by Robert Seagal… When the Raptors shipped TJ Ford to Indiana this offseason, they were attempting to resolve more than just one problem.

For starters, they were ridding themselves of a contract which extended beyond their dream offseason, in which they may now be able to target the likes of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

Second, they were resolving a conflict which had become the source of much controversy last year—the people versus TJ Ford.

When Ford suffered the scare in Atlanta, he pretty much ended his own stint in Toronto. Jose Calderon simply sealed the deal by ensuring the Raptors didn’t miss a beat.  Further compounding the situation was the fact that the Raptors actually regressed when Ford eventually came back.

Today, the Raptors start a new season, and this time they’ll be heading into it with a clear starting point guard facing no serious threat to his status. In Indiana, Ford starts a new chapter in his career with the Pacers. So did the Raptors win?

Let’s not fool ourselves here. The only serious difference between Calderon and Ford is that Ford says what he does to the Toronto media in English, and Jose saves his interviews for Spain.

The media got a real kick out of the situation, and led by their very human nature, they painted the good and bad—and did a mighty great job might I add. Jose could do no wrong, TJ could do no right.

And the worst part is, I was the first in line to ship Ford out. I swore every time he made a bad pass, and took a shot he shouldn’t have. I would feel more comfortable when Calderon entered, knowing that at least we wouldn’t beat ourselves with him on the court.

I fell into the trap too. I started thinking less was more, and that safe was better than risky. I started valuing substance over flash, and ultimately, I forgot the role of a point guard.

Sadly, Raptor fans don’t see too much analysis outside of Raptor games due to limited US network coverage, and they do seem to become products of the commentary by a few individuals with very biased points of view.

For instance, it was never really mentioned that Calderon was always Ford’s backup because Ford destroyed him in practice virtually every day. Yup, that would be bad publicity.

When Colangelo came in, he had absolutely no faith in Calderon as a player going into the future. He made the deal for Ford to give the Raptors their floor general. After a fairly good first year, Calderon’s likability just became too much to resist.

There was this egotistical kid from Texas, smirking at the claim that he wanted to be an all-star, and across from him was this guy who barely spoke English, was humble, and called his teammates “friends.” After the laughter subsided, you had to have a soft corner in your heart for the selfless Calderon.

So ultimately, we have to determine if the Raptors made the right choice by re-signing Calderon and throwing Ford to Indiana.

Can this Raptors team win with Calderon?

Say there was a situation where Toronto could have signed and traded Calderon for a better player than Jermaine O’Neal, perhaps this wing player everyone seems to be wanting—would the Raptors be better off?

I can’t say better or worse, because so much of a point guard’s success depends on how his teammates react to him on the court—but they’re certainly less talented. With this current roster, Calderon is a better fit. Any situation which bases itself on the principles of shooting, pick-roll offense, and no perimeter defense is a situation where Calderon becomes a superstar. Can such a team ever win?  Not a chance.

Is Ford a Better Basketball Player than Calderon?

I’m going to have to say yes. Outside of shooting and height, Calderon has nothing on Ford from a pure-skills standpoint. Ford is the more creative penetrator, better passer, better athlete, better defender, and overall a more complete NBA player.

That said, there are other factors which come into play which make Calderon a more valuable player for this team or any other. Namely, Calderon is a more durable, mentally-stable point guard. But durability doesn’t really come into the equation when we discuss talent.

Would the Raptors have a Better chance at a championship under Ford?

At the end of the day, under Calderon they have no chance. Therefore, any chance is better than none, correct? I’m a believer that eventually, Roko Ukic can give the Raptors what Ford gave them in his better days to some extent, but Ford is ultimately a driven winner.

There are very few players who strive to be NBA greats, and Ford is one of those players who is always driven to be great. If his health holds up, in the right system I have no doubt he’ll be a name we’ll be talking about for years and years after he leaves the game.

In the short term, they have a better shot with a healthy Ford than a healthy Calderon. Where Ford is basically abused by guards over 6′2″, Calderon is abused by basically every guard in the NBA. His inability on defense will have him spinning in the NBDL. He’s the very best player in the league at doing what he does—but what he does has been blown out of proportion.

It’s assumed that dishing ten assists per contest makes you a good passer.  But this isn’t accurate. Vince Carter and LeBron James will never get to that ten-assist-per-contest level, but happen to be among the best passers in the league. Playmaking is about this uncanny ability to see plays before they happen.

It’s an ability to manipulate defenses into looking in the wrong direction. Calderon doesn’t do it. He doesn’t have it. You’re going to have to understand that this guy went undrafted in 2004 for a very good reason—he’s limited.

Through hard work, he’s turned himself into a very good shooter, and he’s managed to learn a few very basic plays in Sam Mitchell’s playbook—which I’m told is written on scraps of toilet paper.  But he still has some huge holes in his game which make him more of a Derek Fisher-type going forward than a John Stockton.

If the Raptors truly want to be great, and they want to keep the friendly Spaniard around, the one thing they’re going to need to do is get the ball out of his hands. Considering the only other option in the starting lineup is Anthony Parker at the moment, this probably is going to have to wait till next season when they can upgrade on the wing a bit.

Ultimately, playing Calderon in a role that is otherwise held by the likes of Chris Paul and Jason Kidd is going to burn the Raptors.

Getting O’Neal is a good move in the long run because he is going to demand the ball in the post, thus limiting this over-dribbling and creating by Calderon. However, the ultimate solution(s) will be to get a better coach, and then to get a creative wing player who’s unselfish enough to create on occasion.

Calderon getting ten assists per night may be nice for fantasy owners, but in reality it’s actually going to be the biggest flaw in the Raptors game plan this season.

I thought of the ultimate distinction between Ford and Calderon the other day. Where Ford’s statistics are a product of his game, Calderon’s game is a product of his statistics. Limiting turnovers and getting ten assists may win you points with John Hollinger, but playing this way doesn’t really do anything for your odds of winning in the playoffs.

Jose Calderon is best compared at times to Steve Nash. Perhaps there is more to this comparison than their unselfishness, and their shooting touch. Much like Nash, the biggest obstacle in Calderon’s path to playoff success is his inability to contain his man.

I just thank God the Raptors are in the East.  Four meetings per season with Deron, Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Baron Davis, Jason Kidd, and Monta Ellis might just have loyal Raptor fans calling for Calderon’s head. Luckily, they’ll be treated to Jameer Nelson and Devin Harris instead.

A final thought

Ultimately, the Raptors did make a move which gave them the steadier point guard—but unless this move is combined with another move two years from now, the Raptors are going to be your modern-day Sacramento Kings. This team needs defense on the wings, and it needs a new coach with a new philosophy.

In the midst of all this so-and-so is going after LeBron in 2010 talk, people really haven’t stopped to think that the Raptors could be serious players. They have Bosh, Bargnani, an unselfish point guard, shooters, one of the top four markets in North America, Bryan Colangelo, and a ton of money to throw his way. What’s more, they also happen to be one of the most popular teams internationally, considering their recent exports.

If not New York, Toronto might be a very attractive location for King James. Considering his arrival, or that of another high-profile wing player may be on Colangelo’s mind, and the trade for O’Neal—who has a mammoth maximum deal expiring that offseason—makes much more sense. In the long run, however, the decision comes down to Andrea Bargnani’s progress.

In 2010, O’Neal will likely be close to exiting his prime. If Bargnani rounds out nicely, and they don’t feel they have a realistic chance at landing a high-profile name on the market, they may swing a trade involving O’Neal.

In any case, having three natural power forwards as three of your four key pieces simply doesn’t make sense when the holes elsewhere are so glaring.

“When to going gets tough, the tough get going. But in Toronto. When the going gets tough, the dough keeps rolling”

by Tyler Hill… I would like to thank my friend Andrew Echevarria for that wonderful quote. Mostly because it has inspired me to write this article. On with the show!

Take a minute to drink in the quote….think about what it might mean, I’ll wait don’t worry. That quote must be what the MLSE lives by. When you think about it, why would the MLSE care about the success of the team, or in other words, why would they get the tough going? They make money either way right? Right.

So, when did quality stop mattering? I’d say somewhere around year 25 or so, of this 42 year cup drought. This would be about the time they realized, “hey, it doesn’t matter what the team does! The fans will still come to the games any!”

I know that companies, and yes, that is what MLSE is a company a business, they really only care about the money. But, money is infinite, the profit is what it’s really about they like all businesses, have expenses. The money they make must go to staff members and share holders. So it seems to them that as long as people come to the games and pay admission they have no worries.

Don’t get me wrong, by no means am I saying that fans should stop going to a game just to teach the MLSE a lesson, because it’s just crazy to think any fans would ever do that. But for years now MLSE has been saying “we do care about the fans, we do care about the results and we do care about the players.” I would like one good reason to believe that. They don’t care about anything except…any guesses? That’s right! Profit! How much money can we make off this? They wonder.

There are so many Leaf fans out there, that the recent small decline is hardly even noticeable. But the fact remains that over the last few years the “fan ship” has become smaller than ever before. Very soon small curve is going to plummet. People will become fed up with these losing ways. Fans won’t put up with this forever, Think about it MLSE(especially you, Richard Peddie)

by Carter…

So I’ve decided to make my own version of the top 32 NFL teams, and to add a little more flavor, I’m going to give out my top five players from each team based on their performance and role playing throughout the first eight weeks.

1. Tennessee Titans (7-0)

1. The Defense

2. RB Chris Johnson

3. RB LenDale White

4. K Rob Bironas

5. QB Kerry Collins

2. New York Giants (6-1)

1. QB Eli Manning

2. RB Brandon Jacobs

3. The Defense

4. K John Carney

5. WR Plaxico Burress

3. Carolina Panthers (6-2)

1. QB Jake Delhomme

2. WR Steve Smith

3. RB DeAngelo Williams

4. The Defense

5. K John Kasay

4. Washington Redskins (6-2)

1. RB Clinton Portis

2. QB Jason Campbell

3. WR Santana Moss

4. The Defense

5. K Shaun Suisham

5. Buffalo Bills (5-2)

1. RB Marshawn Lynch

2. WR Lee Evans

3. QB Trent Edwards

4. The Defense

5. K Rian Lindell

6. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2)

1. QB Ben Roethlisberger

2. The Defense

3. WR Hines Ward

4. RB Mewelde Moore

5. K Jeff Reed

7. New England Patriots (5-2)

1. QB Matt Cassel

2. The Defense

3. WR Randy Moss

4. K Stephen Gostkowski

5. RB Sammy Morris

8. Dallas Cowboys (5-3)

1. QB Tony Romo

2. RB Marion Barber

3. WR Terrell Owens

4. TE Jason Witten

5. The Defense

9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-3)

1. The Defense

2. RB Ernest Graham

3. K Matt Bryant

4. QB Jeff Garcia

5. RB Warrick Dunn

10. Arizona Cardinals (4-3)

1. QB Kurt Warner

2. WR Larry Fitzgerald

3. WR Anquan Boldin

4. The Defense

5. RB Tim Hightower

11. Chicago Bears (4-3)

1. QB Kyle Orton

2. RB Matt Forte

3. The Defense

4. K Robbie Gould

5. WR Rashied Davis

12. Philadelphia Eagles (4-3)

1. QB Donovan McNabb

2. The Defense

3. RB Brian Westbrook

4. K David Akers

5. WR DeSean Jackson

13. Green Bay Packers (4-3)

1. QB Aaron Rodgers

2. The Defense

3. WR Greg Jennings

4. K Mason Crosby

5. K Ryan Grant

14. New York Jets (4-3)

1. Brett Favre

2. RB Thomas Jones

3. The Defense

4. WR Laveranues Coles

5. WR Jerricho Cotchery

15. Denver Broncos (4-3)

1. QB Jay Cutler

2. WR Brandon Marshall

3. RB Michael Pittman

4. K Matt Prater

5. WR Eddie Royal

16. Atlanta Falcons (4-3)

1. RB Michael Turner

2. WR Roddy White

3. QB Matt Ryan

4. K Jason Elam

5. The Defense

17. Baltimore Ravens (4-3)

1. The Defense

2. QB Joe Flacco

3. RB Le’Ron McClain

4. RB Willis McGahee

5. WR Derrick Mason

18. New Orleans Saints (4-4)

1. QB Drew Brees

2. RB Reggie Bush

3. The Defense

4. WR Devery Henderson

5. WR Lance Moore

19. Houston Texans (3-4)

1. QB Matt Schaub

2. RB Steve Slaton

3. WR Andre Johnson

4. WR Kevin Walter

5. The Defense

20. Minnesota Vikings (3-4)

1. RB Adrian Peterson

2. The Defense

3. WR Bernard Berrian

4. QB Gus Frerotte

5. K Ryan Longwell

21. Indianapolis Colts (3-4)

1. QB Peyton Manning

2. WR Reggie Wayne

3. RB Dominic Rhodes

4. The Defense

5. RB Joseph Addai

22. Miami Dolphins (3-4)

1. QB Chad Pennington

2. RB Ronnie Brown

3. The Defense

4. K Dan Carpenter

5. TE Anthony Fasano

23. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-4)

1. QB David Garrard

2. RB Maurice Jones-Drew

3. WR Matt Jones

4. The Defense

5. K Josh Scobee

24. Cleveland Browns (3-4)

1. QB Derek Anderson

2. The Defense

3. RB Jamal Lewis

4. WR Braylon Edwards

5. K Phil Dawson

25. San Diego Chargers (3-5)

1. QB Philip Rivers

2. RB LaDainian Tomlinson

3. WR Vincent Jackson

4. K Nate Kaeding

5. The Defense

26. Seattle Seahawks (2-5)

1. The Defense

2. RB Julius Jones

3. K Orlindo Mare

4. RB T.J. Duckett

5. TE John Carlson

27. St. Louis Rams (2-5)

1. Steven Jackson

2. QB Marc Bulger

3. The Defense

4. WR Donnie Avery

5. K Josh Brown

28. Oakland Raiders (2-5)

1. QB JaMarcus Russell

2. The Defense

3. K Sebastian Janikowski

4. RB Darren McFadden

5. TE Zach Miller

29. San Francisco 49ers (2-6)

1. RB Frank Gore

2. QB J.T. O’Sullivan

3. K Joe Nedney

4. The Defense

5. WR Isaac Bruce

30. Kansas City Chiefs (1-6)

1. WR Dwayne Bowe

2. RB Larry Johnson

3. Tyler Thigpen

4. TE Tony Gonzalez

5. The Defense

31. Detroit Lions (0-7)

1. WR Calvin Johnson

2. RB Kevin Smith

3. QB Jon Kitna

4. QB Dan Orlovsky

5. The Defense

32. Cincinnati Bengals (0-8)

1. WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh

2. The Defense

3. QB Carson Palmer

4. WR Chad Johnson

5. K Shayne Graham

by Sheiban Shakeri… There has always been a rift between sports and politics. In 2006, Kirk Shelmerdine received an admonishment by the United States Federal Election Commission for placing a “Bush-Cheney ‘04″ bumper sticker on his Nascar racer for four races during the 2004 season. Shelmerdine says it was a publicity stunt in order to receive sponsorship money.

In 2008, Barack Obama has found a way to gain exposure in the sporting realm without having to deal with the FEC. This afternoon, he announced to the world media that he was buying the Williams team for this weekend’s season finale in Interlagos, Brazil.

The way he managed to get around this was that according to the Campaign Finance Reform of 2002, since the Williams team are not based nor racing in the United States, he is able to work his way around that issue and thus gives himself an international audience.

The sum has been undisclosed, but according to Sir Frank Williams, it is enough to keep the team going strong for next year.

For this weekend, the Williams team will be known as Williams-Change; Change being the party line for Obama’s campaign. All the sponsors agreed that their logos would be removed in place of Obama and Change decals.

Even though Obama’s campaign has more than enough money to pay for their logo on the likes of McLaren, Ferrari or BMW, Obama emphasized that the Williams’ cars were already blue, similar to the colour that the Democratic Party signifies themselves with, and were also a middle team.

“Williams used to be a top team but because of the global economic crisis, they have fallen on hard times. They are a true middle-tier team” said an Obama campaign spokesperson. “We hope that under a President Obama, we can have a team like Williams win again.”

The reaction of the John McCain campaign has been muted; however, rumour has it that he might be interested in buying space on the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen because they are red and signify the lives of the rich.

When asked about a possible Ferrari deal, John McCain said “it’s expensive, but I’ll have to ask Joe the Plumber and Joe Six-pack” without further elaborating.

Speed TV, a subsidiary of Fox and the broadcaster of F1 races for audiences in the United States and Canada was furious about this saying that even though the qualification and the race will be slightly delayed, they will be spending all their time blurring out the Obama/Change logos whenever they are showed.

Recent statistics show that Barack Obama outspent John McCain almost two to one on campaigning, from television to radio and even internet ads as well as space on Microsoft’s Xbox Live interface. With the rental of the Williams F1 team this weekend, this could set a new precedent.

by David Aaron Lindsay… Last year, one of the Toronto Raptors’ main strengths that helped carry them throughout the year was their overall depth. Can the same thing be said for this year’s bench? How will the tweaks affect this year’s dynamic? Will Bargnani show improvement based solely on experience?

Let’s take a look at these questions and figure out where this year’s bench will help and/or hinder the Raptors’ 2008-09 season.

Point Guard

Last year this was by far the Raptors’ deepest position and a major source of strength for the club. When healthy, they were by far the deepest team in the league at PG. Not only did they have a top 10 PG starting, but they were running out a top 10 PG as a backup. This year is a completely different story.

Sure, you have to deal from an area of strength to improve other areas of your team, but by dealing T.J. Ford to acquire Jermaine O’Neal, they basically decimated their PG depth. Calderon is, arguably, a top five PG in the league. His backups, however, are nothing but question marks.

Roko Ukic

Even though I think the Raps start the season with Solomon as the first guy off the bench, I think Ukic will grab that role by midseason (maybe slightly after). There is only one word to describe this guy: raw—and that’s after three or so years of seasoning in Europe.

From the preseason action I caught, he seemed to be able to drive off the dribble with some efficiency, but he didn’t take care of the ball all that well and really seems to be struggling to adapt to the overall speed of the NBA game. He needs to develop a high game IQ to be successful.

The good news on that front is, from everything I have read anyways, he asks a lot of questions and is by no means disillusioned about his current ability.

Will Solomon

This guy has a lot of question marks surrounding him as well, but for different reasons than Ukic. Being six years older than Ukic and possessing some brief NBA experience you would expect him to adapt more quickly.

However, Solomon was a featured player for most of his European stops and seems to be having some difficulty accepting a much more reserved role for the Raptors. Again, from the brief action I have seen, he definitely is more T.J. than Jose.

He definitely likes to assert himself within the offense and, in my opinion, tries to do too much himself rather than be a facilitator for the established scoring threats with whom he shares the court.

He could prove me wrong, but I really haven’t seen anything (even flashes), that indicate he will be anything more than a one and done type and be back in Europe after failing to resuscitate his NBA career.

Shooting Guard

This is probably the second greatest area of concern for the Raptors. Losing Delfino and his versatility is without a doubt the second biggest hit to our bench depth. The second main component here is whether or not you consider Kapono as an SG backup as well.

Technically he is an SF and always has been, but with Hassan Adams as basically our only “true” SG backup, I can’t help but suspect that we will see some looks where Kapono is playing the SG position on the floor with Joey at SF.

Hassan Adams

Adams is sort of an intriguing player. Not only because he is still just 24, but because he also came out of a strong program in Arizona—with a coach that has a history of producing good NBA wing players in Lute Olsen.

If he could improve his conditioning I could see him developing into a poor man’s Jason Terry to provide some solid minutes off the bench. Having said that, he has already bounced around quite a bit for a player his age, and obviously there are some things to dislike if he’s on his third NBA team in three years.

The other possibility is that he is just a “system” type player and may not have fit well into the Nets’ and Cavs’ systems. It will be interesting to see how he adapts to Mitchell’s style and integrates with our bench.

Overall though, even if Kapono gives the Raps some SG minutes, I foresee the SG reserves becoming an area of weakness.

SF

This should be a source of relative depth on an otherwise shallow bench, even with the loss of Delfino (even though Delfino was more of a guard for the Raps last year). Kapono and Graham should be a nice one-two punch coming off the bench.

They both have their own distinct looks and should provide Mitchell with some flexibility. Kapono will likely be first off the bench in most cases, with Graham filling more of a situation role.

Jason Kapono

What can you really say about the guy that hasn’t already been said. He is a sharp shooter from long range and should benefit from more consistent playing time stemming from the loss of Delfino.

The key for him, as always, will be his ability and the ability of the second unit to get him some open looks. I also suspect he will see some minutes with the starting unit when the matchups dictate. He will probably see the second most minutes of any reserve, behind only Bargnani.

Joey Graham

Again, here is a player whose analysis from over the past two years could probably be cut and paste and it would still be accurate. He is something of an enigma. Flashes of brilliance mixed with flashes of Stephen (his twin bro who bounces from team to team).

Like always, if he could ever find some consistency, he could actually turn into a decent starting SF.

Will this be the year? Or will it be the same Joey from the past two years who is destined to play out 2008-09 and be non-tendered next summer? Only time will tell, but judging by his limited preseason action, not much has changed.

PF/C

I will group these two positions as there is probably no true C backup outside of Nathan Jawai—who has hardly seen the inside of a gym so far, let alone game action. If you considered Rasho the true starter last year, then personnel wise there is little to no change up front with both Bargnani and Humphries back.

Baston is gone, but was he ever really here?

Andrea Bargnani

I don’t want to get overly excited as it is just the preseason, but he looks like a completely different player from last year. He is bigger, he exudes confidence, and he seems to have accepted the fact that, due to his sheer size, he has to grab some rebounds for him to have a consistent role on any team, not just the Raptors.

I really like him going into this year and I believe he has the potential, not only for a breakout year, but for possible “sixth man of the year” consideration.

The pressure’s off this year. He will be consistently facing backups and he might even get some looks with Bosh, O’Neal, and he on the floor at the same time—which means there will be no one left on the court with enough size to guard him.

Really, watch out for him. I think he is a HUGE sleeper, and easily our first guy off the bench.
Kris Humphries

What can you really say about Hump? The guy has almost single-handedly salvaged the Araujo pick by turning that piece of garbage into something—anything—of value.

Not to say that Hump would have been the better pick at six than Araujo, but considering the Araujo mistake was made, it was a relative miracle that the Raps were able to turn him into anything remotely useful.

We all know what you get out of Hump. He is a bundle of energy who tries really hard. He might not have the most talent in the world, but he makes the most of what he’s got. The only thing he might be guilty of is trying to do too much at times.

He absolutely can turn into a human vacuum down low, and I’ve heard the only way to get him to pass you the ball is to hold your arms in the shape of the rim and trick him into “shooting” at you. But seriously, the guy just needs to pass a little more often.

He’s got some good low post moves, but he needs to get better at recognizing double teams and/or cases where he is simply over-matched and not try to force things.

I think with Bosh and O’Neal primed for big minutes up front, Bargnani and Hump can provide more than enough depth off the bench. Where the Raps were lacking depth up front last year, I would consider it a rare source of strength this year.

Overall, the Raptors had better pray that they have got the right starting five in place. Outside of Bargnani (and even he is no guarantee), Kapono is about the only other legitimate difference maker.

I honestly don’t think you can count on anyone else on that bench for meaningful minutes in meaningful games. You might get flashes or fluke performances once and a while out of some of them, but I think bench consistency will be the biggest ongoing theme this entire season.

by Tyler Hill… It may seem crazy, but to say the Maple Leafs are not that far from another Stanley Cup isn’t that unrealistic. There are many reasons this is true—if you don’t believe me now, read on!

First of all, I would like to look at the depth the Leafs have on defense. Some people say that, “Oh, it doesn’t matter if they have all those guys, they can only use six of ‘em anyway.” Well, even though this is true, the fact that teams suffer injuries during the season is undeniable. Having players you can rely on to back them up is always helpful.

Now, as we look at individual defensemen for the “Buds,” names like Tomas Kaberle, Pavel Kubina, and Jeff Finger (and his $3.5 million contract) come to mind. But what about the addition of Mike van Ryan, Jonas Frogen, Anton Stralman‚—and, of course, Luke “Lockdown” Schenn.

Schenn is without a doubt the best defenseman they have (runner-up: the former Champ, Tomas Kaberle). As Ron Wilson said, “He is definitely one of our top-four defensemen”. By “top four,” I am assuming he means top one. All in all, the Leafs’ defense looks to be among the strongest in the league.

Behind this outstanding blue-line, when you clear away the smoke, lies the very backbone of any team—their goaltender, Vesa Toskala. If it was up to me, I would rank Vesy among the top ten goalies in the league, possibly top five. Whenever someone slips past the defense and breaks in on goal, he seems to come up with the big save that causes the opposing player to say, “How the hell did he stop that one?”

In a very recent game, Toskala slid across the crease on a cross-ice, behind-the-net pass, and stacked the pads. This made me jump out of my chair (or throne, as I call it) and say, “Holy fuckin’ shit!!” so much so that I had to stay up and walk around for a minute before I could sit down.

Behind Toskala, there is a guy who is there when Vesa needs a rest from all the hard work he does. That man is Curtis Joseph—”CuJo,” for you Toronto faithful that have watched the Leafs for years now—the veteran with a gold medal under his belt, along with several playoff appearances. He is totally capable of holding down the fort while “The King” takes a rest.

In addition to this outstanding defensive corps, the Maple Leafs have a strong offence to boot. The former young guns Antropov and Ponikarovsky have grown older, and now have experience and more talent than fans thought they were capable of a mere two seasons ago. So far in eight games this year they have a total combined point total of thirteen (Sundin’s jersey number).

The Leafs have also supplimented these now-aged, not-so-young guns with new ones such as Nik Kulemin, Alex Steen, and Jiri Tlusty (who was recently sent down to the AHL).

As you can see, one look at the Leafs’ roster and it becomes clear that they have the tools to be champs. Maybe someday, not now, not this season—but somewhere in the near future, the Blue and White will hoist Lord Stanley’s Mug!