Weekly Roundup

Not a lot has gone on over the past week but I still have a few interesting tidbits about the Leafs to talk about. I can’t wait until the pre season begins so we can actually start talking about the on ice game instead of all the off ice discussion we’ve had. The Leafs are poised to be a hard hitting team this season, and we all hope that they also are able to score a few goals for our sake.

First up is the story of Brian Burke releasing the names of the top 6 defensemen he feels will be playing against the Montreal Canadiens when the regular season begins. The names are in no special order... Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin, Tomas Kaberle, Garnet Exelby, Jeff Finger and Luke Schenn. This was pretty much the expected top six although a few people had Ian White pencilled in over Garnet Exelby. It seems that Garnet is high on Burke’s list as a defenseman. I am sure Mike Van Ryn, Frogren and White will give these guys a run for their money in training camp. This is definitely going to create a healthy competition amongst the ranks.

The whole veto issue is getting out of hand now and it’s getting boring as well. No Leafs fan wants to see Balsillie face every day on the news talking about how the Leafs are being mean to him. If the Maple Leafs have the right then by all means they should use it as a business entity. There is no reason for them to be nice to Balsillie, but this should all be kept behind closed doors as most people really don’t want to hear about this garbage.

Tyler Bozak has been beefing up over the summer and he’s made some significant progress in the muscle department. He will certainly be willing to take the hits and hopefully dish them out as well without getting himself hurt. The fitness trainers with the Leafs will be paying significant attention to how these youngsters are going about their fitness regime. Brian Burke and Ron Wilson are always keen on players that are fit and most of these guys know that and are really burning it up in the weight room these days. Also, to fit the category of being a hard hitting team, the Leafs will have to definitely spend some time in the weight room to beef up.

Now with some news that has nothing to do with the Leafs and that’s the signing of Roberto Luongo for a 12 year extension. Quite an extension that is especially if he goes on and gets himself injured. These days a lot of the NHL teams are signing their superstars for huge contracts that won’t hurt them financially. It’s really getting silly these days with the amount of players that are on “Life” contracts basically. I hope the NHL does something about this otherwise we might be seeing these types of contracts for every superstar in the league.

Not much to talk about over the past week, but we certainly have had some interesting revelations like the Top 6 defensemen Burkie expects. Although for everyone’s sanity I would like a court order stating Balsillie cannot go within 50 meters of a microphone. I have had enough of that man for a while.