season on a 6 game winning streak snatching the Presidents Trophy from the St.Louis Blues in the last 2 games of the year.

With all that in mind, I was picking the Kings to win this series in 6 games before the injuries and poor play were factored in. After watching Game 1, I will have to re-adjust my prediction: Kings in 6. You have to also love what the Kings organization tweeted right after the game on their team twitter account.

Typical high strung Vancouver fans can't take the truth, even when it's right in front of them....

 

 

The fact that someone in the Kings organization recognizes that most of Canada can't stand the Canucks and is willing to poke fun at the situation is absolutely hilarious. Maybe if the team had more likeable players and not jerks like Ryan Kesler and Max LaPierre, maybe the rest of the country would be more willing to embrace a team as skilled and talented as the Canucks. But not with guys like that on that team or with fans that have reacted to 2 Cup losses in 18 years with riots. They are an embarrassment to the rest of the country when they act like that and the rest of the country is rooting against them so that we don't have to be the butt of jokes again this year if they somehow manage to make it again to the Cup Final.

I am pulling for an LA vs Philly Cup Final (for pool purposes and for storyline reasons...Richards and Carter facing Philly for the Cup? How perfect would that be?!?!).

One a final note, I want to go over Dalton McLiar and how his Provincial Government will fall shortly. First, I still can't believe the people of Ontario elected, sorry, RE-elected this ass-clown for another term. He was a liar before and he is showing himself to be a liar again, going back on his word time and time again. Now he is having his Education Minister threaten and attempt to bully the Elementary school teachers into accepting their only offer instead of actually negotiating a new deal with them. These are the same people that voted for his party to keep them in power in Ontario.

 

 Are you ready for another election? Can we please get rid of McLiar once and for all this time? Please?!?!

The fact that McLiar has a minority Government hasn't stopped him from saying things and acting as if he has a majority. The Conservative under Tim "Who the heck" Hudak, have already stated that they will vote against the upcoming Provincial Budget which makes the Leader of the NDP, the lovely Andrea Horwath, a "King maker". Basically, the Liberals need the support of the NDP or else their very short term in office will come to an end. Budgets votes are considered confidence votes which means that  with the combined votes of the Conservatives and NDP, the Government's Budget not passing into law will force an election call for this summer. 

 

Ms Horwath has all the cards right now and she has been trying to use them. Over the last couple of weeks, she has been trying to dictate to McLiar what aspects of his budget she wants tweaked in order to ensure that he gets the votes he needs to stay in the Office of Ontario Premier and she gets the changes she wants to the budget that she can live with. The problem is she is way too trusting. Dalton is a proven liar.He has a track record about as long as my arm of instances when he has gone back on his word with regards to election promises and budgetary items he has said he would support and flip flopped on instead. 

Another reason to dislike McLiar: The way he has refused to get involved in the City of Toronto issue of Subway vs. LRT. This should be a topic he should be all over since the majority of the funds coming for this project are from the Province. Instead, he has sat back and allowed city counselors to essentially emasculate the Mayor of the largest city in the country by bickering with him repeatedly over just about any issue that comes up, primarily the mass transit portfolio. 

Here's hoping that Ms Horwath wakes up to the realization that McLiar will say one thing and do another or maybe he will just be an arrogant fool and refuse to compromise on some of the issues she wants him to forcing her hand and resulting in a new election this summer. We desperately need to have Dalton kicked out of office. Hopefully now, with our teachers starting to see exactly what kind of snake we have been dealing with and Mr Hudak dying for the chance to face McLiar again in an election, it all comes down to Ms Horwath and how comfortable she is in keeping Dalton right where he is; under her thumb.

And, on a final note, Rick Sanrtorum has done the logical thing and withdrawn himself from consideration as the Repubican nominee for President. He was a man who may well have had a chance to win the nomination but had very little chance of becoming President. His rigid views on sexuality and abortion rights were just going to make him look like a fool on the national stage and set back the Repubicans further into the dark ages had he continued along his quest for the nomination. He did the right things pulling out of the race but its too late for the Republicans. As they bitterly fought internally over who would win against President Obama, they allowed the President a chance to regain some of the charisma he had lost after 4 years of bickering with Republican dominated Senate that, at times, put the entire political process into gridlock just because they could.

Now President Obama is on the attack using their own slags against them. He is attacking them and allowing his intellect to shine through once again. The Republicans had a chance to make some hay with voters had they not been done in by such an internally bitter campaign for their own nomination. Not that they would have had a chance anyway. Once the real voters start coming out, the Republican nominee, regardless of who it would ultimately be, would have had no chance against a man who is smarter and more charismatic then every single Republican nominee they had out there.  

 

Until next time...