Jason Spezza Busted For Illegal Stick

When I first read about Toronto coach Ron Wilson challenging Jason Spezza's stick, I had to really think about why he would do such a thing so late in a game.

Upon further review it makes perfect sense. You're down by one goal late in the game, why not try and get a cheap power play by challenging the legality of a stick?

Ultimately, it worked out as the Leafs were successful in their challenge but that's not the real story in this tale.

The real story is what Spezza did to try and hide the fact that he had an illegal stick.



Spezza is waiting to take a draw and overhears that the Leafs want to challenge his stick. In an absolute admission of guilt, Spezza snaps his stick in two and tries to exchange it out for a legal one without the refs noticing.

A valiant effort indeed, but it didn't work. The refs saw the whole thing and properly measured the appropriate stick in question and found out that it was illegal.

Spezza was assessed a two-minute penalty and the Leafs failed to score to tie the game and eventually lost 2-1. Pretty anti-climatic ending to a great move by Wilson.

Rangers land Antropov, Morris

The New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs agreed to swap a player for picks. Nik Antropov will be coming to the Blueshirts for a 2nd round pick and a conditional draft pick. Antropov this year has 21 goals and 25 assists and immediately becomes the Rangers leading goal scorer.

This gives the Rangers a surplus of wingers meaning another deal may be on the way for a bigger name. Stay tuned.

UPDATE:
Well the surplus of wingers is now no longer there. The Rangers shipped out underachiever Dmitri Kalinin, and young guns Petr Prucha and Nigel Dawes to the Phoenix Coyotes for Derek Morris. Morris brings a veteran presence to the Rangers blue line and will bolster a shaky defensive core that has underachieved all year. We needed a defender who's specialty was defense rather than offense, and I believe Morris can be that guy.

ESPN: Pens Not Interested In Guerin

OK, now I don't tend to believe a lot of what ESPN has to say in regards to their utter lack of hockey coverage, but I saw this same rumor on Spector's site earlier today.

According to this article, the Pens are not interested in Bill Guerin and it in fact looks as if Washington is the mystery team in this saga.

I would be very happy to not have Guerin on the team as a rental. Getting Guerin could mean almost certainly that another deal would have to be in place involving someone like Jordan Staal or Miroslav Satan.

I'd be perfectly happy letting Satan go his merry way, but the thought of trading Staal still doesn't sit well with me. As I've said before, I have already come to terms with the fact that Staal will be the first to go out of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury.

I only question what we would get back should this actually happen.

There have been some rumors speculating that the Pens would ship Staal and the recently acquired Eric Tangradi to Toronto for Tomas Kaberle and Matt Stajan and maybe a pick is thrown in somewhere too.

I don't like this at all. As much as I like Kaberle, his coming to Pittsburgh would force Kris Letang out of the lineup for sure and still leave Alex Goligoski waiting in the wings some more.

Maybe some things will change in the coming hours, but the Pens need help up front on offense more than they do on defense. The help they need on defense can come from being more responsible in their own end and not blowing coverage leading to easy goals. I have faith that Dan Bylsma's system isn't operating at full capacity yet ad that he is actively working on the very thing i just stated.

Time will tell.

Pronger Off, Kaberle as Well?

To begin with, our friends at NESN are reporting that any deal involving Ducks d-man Chris Pronger coming to Beantown are off.

It's certainly for the best in my view. Whether they were giving up Phil Kessel straight up, or any combination of Mark Stuart, Chuck Kobasew, Joe Colborne, etc. would have been far too steep a price to pay for what would likely be an 18 month rental.

Our good friends up north at TSN.ca are reporting that Leafs GM Brian Burke has denied last night's report out of Boston that an offer was made for Tomas Kaberle.

Burke himself told TSN the following:

“It's not true, a total fabrication,” Burke told TSN. “I sat with (Boston GM) Peter Chiarelli for the first period of Saturday's game in Boston and we never discussed Tomas Kaberle. We hadn't spoken about Kaberle before that and we most certainly haven't since then. There is no truth to it at all. None.”

Well then. I suppose that settles that... then again Burke vehemently denied rumors that he was leaving Anaheim for Toronto and we all know how that ended up.

It's also been said by ESPN that the B's may also be interested in Derek Morris from Phoenix.

More to come...

Breaking: Bruins Offer For Kaberle?

This just in: the Boston Bruins have reportedly made an offer for Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle. NESN.com is reporting the story along with the Boston Herald.

"According to the Boston Herald, the Bruins have offered their 2008 first-round pick, forward Joe Colborne of Denver University, their 2009 No. 1 pick, and a third-round pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs for defenseman Tomas Kaberle."

Very interesting if this proves to be true. It goes with a number of thoughts out there that GM Peter Chiarelli would only be interested in trading picks and prospects. It's also curious that the 30-year-old Kaberle has 4.2M remaining on a contract for the next two years.

Kaberle would fit under the Bruins salary cap for the remainder of the season, but the team would be giving up far too much in return. Colborne is a B range prospect, a forward with terrific size, 6'5, 195lbs, and as a freshman, he certainly has time to grow into his frame. He's got 9 goals and 19 assists for Denver in 34 games, as well. Though he's certainly a couple of years down the road, with his size, you'd think the Bruins would want to keep him around awhile to see what he can develop into.

And a first and third round draft pick? Too much. Sure it's a late first rounder, but a first round pick nonetheless. I could potentially be sold on this if it were Colborne and a second rounder, but I'd be happier not to see this deal go through at all. I don't know where people continue to see a weakness in the Bruins defense, but it is not going to be their all-out key to winning it all. They're very steady in the back as I mentioned earlier today, with a good mix of youth and veteran presence and talent that is continually improving.

Though, I do realize that Kaberle would be an asset on the power play, and could potentially move Patrice Bergeron away from the point. I could still yet be sold on this...

More to come as this develops.

Rangers: Not for the weak of heart or stomach

We have all seen it in the bar. You are in the hanging with your friends, consuming some adult beverages, and off in the distance, you see "That guy." Not the jerk who thinks he's the coolest guy in the bar, but rather the one who has a snowball's chance in hell at landing the hot chick in the mini skirt. The music is too loud to talk and you don't dance, so what else is there to do but watch this guy? Why not get a good laugh out of it?

So first he goes over and starts a conversation with her. She doesn't turn him away. Who knows, maybe she is just being polite. Next he buys her a drink. She takes it, but who is really going to turn down a free drink? He then gestures and asks her to dance. She goes out there and starts off with a good foot of open space between them. Five songs and two drinks later, and you couldn't slip a piece of paper between them. You start to get your hopes up for this guy. You root for him to pull this off, for all of the average guys out there who have been in that position. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. (Thank you Andy Dufresne) Then there is flirtatious touching and grabbing and groping and you think this is gonna be it. This is gonna be the guy's triumph of the night. And then tragedy strikes and she walks away. What do this guy and the New York Rangers have in common? THEY CAN'T FREAKING SCORE.

Each game you watch and they have multiple scoring chances. Each game you hop out of your seat thinking that the puck had to find twine and yet no red light goes on. The last two nights, Ryan Miller and Vesa Toskala have been sprawling, diving, and using the Force to stop the puck from getting into the net. For those with the weak of heart, do not watch this team until they get off the schneid, because multiple heart attacks in a two and a half hour period cannot be good for one's health. For those with the weak stomach, do not bother eating anytime before the game, because there is not enough carpet cleaner out there to get the puke stains out.

The Rangers have dropped the last two 4-2 and 3-2. During the Sabres game, they thought there was a 8:00 start time rather than 7:00 and didn't show up until the 2nd period, which is a common occurrence and a sign of bad coaching. During the Leafs game tonight, they outplayed Toronto for a good 50 of 62 minutes. Alas, stupid penalties and lucky bounces lead to the demise of the Broadway Blueshirts.

The first goal allowed was on a failed deflection attempt by John Mitchell. Instead of deflecting a Pavel Kubina low slapper, Mitchell accidentally trapped it. Hank played the puck and was ready for the deflection. When the puck was stopped dead, half of the net was left open. A quick backhand and the first goal was on the board.

The second Leafs goal came during a 4-4 about 30 seconds after Gomez tied it up on a nice backhander through Toskala's wickets. In any 4-4 situation, the basic defense is forwards on d-men and d-men on forwards. Drury took a gamble on a Kubina cross ice pass and the puck snuck under his stick. This allowed Ian White to walk into the slot uncontested and rip one by Hank. Not one Ranger moved towards White in what was either a lack of effort or a collective defensive lapse. Either way the Leafs took the lead 2-1.

A period and a half later and the Rangers have an empty net. Zherdev gains the zone and throws it cross ice to a cutting Dubinsky. Dubinsky puts it on net but is blocked. The puck deflects off of Callahan and back to Rozsival who throws it on net and deflects it off of a Leaf in front and sneaks it by Vesa to tie things at 2-2. This would be the reason the game was salvaged because the Rangers earned the automatic 1 point in OT.

Doomed seemed imminent 2 minutes into overtime when the Rangers best penalty killer, Blair Betts, came off the bench and hooked Kubina skating through the neutral zone. This lead to the dreaded 4-3 power play, also known in the Garden tonight as the Pavel Kubina firing squad. Kubina blasted 2-3 shots from the point, all which bounced off of the boards and right back to a Leaf forward and then back to Kubina. After a couple deja vus, Kubina put one on net that Hagman deflected in.

Despite the loss, things are turning around for the Rangers. Their passing was crisp, their defense solid, and they ended up putting 41 shots on net. There is hope looking into the future and if they can put out this effort nightly, things will turn around. Until then, they will just be "That Guy" in the bar watching the hot girl walk away.