{"id":27453,"date":"2010-10-06T13:22:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T18:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=27453"},"modified":"2010-10-06T13:22:00","modified_gmt":"2010-10-06T18:22:00","slug":"predictions-2010-toronto-maple-leafs-betting-preview-61010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nhl\/predictions-2010-toronto-maple-leafs-betting-preview-61010\/","title":{"rendered":"2010\/11 Toronto Maple Leafs Predictions \u2013 Odds \u2013 Season Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>2010-11 NHL Predictions\/Previews: Toronto Maple Leafs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>CappersPicks.com <a href=\"\/nhl\/\"><strong>NHL Betting<\/strong><\/a> and gambling site provides the BEST Online <a href=\"\/handicappers\/\"><strong>hockey predictions<\/strong><\/a> for you to bet on for the 2010\/11 NHL hockey season! Stick with us all season long! <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The last time the Toronto Maple Leafs played a playoff game: spring 2004. That means the best-case scenario for Leaf fans is that the drought will end at seven years in spring 2011. But is a return to the playoffs realistic this year? Brian Burke worked hard in the offseason. While he made a few useful moves, he failed in other areas. <\/p>\n<p>The Leafs look better on paper than last year\u2019s squad. But does that necessarily make them a playoff team?<\/p>\n<p><strong>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS<\/strong><br \/>\nStanley Cup odds: +6000<\/p>\n<p>Brian Burke wanted to build the Leafs from the net out and it at least appears like he\u2019s done a good job in that regard. A healthier, more mature Jonas Gustavsson and Jean-Sebastien Giguere look like a much better goalie tandem than what Toronto started with a year ago: a rookie Gustavsson with heart problems and a putrid Vesa Toskala.<\/p>\n<p>Gustavsson has his doubters but he has great size and athleticism; if he learns to stop overplaying the puck, he\u2019ll be a goodie. Giguere is also one of the best possible models to learn from in the crease. While he\u2019s past his prime, he\u2019s always been a great technical goalie with outstanding positioning. After posting a 2.49 goals against average and .916 save percentage upon arriving in Toronto last season, Jiggy will open 2010-11 as the starter, but this should be almost a 50\/50 split between the two goalies. <iframe allowtransparency='true' src='http:\/\/ff.connextra.com\/Bodog\/selector\/client?client=Bodog&#038;placement=Ext_RS_Sports_250x250&#038;cxt_aff_id=151627' class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin: 1px; border: 3px solid #FFFFFF;\" width='250' height='250' scrolling='no' frameborder='0' style='border-width:0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In theory, the Leafs should have one of the best, deepest blue lines in hockey this year. They fleeced Calgary last winter, shipping a pile of dead weight to acquire Dion Phaneuf. The bruising defender (and new Leaf captain) wore out his welcome in Calgary but is still just 25 years old; that\u2019s quite young considering that big defenders often mature late (see: Chris Pronger, Zdeno Chara).<\/p>\n<p>With puck mover Tomas Kaberle joining solid minutes eaters like Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin and Carl Gunnarsson, not to mention youngster Luke Schenn, the Leafs look like they\u2019ll do a better job keeping pucks out of their net this season.<\/p>\n<p>But the burning question is whether or not they\u2019ll put enough pucks\u00a0<em>in <\/em>the net. In Phil Kessel, they have one truly elite goal scorer. He has a sniper\u2019s release and scored 30 goals in 70 games on a horrific Toronto team as a 22-year-old last season. If that doesn\u2019t convince you that he\u2019s the real deal, nothing will. However, after Kessel, the Leafs don\u2019t have much.<\/p>\n<p>First-line center Tyler Bozak looks like he\u2019ll be a solid two-way forward; same goes for underrated winger Nikolai Kulemin. Kris Versteeg was a nice acquisition too. But, as respectable as these guys are, they\u2019re second-liners or great third liners on a championship NHL team (Versteeg literally was last year). In Toronto, they\u2019ll be depended upon as front-line players.<\/p>\n<p>With Nazem Kadri failing to make the team, the rest of Toronto\u2019s offensive potential at forward is frighteningly thin. Outside of Hogtown, most hockey fans and bettors have likely never heard of Mike Brown, John Mitchell or Tim Brent. Yet all those names look like they\u2019ll crack the Leafs\u2019 opening night lineup.<\/p>\n<p>The 2010-11 Toronto Maple Leafs look like a better group than last year\u2019s unit. They\u2019ll be annoying to play against and competitive enough to keep the eighth playoff berth in the East within shouting distance. But I just don\u2019t think they\u2019ll score enough to reach the postseason. Not unless Burke convinces Kaberle to waive his no-trade clause and ships him for a legitimate first-line forward.<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bodog.ca\/welcome\/151627\/betting-offers\/capperspicks-football-deposit-bonus.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">NOTE: To all the Canadians visiting CappersPicks.com today! The Bodog.ca Sportsbook has a particular focus on Canada\u2019s most popular sports: NHL Hockey and CFL Football. CHECK THEM OUT TODAY! CLICK HERE!!<\/a><\/h3>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><br \/>\n<em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shea Matthews weighs in with his 2010-2011 Toronto Maple Leafs Season Gambling Picks and NHL Preview, plus he provides the lastest NHL odds, Maple Leafs future lines, and Stanley Cup predictions&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":27455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[35935,35936,35937,34010,34011,34013,35938,34014,35939,2994,2996,3080,35940,35941,35942,35943,17638,895,3207,17823,1968,23619],"class_list":["post-27453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","tag-2010-maple-leafs","tag-2010-maple-leafs-predictions","tag-2010-maple-leafs-season-preview","tag-2010-nhl-predictions","tag-2010-nhl-stanley-cup-odds","tag-2010-2011-nhl-predictions","tag-2010-2011-toronto-maple-leafs-season-betting-preview","tag-201011-nhl-preview","tag-bet-on-maple-leafs","tag-hockey-picks","tag-hockey-predictions","tag-hockey-wagering","tag-maple-leafs-2010-preseason-schedule","tag-maple-leafs-nhl-schedule","tag-maple-leafs-odds","tag-maple-leafs-picks","tag-nhl-hockey-predictions","tag-nhl-picks","tag-nhl-predictions","tag-nhl-season-preview","tag-stanley-cup-odds","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27458,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27453\/revisions\/27458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}