Sport-scan daily brief

Even so, Leafs GM Dave Nonis had said earlier this week he'd try to get Connolly back in the NHL with another team, and is probably happy a possible trading chip won't get hurt in game action prior to his last chance to move him.

Connolly, a 31-year-old 12-year NHL veteran, had never played in the minors until the Leafs cut him at training camp this year. Connolly carries a $4.75 million cap hit and is due about $700,000 in actual cash before becoming a free agent this summer.

Moves were at a premium Wednesday morning after a busy Tuesday that saw the Boston Bruins acquire Jaromir Jagr from Dallas, the New York Rangers get Ryan Clowe from San Jose and the Vancouver Canucks acquire Derek Roy from Dallas.

Toronto Star LOADED: 04.04.2013

667952 Toronto Maple Leafs

Maple Leafs Clarke MacArthur remains anxious as trade deadline nears

By: Bob Mitchell Sports Reporter, Published on Wed Apr 03 2013

At least nobody was called off the ice during practice so the Maple Leafs remained intact on Wednesday following their skate at the MasterCard Centre.

But winger Clarke MacArthur won’t feel any relief until the 3 p.m. deadline passes, and he’s still a Leaf.

He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer so the Leafs could get nothing for him if they don’t sign him before then so he is an interesting piece that could be traded.

“I could be moved. You just never know what’s going to happen,” said a subdued MacArthur in the Leafs dressing room after practice. “We’ll see what happens. It’s one of those days where there is always a lot of hype and never a lot of relief. We’ll see how it goes.”

MacArthur has been traded once before at the deadline, going from Buffalo to Atlanta in 2010 for two draft picks.

“I’m sure there will be some stuff going on, but hopefully we’ll be able to keep as much as we can because we’ve been on a good roll here. It’s out of everybody’s control here.

“This is a good group of guys. We’ve been building it for the last two years that I’ve been here. We’ve been pretty sound the last three games. “

MacArthur has been nursing an upper body injury since being hit late in last week’s game in Boston. He could be ready to play Thursday at home against the Philadelphia Flyers, provided he’s still with the Leafs.

Forward Fraser McLaren was the only player, who didn’t practice on Wednesday. But he had the flu.

With word out of Calgary that goalie Miikka Kiprusoff had decided to stay there, it appears as if the Leafs will ride the season with James Reimer and Ben Scrivens, something the majority of Leaf Nation seemed to want based on the number of calls to Toronto sports radio talk shows on Wednesday morning.

That’s not to say GM Dave Nonis won’t swing a deal by the time the 3 p.m. deadline ends. The Leafs scratched Tim Connolly from Wednesday’s Marlies game at the Ricoh Coliseum. Nonis will move the veteran centre if he can find a willing taker so Connolly was scratched as a precaution.

“We’re not in a sell off mode. We will add players if we can,” Nonis told Sportsnet TheFan 590 on Wednesday morning.

Nonis thought he would have “something to consider” by the end of the day although he wasn’t close to any deals.

Many Leafs planned on keeping track of the deadline on their cell phones.

Reimer has been hearing goalie rumours since training camp when a deal for Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo was believed all but done. Although he insists he would be “honoured” to work with either Luongo or Kiprusoff, there’s no doubt he dearly wants to finish the job and will be relieved one way or the other when the deadline passes.

“It’s status quo … I’m definitely not going to sit by the TV. Whatever happens, happens,” Reimer said after practice. “As an athlete you want to do your best and work hard and so far Ben (Scrivens) and I have done that.

“But management has the right to do what they want. They gave us the opportunity to play here. If they want to take that away, it’s their right. I feel blessed for the opportunity given to me so far.”

There had also been some speculation that Tyler Bozak could be moved because of his unrestricted free agent status, but the latest word is that the Leafs and his agent are trying to work out an extension that will keep him with the Leafs beyond this season.

Toronto Star LOADED: 04.04.2013

667953 Toronto Maple Leafs

Maple Leafs should go with status quo in net: Feschuk

By: Dave Feschuk Hockey, Published on Wed Apr 03 2013

Here’s something worth thinking about if you’re of the mind that the Maple Leafs have a burning need for a proven playoff goaltender.

Consider that, in matters of goaltending, one man’s definition of “proven” is another’s salary-cap poison. And consider these numbers. If you combine the 10 NHL teams with the largest goaltender-related salary-cap commitments this year, their average save percentage is about .910. The typical NHL team’s save percentage is, give or take, around .910.

That means that even the NHL teams that have thrown a bundle of money at what they once believed to be superior goaltending aren’t typically getting superior goaltending. In other words, betting on puckstoppers is a gamble that’s hard to win. Just when an NHL GM thinks he’s got himself a game-changing goalie, it’s just as likely he has bought himself an average one (or worse) with a not-so-attractive price tag.

That is but one of the key reasons why the Leafs would be wise to stick with the status quo in goal as Wednesday’s NHL trade deadline approaches. The Leafs, if they choose to skip making a deadline deal for a new net presence, will avoid risking precious salary-cap resources at what amounts to a craps table. They’ll be better off for it, both now and down the road.

Which is not to say they’re bound to take the prudent course. As of Tuesday evening the Leafs appeared to be engaged in ongoing discussions to acquire a veteran net presence, with Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff the most likely target.

Certainly one can understand the urge. Ours is a brand-crazy society where household names hold weight. People know Kiprusoff mostly because he won a Vezina Trophy back in 2006, and because he carried the Calgary Flames to a Stanley Cup final in 2004. People know Roberto Luongo because he’s played 61 playoff games for the Vancouver Canucks (and won 32 of them); he has also been among the league’s top handful of goaltenders for most of the past decade.

And people know what the Leafs have lately been synonymous with: specifically, sieves in net. In four of the previous five seasons, Toronto’s team save percentage has been one of two things: the very worst or the second-worst in the NHL

But this season, if you haven’t been paying attention, there’s been a distinct upgrade in the blue-and-white’s blue ice. James Reimer and Ben Scrivens, far from being the dregs of the league, have actually been an above-grade tandem. Yes, 36 games is a small-ish sample size. And yes, neither man has ever played in an NHL playoff game.

But certainly both guys have been exposed to an endless barrage of implied criticism for most of the past year, as rumours of Luongo’s impending arrival in Toronto swirled and swirled. And certainly both guys have responded with more-than-respectable performances in the pressure cooker. Heading into Tuesday’s games, Toronto sat eighth in team save percentage. No one would accuse Reimer or Scrivens of perfection. Both have struggled at times. But both, too, have had their moments of convincing solidity. The Leafs have plenty of weaknesses, including a lack of high-end talent at most positions on the roster. But there isn’t an argument to be made that goaltending should sit atop anyone’s priority list.

Perhaps the same can’t be said of the Calgary Flames, owners of the NHL’s worst team save percentage despite Kiprusoff’s $5.8-million cap hit, which, should the Leafs acquire him, would be on Toronto’s books next season.

Kiprusoff, who reportedly would be interested in playing in Toronto if he could negotiate a contract extension beyond the remaining year on his current deal, is 36. He is four years removed from his last playoff game and nine years removed from winning a playoff series. On Monday night he was pulled by the Flames after allowing three goals on five or six shots.

His save percentage is a career-worst .868, which suggests there is precisely no evidence, other than ancient history, that he is still a viable prime-time puckstopper. There is more evidence that Reimer and Scrivens, playing amid a Toronto media churn that Brian Burke always called “murder” for the Leafs, are capable of rising to the psychological challenge of the post-season even though they’ve never been there before.

The NHL’s lore is festooned with stories of playoff neophytes making good in goal. No one’s saying Reimer and Scrivens are poised to carry the Leafs as deep as, say, Felix Potvin in 1993, when the post-season first-timer backstopped Toronto to within a win of the Stanley Cup final. But the current Leafs ooze chemistry and energy. It’s a squad that has overachieved, and Reimer and Scrivens, if you’re being fair in your assessment, have over-delivered.

With their collective $2.4 million cap hit, they’re one of the great bargains in the game. And since when have the Leafs been accused of getting great value out of a key cog in a playoff-bound roster? There’s a first time for everything, and this would be a good time for the Leafs to avoid a perilous, pricey roll of the dice for a performer who is proven in name only.

Toronto Star LOADED: 04.04.2013

667954 Toronto Maple Leafs

Leafs wise to stand pat in goal

By Terry Koshan ,Toronto Sun

First posted: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 10:12 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 11:29 PM EDT

No Miikka Kiprusoff, no Roberto Luongo.

Not even Nikolai Khabibulin.

So no hope, then, for the Maple Leafs?

No way.

The Leafs haven’t ascended this season to fifth place in the Eastern Conference because they have been lucky with their goaltending. They haven’t laid waste to just about every pre-season prediction that had them missing the playoffs with goaltending that has been mediocre.

Nonis tried to improve his team and he can’t be faulted for that. Had he not tried to do so until the NHL mandated that teams no longer could make trades, he would not have been doing his job properly.

The dust settled and the Leafs’ crease looked the same as it was when everyone went to bed on Tuesday night.

James Reimer and Ben Scrivens. Perhaps it’s true that the pair will have a bit of a neglected feeling when it sinks in that Nonis tried really hard to acquire an established goalie.

But both are confident. Give either one the start in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs — we’re pretty close to the point where participation in the Stanley Cup tournament will be a certainty for the Leafs — and there’s no way he will want to relinquish the crease.

And both, though Reimer especially, are at the point where starting in the playoffs is the next natural step in development. As Nonis said more than once on Wednesday, the only way one or both gets post-season experience is by playing the games.

Reimer has shrugged off a knee injury suffered in February. In the past two months, he has lost just once in regulation. Overall, he has a 13-4-4 record, a .920 save percentage and a 2.52 goal-against average. Sure, there are kinks in his game, but that’s not unusual with any 25-year-old goalie.

When his teammates say they have no problem with him as their main guy in the nets, there is no reason not to believe them.

It’s the same with Scrivens, who would have been bound for Vancouver had Gillis convinced Nonis it was the deal to make.

Scrivens’ won-lost record is average at 7-8, but with a .918 save percentage and a 2.59 goal-against average, he is not far off Reimer.

What’s good for both now, with just 12 games remaining in the regular season and the Philadelphia Flyers at the Air Canada Centre on Thursday night, is that any distraction is gone. Reimer acknowledged on Tuesday that trade speculation, whether the Leafs were going to acquire Kiprusoff or Luongo, had been weighing on him mentally.

That hurdle has been cleared, and it should be with a fresh mindset that Reimer looks ahead. If anything, all the talk that didn’t come to fruition should, the hope would go, make him stronger.

There would have been no guarantee with Kiprusoff or Luongo that the Leafs would have achieved playoff success. Neither has been lighting up the NHL with consistently stellar performances this season, and both are on the downside of their respective careers. Has anyone considered that adding one or the other might have set Reimer and/or Scrivens back?

And there’s no guarantee now, whether it’s Reimer or Scrivens or Drew MacIntyre, who probably would get the call if one of the incumbents is injured, that the Leafs will have a long playoff run.

But it’s time for Leafs management and the rest of the organization to find out whether Reimer, or Scrivens in the event of an injury, is capable. With Nonis failing to land a veteran on Wednesday, there is no other choice, and that is not a bad thing.

Toronto Sun LOADED: 04.04.2013

667955 Toronto Maple Leafs

Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo deserved better than this

By Mike Zeisberger ,Toronto Sun

First posted: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 10:21 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 10:26 PM EDT

On his phantom twitter account @Strombone1, Roberto Luongo commented on the Blue Jays’ 4-1 home opening loss to the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday, a game soiled by wild pitches and passed balls.

Tweeted @Strombone1: “Maybe the Blue Jays need a goalie to catch RA Dickey? Just sayin.......”

Maybe @Strombone1 — a.k.a. Luongo — believed he was heading to Toronto in a trade and figured he might moonlight as a catcher for the Jays once he got here. After all, once you’ve plucked a Taylor Hall slapshot out of the air, how hard can it be to snare one of those fluttering Dickey knucklers?

Alas, Roberto Luongo isn’t going anywhere in the near future. Other than that seat at the end of the Vancouver Canucks’ bench, that is.

Thursday is Roberto Luongo’s birthday. As a present, he would have loved to be shipped out of Vancouver to a place where he was wanted, a place where he could be a No. 1 goalie.

The Canucks did try to make him a Maple Leaf.

As the clock ticked down toward the 3 p.m. trade deadline Wednesday, there reportedly were numerous calls from the left coast to the Air Canada Centre.

All for naught.

And in his own words, there is a good reason why he wasn’t dealt to Toronto or anywhere else.

“My contract sucks,” Luongo said Wednesday evening. “That’s what the problem is. It’s a big factor in trading me and probably why I’m still here.”

Luongo, who has a no-trade clause in his pact, has 10 years remaining on a 12-year contract that’s worth $64 million (U.S.). He’ll be 44 by the time the deal runs out.

Those are the types of numbers that likely had any potentially interested general managers agreeing that, yes, it does “suck.”

“I’d scrap it if I could right now,” Luongo said. “It’s a hit on your pride that teams aren’t willing to give up much. Obviously, that doesn’t mean it’s a knock on me, but my situation with my contract. It’s a tough spot to be in for myself, for the organization and for everyone involved.

“Obviously, the time isn’t now and we have to wait.”

Wait for what?

For Canucks GM Mike Gillis, who must shoulder much of the blame for this mess, to finally pull the trigger on a deal he hasn’t been able to make since last summer?

Good luck with that.

Told of Luongo’s “my contract sucks” comment, Gillis suggested Luongo take “a deep breath,” then come talk to him personally.

“These days are very emotional for everybody,” Gillis said. “When you have a day like this where your whole life can be turned upside down and then you speak to (the media) right after, there’s a chance for things to be said that in the clear light of day might not be reflective of how he really feels.”

Or maybe, just maybe, Luongo’s comments were exactly reflective of how he really feels.

Luongo admitted having a queasy feeling in his tummy Tuesday night. Deep down, that likely was a symptom of a guy who finally thought he’d be escaping the asylum and getting a new start.

He probably could have had one last summer. But reports from the left coast indicated Gillis wanted too much. There were some suggestions that the Canucks were seeking a Nazem Kadri-Tyler Bozak-first round pick package. Good luck with that.

Dave Nonis was the man who, while the GM of the Canucks, brought Luongo to Vancouver in a one-sided 2006 trade with Florida, but even he was smart enough not to be fished in to overpay for the veteran goalie.

Now, given the fact that the Canucks will be pressed up against a salary cap that will drop to $64.2 million next season, perhaps their only option is a mutual agreement between player and team to walk away from the remaining $40 million of the deal come the summer.

Until then, Luongo, who has shown grace under pressure, will still be the focus of this Luongo-Cory Schneider soap opera.

On Wednesday, for example, Luongo left practice with 10 minutes remaining. Management claims it was done in case a transaction involving him took place just before the deadline.

Either way, the optics were bad. Luongo’s departure from the ice ignited a Twitter frenzy suggesting he had been traded, perhaps to Toronto.

In the end, it didn’t happen. And for Roberto Luongo, that “sucks.”

Just like his contract.

And just like the way he has been treated by the Canucks.

Toronto Sun LOADED: 04.04.2013

667956 Toronto Maple Leafs

Nonis lays off playoff experience

By Rob Longley ,Toronto Sun

First posted: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 10:21 PM EDT

On a perfect trade deadline day, Dave Nonis would have acquired some more playoff experience and that, in itself, marks a significant culture shift for this developing Maple Leafs team.

In defenceman Ryan O’Byrne, the Toronto GM did get a defenceman with 19 post-season games on his resume from his time with the Montreal Canadiens. As for the rest, Nonis and coach Randy Carlyle will have to rely on roughly half of the current Leafs roster learning on the job.

Nonis said that tracking down players with some post-season pedigree was on management’s mind as Wednesday’s NHL trade deadline approached, but the options weren’t the right fit.

“Those players are pretty hard to come by,” Nonis said. “There are a couple (of players presented to the Leafs) who had playoff experience but weren’t capable of helping us. The one thing that a player with playoff experience has to be able to do is get into the lineup or else he’s not going to help you.

“Some of the ones that were available to us were quality guys who would have been good adds four or five years ago, but wouldn’t necessarily get into the lineup (now.) Having that experience (and being unable to use it) is really useless.”

The Leafs aren’t completely void of playoff-tested bodies. Red-hot Joffrey Lupul leads the team with 39 games (and 23 post-season points) followed by forward James van Riemsdyk and defenceman John-Michael Liles with 36 each.

One option that did present itself on Wednesday was one that Nonis was able to resist — teams looking for draft picks in return for depth roster players.

“We were close on a few things, but not really until late in the day when the logjam breaks and things start happening and the prices become reasonable,” he said. “But there wasn’t a lot we had to consider.”

Toronto Sun LOADED: 04.04.2013

667957 Toronto Maple Leafs

It's up to new Maple Leaf Ryan O’Byrne to make impression

By Lance Hornby ,Toronto Sun

First posted: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 09:26 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 09:31 PM EDT

TORONTO - The Maple Leafs finally can take their 2013 team picture, now that they’ve added another tall kid to the back row.

Ryan O’Byrne, who once played for the arch-rival Montreal Canadiens, fits the team’s rock-em, sock-em style, but just because he’s a Randy Carlyle type player, it doesn’t automatically mean he’ll play for Carlyle right away.

“He’ll be one of eight defencemen,” said general manager Dave Nonis, who parted with a 2014 fourth-rounder to get the 6-foot-5, 234 pounder from the Avalanche. “He’s a depth player. We felt we needed that.”

Nonis said where the 28-year-old fits in is up to the coaches, but there should be a place for him, especially with clubs such as Thursday’s opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers, always carrying big forwards. Lack of reserve stay-at-home defencemen (Korbinian Holzer and Mike Komisarek) prompted the trade as the Leafs eye a potential playoff berth. Offensive-minded Jake Gardiner was the healthy scratch on the blue line before the Leafs took a four-day schedule break, but Mike Kostka might have the hardest time getting back in if O’Byrne makes an impression in coming days.

O’Byrne was playing almost 19 minutes a game with Colorado. He had a goal, three assists and 54 penalty minutes, third on that team. He should be familiar to Toronto Marlies fans from his days playing for Montreal’s AHL team, the Hamilton Bulldogs. He has 19 playoff games with the Habs in parts of three seasons, but wasn’t headed to any post-season action with sagging Colorado.

“Toronto is a team that’s right in the (playoff) mix and I’m excited to be joining them,” O’Byrne told TSN. “From my days in Montreal, I always enjoyed playing in Toronto.

“I was pretty surprised (at the trade), but my contract is up next year, so I had a feeling something might happen.”

He’s from Victoria, B.C., which will make him popular in the Western flavoured Leafs room and he played college hockey at Cornell, where club chairman Larry Tanenbaum attended, as did goalie Ben Scrivens.

The Leafs were not successful dealing centre Tim Connolly and the last of his $4.75 million US contract, holding him out of Wednesday morning’s Marlies game just in case there was a late deadline trade. They did settle a formal contract with goalie Drew MacIntyre, who cleared NHL waivers and will resume No. 1 duties on the farm.

That move likely means the end here for goalie Jussi Rynnas, who played a bit with the Leafs the past two years. He will be out a month or more with an ankle injury and with his contract done, it’s expected he’ll return to play in Finland unless he gets a one-way next year.

Toronto Sun LOADED: 04.04.2013

667958 Toronto Maple Leafs

With trade deadline past, Leafs can move forward now

By Rob Longley ,Toronto Sun

First posted: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 07:30 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 07:37 PM EDT

In James Reimer they trust.

And Tyler Bozak.

And for the most part, a defensive unit that is still a hold-your-breath work in progress on some nights.

And in a roster that has just 10 players with NHL playoff experience.

The trade dud-line came and went on Wednesday and barely made an impression on the Leafs. But at this point in the development of the franchise as a whole, as much as the roster that returns to action Thursday night against the Flyers, it’s tough to pick apart Dave Nonis’ work in his first trade deadline as the Leafs’ general manager.