Not much makes watching Hockey Night in Canada-or TSN's SportsCentre more worth it than getting a chance to see John Tortorella in action.
A couple of years back, the New York Rangers head coach was getting replayed on SportsCentre after blowing up on a reporter from one of the New York dailies.
You never know what he is going to say. But you have to love his enthusiasm for hockey. He's one of those hardass nutcases who knows what he's doing. Year after year, his Rangers are in the playoffs. He is one of those hardasses that Leafs joke-of a GM Brian Burke would love to have simply because of his no-nonsense take on things. So instead of being able to land a guy who has proven he can at least make the playoffs, Burke settles for Ron Wilson, fires Wilson then goes out and lands an even bigger winner in Randy Carlyle.
It's been awfully hard to be a Leaf fan over the past several weeks. At the Air Canada Centre one night during the miserable 7-1 loss to Philadelphia, TV viewers could actually hear the sold-out ACC fans chanting 'Go Jays Go'. What's even crazier is during the home finale, which they managed to squeeze out a 4-3 OT victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Leafs players gathered at centre ice do salute the fanswhat's strange about that is the fans in attendance actually saluted them back.
Heading into the season finale in Montreal Saturday night, Randy Carlyle had coached in 41 games this season, and won just 13 of them. Seven in Anaheim. Six in Toronto. Assistant coach Keith Acton essentially lost his job last season because the Leafs were 28th on the penalty kill.
A Burke-Ron Wilson stat: In the past four seasons, the Leafs have been 29th, 28th, 30th and 30th while playing shorthanded. And what's troubling: Each season they changed their penalty killers. Weird, sometimes, how things work out.
A quick look at the possible award nominees reveals that there will be no Leafs on any of the ballots this year. Lightning GM Steve Yzerman will spend the summer trying to upgrade his goaltending while the goalie he didn't want in Tampa, Mike Smith, is lighting it up with the Phoenix Coyotes.
With the Leafs just finishing up the season that ended as being the season from hell, maybe part of the reason Torontonians still have reason to be excited about things is the Jays. Not just the Leafs but the Raptors, again, weren't any good. Following their season-opening series at Progressive Field in Cleveland, they won the first two games, both went deep into extra innings. In the first game of 2012, Toronto trailed by two late in the game, then in the 16th inning of play, won it by a 7-4 final. In game two, then won by the same score.
In the NHL playoffs, the team to watch out for is Ottawa, and the Blues. The eighth seed team (Ottawa) in the east takes on the best team in the league, New York Rangers, who get home ice advantage. Ottawa however, may actually have the advantage-road ice advantage. Ottawa has won 3-of-4 games against the Rangers this season and both games at the MSG, including a 3-0 win on Jan. 12.
In hockey draft news, possibly the best hockey player in the country nobody knows about just got drafted into the OHL. Connor McDavid was the first choice in the entry draft. He just turned 15. Joshua Ho-Sang, who played on the same Marlies team as McDavid, was selected by Windsor fifth overall, and may well be the most talented player of his age-group.
If there's anything you'd like to see covered by Game 7, forward your suggestions to the YTW sportsdesk by Electronic mail [email protected].
