Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.28

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With their come-from-behind victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night – the first time all season coming back to win when trailing after two periods – the Toronto Maple Leafs set a new record for most wins in a month with nine. That number could push to eleven still with two games remaining in March.

Two of the principle reasons for the success the Maple Leafs have experienced since Olympic break have been unquestionably Nik Kulemin and Jonas Gustavsson.

Fourteen points in fourteen games in March along with impressive attention to detail on the defensive side of the puck has revealed Kulemin to be a very useful player, one that almost begins to remind fans of that international man of mystery seen in those YouTube videos from Russia.

In seven starts during the month of March, Jonas Gustavsson has yet to lose a hockey game. All of a sudden that panicky, scrambling goalie from early in the season has given way to a calm, poised and efficient netminder who no longer looks like he is guessing every time a shot is directed his way.

The improvement seen from both players is simultaneously good and bad though for the Leafs. While it’s good that Kulemin and Gustavsson definitely look like they could have a part in the future of the team, both players are restricted free agents at season’s end which could lead to an uncomfortable negotiation process.

Both players have played well enough to give the Leafs reason to want to bring them back but under no circumstance should Brian Burke hand out long term and big dollar contracts based on a solid month of play once all the pressure was off. At a reasonable term and dollar amount, Kulemin and Gustavsson have a place on this team but not if they have to be overpaid for to get under contract.

Sign a short term deal, show they can get it done throughout the entire length of an NHL season and then the dollars will be there. But the time has come for the Leafs to stop overvaluing their assets. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.27

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So the Toronto Maple Leafs just keep rolling along. A perfect week of three wins in three games gave them seven wins in their last nine games and now finally, the Leafs can entertain hopes of actually catching some teams ahead of them. And you know what that means, devaluing of the first round pick held by the Boston Bruins.

As a result of their recent hot stretch that began soon after the NHL resumed from the Olympic break, the Leafs now sit within four points of the Carolina Hurricanes for eleventh place in the Eastern Conference and within seven points of the New York Rangers for tenth. Between themselves and the Hurricanes sit the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders.

Down the stretch in their last ten games, the Leafs will play twice against the Rangers and once against the Panthers giving them even more of a hope at moving up. Additionally, these games will be “pressure games,” albeit it very much scaled down. The fact is though there will be something on the line in those games which will give Brian Burke and company a chance to assess how some of the youngsters perform under some degree of pressure.

And therein once again lays the problem. Is this surge any different than the last four seasons or is their real growth and development here? I tend to think it is different and that there is something to build on going forward because the surge is being led by the likes of Tyler Bozak, Phil Kessel, Nik Kulemin, Luca Caputi and Dion Phaneuf – new youthful faces who are stepping up to make their mark and not older veterans who cruised through the first three quarters of the season, unable to produce when it mattered.

The next week should help to tell a better story with the game against the Panthers followed by games against the Atlanta Thrashers and New York Rangers – two teams fighting for their playoff lives. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.26

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So here we are in mid March when nothing really matters again for the Toronto Maple Leafs. For the fifth year in a row, the Leafs are auditioning for jobs next season instead of jockeying for playoff position this season. Not surprisingly with nothing on the line, just as they seem to have done the past four years towards the end of the season, wins are starting to role in for the Leafs as they play an energetic, intense and passionate brand of hockey.

The frustrating part is where was all this inspired play when it mattered back in October, November and December? At least this year though, going on a bit of a winning streak won’t hurt a potential lottery draft pick as it has in previous seasons.

It’s starting to become frightening how the Leafs can just cruise through the first half of the season turning in a blasé effort here and a sleepwalker there, throw out all the right clichés about needing to work harder and get off to better starts and then once all the pressure is off with the playoffs all but out of sight, finally start to execute that M/O.

Take Lee Stempniak for example. After scoring just twenty five times in one hundred and twenty three career games with the Leafs, Stempniak already has five goals and an assist in four games since joining the Phoenix Coyotes. In short, he has been dynamic and has looked like a completely different player than he was in Toronto. He’s been using his speed, fighting to get into good scoring areas and has looked like a downright dangerous player because of the intensity and hard work he has brought to his game.

During Stempniak’s entire tenure in Toronto, I challenge anyone to find a similar stretch of four games that matches the start to his career in Phoenix. One can only wonder why we never saw a similar style out of Stempniak as a Leaf but really, he was hardly the only guilty party in that regard. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigmarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.25

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A sensational Olympic hockey tournament really put on display the best that the game has to offer. Games were fast paced, highly skilled and featured an intensity level not commonly seen in the NHL outside of the post season. That’s not a surprise considering the tournament includes the world’s best players with gold medals resting on the line.

Really, to showcase the game on the world stage in front of millions upon millions of viewers, no better platform exists.

However once again, NHL participation for the next winter Olympics in 2014 is in jeopardy. But why? Things couldn’t have worked out better with a dream gold medal final between Canada and the US. The gold medal final though, according to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman back in 2002 when the outcome was the same, has as much bearing on whether the NHL returns to the Olympics as the pen that he was holding does.

At the end of the day, the NHL is using Olympic participation as a bargaining chip for when the CBA reopens in 2011. Alex Ovechkin though has already gone on the record as saying he will play for Russia with or without NHL permission.

So what does the league do in a situation like that? Punish and attempt to disgrace arguably their most marketable player? Suspend him? I’m sure the ticket holders in Washington would be so pleased for the NHL to extend his self decided absence from the Capitals line up even longer.

While the NHL might believe it holds the Olympics as a bargaining chip, the NHLPA has some bargaining power too. If we agree to give up the Olympics, how about the league sweetens the financial pot a bit? Raise the salary cap or even get rid of it all together.

Once all is boiled down, the simplest solution will be, let the players go to the Olympics. It will happen, count on it! But hey, all that was just rigamarole.