But the Ottawa Senators are not drawing the sort of television audiences expected of a team en route to a championship. A Senators game on the CBC has yet to produce two million viewers. In fact, for the fourth game of the Eastern Conference final between Ottawa and the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, only 1.693 million tuned in."
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Q&A: Leafs' McCabe ready for team's fresh start - NHL - NBCSports.com: "An older corps of players, an aging Stanley Cup drought and a newer, faster NHL have given the Toronto Maple Leafs an impetus to get with the program. Traditionally fueled by veteran firepower, the Leafs didn't make the playoffs in 2005-06 after getting to the semifinals in 1999 and 2002; so out went coach Pat Quinn, and in came Paul Maurice with names like Kyle Wellwood, Alex Steen, Ian White and Johnny Pohl playing roles."
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Maple Leafs AHL/ECHL prospects review: "It has been two years of change for the Toronto Maple Leafs top affiliate. After moving from St. John’s – where the Leafs had developed prospects since 1991 – to Toronto for the 2005-06 season, the Marlies, as they are now known, have had an interesting two years.
Coach Paul Maurice guided the Marlies during the 2005-06 season and it was no secret he was being groomed as the next head coach of the big club. When rumor became fact at the end of the 2005-06 season, Greg Gilbert was hired as the new bench boss of the Marlies. Gilbert came to Ricoh Coliseum with an extensive resume, which included head-coaching stops with the Calgary Flames, the AHL’s Worcester IceCats and, most recently, the Ontario Hockey League’s Mississauga IceDogs. "
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But in the year nobody thought the Ottawa Senators were worth talking about or deserved to be assigned the expectations of a true contender, they finally fulfilled their promise."
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The oft-scratched, underachieving right winger who was ultimately demoted to the Toronto Marlies has signed to play with SKA-St. Petersburg of the Russian Elite League, according to the website Eurohockey.net."
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The 6-foot-1, 180 pound native of Tibro, Sweden, was the Maple Leafs' fifth choice, 216th overall, in the 2005 NHL entry draft.
'Anton is a top-level defenceman in the Swedish Elite League whose hockey sense and puck moving ability make him a real asset,' Leafs general manager John Ferguson said in a release. 'We are looking forward to having him at training cam"
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Later this afternoon, the Leafs will trot out their first new signing of the off-season, Anton Stralman, one of Sweden's top young defencemen.
And the Leaf blue line, which is already deep with quality rearguards, will have yet another. It will be hard – but not impossible – for Stralman to crack the lineup out of training camp.
Somewhere over the past few days, Stralman, the 20-year-old Swedish defenceman whom the club signed to a three- year entry level contract, picked up comparisons to Detroit's Niklas Lidstrom."
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"Alexei Ponikarovsky was rewarded for a career season by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday with a three-year contract extension worth $6.315 million US.
The fourth-round pick (87th overall) of the 1998 draft has recorded only 120 career points (54-66) in 268 games with Toronto but the majority of those points were recorded in his last three seasons as a Maple Leaf."
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Just imagine what the Toronto Maple Leafs could charge for TV rights if they ever won anything.
If a team that hasn't made the playoffs since the Blue Jays told the truth about injuries can ask for a 55 per cent increase in regional rights fees, up to about $700,000 a game, one can only assume a winner could get $1 million. Or more."
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Leafs fans to pay high price: "The price of being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan continues to go up, both for fans and broadcasters. After Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment raised ticket prices this month, the company is now planning to put as many as 20 Leaf games on its digital channel – an increase of up to eight over last season.
While those without digital TV boxes will have to pay $4.49 a month or $99 up front to watch those 20 Leafs games, that price tag pales in comparison to what broadcasters will ante up for the right to carry them."
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Ferguson carries on with business: "With John Ferguson's fate with the Leafs to be decided today at a meeting of the board of directors of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the general manager is acting as if it's business as usual.
Decision time for Leafs: "As they count the massive profits realized through a robust Canadian dollar, the newly popular Raptors and an NHL salary cap system that has saved the Maple Leafs at least $20 million in payroll costs in each of the last two seasons, the directors of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment probably can't stop giggling long enough to get too worried about some significant hockey decisions facing them, starting today."
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No surgery for Sundin: report: "The bad hip that reportedly could have ended Mats Sundin's NHL career won't need to be operated on after all.
Sundin's agent, J.P. Barry, told the Globe and Mail Wednesday that 'surgical intervention will not be required' and that the off-season will be 'business as usual' for the Toronto Maple Leafs star."
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"The AHL Marlies yesterday announced ticket price reductions in some sections of the Ricoh Coliseum for next season, including a drop of 38 per cent to $30 each on platinum-section season seats, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment said in a press release. "
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Last summer there were unfounded rumours the Leafs' captain wanted to be traded after he put his Toronto home up for sale. Now there's a published story that Sundin faces potentially career-ending hip surgery.
Sundin does have a lingering hip injury acquired during the past season, Leafs general manager John Ferguson said. But it's not so severe that it is threatening his career or his contract status and – as of now – it doesn't require surgery."
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Leafs season ticket holders will pay nearly six per cent more to watch the Buds at the Air Canada Centre in 2007-08. The highest priced ducats have been raised the most with platinum and gold sides going up to $182 each from $171.52. The lowest priced seats, purples, have been raised to $37 from $34.70."
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TheStar.com - Sports - Leafs boost ticket prices amid failure: "Maple Leafs season ticket holders will be able to use the money they saved on playoff tickets this season to pay for a nearly 6 per cent increase in prices for the 2007-08 NHL campaign.
The price for mediocrity has risen for subscribers, up $10.48 per ticket to a high of $182 for those in platinum and gold seats, while those in the lowest-priced section, purple, will now pay $37 instead of $34.70. The hike was approved this week by the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment board of directors."
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