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Toronto Maple Leafs: Sunday NHL Recap, News and Notes

By James Tanner

UNIONDALE, NY - JANUARY 11: Ryan Kesler #17 of the Vancouver Canucks butts heads with Zenon Konopka #28 of the New York Islanders during an NHL game at the Nassau Coliseum on January 11, 2011 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)
UNIONDALE, NY - JANUARY 11: Ryan Kesler #17 of the Vancouver Canucks butts heads with Zenon Konopka #28 of the New York Islanders during an NHL game at the Nassau Coliseum on January 11, 2011 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are on fire, having won 13 of their last 15 games, and will be looking to complete a perfect four game road trip tonight in Anaheim.

While the Toronto Maple Leafs have been on an amazing run, the rest of the NHL has been pretty interesting as well.  For starters, all four of the current best teams in the NHL are from the Eastern Conference.

Along with the Leafs, the Panthers, Capitals and Hurricanes were all tied for first Sunday morning. The best from the West, the Edmonton Oilers, is one point behind the four Eastern teams, with the Rangers (somehow) right there at 6th.

As for the best teams coming into this season, Tampa is eighth overall, held back only by the fact that they’ve played three less games than everyone else, and Vegas is 13th and Colorado is 17th.

Around the NHL

The biggest story in the NHL right now – aside from the fact it took the NHL an extra week to postpone the Islanders games (for some reason it was OK to make them play without six regulars, but eight was too many?) – is the complete collapse of the Player Safety Department.

The NHL apparently thinks this is OK

Josh Morrissey was fined $5000 (the equivalent of fining me a dollar) for this horrendous play, then they turned around and fined Aretemi Panarin the same amount for throwing his glove at Brad Marchand, which is an action that should be rewarded.

There is just no way to comprehend how the slash isn’t a suspendable offense.

It will be interesting to see what the NHL does with Brendan Lemieux who apparently bit Brady Tkachuck last night.  My prediction is that they fine him $5000 and offer him the head of the department when he retires.

In other news, has any seen Elias Pettersson?  I thought OK he had a rough season but he’s an MVP quality player who just had a rough season, and I made what I thought was a great buy-low draft pick in fantasy hockey earlier this season.  About a quarter of the season in, he has 3 goals and 11 points in 21 games and has been absolutely brutal.

The guy is just 23 and he’s in a prolonged slump, and he happens to play for the team in the NHL with the absolute worst general manager.  You have to wonder which team is going to get him for pennies on the dollar and then absolutely destroy Vancouver for the next decade.

A Leafs Superfan In Enemy Territory. dark. Next

Seriously though, this guy better pick it up while I’ve still got a chance at the title!

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