Well Done, John Ferguson Jr.

NHL free agency opened at high noon on July 1st - Happy Canada Day, eh - and a frenzy it most certainly was.

The league's general managers threw around money like steroids at Barry Bonds' house.

John Ferguson Jr. hit the phones at 12 pm sharp and came away with former New York Islanders sniper Jason Blake's signature on a five year contract worth $20 million dollars.

Shout outs are in store, to a most unlikely candidate - Mr. John Ferguson Jr., the much-maligned Maple Leafs general manager.

Jason Blake is the newest member of the Toronto Maple Leafs - welcome to Toronto, Jason - and he comes at a very reasonable price tag of $4 million a season. It's hard to believe a $4 million dollar annual salary can be called reasonable, but such are the times we now live in.

Blake was the only free agent on the market who scored 40 goals last season. He's got fantastic speed and skates like the wind. He's also a selfish hockey player - he loves to shoot the puck. He fired a total of 305 shots on goal last season, and finished with impressive statistics. Of his 40 goals, 26 came at even strength (which is sweet music to the ears of any Leafs fan), 14 came on the power play, and he led the Islanders with seven game winning goals. In contrast, only two Maple Leafs finished with more than 200 shots on goal - Bryan McCabe and Mats Sundin. And Darcy Tucker led the Leafs with 15 power play goals and six game winners, while only playing 56 games.

Whenever the Leafs played the Islanders last year, I wanted to reach into my television screen and slap Jason Blake. He's small in stature but has the ability to get under the skin of his opponents. He's feisty - he got into a publicized scuffle with superstar Sidney Crosby last year - and he's the type of hockey player that is easy to hate. All of that makes me even happier that he will now be playing for the good guys, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Hating your opponent is the biggest compliment you can give a guy.

While I went into Sunday's free agent frenzy with dreams of Ryan Smyth, Scott Gomez, Chris Drury and Paul Kariya, I think JFJ really made good in signing Blake. Gomez and Drury never had any intention of coming to Toronto from the get go, and while there have been reports that the Leafs were one of the first teams to offer Ryan Smyth a contract, he's a western boy at heart and his stay in the Eastern Conference turned out to be a short one as he signed long term with the Colorado Avalanche.

I was very surprised to see Paul Kariya get $6 million a year, first of all, and, second of all, see him get that kind of loot from the St. Louis Blues. St. Louis? Are you kidding me, Kariya? It's clear that Paul Kariya will only play in hockey markets that aren't, well, hockey markets. He doesn't like or want the spotlight, and that's the reason why in free agency he has signed with the Nashville Predators and now the St. Louis Blues. Clearly there was no chance he was coming to Toronto either, and the Leafs knew that, so they targeted Jason Blake.

The knock on Blake, and JFJ for signing him, is that he will be 34 once training camp opens, and that he had a career year at the most opportune time - when his contract was up. Valid points, sure, but in the last three years Blake has scored 90 goals, for a solid average of 30 a campaign. No Maple Leaf scored 30 goals last season.

Now I love Alexei Ponikarovsky probably more than anyone in this city, but he's got hands of stone. Ditto for Alex Steen and Matt Stajan. Poni, although he did score a very respectable 21 goals and make me a cool $100 bucks, should have finished with at least 30, if not 35. These guys have about as much finish as an anorexic at Mandarin. It's nice to add a guy who can finish, and Jason Blake is all about it. He loves to score goals.

Blake automatically becomes the second shooter in the dreaded shootout for the Leafs. He's a sniper, and exactly what the Leafs have lacked in the shootout behind Mats Sundin.

I've heard some people say that the contract is too long and that Blake will be 38 by the time it's up. Once again, so be it. He's 33 right now and seems to have a lot of hockey left in him. He was a late bloomer on the NHL scene, is in tremendous shape, and skates like he's 24 years old. His contract, which doesn't include a no-trade or a no-movement clause, makes him easy to trade if need be down the line. This was the right move by JFJ at the right time.

Now, before I continue, there's two things I've got to get off my chest. Firstly, I'm sick and tired of hearing about Pavel Kubina's contract, and how atrocious it is. Sick of it. Get over it. Kubina has let it be known that there were two other teams last summer that offered him the same contract. JFJ didn't blow any other offer out of the water. He didn't give Kubina something that no one else was. He gave him market value at the time. Free agency drives up the cost of players, it's as simple as that. Look at the contracts other defencemen, comparable to Kubina, have signed recently:

Andre Markov - 4 years, $23 million
Scott Hannan - 4 years, $18 million
Roman Hamrlik - 4 years, $22 million
Robyn Regehr - 5 years, $20 million

I'd love it too if Kubina put up 50 points, but he is a number three defenceman on the Leafs and barely gets any power play time because Bryan McCabe and Tomas Kaberle get all the power play minutes. Kubina played hurt last season, and was a plus player, which is the most important statistic in my opinion. No one can argue that the Leafs are a better team when Kubina is in the lineup, because he's able to play a lot of minutes and in turn bring McCabe and Kaberle's minutes down.

Another favourite of Leafs fans is to say that the club continues to shoot itself in the foot by trading away draft picks and that the Leafs don't mould their own talent via the draft. People need to do their research before they give me that garbage.

Kyle Wellwood, Tomas Kaberle, Alex Steen, Matt Stajan, Alex Ponikarovsky, Nik Antropov, Carlo Colaiacovo, and Ian White.

Those are eight players who were drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs and whom are extremely important pieces of the team today. For people to say that the Leafs have not drafted their own talent is simple false. Tomas Kaberle is a superstar defenceman in the NHL and Kyle Wellwood is a bright, young talent who is poised for stardom. No, the Leafs don't have the best track record of building through the draft, but they aren't as bad as some people believe they are.

After getting Jason Blake's name on a contract, JFJ wasn't done. He re-signed Bates Battaglia to a two-year contract and Battaglia has solidified his roster spot on the Leafs. His career has come full circle. It got off to a solid start but somewhere along the way Battaglia lost the passion he was known for. He lost his job, and even contemplated retirement. He even spent some time in the East Coast Hockey League, before resurfacing with the Toronto Marlies after the lockout. Battaglia ended up playing all 82 games for the Leafs last year, pretty good for a guy who didn't have a spot on the team coming into training camp. He's a dogged forechecker who also has some finish around the net. He finished with a respectable 31 points and is a solid third-line winger. Glad to have you back, Bates.

Word also dropped this afternoon that JFJ has signed his new goalie Vesa Toskala to a contract extension at $8 million over two years. I wasn't too thrilled when I heard the news, because JFJ played the same card with Raycroft last season - he gave him a new contract before he played a game in the blue and white. However, Toskala's contract kicks in after the 2007/2008 season. This season he will earn $1.375 million as Toronto's number one goalie.

See ya later Andrew Raycroft. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Rumour has it that JFJ is aggressively shopping around Raycroft, and that the Detroit Red Wings may be interested. I can't take that rumour seriously, because the Red Wings are smarter than that. Raycroft? After the season that Dom Hasek turned in for them? No way. It's not about what JFJ can get in return for Raycroft right now, it's about who will take his contract off the Leafs' books.

The Leafs are about a million away from the salary cap's ceiling of $50.3 million. I would have loved to see Mike Peca come back, but there's no way that can happen now.

There's definitely been a power shift in the Eastern Conference now that the big name free agents have all found new homes. The New York Rangers will be a dangerous team with new centres Scott Gomez and Chris Drury. The Gomez/Jagr/Shanny line, once Shanny gets his name on a contract with the blue shirts, might be the best line in hockey.

Daniel Briere is off to join the Philadelphia Flyers, who have assembled a roster that is much different from last year's laugher. Their rebuilding process was a quick one and although I'm still not convinced of their defence, they will be a competitive squad.

Poor Buffalo. The Sabres lost their heart and soul in Drury and Briere, and they also lost Danius Zubrus, whom they gave up a first round draft pick to acquire. I hate the Sabres, and the city of Buffalo, so I'm rather enjoying their sudden demise.

Even with a salary cap, it was all the big boys from days gone by that were spending the big bucks on Sunday. The NHL has got to be the most backwards league in the history of pro sports. What the hell was the point of the lockout? The big market teams are making profits and spending to the ceiling of the cap, while the small market teams like the Oilers and Sabres are struggling to attract free agents and remain competitive. It's absurd. And now they want to put a team in Kansas City. Seeing how great an experiment Nashville was, the NHL would rather put a team in Kansas City than let a Canadian business man bring a team back north of the border. Good call.

Lucky for me, the Leafs make billions of dollars. They can't win, but hey, they're working on it. I'm stoked about this Leafs team. JFJ has put together a solid, underrated squad that will make the playoffs. I'm calling it already. This team can score goals, has solid defence, a good goaltender (Hallelujah!) and a good mix of veterans and young players. I'm feeling it.

Here's my projected line-up for opening night. I know, it's still three months away, but seriously, I'm excited.

Line 1: Tucker Sundin Blake
Line 2: Antropov Wellwood Ponikarovsky
Line 3: Bell Devereux Steen
Line 4: Kilger Pohl Battaglia

Defence 1: Kaberle Kubina
Defense 2: McCabe Colaiacovo
Defense 3: Gill White

Goalie 1: Toskala
Goalie 2: Anyone but Raycroft

It looks like Matty Stajan is the odd man out. That's a shame.

I'm not an idiot, I know there's no way Stajan isn't on this team. I just love to hate him.

Don't sleep on these Leafs. It may not be a star-studded team, but it's a damn good one. Only three months til the puck drops.

I asked John Ferguson Jr. to make me proud. He didn't disappoint...

Free Agent Fantasies

I've had a week to ponder the Toronto Maple Leafs acquisition of goaltender Vesa Toskala and left winger Mark Bell. When I first heard of the trade, I felt "restrained jubilation" a la George Costanza. No more Andrew Raycroft! It was like Christmas morning, but in June.

The fact that John Ferguson Jr. pulled the trigger on the deal proves to me that he is not a complete idiot. It also proves that he's not blind either. He saw the quality of goaltending, or lack there of, that Andrew Raycroft provided his team last season. It was pathetic. The Leafs' most pressing need was in goal, and say what you want about Ferguson, he addressed the need. So I'm going to have to give him some props.

Sure, he may have committed the cardinal sin of trading away a first round draft pick, but Leafs management has not left him with many options. He's a man without a contract after the 2007/2008 season. He knows that if the Leafs fail to make the playoffs once again, it's bye-bye John Ferguson Jr. And he also knows that if Andrew Raycroft is the number one goalie for the Leafs again, it's bye-bye John Ferguson Jr.

The Leafs are a better team today than they were a week ago, when Raycroft was penciled in as the starter. For me, that's the bottom line. Only time will tell whether the Leafs really screwed up on this deal. With the 13th overall pick, the Leafs could have drafted Angelo Esposito or Alexei Cherepanov. They could turn out to be solid NHLers. The draft is a gamble, and Ferguson gambled by dealing away three picks. Bottom line, it had to be done.

In talking to other members of Leafs Nation about the trade, I got the usual responses. A couple of people told me the Leafs messed up, because Esposito and Cherepanov are going to be superstars. I've got to get my hands on one of these crystal balls my friends seem to have. They must be nice. I also got the "why didn't we get Vokoun" responses. Vokoun makes over $5 million a season and does not fit into the Leafs' budget. That's why Toskala makes sense. He's a good goalie and he comes at a bargain price of less than $1.5 million. He makes less than bloody Raycroft. This gives the Leafs the option of still being able to sign a forward during free agency. The trade works, people.

I was a little surprised to find out that Toskola is 30 years old. I always thought he was younger than that. Like Kramer said, I guess I just assumed! However, for a goalie, 30 puts him right in his prime. Toskala will provide better and more consistent goaltending than Andrew Raycroft, of that there is no doubt, my friends. All this talk about Raycroft and Toskala splitting the duties is pure BS. Toskala came at a hefty price, and he will be the number one goalie. Raycroft deserves to sit on the bench, and should be grateful that he will get the opportunity to sit on the bench. He should be traded, but we all know that isn't happening. Who in their right mind would give up anything, other than a stick or two of Juicy Fruit, for Raycroft?

The Leafs missed the playoffs by one point last season. One single, measly point. One point while employing arguably the worst starting goalie in the league. Raycroft let in a league worst 205 goals against, 16 more than the brutal Tim Thomas. His save percentage, a laughable .894, was tied for last among goalies that started more than 50 games. Raycroft's stats speak for themselves, and believe me, they're not making a lot of noise. Toskala gets the Leafs at least six to eight more wins, and voila, the Leafs are in the playoffs.

The dark horse in the trade is Mark Bell. He's a big boy, only 27 years old, and although he's coming off a terrible season, he's been a solid winger since he made the NHL in Chicago. He's a rugged winger who adds size, toughness and scoring to the Leafs lineup. He makes around $2 million, and I think he could really swing this trade in the Leafs' favour. With his passion to body check and fight, it won't take long before Bell is a fan favourite at the Air Canada Centre. I'll take Bell over Jeff O'Neill any day of the week, thank you very much.

In Toronto, everything the Leafs do is over analyzed. Case in point, this blog. Personally, I don't think it's a big deal that the Leafs want to hire a Senior Director of Hockey Operations. It doesn't change the fact that John Ferguson has a job to do.

It's hard to believe Ferguson is entering his fifth year as Maple Leafs General Manager. Where does the time go? I think he deserves some serious respect for the way he is handling himself right now. Like I said, he's got no contract after the upcoming season, so he's skating on thin ice. He knows the team has to make the playoffs or he's out of a job. That's pressure. His bosses at MLSE are looking to hire someone above him, and he pulled the trigger on a trade knowing there would be severe backlash in the city. Ferguson, after all, traded away a number one draft pick (Tukka Rask) to acquire Raycroft. His trading of Toskala proves the Raycroft trade didn't work out. But it takes a man to accept his mistakes.

On top of all of that, John Ferguson Sr. is battling cancer as I write this, and the prognosis is not good. John Ferguson Jr. has been by his father's side all week, I learned from the Toronto Star, and is preparing for the opening of the free agent market from his father's bedside. It's not easy to be John Ferguson Jr. right now. He deserves some support right now.

Speaking of the opening of the free agent market, we're just about 36 hours away! I love this time of year. July 1st is a beautiful day.

Every year around this time, I start to fantasize about who the Leafs could possibly add to their roster. This year, of course, there are a lot of big names who will be waiting by their fax machines come high noon on Sunday.

Ryan Smyth. Daniel Briere. Scott Gomez. Paul Kariya. Chris Drury. Todd Bertuzzi. Sheldon Souray. Jason Blake. Brendan Shanahan. Michael Nylander. Michael Handzus...

Sorry, I drooled all over myself. Had to grab a tissue.

The list is quite formidable. I do this every year. I dream big. My mother always told me to reach for the stars. Right now I'm picturing Scott Gomez in the blue and white. Now I'm picturing Chris Drury, Mr. Clutch himself. How about Ryan Smyth wearing Sergei Berezin's old #94? Oh my.

I actually had a dream a couple of years ago that the Leafs had signed Paul Kariya, when he was an UFA, and he was going to play on the wing with Mats Sundin. I awoke to find that it was in fact a wet dream. It doesn't get much better than that, eh? Not the wet dream, I mean Kariya! Come on. Maybe my dream will come true on Sunday, and Kariya and Sundin will make beautiful music together.

I always get my hopes up, and usually it's all for not. The Leafs don't have a lot of money to spend, and probably will only be able to sign a second-tier free agent. I don't really have a problem with that, but I just like to dream. I'm the kid who goes to sleep on Christmas Eve expecting Santa Claus to bring me an XBox 360, and who wakes up to find a Sega Genesis under the tree. That's how the Maple Leafs roll. They bring in the aging, cheap goal scorer, and try to tell me he's just as good as the young superstar.

The last big splash the Leafs made on the free agent front was Alexander Mogilny. I'd definitely take another signing like Alexander the Great. Definitely. I've got great memories of number 89 in Toronto.

In a perfect world, the Leafs land Scott Gomez as their second line centre, trade Pavel Kubina and his fat contract for a draft pick or three, and then sign Ryan Smyth to play with Mats Sundin. The odds of that happening? About the same as me writing a short blog post.

More realistic, you say? Okay, the Leafs sign Paul Kariya. He'd come cheaper than the big name guys like Smyth and Drury, and he would be a nice fit on Sundin's wing. I don't think the Leafs need to pay Ryan Smyth $6 million a year. The Leafs can score goals. They scored a lot of goals last year. The problem wasn't scoring, it was keeping them out. That problem has been addressed.

The Jeff O'Neill experiment is mercifully over in Toronto and it looks as though Mike Peca will not be returning to Toronto either. Peca and the rest of the world differ on Peca's value. He still likes to think of himself as a second line centre, while the rest of the planet simply knows that isn't the case. I'd like to see him come back, but only at the right price. Ditto for Bates Battaglia. The Leafs just have to bring back Bates.

If the Leafs fail to sign any of the big names, they should make a push for Todd Bertuzzi. Sure, he comes with a lot of baggage, but he could be given an incentive based contract, and he would look mighty good in the blue and white.

What can I say, I'm a dreamer.

What do you think? Who's on your wish list?

TSN is going to air Sunday morning at 11am with their show called "Free Agent Frenzy." They'll be broadcasting live as the free agent signings hit the board. Only in Canada.

I'll be watching though, with a bowl of popcorn and a beer. And I'm looking forward to it.

God bless this hockey crazed country which I so proudly call home.

Make me proud, John Ferguson Jr.

The End Is Near

The Leafs had a day off today. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that a few of the boys hit up Golf Town, to get an early start on some shopping. Golf season is just about upon us, and once again, the Leafs are going to be the first guys out on the links.

Talk about stinking up the joint in a couple of huge games. It's been an interesting few days, to say the least. Two huge losses to the Habs and Sabres have dealt the Leafs' playoff aspirations a huge blow. Not to mention all the drama from Tuesday's trading deadline.

John Ferguson Jr., in an absolutely shocking move, acquired a former Leaf before the 3 pm deadline. "No Panic" Yanic Perreault is returning to the blue and white, for his third tour of duty. See ya later, Brendan Bell. This guy fell so far off the defensive depth chart, he was playing left wing. When you get jumped on the depth chart by Wozniewski, you've got some problems.

Finally, by dealing for Perreault, the Leafs have seen the light and realized that Matt Stajan is no second line centre. Toronto has nothing that resembles secondary scoring, and this is a good trade, although it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Perreault will help because he's such a great faceoff man, and he's got 19 goals, which puts him third on the Leafs. He's unrestricted at the end of the year, and likely won't be back. I think it's a good trade, but I wonder why Ferguson didn't make it happen two months ago, right after Peca went down with his injury. It's simply too late.

Perreault wasn't in the lineup Tuesday night, and unless he knows how to play goalie, it didn't really matter. I was shocked to see Raycroft back in net Tuesday night, after his pathetic performance in arguably the biggest game of the year on Monday in Montreal. He let in five goals on 15 shots in Montreal, and four goals on 11 shots against Buffalo. Atrocious goaltending.
Paul Maurice has done a great job this season, but he totally dropped the ball in going back to Raycroft Tuesday night. Razor did not deserve to start. You don't put in a performance like he did and just be handed the reigns once again the night after.

What angers me most is that there is just no accountability on this Leafs team. Why wasn't Raycroft held accountable for his performance? Why was he allowed to just go back in there? He clearly doesn't have the intensity or desire that is required to play goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He just doesn't have it. He's not a number one goalie.

The Andrew Raycroft experiment has been a failure. He isn't the right man for the job. It's inconceivable to me why he was in the net on Tuesday night against the Sabres, and it goes back to the start of the season, when he was handed the number one job while not being deserving of it. Raycroft has been the goalie of choice, yet he hasn't had to even work for the job. It's bullshit, and the Leafs season is lost because of Razor's poor play.

The Leafs have their best defense, on paper, in years. Yet Raycroft has given them AHL-calibre goaltending. He let three soft goals against the Habs. Granted, three out of the five were scored on the power play, and one came off the stick of Sheldon Souray. That guy's slapshot can kill you, so I'll give any goalie props for standing in front of it - I'd have been running away screaming like a schoolgirl. But at the end of the night, he just wasn't good enough.

It's sad, because against the Habs, Aebischer was terrible. Yet Raycroft still wasn't as good. He is constantly outgoaltendered, yet it doesn't seem to faze anyone on the Leafs.

I hope once Razor got yanked from the Sabres game, he was watching Ryan Miller and taking notes. Miller is a number one goalie, and a playoff goalie. He kept the Sabres, who were missing eight regulars from their lineup, alive in the first period, making great save after great save, until the Sabres were able to score a softy on Raycroft. There's your difference, right there.

There's no point in bitching about the Leafs anymore. To be a playoff team, you've got to have the stats to back it up. The Leafs are done. Raycroft's save percentage is a mediocre .895. Toronto has let in 72 goals on the power play, second last in the league. Their penalty killing, at 78.8%, is 26th in the league. They have the second-worst home record in the Eastern Conference.

Really, how good can the Leafs be when their last line of defense is Andrew Raycroft. That's not even a "last line", Raycroft is hardly a scribble.

And I'm just so sick and tired of the fans getting on Bryan McCabe. This guy plays upwards of 26 minutes a night, has almost 50 points and is a plus player. Yes, he makes a lot of money, but that's not his fault. I think we all would have signed that contract had it been passed across the table to us. Get over it. He is not the problem. Raycroft is the problem. The thought process that goes into believing Matt Stajan is a second line centre is the problem. Not McCabe. Save your boos. Use them on Raycroft.

And coming up? Friday a date with Brodeur and the Devils and Saturday another visit from the Sabres. That will be four losses in a row, and then the Leafs can officially say goodnight. Hopefully J.S. Aubin will be in goal, and Jeremy Williams in the Leafs lineup.

Another disturbing tidbit: The game with the Sabres ended with Sundin playing on a line with

Bates Battaglia and Boyd Devereaux. Wow. You sure you want to stick around, Mats?

Get those golf clubs ready, boys. As the old saying goes: Golf Leafs Golf!

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How about the trading deadline. I just love trade deadline day. It's intense. I find it amazing that all three major sports networks devote a whole day's worth of programming to the event. That's really what it's become - an event.

It was an eventful day and a lot of names changed teams, but the shocker of all came down at 3 pm, with the announcement that the Oilers had traded Captain Canada Ryan Smyth, to the Islanders, of all teams.

Nobody, especially Ryan Smyth, saw this one coming.

It happened on Mark Messier Day in Edmonton no less, as his jersey was raised to the rafters Tuesday night.

Smyth had a going-away press conference at Edmonton International Airport today. Yeah, pretty strange. He was extremely emotional, to say the least. He was balling like a little baby. News dropped today that the two sides were only $200 thousand dollars a year apart on a deal. Smyth was asking for $5.7 while Edmonton countered at $5.4. Not exactly a huge difference. Not a huge difference when it comes to the face of the Oilers franchice, and their heart and soul. If that really is the case, it's extremely shocking a deal didn't get done.

I think Smyth must have thought Kevin Lowe was bluffing. He did not seem like a guy who truly believed that there was any chance he could be traded. I just can't believe they didn't meet in the middle. A guy like Darcy Tucker, who isn't even from Toronto, gave the Leafs a discount in order to make sure he could stay here. Gotta love Darcy - thank you, Tucks! I'm surprised Alberta boy and cowboy extraordinaire Ryan Smyth didn't just give the Oilers a discount and get the deal done.

Smyth's farewell press conference was weak. He was clearly in way too emotional a state to be addressing the media, but it had to be done. He said something along the lines of "I want to win a Stanley Cup with New York, and then bring it back to Edmonton, because this is where my heart is." Who says that? I found that extremely odd. I mean, what would his new teammates think?

As for the trade, I think the Oilers got a great return for a rental player. Three first round draft picks is a steep price to pay for a rental. I guess the Islanders are desperately seeking credibility and a trip to the post-season, and it's a good deal for them in those regards. Smyth should be a great acquisition and get them into the playoffs. It's just going to be weird seeing him in the ugly Islanders uniform.

As for his future, I can see him going back to Edmonton. I think the chances of him stayin on the Island are slim to none.

I've got to give Kevin Lowe some credit. He doesn't put any player above the franchise. He made a ruthless decision to trade Smyth, and knew the backlash it would cause. But he's a man of principal, and he truly believes in what he's doing. He's got a couple of huge balls to pull a deal like that off.

It's just got to be rough to be an Oilers fan, eh? I thought us Leafs fans had it bad. First, you lose game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. Then you watch as the team trades all-world defenseman Chris Pronger. And now Ryan Smyth. Ouch. Must be rough!

But I say screw the Oilers. I don't care about their problems. Ryan Smyth would look great in a Maple Leafs jersey. The Leafs should have a contract printed out for him by now, ready to hand to him at the stroke of midnight on July 1st.

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Big win by the Raptors tonight against T-Mac and the Rockets in Houston. The Raps shot 60% in the first half and dominated the best defensive team in the NBA. The scoring was extremely balanced, and Kris Humphries finished with 16 points, on 7 of 7 shooting, with 6 boards and 2 dimes. The Hump brought it tonight.

Bargnani led the Raptors with 20 points and just keeps getting better and better.
I thank the Lord above each and every night for the Raptors. They make the Leafs struggles easier to swallow.

Like I said, I'm done bitching about the Leafs. I've got the Raptors and Jays to worry about. I'm at peace with the Leafs' season, and the fact that it will come to an end without a trip to the playoffs. The dream is dead, until next September, when I'll go through it all over again.

Goodnight, Toronto...