Lupul is also closing in on his return

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This week is always one of the best weeks of the CFL season because it is the annual reassess and move forward evaluation of what has happened and what all teams hope to happen. Frank Nesser Jersey Store . Once the Labour Day weekend is over the second season starts and the run for the Grey Cup heats up, even for the teams that seem so far away from the top. For Montreal, the quarterback carousel started with Troy Smith, transitioned to Alex Brink and now it looks like Jonathan Crompton will get his shot. Crompton is a big kid for a quarterback and at six-foot-four and 225 pounds his physical size will enhance his durability. He throws hard with and his accuracy has been good, so far. It is very difficult to find a quarterback and win games but perhaps this third time is going to be the right time. A lot of the other aspects of Alouettes football are already there but not at the most important position. I dont think Montreal can wait and hope for a player to emerge from another source other than their own program. To learn and master a playbook in the 11 weeks remaining is unrealistic; possible but not likely. So, for Crompton this is a phenomenal opportunity to establish himself and work on a career. I honestly though Troy Smith was the guy, I was optimistic for Alex Brink. This time I will say: Take it and make it happen to Crompton. With two straight home games against Ottawa and Hamilton you can ease into a leadership role as compared to the tougher competition of Calgary and Edmonton. It is amazingly difficult to win games and find a quarterback at the same time but that is the challenge for Montreal for the rest of the season. With Winnipeg the 24-16 win over Montreal was the fourth time Drew Willy and the Bombers offence had to come from behind and win in the fourth quarter. At 6-3 they are right in the middle of everything and with the Riders home-and-away if they win two they will battle for first all year long. If they lose their next two games their playoffs will start on the road, in some capacity. Game 2 of Week 9 just completed was Edmontons 41-27 win over Toronto at home. The Argos had pass protection problems for the second week in a row. As a team, you protect Ricky Ray. He is going to work down the field consistently and surgically. If you dont, he cant. Ray is a good athlete but I would not say a great athlete. Without the element of time you cant expect him to take a game over athletically. Edmonton is looking really good. I am most impressed with their depth at running back and receiver. When Chris Jones was in Toronto he had an influence on personnel. Now, in Edmonton I am sure he has more than an influence. Edmonton has done an exceptional job on the talent assessment test. When JC Sherritt is battling for playing time and when your third running back - Tyler Thomas from the National power, Bacone - comes in and stars it sure is impressive. Ed Hervey and Chris Jones are working well together and their entire personnel department has performed. Matt Nichols has looked good and who would ever have anticipated Eddie Steele from University of Manitoba to be such an impact player? Another team that is very good with personnel is Calgary. Beating the best is critical but beating the teams you should beat is just as important. I though Calgary just systematically wore Ottawa down. Quarter by quarter they became stronger and quarter by quarter the Redblacks faded. I hope the fans continue to support the Redblacks as they have done all summer. It is unlikely this team will go on an extended winning streak and dominate in the playoffs but I do see progression. Henry Burris has to play better throwing the ball. A spectacular receiver needs to be found and a couple of defensive backs. As Montreal is trying win and trying to find a quarterback the Redblacks face a similar dilemma. As an organization have to be careful with the NFL cut situation. Too many changes will hurt their opportunity to win, not enough changes will also hurt. There will be tough evaluations over the next two weeks and for the team to improve efficiency, the decisions must be correct. The final game of the week saw Saskatchewan beat B.C. 20-16. It was a very good game and, to be honest, we have not had enough of them. Heres another reason for a single nine-team league: Solomon Elimimian and John Chick are the two best defensive players in the league right now. If the CFL Awards happened tomorrow one of them would not even be considered and that is not right due to East-West representation. One nine-team league would not only give you the best teams with the best records but would also give you the most accurate representation of who is the best at their position. Still, full compliments go to the Riders for their win. The first time the two teams played, B.C. ran for 184 yards but this time they only managed 58. The first time Andrew Harris ran for 138; this time only 11. Richie Hall as a defensive coordinator is very proud of his guys stepping up to the challenge of a good Lions team that features Harris, Stefan Logan and Tim Brown. I will be very interested to see the decision to be made on Travis Lulay. He should be ready for sure in the next two weeks but how do you tell Kevin Glenn a change will happen? Glenn is one of the great people of the league but this must be difficult to swallow if Lulay takes over. Glenn does not have 10 years to playa€| at this point of his career it is year by year. No one ever said football was fair in any way. Opening week, Labour Day weekend, Thanksgiving weekend and, of course, the playoffs are my favorite event weekends of CFL football. Hopefully each game becomes an event in its own way. Don Wells Jersey Store .Y. - Carey Price had an early feeling that one goal might be enough to settle the latest matchup between his Montreal Canadiens and longtime Original Six foe, the New York Rangers. Jack May Jersey Store . The win puts the final playoff berth in Group A in question. If the Czechs beat Slovakia on Tuesday, they will go through. If they lose, Germany will get the last quarter-final berth. https://www.chinacheapjerseys.net/will-h...sey-store/ . With Van Osch out with a flu bug that has been rampaging through the tournament, Knezevic stepped in to lead B.C. (4-3) to a pair of victories on Tuesday before 1,131 at the Maurice Richard Arena.TORONTO – The images of humiliation flashed across a screen one by one inside the Maple Leafs practice facility on Wednesday morning, images of mediocrity from two incredibly embarrassing losses. Lazy fore-checks. Lazy back-checks. Careless defensive positioning. All the little intricate details that slipped away so badly in a pair of one-sided losses to the Sabres and Predators. Obviously there was lots that we couldve chosen to go through, head coach Randy Carlyle said the next day, even managing a grin. Carlyle was hoping to highlight process over big picture with his job on the line and he got the response he was looking for on Thursday night. The Leafs left behind the embarrassment of recent days with a mostly thorough 5-2 win over the Lightning, ending a three-game losing streak while quieting the panic and weariness of a frustrated city. That, said Cody Franson, pausing to exhale, is a much better feeling than the one that weve been carrying around for the past couple days. Richard Panik, drafted and developed by the Lightning, scored to put the Leafs ahead for good moments into the middle period, Toronto ultimately holding the leagues most potent offence to just two goals and 28 shots. Their goal was to keep the latter number under 25, something theyve done all too infrequently in the past two seasons. That was our main focus, said Jonathan Bernier after a 26-save performance, to keep [them to] 25 shots or under against us, and we were pretty close to that. I thought we played a pretty solid game. His job security questioned repeatedly after a 9-2 loss to the Predators two nights earlier, Carlyle believed his team was more engaged, structured and relaxed against the Lightning. It was a far cleaner effort overall – far fewer turnovers – one that kept Steven Stamkos quiet until the final furious moments of the final frame. It was an example of what kind of team we can be when we stay disciplined to our system and manage the puck, Franson said. And that, generally speaking, was the intent of the video session just a day earlier – demonstrate, under increasing pressure from all corners of the city, that the path toward respectability wasnt so overwhelming or undoable. This isnt a mountain that were climbing or a building that we have to push over, Carlyle said. This is something that youve done all your life and all were expecting you to do is to continue to do some of the things and do them at a higher rate and do them more consistently. Consistency has been elusive for the Leafs all year. The team that beat Boston handily just over a week ago was remarkably different from the one that showed up Saturday in Buffalo. This team, the one that held the high-powered Lightning in check, was vastly changed from the one that yielded nine markers to Nashville. Carlyles message suitably after victory then was to start preparations for Detroit on Saturday. Wed love to be able to be more consistent for sure, he said. Thats a goal that weve set out. And tonight was hopefully a starting point for us. By no means do we think were over the hump. Five Points 1. Stamkos Kept Quiet Carlyle employed his top line and top defensive pairing against Stamkos and, for the better part of Thursday evening, they held him and linemates, Valtteri Filppula and Ryan Callahan, in check. Stamkos scored late with the Lightning net empty and finished with five shots, but he was mostly quiet in defeat. Tampas captain had six goals in 10 career games previously at the ACC. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you dont cover one of the best players in the league, they have multiple ways of hurting you, said Carlyle. Additionally crucial for the head coach in limiting the leagues top goal-scorer since the 2009-10 season was his teams dominance in the faceoff circle. The Leafs won 65 per cent of the draws, led by Tyler Bozak at a remarkable 73 per cent (22-30). Toronto is now up to seventh overall in the faceoff circle, again led by Bozak, who is eighth-best in the league at 57.5 per cent 2. Point Streak Franson extended the longest point streak of his career and the longest currently of any player in the NHL against Tampa. Franson, in line for a big payday in unrestricted free agency next summer, rung up a point for the ninth straight game, totaling nine assists and 11 points in that span. Brandon Jones Jersey Store. The 27-year-old had never gone more than four games with a point prior to this streak. He is one game from matching Tom Kurvers franchise record for longest point streak by a defenceman. 3. Fourth Line Offence Colton Orr went 50 games last season without recording a goal or even a point. He was demoted in the fall as the Leafs – led by a revamped management team – veered toward a more conventional lineup, one that leaned more on skill and less on grit. Enter the likes of Richard Panik, who scored Thursday opposite his former team, his fourth goal of the year. Panik is now on pace for 17 goals, despite averaging only nine minutes per game, none of that coming on the power play. The 23-year-old is a good example of why the Leafs are better off using more capable players on their fourth line. He might also be deserving of some opportunity on the power play, especially given the ineffectiveness of the teams second unit – Nazem Kadri, Peter Holland and David Clarkson have just two power play goals combined. 4. No Pain No player in the league has thrown himself around more recklessly this season than Leo Komarov. And yet the 27-year-olds body is apparently no worse for wear. He claims to have no bumps or bruises, nothing to signify the nightly punishment his body endures. Ive been thinking about that, too, he said. I guess Im used to it. Komarov says he feels fatigue and the usual tightness after a game, but his body doesnt have anything bad on it as far as bruises are concerned. He isnt one for a regular dip in the ice-bath or hot tub either, but does visit a chiropractor two times a week. The Finnish winger took over the league-lead from Matt Martin in the hits department on Thursday. He threw four against the Lightning and now boasts 88 in 20 games. 5. Under the Microscope The Leafs were under siege after their hapless performance against the Predators, leading to what van Riemsdyk dubbed as a lot of over-analyzing in recent days. Starting his career with the Flyers, the 25-year-old is well-accustomed to the ranting of an engaged fan-base and media corps. Coming from a market like Philly, theres some very passionate fans there as well so you learn some lessons over the years I played there, he said. I dont really let anything faze me as far as stuff like that. Youve got the most passionate fans in the world here, a lot of coverage for our team so you know theres going to be a lot of people giving their two cents – deserved or not. So weve just got to be ready to not worry about that and worry about what were doing in there. Injury Updates David Booth is nearing his Leafs debut, but it seems a likely possibility that the 29-year-old heads to the Marlies first on a conditioning stint. Booth, who was suffering from a broken right foot, hasnt played in a game since the end of September, but has been skating with the big club for the past week. Sidelined since late October, Joffrey Lupul is also closing in on his return. Like Booth, it seems likely that the 31-year-old will be out through the weekend though. The Leafs will send Lupul for one last round of x-rays, intent on making sure his previously broken right hand is healed and in no danger of further injury. Stats Pack 6 – Goals for David Clarkson this season, besting the mark he set in 60 games last year. 11 – Points for Cody Franson during a career-high nine-game point streak, the longest of his career. 4 – Goals for Richard Panik this season. 7-0-0 – Leafs record when scoring first. 22-30 – Faceoff mark for Tyler Bozak against the Lightning. Bozak is eighth in the NHL at 57.5 per cent. Special Teams Capsule PP: 1-3 Season: 20.3% PK: 3-3 Season: 84.3% Quote of the Night I told them theyve got a better chance of seeing the big guy than that happening. - Randy Carlyle, responding to a players request for another optional morning skate on Saturday. They requested and were granted one on Thursday morning. Up Next The Leafs host the Red Wings on Saturday. ' ' '