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Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke confirmed yesterday that Tyler Bozak, the University of Denver star centre, whom the Leafs signed to a two-year deal last week, will not play for the Leafs nor the AHL Marlies this season. Bozak, who just recently recovered from left knee surgery, will stick around Toronto for a time this spring and work out with Leafs skating coach Graeme Townshend and strength and conditioning coordinator Matt Nichol. He was introduced to the Toronto media on Saturday.
"I know for sure he's not 100% with the knee injury that he had in college," Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. "He came back (late this season) and probably played at 80%, I was told."
Wilson officially named
Wilson officially will be named coach of the U.S. 2010 Olympic team today. Burke is the team's GM. Wilson, who has dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship, coached the American team to a sixth-place finish at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, a team that embarrassed the American contingent at those Games when some of the players trashed their rooms in the Olympic village. Wilson also coached the American squad that won the 1996 World Cup of hockey.
Around the crease
The last three games of the regular season should provide an interesting finish for the Leafs, at least in terms of the goal-scoring race. Jason Blake is the club's lead scorer with 61 points (25 goals and 36 assists), but Alexei Ponikarovsky is just two points behind (23 goals and 36 assists) and has been on a tear of late. Ponikarovsky is playing on the team's hottest line of late, centred by Mikhail Grabovski, with Nikolai Kulemin on the right. Blake has been on a line centred by John Mitchell and with newcomer Christian Hanson on the other wing ... There are said to be five teams in the race to sign Boston University defenceman Matt Gilroy -- the Leafs, New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks, New Jersey Devils and Nashville Predators. Teams can't sign the North Bellmore, N.Y., native until after the NCAA Frozen Four tournament, April 9-11 at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
