Why must they do this to me?
I HATE the Leafs, really I do. I hate them a lot. My favourite team is the Senators, and my second favourite team is whoever the Leafs are playing. I have refused to take their players in hockey pools, no matter how stupid of a choice that may be. I even refused to take any of their players in the NOlympic draft. Luckily Troy didn’t know that, or he could have taken Beauchemin much later on.
I laughed, oh how I laughed when they traded away their first round pick for Phil Kessel, knowing full well that it was going top end up a high lottery pick. But it doesn’t matter, they would have squandered Taylor Hall anyway. Just like they do every big name prospect.
But now they go out and aquire one of my favourite players, and another that I have a huge soft spot for. Is Brian Burke trying to torture me?
The Leafs shook the hockey world aquiring both Dion Phaneuf and J-S. Gigure this weekend. Phaneuf is one of my favourites and I have always thought the Gigure is a solid goalie, even as he struggles.
Phaneuf joins Tomas Kaberle, Francois Beauchemin, Mike Komisarek, and Luke Schenn on the Toronto Blueline. This forces me to say somethign that I have never wanted to say. Toronto may just have the best defense in the league.
Uggh…I feel dirty.
That beings said there is one glaring question that must be asked of the team: who the hell is going to score?
They put Matt Stajan over his head as the number one centre, and Niklas Hagman was a solid winger, and now they are both gone. Is Phaneuf going to have to play centre for a while? Because I don’t know who else is going to right now.
Obviously this can only mean one thing. They are going to have to trade some of the assests thtey have at the back end to shore up their forward unit. Obviously all signs point to Kaberle being traded. But of course, he has that pesky no trade clause until the draft. He was almost dealt to the Bruins last year, and they could sure use his help right now, so that seems like a logical move. Especially if the Leafs can get back some of their draft picks. Other teams, like the Flyers have repeatedly expressed their interest in Kaberle, but it remains to be seen if he is interested in them.
Another interesting scenario could have the Leafs trading away Luke Schenn. I mean think abotu it, they almsot dealt him away to the Lightning as part of a package to get their draft pick last year, and probably would have had the Islanders not selected Tavares first overall.
Imagine that you are a team like the Hurricanes or Blue Jackets. Struggling at the bottom with little relief. You are excited to take a big draft pick, but as always there is a certain uncertainty about taking prospects. Do you draft someone like Tyler Seguin and hope that it works out, or do you trade the pick for a slightly more proven (and slightly more experienced) asset in Luke Schenn. He can still easily be a cornerstone of your franchise, and be a solid building block for the future.
Either way, one of those two defenseman will be traded by the draft at the very latest. Because really, there is only enough room to play four of them, and the Leafs just do not have the forward depth to build forward. Something has got to give.
And for what it’s worth, Burke has given the Leafs something this weekend that they haven’t had for a very long time. My attention. And I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Until next time,
G
UPDATE: Reportedly the Flames are goign to trade Oli Jokinen and Brandon Prust to the Rangers for Ales Kotalik and Chris Higgins. I guess I’ll have to make a State of the Flames Nation address soon as well…
