Hard in the Corner

Amongst all the bullshit that Toronto Maple Leafs fans are rambling on about, one question has stuck out to me. Mostly in that, nobody is asking it.. No, it's not whether Jake Gardiner's dog should be kicked, or if Leo Komarov can be both uncle & lover, it's JVR . April 27th was locker clean out day for the Leafs and a few notable players were packing up their stuff for, presumably, the last time. At least the last time as Leafs. One of those players is James van Riemsdyk. This season, James van Riemsdyk was the team's leading goal scorer, had a 7.2 point share and a 55.6% corsi player - in admittedly sheltered starts (62.7% OZs). So, why does he HAVE to go? Well, one reason is his asking price. He will undoubtedly be a 6x6 free agent this summer, and the Leafs have other priorities. Auston Matthews early extension being the most obvious. Matthews will be a minimum $10 million player for the foreseeable future, and his prime , along with Marner and Nyland...

It's no secret that Peter Chiarelli is a dangerous figure in hockey. He has a reputation, and that reputation precedes him by about a mile. He trades star players and doesn't care what he gets back. He lucks out at the draft and he signs bad players to even worse contracts. So let's go back and do a year-by-year ranking of NHL General Manager, Peter Chiarelli. Remember, I try to grade based solely on the manager's moves that year. The outcome counts, but if it's because of a signing 1 year prior, that's where the points for that championship will be. This is the 2nd in a multi-part series "What did _____ ever do?" where I rank the performance of NHL GM's. We take into consideration how the GM chose to handle the NHL Entry draft and any transactions made over the year. The first subject, Lou Lamoriello, scored a paltry 53% (160 points out of a possible 300). Chiarelli started his management career in Ottawa as an Assistant GM under Bryan Mu...