Kadri signed as Leafs head into training camp

With Nazem Kadri under contract, the Toronto Maple Leafs head into training camp on Wednesday with just one player unsigned; restricted free agent Cody Franson.

Kadri`s 2-year, $5.8M deal leaves the Leafs with about $3M in cap room for this season.

The Leafs will head into camp Wednesday with a roster pretty much set, and before any preseason games are played this appears to be the lineup the Leafs will start the season with.

The top line will likely will see James van Reimdsyk with Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel.

Look for Nazem Kadri to centre a line with Joffrey Lupul and David Clarkson.

David Bolland could centre a line with Jay McClement and Nik Kulemin. That`s a unit that could be a very effective “shutdown” line for Toronto.

While a 4^th line could see Frazer McLaren and Colton Orr on the wings with Joe Colborne at centre.

Defensively, the pairings could end up being Carl Gunnarsson with Dion Phaneuf; Cody Franson (if he is signed) with Jake Gardiner while Mark Fraser could with John-Michael Liles, or Paul Ranger or perhaps Morgan Rielly, Toronto`s 1^st round pick in the 2012 NHL draft.

Reilly will get a long look at camp. The Leafs will play 8 preseason games and Reilly could play in as many as 5 of them.

There will certainly be an interesting battle in goal as James Reimer (who is a restricted free agent after this season) and Jonathan Bernier will compete to be number 1.

“If you win, you’re in,” said Coach Randy Carlyle. “It’s pretty simple.”

The additions of Bolland and Clarkson give the Leafs more grit and make them tougher to play against.

In Bolland, they get a 2-time Stanley Cup winner.

“He can provide us with a level of compete that matches his resume,” Carlyle said. “That’s what we are looking for.”

The addition of Bolland and Clarkson was in part brought on by the game 7 meltdown in Boston.

It was apparent that night Toronto didn’t have enough veteran players who could handle stressful situations. That shouldn’t be an issue this season.

They also have upgraded their goaltending – an issue again that haunted them that fateful night in Boston.

“We will take what we can from last year and hopefully learn from it and build from some of the things we put in place and try to push this group together,” said Carlyle.

This will be Carlyle’s first full training camp with the Maple Leafs. It will be fast paced, physical and demanding.

Buckle up.

Joe Colborne is ready to make impact on the Maple Leafs

Joe Colborne knows this is a wonderful “opportunity” to break training camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The 6-foot-5 centre played a pair of playoff games for the Leafs last season and impressed management filling in for an injured Tyler Bozak.

That earned him a one-year contract this off season. Colborne, a former 1^st round pick, now hopes to springboard that success into playing a significant role in the NHL this season.

“No more pressure than I’ve put on myself in the past,” said Colborne on the eve of training camp. “Having that opportunity to come up and show the coaching staff last year was a huge advantage for me. I’m ready to go out and have a great camp. I’m looking forward to showing what I can do.”

Colborne has worked hard this off-season to improve his skating and has added some much needed weight to his lanky frame.

“I’m up over 220 pounds now which is a good weight for me. I feel more comfortable,” said the 23 year-old, who played just 5 regular season games with the Maple Leafs last season, where he failed to register a point. “I feel more powerful on the ice being heavier. It’s mostly good weight and I’m excited to show what I can do.”

“It was nice to be healthy for a full summer, I haven’t had that in a while. I was able to get back and start working out early and get quite a bit stronger.”

In a perfect world, the Leafs would have TylerBozak, Nazem Kadri, David Bolland and Joe Colborne up the middle.

I can see Jay McClement (a 4^th line centre a year ago) playing on the wing on the 3^rd line with Bolland to create a shut-down line.

This is a great chance for Colborne who had 42 points in 65 games with the Toronto Marlies in the American Hockey League last season, to make his mark with the Maple Leafs this season.

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Colborne meantime had a tough summer in his hometown of Calgary, where flooding devastated the community.

"I'm carrying photo albums out of my friends homes, and all those memories were destroyed," said Colborne. "I've never seen anything like it before. You think it would never happen (in your hometown.)"

The flooding did not hit Colborne's home but it did not hit in areas where some of his friends lived.

Colborne said watching the Calgary Stampede, held 2 months after the flooding was something that made him "so proud" of his community.

John Gibbons has support of players: DeRosa

He is the voice of experience in the Toronto Blue Jays dressing room. His knowledge of the game is unparalleled. He has seen it all.

So when you ask Mark DeRosa if he agrees with Blue Jays General Manager Alex Anthopoulos, who recently insisted John Gibbons will return as manager, he wastes no time in responding.

“I completely agree 100 percent with him,” said DeRosa. “We’ve had a lot of things since spring training happen to this ball club that John had no part in.”

DeRosa went on to say, “Gibby is a players’ manager. Everybody in here to a man has completely enjoyed playing for him. He’s given us a long leash probably a little longer than to be expected based on the way we played. I’ve completely enjoyed playing for him.”

DeRosa has had a big influence on Brett Lawrie and his improvement in recent weeks. He has become a mentor to the Blue Jays third baseman.

He’s also direct when asked what went wrong this year.
 

“Everybody has their own little piece of the fault as to why we are in the place we are at,” said the 38 year-old. “I definitely don’t feel that Gibby should be the scapegoat for it at all.”

The struggles of the starting staff, at-times atrocious defence, and poor fundamentals are all reasons why the Jays have so badly under achieved this season.

Gibbons acknowledges more teaching needs to be done. He probably was too laid back in that area because he thought he had a veteran team that didn’t need to be taught. He was wrong.

DeRosa for his part credits Gibbons with keeping the team loose during a trying season and not losing the clubhouse.

“You got to have pride in yourself and be willing to compete and do whatever it takes that night,” said DeRosa. “You find the true colors of people when things are going bad. It could have been easy for us to disband in the clubhouse and we haven’t. We’ve stayed strong, we stayed together.”

And with the bulk of the team expected back next season, DeRosa hopes the lessons learned this season will be used to turn things around next season,

“We understand the reasons we are where we are. It’s disappointing coming off a spring training where I felt like we had such a swagger about us and so confident, to find ourselves in this situation is obviously not a good one but we better learn from it.

Anthony Gose and his "very frustrating" year

Ask Anthony Gose to describe what this year has been like, and he won’t mince his words.

“It’s been very frustrating,” said the 23 year-old, recalled by the Toronto Blue Jays from AAA Buffalo.

After a 23 at-bat showing with the Blue Jays earlier this year in which he went 7-23 (.304 batting average) Gose was sent down to Buffalo. Instead of improving on those numbers, he digressed and at times his attitude got him benched.

While his attitude went south, so did his hitting.

“Was I happy I was sent down? No.  I wasn’t thrilled about being sent down,” said Gose. But it wasn’t his frustration at playing in the minor leagues that got the best of the speedy outfielder. It was his performance at the plate that led to his at times poor behaviour.

“It wasn’t so much being sent down it was the fact that I couldn’t hit the ball,” said a candid Gose, just hours after being recalled to the Blue Jays. “In order for me to be here I have to hit the ball. It definitely was frustrating going out every night. You guys see the numbers. 130 strikeouts in 300 at bats and you give those numbers to anybody they are going to be happy.”

To be fair, Gose had 121 strikeouts in 393 at-bats, but you get the point. His .239 batting average in Buffalo had him questioning if he was even going to get called up to the big leagues this year.

But in the last 10 games with the Bisons, Gose was hitting at nearly a .300 clip, and cut down his strikeouts.

“I just kind of said forget about it. Whatever happens, happens,” said Gose. “I didn’t expect to come here now. I figured at best a September call up if I get called up at all.”

But since returning to the Blue Jays in mid-August, Gose has not produced much of an impact. He has had 26 at-bats and has struck out 8 times while batting .231.

Happ and Cobb grateful to return; would consider wearing protective head gear

As J.A. Happ and Alex Cobb stood side by side on Sunday afternoon, it was apparent both men are grateful to be standing and talking – let alone pitching again.

“Not too many people know what you’ve gone through on a personal level so to know his battles, although they were different, they were almost more severe and more troublesome in some cases,” said Cobb, a starting pitcher with the Tampa Rays. “It’s really nice to see him back out on a big league field. It’s definitely a bond that most people won have with another person.”

“We are going to be linked together for this possibly forever,” said Happ, a starting pitcher with the Toronto Blue Jays. “The key thing is we were both able to come back and we are ok. It’s something that we will definitely being staying in touch about.”

On May 7, Happ was struck by a Desmond Jennings liner in the side of his head. He suffered a minor skull fracture behind his left year as well as MCL and PCL ligament strains to his right knee. Happ returned to the big leagues three months later and returned to the Tampa mound on Saturday for the first time since the scary incident.

Some six weeks after Happ was hurt, Cobb was struck by an Eric Hosmer line drive in the head of a game June 15^th against Kansas City Royals. Cobb suffered a concussion and returned to the majors on Thursday, two months after his injury.

“We were able to touch- base a couple of weeks ago and it’s good to see things are back to normal,” said Happ, as the two met face to face on Sunday for the first time since their returns to the big leagues.

Happ happened to be watching the game in which Cobb was injured.

“It was just such a surreal thing,” said Happ. “Again, just to see him and be able to catch up and see that the healing has taken place, that’s the biggest thing. Definitely a scare with some of the issues that he had to deal with that I didn’t.

"He had a little bit more to overcome in that sense and really glad to see he was able to do that."

On Sunday the two spoke out in favour of protective head gear for pitchers.

“Whether that pitcher wants to pitch with head gear or not is up to him but I definitely think there should be an option,” said Cobb. “I haven’t heard too much but I do know that it’s moving in the right direction and hopefully there will be an option by next year.”

“You’d be crazy not to look into it if it was available,” said Happ. “I think function is the big issue. We were struck in the ear so like I said it would almost have to be a helmet situation. If it was functional and comfortable and didn’t hinder the performance at all than absolutely.”

Kadri not worried about contract negotiations

If Nazem Kadri is worried about not reaching a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he isn’t showing it.

Kadri is one of the Leafs’ key restricted free agents

“We’re in conversation,” Kadri said of contract talks. “It’s been good. There’s still work to be done, but we’re talking and that’s the most important thing.”

The 22 year old Kadri was at the Maple Leafs practice facility Friday for some off-ice workouts, and he watched a bit of the prospects who took to the ice.

He gave no indication the talks have been acrimonious, so that should be seen as a good sign.

Kadri – along with the likes of Cody Franson, Carl Gunnarsson and Mark Fraser are the Leafs restricted free agents. Toronto signed Jonathan Bernier to a 2-year, $5.8 M deal just last week.  

There is no doubt all the RFA’s are in line for pay hikes. Last year, Kadri was paid $810,000. He had a tremendous season picking up 18 goals, 26 assists in 48 games.

Kadri did have a chance to say goodbye to a couple of friends — Matt Frattin and Ben Scrivens — at Dion Phaneuf’s wedding in Prince Edward Island last week. As hard as it was to see them leave the Leafs, Kadri said he likes the moves GM Dave Nonis has made: Bringing in Bernier, centre Dave Bolland through trades and winger David Clarkson via free agency.

“It’s always tough to see some of your good friends leave,” said Kadri. “That’s the hardest part about this business.

“I do feel like we upgraded. Bringing in Clarkson, Bernier and Bolland, veteran guys that can bring a lot to the dressing room and on the ice.”

Kadri was in particular certain that  Clarkson will especially fit in nicely into what coach Randy Carlyle is trying to build.

“He is the type of guy you hate playing against, an agitator that gets under a lot of people’s skin,” Kadri said of Clarkson. “That’s our identity that Randy (Carlyle) has been building up.

“We want to be that tough team to play against.”

How does a Joffrey Lupul- Nazem Kadri-David Clarkson line sound to the Leafs 1^st round pick from 2009.

“I’m excited,” said Kadri, “Hopefully (if it happens) we can find chemistry. Those are 2 players that bring different elements to the game. They are pretty big wingers and hopefully they can do the dirty work and I can get them the puck.”

But first he and the Leafs need to come to an agreement. 

Percy and Broll look to make an impact in the American Hockey League with the Toronto Marlies

Stuart Percy knows what he wants to do next.

“Hopefully crack the (Toronto) Marlies lineup,” said the 2011 Toronto Maple Leafs 1^st round pick. “I want to continue to develop my game (in the American Hockey League) and try to become a regular in that lineup.”

Percy - a puck moving defenceman - was captain of the Ontario Hockey League Mississauga Steelheads last season and played in all 68 games and had 13 goals and 32 assists on a young team that struggled to score goals.

It was a good year for Percy, who struggled the previous season with a variety of knee and head injuries.

In a game against Kitchener on December 11, 2011, Percy got hit by a pair of Rangers. He landed awkwardly against the boards and missed time with a concussion.

It was the second concussion he suffered in a short time. The other occurred in September of 2011 at the Leafs prospect camp. He suffered a knee injury a month later.

In 2011-2012 in Mississauga, Percy played just 34 games (5 goals, 20 assists).

Having played in every game last season was something the Leafs wanted to see and he doesn’t think the concussions have hurt his development.

“It helped my mentally and physically,” said the 20 year-old Percy. “It made me pay attention more off- ice and getting warmed up and ready to play and aware and alert when I’m out there.”

“You also realize in a split second you can get hurt. You pay more attention when you are on the ice.”

Percy is considered by Leafs management an “intelligent player” who is a solid puck mover and has an offensive flair to his game. He needs to get bigger and more physical.

Percy also realizes the Leafs have a number of high-end defense prospects in the system, led by 2012 first round pick Morgan Rielly.

“I think anywhere you go there’s going to be tonnes of defenceman and guys fighting for spots, so there’s really nothing negative about that,” said the 6-foot-1, 193 pound Percy. “It’s good to have competition and that just means everyone will be paying well when they get to the Leafs. It’s a good healthy competition and guys are always pushing each other and all the guys are great. We all get along and that makes it easier as well.”

Percy played 4 games for the Marlies in the AHL playoffs a few months ago, and scored a goal and had 2 assists. He hopes to be a regular with the Marlies this season.
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David Broll has heard all the comparisons to Colton Orr.  One day he may draw comparisons to another Leaf, David Clarkson.

The 20 year-old Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick was one of 34 players in Toronto this week at the annual Maple Leafs prospect camp.

“I can play in the NHL one day, but it’s up to me,” said the 6-foot-3, 235 pound left- winger, who played in the Ontario Hockey League Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for the last three seasons.

Broll – who is nicknamed Brolldozer for his physical play – got involved in a number of fights his first time at the Leafs prospects camp. This year there would be no fights as the Leafs want him to work on improving his all-around game.

“I want to show my other assets as well, and not be labelled as just a guy that can fight,” said Broll. “My goal is pretty much every kid’s goal: to make the Leafs.”

Former Leafs GM Brian Burke used to say Broll was one of the few Leafs prospects in junior who could step up to the NHL right away because of his size and aggressive play.

“Obviously to hear that it’s a good thing for your confidence level,” said Broll, who was drafted by Toronto in 2001 in the 6^th round (151 overall). “No (NHL) spots are giving. Every day you have to get a little bit better.”

Broll has worked hard at his game – he scored just 8 goals in 2011-2012 but last season scored 17 goals while seeing time on the penalty kill.

“Randy Carlyle likes hard-nosed guys and I feel I can step in and do that,” said the Mississauga, Ontario native. “I like to compete. I’m ready to do whatever it takes.”

The plan is for Broll – who cut down his fighting majors from 7 in 2011-2012 to 3 last season  – to start the year with the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies. If he can make an impression like he did this week at the prospects camp, he could be up in the NHL sooner rather than later.

“He has the ability to possess the puck on the cycle situations and he crates offence out of that,” said Leafs director of player development, Jim Hughes. “He buys time and space and he has the ability to make plays. So he was sort of dominant (at the camp).”

He may not have the polished skills some of the prospects in the Leafs system have, but his size and his toughness may have him in the NHL soon.