TORONTO - No team in the NHL relies more on a core group to produce offence than
do the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Cheap Jerseys Wholesale NFL . Seven players
have combined for 84 per cent of the teams 74 goals this season, the highest
such percentage for any teams top seven scorers in the league. Alarmingly among
that group in Toronto are two centres, Dave Bolland and Tyler Bozak, who have
each missed a months worth of games due to injury already this season and yet
remain amongst the teams scoring leaders. The Leafs have dropped a season-high
five consecutive games, also losing six of the past seven while skidding through
an unhappy November that saw them win just twice in regulation. Prominent in
their struggles was a failure to produce offence at even-strength; theyve scored
just 18 such goals in the past 14 games, delivering two goals or fewer overall
in 11 of those games. Depth or a lack thereof has been the issue, both from the
defence and depth forwards. The Toronto blue-line has barely made a blip in the
cause offensively, totaling a scant three goals all season, two from
Dion Phaneuf and one into an empty-net. By comparison, the San Jose Sharks, who
beat the Leafs at the ACC on Tuesday, have 16 goals from their defenders this
season. Four Sharks alone have more goals individually than do the Leaf defence
as a unit. "When you describe our hockey club its always the back-end," said
Randy Carlyle following practice on Wednesday morning. "Does the back-end need
to provide more offence? For sure it does. We need more from our
back-end." Unlike last season, the team has also gotten little in the way of
contributions from its depth forwards. David Clarkson and Nik Kulemin have a
mere two goals apiece while Jay McClement, averaging nearly 17 minutes, has yet
to score and has just two assists. A fourth line with plenty of punch has been
predictably punch-less offensively, the likes of Colton Orr, Frazer McLaren,
Troy Bodie, Carter Ashton, and the since waived Jerred Smithson, all with zero
goals this season. Phil Kessel (15 goals), James van Riemsdyk (12), and
Mason Raymond (10), a late free agent add who sits third on the team in scoring,
have been responsible for the bulk of offence, helped by Nazem Kadri (7)
Joffrey Lupul (8), and the aforementioned Bolland (6) and Bozak (4). Injuries
and suspensions to core players, such as Clarkson, Bolland, Bozak and Lupul,
certainly havent helped with their replacements unable to fill the void. One
rare exception is Trevor Smith, who since being recalled to line up in an
offensive role, has produced six points in eight games. "We need more from
secondary scoring," Carlyle said. "Secondary scoring comes from your second,
third and fourth line. Weve noted that. Weve asked that." Among the desired
changes to the offence would be more shots to the net and more efficient
movement of the puck up the ice, thus instigating whats been an inconsistent
forecheck. Spending vast amounts of time defending, while struggling to break
out of their own end, the Leafs have been unable to establish that forecheck,
the lifeblood in some ways of the teams attack. "The one thing weve got to do
is weve got to get stronger on our forecheck," said Carlyle, pointing to brief
periods of such success against the Sharks, notably during an energetic start to
the season period. Generating much of their offence from a potent power-play
this season, if not the flash and dash of their skill players on the rush, the
Leafs have yet to produce much off their forecheck, thereby unable to sustain
time in the offensive zone in the manner Carlyle would like. "We have to start
being more fluent as a group of five," said Cody Franson, who leads the defence
with 13 points, but has yet to score this season. "Theres a couple things that
were doing systematically that are inhibiting our chances to one, generate
things off cycles, and two, generate shots from the point. Just a couple small,
little technicalities that are hurting us rather than helping us. Once we can
get fluent with correcting those I think thatll help out a lot." Team
Percentage of offence from top-7 scorers (Entering Wednesdays action) Toronto
84% Washington 78% Minnesota 78% Tampa 74% Pittsburgh 74% Philadelphia 73%
Colorado 72% Montreal 72% St. Louis 72% Winnipeg 71% Vancouver 70% Anaheim 70%
Chicago 70% Ottawa 70% San Jose 70% Columbus 69% Dallas 68% Los Angeles 68%
Detroit 68% New Jersey 66% New York Islanders 66% New York Rangers 66% Calgary
66% Phoenix 66% Florida 65% Boston 64% Edmonton 64% New Jersey 64% Carolina 62%
Buffalo 62%
Cheap NFL Jerseys . "The acquisition of
Dale Weise contributed to the success of our team this season. A young veteran
with a lot of character, Dale is an intense player with a strong work ethic.
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Jerseys . The team of Lars Nelson, Daniel Richardsson, Johan
Olsson, and anchor Marcus Hellner cruised to victory in the 4x10 km event,
winning in a time of one hour, 28 minutes, and 42.ST. LOUIS -- The indoor
football stadium that the St. Louis Rams call home is running out of money as
the NFLs team long-term future in the city remains murky. The publicly-funded
Edward Jones Dome anticipates needing an extra $40 million to cover maintenance
over the next 15 years, the St. Louis Post -Dispatch (bit.ly/1pGZkMd) reported
Wednesday. The St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority, which
owns the downtown dome, expects to exhaust its $16 million in savings in six
years. The dome receives a total of $24 million annually from the city of St.
Louis, St. Louis County and the state of Missouri for maintenance and to pay off
construction debt , but those payments are scheduled to cease over the next
decade. And the stadiums future remains in limbo as lease negotiations between
St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke and the stadium authority drag on. The Rams
can break their 30-year lease after the upcoming season, which would be a decade
early. Brian McMurtry, the authoritys executive director, is asking the three
governments to not only continue providing at least $4 million for annual upkeep
payments but to also consider sending the dome an additional $40 million in
cash, or selling $40 million in new bonds. Hes also suggested putting several
stadium-related items on the citys bond issue list for a public vote as early as
this November. "Im going to tell you, they dont know how theyre going to do it,"
he said. "But they want to know what its going to take." Dome maintenance is
almost entirely dependent on public dollars -- unlike Busch Stadium, a private
ballpark funded largely by the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Scottrade Center,
which is maintained by the ownners of the St.
Wholesale
China Jerseys. Louis Blues and was built with $135 million from
local companies. To help entice the Rams to stay, the St. Louis Convention &
Visitors Commission, which manages the dome, in 2012 offered a $124 million
improvement plan that included a bigger scoreboard and better club seating, with
the Rams paying slightly more half those costs. The team countered with a far
more ambitious proposal that called for a new roof with a sliding panel and a
bevy of improvements that would keep the city convention centre in the dome
closed for three years. The team didnt put a price tag on its request, but city
officials estimated the upgrades would cost $700 million. "We cant come up with
a long-term solution until we know what the relationship is going to be with the
Rams," said Jim Shrewsbury, chairman of the stadium authoritys board. The
stadium authority sold bonds in 1991 to build the $300 million dome, which
opened in 1995. The sponsors agreed to a 30-year payment plan. The state would
send the stadium authority $10 million a year toward debt repayment, plus $2
million for upkeep. The city and county each would pay half of that. University
of Chicago economist Allen Sanderson said the conundrum facing St. Louis civic
leaders is not uncommon when it comes to paying for aging public sports arenas.
"Estimates of revenues tend to be overstated and costs played down, or at least
pushed off to the future," he said. "Youve got this combination, on the city
side, of public officials worried about the near future, not the long term, and
these sports franchises that have an enormous amount of market power. And thats
a bad combination for taxpayers."
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