Ugly Start for Maple Leafs

Are the Toronto Maple Leafs really this bad?!

I mean after Brian Burke's summer of cleaning house, this is what the Maple Leafs are? A team that can't keep the puck out of its own net, is horrid down-low in its own end, has trouble finishing at the other end, and compounds one dumb penalty after another by being a putrid 57.9% on the penalty kill so far this season?

Yikes!

Well at least they can fight (witness Colton Orr tangling with Donald Brashear, above). And to their credit, the Maple Leafs did battle the Rangers for a bit last night before succumbing under the weight of their own ineptitude to the tune of a 7-2 final at Madison Square Garden.

(Continue to Jim Cerny's Rink Rap)

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Loose Lips Cost Leafs a Fine

Score one for the Vancouver Canucks ... well, sort of.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were fined an undisclosed amount today by the NHL because, league deputy commmissioner Bill Daly said, coach Ron Wilson violated a league by-law "relating to inappropriate public comments by speaking generally to his club's potential interest in negotiating with Daniel and Henrik Sedin" before the Canucks forwards had officially become free agents.

The Sedins eventually re-signed with the Canucks, getting five-year contracts worth $6.1 million a season.

(Continue to Through the 5 Hole)

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Resolution on Horizon for Kessel

I've got a couple of quick hits while in a brief lull here at the Rangers training facility. I'll be back with another post later this afternoon about the Rangers cutting roster to 30 players, as well as the latest on Marian Gaborik's health and first scrimmage.

But first....as I speculated yesterday, Boston GM Peter Chiarelli and his Toronto counterpart Brian Burke did meet face to face to discuss a potential Phil Kessel trade. Pierre Lebrun over at ESPN.com is reporting that the two met for about an hour yesterday since Chiarelli's Bruins were in town to face Burke's Maple Leafs. Lebrun says that a deal could be struck by the weekend or the middle of next week.

I am hearing---and Lebrun is also reporting---that the Nashville Predators are also in the mix for Kessel, and have offered an NHL player or two along with draft picks. Reportedly, the Leafs offer has included only draft picks, though featuring a pair of first rounders.

(Continue to Jim Cerny's Rink Rap)

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Bruins' Visit Sparks Trade Talk

The Phil Kessel rumor mill will be in full swing tonight when the Bruins travel up to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs in pre-season action.

Kessel, of course, is the Bruins coveted RFA who is priced out of cap-stressed Boston, and who is awaiting either an offer sheet from, or more likely a trade to, another team.

That other team---whether it be through offer sheet or trade---has long rumored to be the Toronto Maple Leafs. That, of course, is based largely on the comments from Leafs GM Brian Burke, who has openly expressed his desire to acquire Kessel, the 21 year-old who potted 36 goals a year ago.

(Continue to Jim Cerny's Rink Rap)

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