Brian Burke, President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced Tuesday that the hockey club has signed forward Leo Komarov to a one-year contract.

Komarov, 25, was originally the Leafs’ seventh choice, selected 180th overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. The 5-11, 198-pound forward spent the past three seasons with Moscow Dynamo of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In 2011-12, he played 46 games for Moscow Dynamo collecting 24 points on 11 goals and 13 assists with 58 penalty minutes. He ranked second on the team in penalty minutes and third in points. In 20 playoff games he registered five goals, two assists and seven points with 49 penalty minutes, as Moscow Dynamo won their first KHL championship.

Komarov, who was born in Narva, Estonia, but moved to Finland at a young age, has represented Finland at the past four IIHF World Championships. At this year’s World Championship he played 10 games, scored one goal and earned four penalty minutes. He was a member of Finland’s 2011 World Championship gold medal winning team and also participated in the 2006 and 2007 World Junior Championships.

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The Air Canada Center underwent a transformation which took 3 years, and now with the finished product-including the development around the arena complete, we have a world class facility able to accommodate up to 20,000 people.

ACC under construction photo, 1998,
present day, 2011

Brian Burke, President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced Thursday that the hockey club has signed defenceman Petter Granberg (PEH-tuhr GRAN-buhrg) to a three-year entry level contract.

Granberg, a 19-year-old native of Gallivare, Sweden, played this past season for Skelleftea AIK of the Swedish Elite League (SEL). He registered four points (one goal, three assists) and 10 penalty minutes in 38 regular season games. Granberg also appeared in 19 playoff games, as Skelleftea AIK were SEL championship finalists. He ranked second on the club in hits (40) and posted a goal, an assist and 12 penalty minutes.

Granberg won a gold medal with Sweden at the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship in Alberta, collecting one assist and four penalty minutes in five games. The 6-3, 205-pound defenceman was selected by the Maple Leafs in the fourth round, 116th overall, in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

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May 27, 2012
@ 12:30 AM

jeffler:

Colborne (Taken with instagram)

May 27, 2012
@ 12:29 AM

theyslayedthedragon:

i’d like this jersey in my closet:
→ 9/30: toronto maple leafs [away]

Who would you like to see between the pipes for the Leafs next year? 

Including goalies you would like to see acquired by trades.

Report Card: Luke Schenn
Defense (R), 6’2, 22 y/o

GP: 79 G: 2 A: 20 Plus/Minus: -6 PIM: 62

S: Luke Schenn’s expectations have been everywhere from being a bottom 6 d-man to a top 4. Was in the top of the league for hits by a defenceman and he can definitely deliver those. An up and down campaign had created rumors of a trade in the works involving Schenn, but ultimately he stayed a Leaf.  In my opinion, he could become a piece in any of Burke’s trades this off-season.
Final Grade: B-

J: I like Luke Schenn, always have, but I’m seriously starting to wonder if it’s better to keep him around, or to possibly try and trade him. This past season was abysmal for him. He did very little to capture my attention. In fact, the few times I did notice him on the ice, were when he made massive mistakes that had me covering my face. He’s supposed to be a shut down guy, and I didn’t really get that from him this season. He’s still young, and therefore still has time to get better before being written off completely. Overall, I was less than impressed with him this season. I hope he can work it out and make it work next season, because there are a few players on the Marlies that I would prefer to see on the ice, over him right now.
Final Grade: D

What grade would YOU give him?

Nonis: Leafs plan to acquire veteran goalie 

Toronto Maple Leafs senior vice president of hockey operations David Nonis would be surprised if James Reimer and Ben Scrivens were the team’s two goalies next season.

It has been confirmed by Leafs’ management that they will look to add a veteran goaltender in the off-season.

Although the Maple Leafs missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for a seventh consecutive season, their American Hockey League affiliate Toronto Marlies are currently enjoying a successful run in the AHL playoffs.

When asked if the solid play of Scrivens — the Marlies starting goaltender — would impact the team’s attempt to acquire a veteran goalie in the coming months, Nonis replied, “No, not really.”

“Ben’s playing excellent and he’s performing at a higher level than we anticipated at this point of his career, but it’s a lot to ask of a guy like that to jump in and possibly be a 40-game guy (next year),” Nonis told Brady & Lang on Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Friday.

He added, though, that Scrivens might be thrust into a role like that if circumstances require it.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen with injuries. So if you put a player like that on your team you need to know he’s going to be able to play 40-45 games. And Ben, he’ll have every opportunity to come make our team just like everybody else. But we want to make sure that we have enough depth in goal and (Scrivens’ success) wouldn’t change our position on going after a veteran.”

Nonis — who in addition to his role with the Leafs is also the Marlies general manager — expects Scrivens to develop some more with the Marlies, but added: “You would never say never because players have to have the opportunity (in training camp) to earn a spot on our team.”

According to Nonis, defenceman Jake Gardiner made it impossible to keep him off the NHL roster last season and Scrivens could do the same thing in the 2012-13 campaign.

In the meantime the club plans to seek out any and all options to secure more depth between the pipes.

“From a Leafs standpoint, we need to make sure that we backfill and have some depth there so that we have some quality goaltenders to pick from.”

Goalies like Washington Capitals’ Tomas Vokoun, Tampa Bay Lightning’s Dwayne Roloson, Winnipeg Jets’ Chris Mason, and even the Maple Leafs own Jonas Gustavsson are all upcoming unrestricted free agents. However, Nonis believes going the trade route may be the best option, both for obtaining goalies and skaters.

“The UFA market, there are some pieces there that might be able to help (but) generally you don’t want to build your team with UFAs. Not because it’s not good players there, but you’ve got to spend more, generally, for those players,” Nonis explained.

“For us, yes we’ll look at (unrestricted free agency), we’ll probably jump in for a couple pieces, but overall we’re going to approach the trade market as a primary source of improvement.”

In addition to trades and free agency, several roster spots on next year’s edition of the Maple Leafs could be filled by players currently on the Marlies.

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Rick Dudley leaves Toronto Maple Leafs for Montreal Canadiens’ assistant GM role 

There was no word as to when Dudley, who has been immersed in the Maple Leafs’ strategy for next month’s NHL draft, will join Montreal. Toronto, which has the fifth overall pick, would conceivable not want Dudley to share their plans with the Canadiens, who have the third pick.

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