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Wow big trade today. Kane and Bogosian heading to Buffalo for Myers and others. Love these trades. Wish they happened more often.

 

the jets are getting a 2015 1st from buffalo also, does anyone know if the sabres have more then one first (anohter teasm) or would it be Buffalo's first

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As much as I don't like Montreal I wish sometimes the Leafs had a team like that. I think it all comes down to great goaltending. Price is one of the best and makes a lot of players look good. Especially that defenseman they have.

Im assuming you are referencing PK. Not sure how many Habs games you watch but PK is one of the best in the league. He often controls the play in the offensive zone and can exit his own end on his own which is possibly the best asset you can ask for in a D-man.

Haters gonna hate ;)

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Im assuming you are referencing PK. Not sure how many Habs games you watch but PK is one of the best in the league. He often controls the play in the offensive zone and can exit his own end on his own which is possibly the best asset you can ask for in a D-man.

Haters gonna hate ;)

I think Pk is awesome! Moreso as he matures. 2-3 more years and hes gonna be one of the leagues biggest draws.

 

Hes learning quick too. Notice how he handles the media now vrs his first 2 years?

 

Great talent and a superstar in the making( even though he already is to canadiens fans)

 

Personally I love the guy

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the jets are getting a 2015 1st from buffalo also, does anyone know if the sabres have more then one first (anohter teasm) or would it be Buffalo's first

 

I think that was one of about four or five first round picks they have. I think Buffalo had the NHL record for most draft choices.

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I bet you will see a lot of changes by next season. They are doing a lot of stuff behind the scenes and it's not all about the players/coaches etc. They have hired Alan Cross to program the music for the games and in November they changed the Leafs home goal music and installed the on ice projection system.

Anyone that knows the music scene in Toronto will know of Alan. IMHO he is the most knowledgeable "new" music personality in Canada.

It's all in order to increase the fan experience as well as to help pump up the crowd during the game.

There are way too many other barns that rock way better than the ACC does.

 

Here's an article on the hiring of Alan Cross and some of the changes being made.

 

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/02/09/maple-leafs-look-to-inject-life-into-acc-through-music

 

 

 

 

Leafs team up with Alan Cross to rock game nights

29


BY LANCE HORNBY, TORONTO SUN

FIRST POSTED:

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 09, 2015 04:57 PM EST | UPDATED: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 09, 2015 10:57 PM EST
1297662409041_ORIGINAL.jpg?quality=80&siFrom left: Major League Mixes’ Alan Cross (left) and Dave Charles (right) — in charge of music at the ACC — pose with Steve Edgar, the Leafs’ manager of game presentation in their control room. (Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun)
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TORONTO - The Maple Leafs have come to know too well the parallels between a soulless building and a lifeless team.

Now they’re undergoing a musical transfusion, from a press-box control room to almost 20,000 seats. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment has hired industry personality and “musical scientist” Alan Cross to shake up the game-night experience with the goal of making the Air Canada Centre a positive environment for the team and its loyal, but increasingly entertainment-starved, following.

Don’t underestimate what a pulsating beat, fused with a large, loud crowd can do for a team. The Leafs encounter it all the time on the road, in rinks such as the United Center and Bell Centre, the latter enhanced, ironically, when so many “real” Leafs fans show up.

The ACC has the numbers in terms of sellout crowds, but not the spirit, due in part to the Leafs facing the prospect of nine of 10 years out of the playoffs, a 48-year Stanley Cup drought and a large corporate season-ticket base that doesn’t excite too easily. Cross thinks he can at least reconnect with fans with the strategic use of tunes.

The Winnipeger created the popular feature, The Ongoing History of New Music, which airs on 102.1 The Edge in Toronto and in a dozen other radio stations, as well as run a music website. He and Dave Charles, co-founder of Q-107 and one-time president of the Juno Awards, have formed Major League Mixes Inc., with the Leafs the first of what they hope are many pro sports clients. The twist here will be involving both fans and players in the music-selection process, through new social-media platforms.

“It’s designed to freshen things up,” Cross promised on Monday when details of the rollout were provided. “We’ve included a lot of market research in this. We considered (the Leafs have many generations of fans) and it could be a 75-year-old is with his grandson at a game and both will have different tastes of what they think good music is.”

Cross and Charles will have a 500-song “core universe” list to play for all occasions and about 1,500 more selections in a library. They’ll draw on everything: Rock, rap, country and whatever is hot, marrying it to the pre-game show, intermissions, commercial breaks, peaking with goals, big saves, fights, penalty kills, alumni appearances and anything else of note between whistles.

Cross crossed paths with the Leafs by accident, meeting MLSE chief commercial officer Dave Hopkinson at a wine tasting last year.

“The Leafs game was on TV in another room and about five glasses in, we clued in about what the other person did for a living,” Cross laughed. “Six glasses in and it was, ‘Hey, we should do something together!’ He was very into it.”

Cross envisions a night in which the crowd might hear Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder sing Hard Sun during intermission and, when the puck drops, personalized songs for each player (providing they score a lot more than in January), moving the needle from Bruno Mars to AC/DC to the Tragically Hip to Iron Maiden.

Tinkering with the Leafs’ game-night show had already begun in the autumn. Reid Black, senior director of marketing for the Leafs and Marlies, said new club president Brenda Shanahan was pushing for change and the Leafs joined other NHL clubs with an impressive pre-game projection show. It makes the ice a 200-by-80-foot video screen.

“It made a dramatic difference, focused on current players and fans,” said Black. “We’re offering much more variety to our fans, such as letting 200 in for free to games (a promotion with Ford) and music is definitely in there.”

About 30% to 40% of Cross’ and Charles’ new presentation began a soft launch with the Jan. 29 home game against Arizona, increasing with Tuesday’s match against the Rangers and through the final weeks of the regular season.

“Phase 1 is to get music and library right,” said Charles. “Phase 2 is to get the fans more involved.”

A website will soon be created to get a music set list for every game and to encourage fan participation. Back in the fall, the change in music included the introduction of Teenage Head’s Let’s Shake when the Leafs scored. Toronto promptly took the NHL lead in home goals and held it until late December, when road defeats led to an overall offensive drought.

That led to some of the worst player-fan interaction since the 1980s.

“We believe we have the best fans in sports,” said Steve Edgar, manager of game presentation for the Leafs. “They’re loud when the game is good.”

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SOUND BITES

Some highlights of the Maple Leafs’ new game-night music plan, to be rolled out between this year and 2015-16:

*Fans will be asked to pick their favourite songs and music mixes for Leafs games. They’ll be offered a chance to download favourite music by Leafs players on a team music blog.

*New state-of-the-art production equipment and the latest music software, to help deliver and enhance the music production.

* The programming will be heard throughout the Air Canada Centre before, between periods and after the game.

* Fan music research will be conducted at every game to make sure all genres are considered.

* Leafs fan music spotlight will feature the best mix of three hot songs between periods.

* Creation of a Leafs Fan Top 50 songs special download, exclusively for the Leafs and MLSE.

HOLMSTROM STICKING AROUND

“We now present Jimmy Holmstrom at the organ” has become one of ACC announcer Andy Frost’s signature lines during pre-game warmups at the ACC.

And Holmstrom will still be there in future, even though the Leafs are investing a lot of money in a new in-house musical direction. Holmstrom, who works out of a press-box booth near the west end near the goal line, has been at the keyboard for years, playing canned music and pressing the air-compressed Leafs goal horn. He goes back three decades to when GM Gord Stellick invited him to work at Maple Leaf Gardens. As a kid, the present-day school teacher watched the ’67 Stanley Cup parade.

“Jimmy is an institution here,” said Steve Edgar, manager of game presentation for the Leafs. “I think this new system will help bring him even more recognition. He has been a huge part of this building and the team, and will continue to be.”

GREATEST HITS

You might still not grasp their Corsi and Fenwick.

But almost 20,000 fans are about to find out if Leafs players like the Clash, Coldplay, Foo Fighters or John Fogerty.

Player favourites will be part of a new music package to be introduced in coming weeks and months at the ACC. Fans will be able to agree or disagree with their choices for in-house tunes.

“They have offered us feedback about our music in the past,” said Steve Edgar, manager of game presentation for the Leafs. “Usually, they want it turned up. They’re on the ground floor, so they know (what they like).”

When Dion Phaneuf was made captain in 2010, the famous story was that general manager Brian Burke liked how he took control of minor matters such as the volume of the dressing room iPod dock.

Edgar says Phaneuf, the alternate captains and other senior Leafs often mention music they like and that the fans would appreciate hearing in warmups or during a game.

 

 

 

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Might as will give the fans some worthwhile entertainment. They sure aren't getting their money's worth from the Leafs. All they need now is some brass poles and the ballet to move in.

 

Great idea...never thought of brass poles...some pole dancing would certainly liven the place up!!!

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wait...does anyone remember when the leafs made the playoffs in 2012? does anyone remember how the entire downtown core shut down after game 6?

 

oh ya, music is definitely the problem

 

I love how the article references the united centre and the bell centre...who would have thought that crowd noise is determined by the product on the ice and not the music lol.

 

If the leafs were contenders you could play lullabies and it would be roaring in there.

Edited by AKRISONER
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The team will be chopped into little pieces, I'll be surprised if more than 5 are kept. It's a total and complete disaster,,,,again. My team has it's challenges but nothing like the laffs.

Biggest obstacle is the contracts. When will owners and GM's wake up?

Yep. It's far better to come in 9th or 10th in the conference, miss the playoffs and have the 14th draft pick rather then the 3rd or 4th. Leafs proved that for years. Glad Ottawa is playing catch up..... Again.

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Better late than never I guess. They should have started that midway through the year after the first lockout. It was obvious the team wasn't going anywhere then and it was time to start trading for draft picks... not trading draft picks.

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