Sweet Holy Moses

Honestly, Bozak has no spot on the leafs, except as a stop-gap while we wait for a true #1. He's not good enough for L1, Grabo's set on L2 with JVR and Kulemin. I want Kadri to have more time on L3; he's got far more upside than Bozak does. Bozak's too soft for L4. He's expendable, really.

Agreed. He's got 24 shots so far, and a career S% of 10.5. He won't be 0% forever.

Well, looks like the price for Luongo just went up.

No surprise there. Sousa doesn't even like soccer.

If Bob McKenzie is talking about it, this got a whole lot more legitimate. Unless he's shooting it down, of course. Honestly, I don't see the point. He'd just be a figurehead. MLSE will still have their fingers all up in this pie, and nothing much will change. I mean if the Leafs had acquired Gretzky like twenty years ago.... But now? Meh.

Leafs answer for a #1 Centre? Wayne Gretzky. As Team President. Granted, this info is from Nick Kypreos and Bob McCown, so it probably doesn't mean much. But still.

New TFC coach Ryan Nelson will leave QPR after their game on the 29th of January, and will join TFC on February 1st. Source. If QPR hadn't let him leave, this could have been really embarrassing for TFC. As it stands, it's only mildly embarrassing. Sigh.

It wasn't so much that Van's goalies were bad, but that Teemu is the greatest man that ever lived. And also that they were bad.

A little bit?

I hear you. I probably searched for MLS payroll or something like that, though. Or it could have been my filter settings. Maybe WWE blocked it.

I had tried that like three weeks ago and found nothing. My bad.

Does that report exists online? If so, link please. If not, does it list individual salaries, or just team payrolls?

Two thoughts: like Ruki, really looking forward to tomorrow night. While the Leafs are missing a #1 Centre (as many, many have pointed out), we have three lines that can score (at least on paper). A balanced attack is far more effective, in my opinion, than an too much emphasis on a single line. Komarov should be fun to watch. He's the kind of guy Burke wanted from Armstrong and MacArthur. Super-pest without all that much dirtiness (from what I've heard). Orr and Brown will make life tough for anyone that tries to mess with Kessel or Lupul. Secondly, with Redden signing in St. Louis for just $800k, I'm now officially hoping that, should the Leafs not make the finals (which is highly likely), St. Louis defeats NYR for the cup.

MLS has a salary cap, just like the NHL. The cap is at $2.95 million, according to HttK. Each player cannot have more than $350k in salary. However, each team may sign up to three 'Designated Players', that can get paid well above the $350k cap, and who only count $350k to the team cap. Allocation money can be used to reduce a player's cap hit. Or put another way, it essentially raises a team's salary cap for the year. It's sort of like if other teams took on parts of TFC's salary to make the trade happen, like the Leafs did with Lombardi. So Toronto FC (also owned by MLSE, but you probably knew that), earned approximately $500k-$600k (estimated) in allocation money by trading down in the draft three times yesterday. This can be used to raise TFC's effective cap to about $3.5 million. It's the equivalent of if the Leafs increased their cap by $14 million this year, while still getting the players they wanted. Tremendous moves by TFC yesterday. I'm not an expert in the way MLS contracts are handled, though. If I'm wrong on any of this, I hope someone else corrects it.

I know MLS doesn't release salaries or allocation money (and some people claim their unfairly support NYRB and LA by giving them more allocation money than other teams) but I'm curious to know just what LA's total team salary is, both in terms of absolute money, and in terms of a percentage of, say, San Jose's or Columbus' payroll. Also, Montreal's salaries. Personally, I don't understand why so many Serie A players are willing to jump ship to MTL for what, on paper, is less than $350k per year. Surely the non-DP players (notably Nesta and Rivas) would make more in Europe, even if not in the top tier?

First, I actually really like the Timbers' new kits. Though I think the red one is a little too Ajax-esque. Those shoulder stripes look awful, though, as usual. And good on SKC getting a local sponsor -- for $2.5m per year, too! As the one of the board's (also world's) few TFC fans, I am definitely happy with what they did. Two local boys who played together as kids, both of whom are very happy to be playing for their hometown club. And to get three trades' worth of allocation money is huge in a league like MLS. Estimates have it at around $500-$600k, which is like 20% of the salary cap, if memory serves me right. I'm quite excited about Bekker's potential -- I'm almost certain he'll be a Canadian senior international in the next few years, certainly by the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually leaves for Europe, though.

I wouldn't consider Schultz a sleeper. Rookie, sure. But he's a potential Calder winner. Not really a sleeper. Other than that, too many Senators, and not enough Bruins, Flyers or Kings.

Les Habitants officially tell Scott "$3.75million/goal" Gomez to stay the fuck out of Montreal. Apparently, the new ownership group belive that their $7.35 million (cap, $5.5m actual money) and is better spent keeping Gomez away from the team than letting him attempt to be productive. I agree.

Beckham, still playing at 40 with a pace of 3. I've had faster goalkeepers. Heck, I've had faster goalposts. EDIT: Only £425/week? His wife's botox budget is more than that. Must be desperate.

I call dibs on re-establishing the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs in the Central Hockey League, then taking them to Stanley Cup glory!

Bye Bye Bettman? Who Wants To Be an NHL Owner (of the Coyotes)? NHL 2013: KHL All-Star Edition? The McKinnon Sweepstakes? That's all I've got, and none of them are particularly good.

At least the Leafs could then win the Calder Cup, right? That's something.

So MLSE hires a soccer coach that is has never coached before and is currently under a playing contract in England; the Raptors have a GM who drafts more Europeans than talent, and hire a coach who has never had a winning season; and now drop a highly controversial and polarizing GM in Brian Burke, only to keep him within the organization and promote his close friend/co-worker/advisor to the GM spot. What the hell are they doing?

It's actually a good question. Can Toronto win the Championship? Of anything? I'm already starting work on a 8-league US junior hockey system similar to the CHL. Should be fun.