2008-2009 GAME & TV SCHEDULE

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JOE BOWEN'S GOALIE DESCRIPTIONS:  Joe Bowen is the play-by-play man who covers the Leafs on all non-CBC games, and just before the drop of the puck, he introduces the starting goalies, but does it with some creativity. This is a list of some of the ways he has described the goaltenders:  Diplomats of the Diamond Depots, Tailors of the Tangled Twine, Technicians of the Tangled Twine, Rancheros of the Rectangular Reservoirs, Rogues of the Roped Rotunda, Professors of the Polyester Pavilions, Architects of the Antiquated Attics, Wizards of the Woven Whirlpools, Buckeyes of the Braided Barns, Officers of the Oblong Onionbags, Protectors of the Piped Pavilions, Caretakers of the Corded Closets, Posse of the Polyester Pipes, Lords of the Laced Lounges, Plumbers of the Polypropylene Pipes, Bodyguards of the Braided Bullhouses, Rebels of the Rubber Recepticles, Knights of the Knotted Nets, Terrors of the Tangled Twine, Kings of the Corded Castles, Ringmasters of the Roped Restaurants, Hermits of the Hexagonal Hideouts, Captains of the Cable Cabanas, Nomads of the Knotted Nets, Contorsionists of the Corded Condos, Supervisors of the String Staterooms, Quarterbacks of the Corded Condiminiums, Sentinels of the Sub-Freezing Slush Sinks, Superheroes of the String Solariums, Protectors of the Parted Pipes, Deans of the Disk Dormatories, Taxi Drivers of the Twine Temples, Bastions of the Biscuit Baskets, Caretakers of the Corded Closets, Owners of the Oversized Onion Bags, Policemen of the Puck Precincts... (more to come!)

AUG.22 - MCCABE TO FLORIDA?  Rumor has it that McCabe will be dealt to Florida.  Yes, everyone's still waiting on Sundin... AUG.04 - MATS IS REALLY STICKING IT TO THE LEAFS:  And good for him!  By waiting so long to decide whether or not to come back to Toronto to play another season, Mats is continuing to destroy the Leafs rebuilding chances.  With the return of Sundin up in the air, GM Fletcher is forced to let possible deals slide away because he needs to keep enough salary cap space available in case Mats decides to return to the roster.  So how has Mats got revenge on Toronto so far?  He refused to be allowed to be traded back when Toronto could have got back a high draft pick for him.  Draft picks are essential to a rebuilding team like Toronto.  Mats exercised his no-trade clause, and by doing so Toronto wasn't able to get anything in return.  Mats stated his reasoning was that 'he only wanted to play in Toronto'.  So his contract runs out and he refuses to sign with Toronto.  Then in July, he says he will decide "sometime in August" which continues to screw the Leafs, because it leaves Cliff Fletcher wondering what to do - should he entertain transactions that would cost a lot of cap space, making Sundin unable to return or should he put everything on hold and let trades go by, until Mats decides?  Mats is probably hoping for the first one, as it will give him an excuse of why he couldn't come back to Toronto.  Mats doesn't WANT to come back, but wants to make it look like he DID, and it's the Leafs fault.  "Oh I was willing to come back but now with their recent transactions there's not enough space under the salary cap to fit me back onto the roster, so I have chosen to go to [wherever] ..."  Of course Mats could show that he wasn't lying all along, and that he actually does want to finish his career here, and return for another season.  If Mats signs with another team, it shows he has wanted nothing but to entirely screw Toronto over the last few months.  If he returns to Toronto (or chooses to retire), it'll show he's had no ill-intent towards his former team.  The next days/weeks will tell all...  But after the team the Leafs have put on the ice around Sundin, can anyone blame him for wanting to get revenge?  Then again, we gave him $80million+ for his stay here.  It's hard to feel sorry for 'poor ole Mats'. AUG.01:  Sundin has said he will make his hockey future decision this month.  Will he come back to Toronto?  Will he go to Vancouver?  Will he choose to retire mid-summer and give up his on-ice farewells?  JUL.24 - SUNDIN TO DECIDE BY AUG.1:  Mats Sundin has reportedly set a day by which to decide the fate of his hockey future - August 1st.  Right now he says the decision to make is whether to come back and play at all.  Once he figures that out, he'll decide where.  JUL.23 - TIM HUNTER & ROB ZETTLER ASSISTANT COACHES: Cliff Fletcher, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced Tuesday that Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler have been named assistant coaches. Hunter and Zettler will join Keith Acton on Ron Wilson's coaching staff. JUL.9 - JOE NIEUWENDYK BACK IN TORONTO:  No, he's not lacing them up.  His official title is "Special Assistant to the General Manager.  The former assistant is probably not feeling so special now.  (grin)  It's good to see Joe back with the organization.  He'll be a good mind to have around Fletcher when it comes to roster decisions.  In other news, ex-Leaf Jason Smith has signed with Ottawa...  JUL.7 - STAJAN STICKS AROUND:  Toronto has signed Stajan to a 2 year deal.  Also, a new high-def scoreboard has been installed at the ACC, so if you can afford to go to a lot of games, it should be interesting to watch.  JUL.2 - FREE AGENT SIGNINGS since June 8th are listed here. JUL.2 - LEAFS RESIGN CUJO: Yep, Curtis Joseph is back in town and will play backup to starting goaltender Toskala.  JUN.25 - WELLWOOD TO VANCOUVER:  The Vancouver Canucks have claimed former Leaf Kyle Wellwood off waivers.  JUN.25 - TUCKER GONE, RAYCROFT & WELLWOOD ON WAY OUT:  The Leafs have bought out the remainder of Darcy Tucker's contract, and have placed Raycroft and Wellwood on waivers.  So the building of our new team continues!  JUN.20 - LEAFS PICK SCHENN:  The Leafs made a trade with the Islanders, to move up from 7th pick in the draft to 5th, and managed to get Luke Schenn - a powerul hitting defenceman.  Talk here.  JUN.20 - IT'S DRAFT DAY!  The NHL draft is tonight, live on TSN.  Talk about the draft here!  JUN.20 - MAYERS TO THE LEAFS: Mayers is in Toronto coming from St. Louis. JUN.12 - CLIFF FLETCHER LIKELY TO STAY ON AS 08/09 GM:  A recent article hints that interim Leaf General Manager Cliff Fletcher just may stick around for the entire upcoming season.  No complaints here!  JUN.10 - RON WILSON NAMED NEW HEAD COACH:  It's official.  Cliff Fletcher held a conference announding that Ron Wilson will be the new coach of the Maple Leafs.  Your thoughts?  JUN.06 - RON WILSON POSSIBLE COACH, SUNDIN TO STICK IT TO LEAF ORGANIZATION/FANS:  Interim GM Cliff Fletcher has offered Ron Wilson a multi-year coaching contract with the Leafs, but Wilson has given no answer as of yet.  Apparently he has until Monday to decide.  How can you decide when you don't even know what the team is going to look like?  In other news, Mats Sundin has NOT agreed to a new contract with the Leafs.  This site has said it all along - he's got a GREAT chance to *REALLY* have the last laugh with this organization.  They failed throughout the majority of his career to put a winning team on the ice, which must have been very frustrating from his standpoint.  He refused to waive his no-trade clause before becoming a free agent, which meant he didn't let Toronto get anything in return for his trade.  He said all along he wants to stay with the Leafs and that's why he wouldn't waive his no-trade clause.  Now, after saying all along he wants to stay here, he's refusing to accept a contract!  WAY TO STICK IT TO THEM MATS!!!  SCREW them out of rebuilding by refusing them hot young talent by accepting a trade, then, go to another team after the Leafs can no longer get anything of value for you!  If he ends up not resigning, it will be Mats who gets the last laugh.  Take the $80M+ in salary you've made that the fans paid for over the years and run!   MAY.13 - MAURICE FIRED: Yah old news but who really cared when it first broke.  It wasn't so much of a coaching issue, as it was a message, saying "We're changing everything that we can."  That's a good thing.  Every player, coach, trainer (ok, maybe not the trainer), that you can possibly replace, DO IT.  We need a brand new team, but even more importantly a new organization staff.  The old guard has to go along with it.  We need a new franchise!  Hopefully Fletcher will continue to keep busy with changes as the summer progresses.  APR.24 - NO BRIAN BURKE:  Which means he WILL be coming to Toronto.  Usually people flat out lie to the media in situations like this, saying there's NO CHANCE of someone going to a certain team, only to have a press conference two weeks later saying they ARE going to that team.  The league is filled with obsessive liars so don't believe anything you hear on the sports news shows until there's an official announcement.  APR.11 - ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, AGAIN: So goes another year where we watch all the OTHER teams competing in the playoffs.  Yes, we're used to it, but this is the chance interim GM Cliff Fletcher has to strut his stuff.  This is the chance he's got to turn this franchise upside down.  Sure he's just in charge of the roster, but it's a great place to start.  Ownership will have to follow in his footsteps and prove that THEY ALSO want a winning team, and must shake up the management from the top level down.  Show the fans that you're going to stop spitting in their faces each year and finally put in some commitment to a quality product for once!  APR.4 - HAHA, 8 TO 2: But McCabe and Donovan dropped 'em!  Who cares about wins and losses anymore.  Wins just mean worse draft picks, so lets see the boys battle the rest of the year with the gloves off.  That's what this site is all about after all!  MAR.29 - ANOTHER WASTED YEAR:  Well, this site has said it all along (that the Leafs were making a futile attempt at the playoffs).  Now it's official.  The Leafs can no longer make the playoffs.  Big surprise.  One has to ask himself/herself... year after year filled with heartache and heartbreak, WHY do people continue to follow this team?  Upper management has proven time and time again that they DON'T CARE about the fans.  They've refused to put a competitive team on the ice for more than a couple years at a time, they continue to gouge the fans with high ticket prices, high beer prices, high merchandise prices to use their name, pay-TV to watch their games, etc, etc, etc.  WHY do people still flock to this organization like a bunch of cloned mutant sheep?  Now they're stuck down to *7th* pick in the draft, not to mention Sundin's refusal to be moved costed more HIGH draft picks in the future (and/or young talent).  So, get ready for more of the same next year Leaf Nation!  With the lack of draft picks for the future, and the no-trade clauses still in effect, things aren't going to be 'a changin much!

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