The Toronto Maple Leafs are stepping to a new beat. After collapses of various degrees over the past three seasons, the Leafs have opted for a newer approach - a more analytical approach - to try to avoid dropping out of playoff contention during the season. "You need a team thats capable of getting through some of those things and theres a learning process," general manager Dave Nonis said in conversation with TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie this weekend. "You have to look at some personnel issues and you have to look at how you do things. We have to learn from those mistakes. There are things that we have to correct, in the coaching staff, from a management standpoint and the players." And the Leafs certainly took a look at the entire organization this summer, with an overhaul beginning right at the top with the hiring of Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan as team president. Shanahan triggered the trickle-down effect with the removal of assistant GMs Dave Poulin and Claude Loiselle along with assistant coaches Dave Farrish, Greg Cronin and Scott Gordon. The vacant coaching positions were filled by former Toronto Marlies head coach Steve Spott and former Florida Panthers head coach Peter Horachek. The new direction – and what could turn out to be the biggest change for the organizations present and future - is Shanahans hiring of analytics expert Kyle Dubas, the 28-year-old former GM of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds as Noniss assistant. As advanced statistics have become more prevalent in the NHL over the last few years, the Leafs hope the infusion of a bright analytic mind will inject new life into a club that ranked worst in the NHL in Corsi (Shots attempted vs. Shots against) and has developed the reputation of being a bad puck-possession team. "Its a different way of looking at things," Nonis said of placing more importance on analytics. "Theres a lot of information that should disseminate throughout the coaching staff and help them make the decisions on lineups, on combinations, on how you play the opposition, so I think the coaches are going to benefit from it. "From a management standpoint I think were going to benefit from it long term, if we can do some of the things were hoping to do. One of the things that we talked about … is how do we take some of this information and project into the future how were going to get better and things we can do to get better. And thats not going to be a two-month or three-month project. I think its going to be something that is going to take years for us to really nail down, but were attacking it pretty hard and Kyle and his staff is working hard on it right now." In order for the shift in philosophy to work, the entire organization needs to buy in, which Nonis says has never and should never be a problem. "The analytics budget was put into our budget by me," Nonis said. "If I had an aversion to it I wouldnt have put it in and I put it in several years ago. "The reason we havent spent the majority of it is that until now we really havent had a person come to us that has shown us some direction that made sense. Weve had a lot of good coloured graphs and things that look pretty but it really wasnt helpful and I think when we had those discussions with Kyle, it looks like this is the first person that had been able to talk to us, and I put Brendan into the same category, were not deep into it and we need someone to help us with it and to explain how it is going to move us forward and he (Dubas) was able to do that." Nonis added that even head coach Randy Carlyle has been all ears to the new direction. "No question. Randy has always been open to it," he explained. "We used it last year - we presented him with information and hes never said Get that out of here, which I think some coaches have." Now its up to the players to absorb the new wave of information on the way. It will take patience, determination and effort to perfect a new system based around advanced statistics. And it will also take character, which has become a hot topic around the team since outgoing MLSE president Tim Leiweke made comments about it in a recent address at Ryerson University in Toronto. And while Leiweke backed away from the specifics of that statement, saying it was a general response and not directed at any one player, Nonis didnt seem to agree with his future former boss. "Were comfortable with the character of the group -with the group coming back and the players that we added," he said. "If we had questions about their character they wouldve been gone in the summer." Sports Jerseys . Toronto ended an 0-4-0 skid with Sundays shootout win over visiting New Jersey, but the club could have a difficult time making it two victories in a row tonight. The Maple Leafs have dropped three straight and 11 of the last 12 regular- season meetings against Boston overall and the Bruins have claimed six straight in Beantown. Cheap Sports Jerseys . Showing more spark after not taking enough challenging shots on goal in their 1-0 loss Friday night, the Bruins had 18 shots in the first period after managing just 25 in the entire opener. Luke Glendening cut Bostons lead to 2-1 at 13:20 of the second period before Milan Lucic scored late in the second and Zdeno Chara added a power-play goal early in the third. https://www.sportsstarsjerseys.com/michael-jordan-jersey/. The 30-year-old Texas native was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 20th round of the 2001 amateur draft. Duke spent six years in Pittsburgh and also had stints with Arizona, Washington and Cincinnati. College Michael Jordan Jersey . At a news conference Tuesday where it was thought that the fiery Schallibaum may be shown the door after a dismal finish to the Major League Soccer season, team president Joey Saputo said no decision has been made on whether the Swiss Volcano will be back in 2014. Michael Jordan Jersey Nike .J. Ward appeared in court Friday on misdemeanour charges that he threw a glass mug at a bartender at a Denver strip club.ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Brandon Morrow gave up four hits over three innings, Jose Bautista drove in a run and a Toronto Blue Jays split squad beat the Canadian junior national team 12-2 Tuesday. Making his second start and third appearance of spring training following a season-ending forearm injury last May, Morrow allowed two runs -- one earned -- walked three and struck out two during a 46-pitch outing. He gave up five runs and six hits in three innings against Pittsburgh on March 5. Bautista went 1 for 2 with a double and a first-inning sacrifice fly off 17-year-old Ben Onyshko. Colby Rasmus returned to the Blue Jays lineup after missing seven games with a stiff neck. He was 0 for 2 with a walk. Blue Jays 3, Tigers 2 (10) LAKELAND, Fla. -- Justin Verlander pitched one-hit ball into the fourth inning of his spring debut for the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, a 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Verlanders spring routine has been postponed by his recovery from core-muscle repair surgery on Jan. 9, and his first scheduled start was rained out last Thursday. "It was a really good sign to get out there on the mound and not worry about it, and worry about getting batters out and (the results) still be pretty good," he said. "I put in a lot of work after surgery to get to this point and be ready for the start of the season. The 2011 MVP and Cy Young Award winner threw 52 pitches, giving up a first-inning single to Melky Cabrera and walking two in 3 2-3 innings. He had two strikeouts, usinng only his fastball and curveball.dddddddddddd "Im not throwing sliders yet. I threw three in the bullpen, the first three I threw all year and they were good," he said. "I just want to get down to my three main pitches first, and the slider has always been pretty easy for me to throw for strikes. Its pretty similar to throwing my fastball so it doesnt take a big adjustment for me to get that going." Don Kellys two-run home run off Toronto starter Todd Redmond put the Tigers up 2-0 in the second inning. Dan Johnson tied it for the Blue Jays with a two-run shot off Joba Chamberlain in the seventh, Johnsons third home run in 14 at-bats. Redmond gave up five hits and two runs in four innings while striking out three. Bradley Glenns led off the 10th inning with a home run off Melvin Mercedes to win it for the Blue Jays. STARTING TIME Blue Jays: Redmond, a late replacement for Marcus Stroman, has given up four home runs in nine innings. Stroman stayed in Dunedin to pitch against the Canada National Junior Team. Tigers: Verlander went four innings in his first start because of his efficiency. He threw only 52 pitches. "Just because the way he was pitching, we thought it could go to an extra inning," said manager Brad Ausmus. "We consulted him just to make sure he felt OK. He said he did, so we kind of rolled with it." Verlander expects to be ready for opening day, and Ausmus said he is only a few pitches behind the other starters at this point. ' ' '