Leafs Rumour Mill for December 23rd 2008

Well, the trade freeze is in place at the moment, but the Leafs rumours keep churning.

I'm hearing strong reports that Justin Pogge will not remain as a backup to Vesa Toskala. He recently got the call due to an injury to Toskala, but the reason he got the start was more because "Burke wants to know what to do with both Joseph and Toskala, short term and long term".

Hmm. I imagine Burke is keen to figure out what Pogge's ETA is with the Leafs, and IF he's going to look for a backup to replace Joseph, for what length of contract.

Points Race Prediction 2008-2009 season: 71-80

This is an interesting bunch here in my ongoing predictions of this year's points race. I've got people jumping up and down all over the place. The ones that jump out are probably Sakic, Antropov and Cogliano. Sakic is so low down because I'm not expecting him to play the whole season. Either he will join late or get injured. I just feel that there's a higher chance of that then him actually playing a full season. Cogliano and Antropov will jump because their teams need them. If Sundin leaves Toronto, who else are they going to have turn to? Jason Blake? I like Cogliano making a jump in production this year because he's older and maturer. He's also going to be at the top of the depth chart - he is a big part of that team's future. It seems like just a few days ago that we were watching him on Team Canada.

71. S. Kozlov, 62 points
72. Cogliano, 62 points
73. Antropov, 62 points
74. Wolski, 62 points
75. McDonald, 62 points
76. Satan, 61 points
77. Boyes, 61 points
78. Michalek, 61 points
79. Dumont, 61 points
80. Sakic, 61 points

Points Race Prediction 2008-2009 season: 61-70

Back once more for my points predictions. This is the area that the defensemen start showing up. Two young guys, Phaneuf and Gagner, show up at 63 points a piece. If you think at the potential these two guys have to improve, they might end up with much more. But until then, I'm not going to give them the benefit of the doubt.

61. Lidstrom, 65 points
62. Kovalev, 64 points
62. Langkow, 64 points
63. Nylander, 64 points
64. Gagner, 63 points
65. Phaneuf, 63 points
66. Sykora, 63 points
67. Boyle, 63 points
68. Prospal, 63 points
69. Smyth, 63 points
70. Cheechoo, 63 points

Points Race Prediction 2008-2009 season: 51-60

Back again for the ongoing release of my points race predictions for 2008-2009. As you can see, I'm not giving up on Brian Rolson even though he was shipped to New Jersey. He's old, yes. He's also really good. He will be right there with Gionta and Elias on the powerplay, and will be on the first line. Good enough for me.

51. Arnott, 68 points
52. Parise, 68 points
53. Kariya, 67 points
54. Horton, 67 points
55. Gagne, 66 points
56. Richards, 66 points
57. Rolston, 65 points
58. Frolov, 65 points
59. Carter, 65 points
60. Semin, 65 points

Points Race Prediction 2008-2009 season: 41-50

Here's 41-50 of this year's points predictions. Two of this year's big jumpers are Kyle Turris and Peter Mueller. Obviously, Turris has a lot to prove coming into this year, but I think he's NHL ready and should be on a line with someone who can elevate his game. Peter Mueller is right there with him because he should be playing the powerplay with Doan and Jokinen. It's odd to look at the Phoenix Coyotes as an offensive powerhouse, but it's starting to look more that way these days. Don't forget that they have forward Mikkel Boedker, the 2008 8th overall pick, trying to crack the lineup as well.

41. Hemsky, 72 points
42. Nash, 72 points
43. Kovalev, 71 points
44. Drury, 70 points
45. Brind'Amour, 70 points
46. Sundin, 70 points
47. Turris, 69 points
48. Mueller, 69 points
49. Ra. Whitney, 69 points
50. Gonchar, 69 points