The Ice Sheet: Leafs Losing on Purpose?

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

Not a day goes by without another silly rumor coming from the dark depths of the Toronto sports media.

Normally, I don't give two shakes of a lamb's tail about what comes out of the orifices of the mainstream mediots in that section of Canada, but TSN.ca's Darren Dreger takes the cake with this nutso conspiracy theory. Put on the tin-foil hates and lock the bomb shelter.

Theory: The Leafs are 'tanking' games to get a better draft position.

I won't call it "tanking," but some have.

A 3-2 loss to the St Louis Blues on home ice doesn't provide evidence of that, but if you scratch beneath the surface of the loss, there's a case to be made.

Jiri Tlusty's promotion to Toronto's top-line seemed a tad peculiar despite injuries to Alexei Ponikarovsky and Alex Steen. With 1 goal, 3 assists and a plus\minus of -9 in his last 27 games, did the 19 year old, who has struggled to earn a regular shift, all of sudden win over his head coach?

He won't call it tanking, and admits that one game doesn't provide proof, but he devotes an entire article to the subject. Uh-huh.
Let's see ... Prior to that loss to St. Louis, the Leafs were a rather decent 4-2, and each of those losses were by just one goal. Even counting the losses before that little hot patch, the Leafs are still 4-6 in their past 10. That hardly speaks of 'tanking' the season, given that it's in perfect line with their season record.

Really, is putting a young prospect on the first line for a single game the basis for throwing out the 'T"-word? Look at the Leafs' transactions the past month. Hmm, demoting and promoting mostly no-name C-grade prospects, for the most part. Clearly, the Leafs are trying to lose every single game and draft 1st overall. *eyeroll*

Whatever. From someone who calls himself "The Insider", and works for a major media outlet, I'd expect something more than Eklund-like BS.

As if life for the Atlanta Thrashers wasn't hard enough, star forward Ilya Kovalchuk was injured in last night's win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Need someone to blame? How about super-pest Jarkko Ruutu.

Kovalchuk scored his 38th goal, but was forced out of the game for good in the second period. He was injured in a knee-on-knee hit from Pittsburgh's Jarkko Ruutu and made a brief return later in the frame for one shift, but didn't return.

Kovalchuk was leveled by Ruutu 3:21 into the second period. The collision left Kovalchuk laying on the ice in obvious pain in front of Atlanta's bench before he limped to the locker room.

Or, if you are like FanHouse's Jon Press, you can blame Kovalchuk: "Anyone else find it ironic that had the League given Kovalchuk the suspension he deserved, he wouldn't have been around to get his knee blown up tonight? "

With the Thrashers sitting in 12th place, four points out of a playoff spot, any long-term injury to Kovy is pretty much lights out for the Thrashers' playoff hopes. Get ready to be barraged with Marian Hossa trade rumors up the wazoo.

Besides unfairly ripping on New Jersey, Barry Melrose is also a horrible dresser ... at least according to Men.Style.Com

Guess you can't blame a hockey coach turned sportscaster from looking like, well, a hockey coach turned sportscaster. What can brown do for you? Very little indeed

Hey, anyone that isn't afraid to sport a mullet on national TV is A-OK by me. Perhaps these fashion types ought to go back to their Vogue magazines and throwing up their soup dinners.

Gratuitous YouTube Embed: "The Tim Thomas Rap" - This is 100 different levels of awful. Sorry, but we need to stop suburban white types from trying to rap. Period.