The Hockey Thread

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

These phone-in callers on 640 are ridiculous. "That's our new captain" and "Start the parade" were the first two.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

"Because of that trade, we'll win the Cup this year...well we might not win it, but we'll be in the playoffs. Guaranteed."

[NobBe Nobbs]

Is Giguere really that much of an improvement? What does this mean for Gustavsson?

[The Sultan of Swank]

Doesn't Giguere's contract end after next season?

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

The Giguere deal was about finances. He's maybe a slight improvement on paper (but off paper, Toskala was an improvement and Raycroft was an improvement and so forth), but getting rid of Blake and Toskala saves some cap space.

Which is funny because when Blake and Toskala came in no Leaf fans beileved me when I said they weren't going to be the ones to lead the team to glory.

[Gabriel]

As a well-documented fan of both teams, I absolutely love the Leafs/Flames deal.

Calgary gets: a 2nd line center in Matt Stajan who can help the team win more draws than they have been, and has a decent amount of offensive talent... a 1st or 2nd line left winger to play probably with Iginla and/or Jokinen, in Nik Hagman, who also has two years past this season on his contract at something like $3.5 a year... a fourth line gritty winger in Jamal Mayers. Think about this: Brian McGratton, Brandon Prust, Jamal Mayers. Enough said... and a defensively responsible Ian White who can play forward on a 3rd or 4th line if needed. We didn't really need a defenseman in the deal, what with Kronwall and Johnson in the press box as 7th/8th d-men, but I'm glad we got him. White's a good character player and he will make a good 2nd/3rd pairing defenseman.

Toronto gets: Dion Phaneuf. Dion's play has been steadily decreasing over the last couple years, but there's no doubt that his potential upside is enormous. A fresh start might be just what he needs. He's shown flashes of his rookie season this year, but hasn't been able to consistently play that way with the Flames. An emerging Giordano and the great depth at defense in the organization made him expendable... Freddy Sjostrom may not be a Hagman-level player, but seeing him this year with the Flames has really opened my eyes to what he provides. He's such a versatile player and can play anywhere in the lineup. He has a goal scorer's touch, but plays a gritty game, using his speed and big body to forecheck hard, and his penalty killing ability will benefit the Leafs immensely. He comes in and becomes the number one PK specialist in the lineup. He's no name to scoff at here... and big Keith Aulie, who as Burkie said is six-foot-six of towering doom. He's not NHL ready, but the Leafs are deep on the back-end and don't need him to be yet. The remainder of this year with the Marlies, and possibly next season, and then Toronto could very well have an answer to Zdeno Chara.

As I said, I love the deal for both teams.

As far as the other deal goes, Giguere gives the Leafs an upgrade in net and may be able to help with a push to try and get into the playoffs here this year. He's not a long-term answer, but short term, he gets out of Anaheim, ends up with Burke who's been good to him over the years, and the Leafs shed some salary in Jason Blake (who until now has been un-moveable), and Toskala clearly wasn't going to be sticking around. So you dump almost $9 million in salary, pick up almost $6, and Burke now has a little wiggle-room to add pieces at the deadline.

Good day for everyone, I think.

[Toe]

I want to see what Burke does next. Ponikarovsky is a guy everyone keeps saying is gone, and I want to see what happens with him.

I did not expect any of the trades that occured today. Our defence next season could be Kaberle, Phanuef, Komi, Schenn and Beauchimen in the top 5. Giguere should be better then Toskala (who isn't?) and is an Allaire student. Maybe he can help Gustavsson improve on his game.

I do think these moves do limit the amount of signings the Leafs can make in the off-season, but getting Phanuef is a big deal. If he can rebound from his slump, then the Leafs have picked up an all-star calibre defenceman.

[The Sultan of Swank]

I think having slept on the deals. They definitely make Toronto a better team, but anyone who seems to think that they can somehow make the playoffs this season are drinking some funny water. They've got 26 games left to play and are 12 points back with 45. Everyone can agree that 93 points seems to be the magic number the past few seasons. That would mean Toronto has to go 24-4 to make the playoffs. Now granted, the 8th place, and the teams surrounding it are in a pretty good log jam right now, but even if the Rangers, Habs, Thrashers, Bruins, Panthers or Flyers only win.... around half their remaining games it would put 8th place around 85-90 points. Which means Toronto would not only need to win around 20 games, and hop over 7 teams.

Now, these do improve the Leafs quite a bit. But even with Toronto's usual Late Feb push, it ain't gonna happen.

Having said that, if Toronto could finish 11th or 12th, I'd really appreciate that, because I'll be really, really pissed if Boston gets Taylor Hall.

[Toe]

This definitely is a move for next year. The playoff dream is dead - once again.

[TGWL]

Freddy Sjostrom may not be a Hagman-level player, but seeing him this year with the Flames has really opened my eyes to what he provides. He's such a versatile player and can play anywhere in the lineup. He has a goal scorer's touch, but plays a gritty game, using his speed and big body to forecheck hard, and his penalty killing ability will benefit the Leafs immensely. He comes in and becomes the number one PK specialist in the lineup. He's no name to scoff at here...

That's how he was with the rangers. So the good news is he should be able to stay consistant, and be valuable to the leafs.

[blaze1992]

Dion and Kaberle on the PP should be fun to watch. But the other 3 forwards not so much .

Who do you think Burke is going to trade Poni, and possible Graboski for?

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Who do you think Burke is going to trade Poni, and possible Graboski for?

Nikolai Borschevsky.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Saw this on the front page of TSN.ca...

Another new era for the Toronto Maple Leafs began in ernest on Monday morning as newcomers Dion Phaneuf and Jean-Sebastien Giguere arrived for their first practice in blue and white.

And immediately thought of this...

Typo aside, he'd be as good as anybody they've got at forward now.

[TGWL]

Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust traded to Rangers for Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik.

I'm not sure why Calgary wants Kotalik...perhaps he'll be used for Powerplays, since he's got a rocket of a shot when he hits the net. Higgins didn't excel in New York and really needed a change, which is sad because he just got there. His confidence is down right now, and he's been missing the net a lot, even on breakaways. He's doing everything right.....but getting the goals.

I don't see the Rangers using Prust for anything more than a fringe player, or a 4th line player who doesn't get much playing time, but John Tortorella doesn't use much of the 4th line anyway.

Olli might be the missing piece to spark something with some players who are struggling. Although, they have the option of sliding him in the middle of Gaborik and Prospal.

IMO, this deal looks like it was done to shad some salary. The rangers dump Kotalik, who has 3mil per w/2 more years left on his contract.

Olli is a free agent at the end of the season, right?

Edited February 3, 2010 by thisgamewelose

[Ruki]

The new players helped the Leafs to a win

Also, interesting side note, Brodeur had his first night off in 40 games.

[Toe]

Nice to see a goaltender do well while wearing a Leafs uniform.

[Plubby]

Riddle me this: Ryan O'Reilly scores 2 SHG on the same Jackets PP. Has this ever been done?

[The Sultan of Swank]

Bunch of times.... not recently to the best of my knowledge though.

Montreal gets solid goaltending and withstands a Vancouver flurry at the start of each period and seemed to take control around the halfway point of each period. Vancouver helped us out with a few diving penalties along the way, and they ran Halak with 2 min to play. Pretty exciting game to watch.... If Sergei brings skills like that (Holy shit did he victimize Kesler on the first goal) to Boston, than maybe he's turned the corner.

[SeanDMan]

Halak was inhuman in that game.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Full credit to him too, in the first 5 min it could have easily been 3-0 'Nucks