Burke Busy: Phaneuf, Guigeure to Leafs, Ian White & 'Stach to Flames
Dion Phaneuf is the centerpiece of a seven player deal involving the Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames. In a separate deal, J.S Giguere goes to The Center of the Hockey Universe™ for Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake. James Mirtle has cap implications - not much movement there, But the Leafs just became a little tougher to beat.
7 months ago
aaron b
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I imagine the pervasive train of thought in Leaf Nation is that the Leafs are now Stanley Cup contenders? :)
Find me one Leafs fan who says they are cup contenders. It may come as a surprise to you but not all Leaf fans are complete morons. We realise our team still sucks, this is just a small step in the right direction.
by Brad Ackerson on Feb 1, 2010 9:52 PM EST up reply actions
i think leafs fans were saying similar things after the kessel trade.
by dennylambert!! on Feb 1, 2010 10:47 PM EST up reply actions
Leafs tougher to beat?
They lost some offensive punch, and Dion is not exactly going to tighten up a blueline that has had problems in their own end all year. I don’t think Toskala is the reason they gave up so many goals.
It all depends what they do with that cap space, if they do anything with it down the stretch.
I really think these are excellent moves for the Leafs. Clears a bunch of dead wood, opens up some cap space, and provides a cup winning mentor for their goalie of the future in Gustavsson. Opens up a spot for Kadri, if they so desire, as well as other Marlies to audition for next season.
Also, Komisarek, Schenn and Phaneuf is a nice base for the blue line. Wonder if Kaberle will waive his NMC to allow Burke some more maneuvering?
What's the deal with Phaneuf?
I don’t think I’ve ever heard as much bitching in my life in the NHL as I’ve heard about Phaneuf this season from Calgary fans and the press. Is anything actually wrong with his play? Or is this just a case of nutso Canadian fans/press? Does Brent Sutter just hate him for no reason? I looked at his stats and they look OK to me. He shots per game is down, but otherwise his numbers look OK. Heck, if he played here with those numbers we’d probably be raving about him. I’m finding it really hard to believe that a young guy who was considered a franchise defenseman could really be as bad as Calgary people seem to think he was. Any thoughts from someone who might actually watch the Flames enough to know?
0vermars – I’m not sold on Komisarek and think he is seriously overrated simply because he’s awful offensively. A lot of hockey fans actually believe that the more offensively incompetent a d-man is, the greater a player he is. I’m not saying you’re one of those, I’m just making a general observation. The best thing that happened to the US Olympic hockey team was the news that Komisarek won’t be able to play for them. Cough cough – I think Zach Bogosian might be available…
Just based on my observation of Phaneuf against the Thrashers...
a couple of times, but he seems to get really chippy quickly. To the point where he costs his team the game.
stajan, hagman, white: spare parts?
I really dont see how this is such a great trade for toronto. They have absolutely no offense now. theyre top scorer now has 19 goals (ponikarovsky) and kessel has been very streaky. i believe he went 12 games without a goal earlier.
And is a guy who has 20 goals this season on an awful leafs team a spare part?
Or a great young defender with good offensive upside who many leafs projected as being a captain?
Stajan, who has 41 pts in 55 games is also a “spare part?”
I’m just not seeing how these guys are as bad as everyone is saying. Yet Phaneuf (22 pts), who has been regressing in points, +/-, and ppp the last 2 seasons, is supposedly a future norris winner and all around star?? What am I missing here? How was this a good trade for Toronto?
A couple of the Leafs that left were UFAs, odds are that Burke was planning on letting them go to continue the rebuild in his own model. This just means that he gets something back.
Phaneuf seems like a Burke player, and Giggy is an upgrade in goal.
I’m not sure how I feel about these trades yet, but Burke sure is remaking the team…
by timmyf on Jan 31, 2010 7:10 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
the only unrestricted agent among those 3 is stajan. hagman is unrestricted after 2011, and white is rfa next year. the leafs will have phaneuf’s $6.5 million contract until 2014, at which point they’ll realize theyve been grossly overpaying for a guy that began trending downward starting in 07-08.
by dennylambert!! on Jan 31, 2010 8:29 PM EST up reply actions
Calgary had too much salary committed to D-men
And Jay Bouwmeester is locked up long term, basically that signing pushed Phaneuf out of the long term plans for the Flames. I think they could have got a first rounder from someone, but they appear willing to sacrifice that for some immediate scoring punch. Trade works for Calgary, because they improve immediately. I wouldn’t say the same for Toronto, even though I think Phaneuf is a solid Dman….. Toronto lost big pieces of their offense here.
Risky moves here, but moves like this are just good for hockey talk. And to boot, I think Toronto lucked out getting Giguere for Blake and Toskala. Burke doesn’t f*** around does he. Whether, he is actually improving the team long term can be debated, but he’s certainly not sitting on his hands.
yeh burke did something, but Leafs fans could tell you he hasnt been the best GM in terms of his moves lately. usually, when a team trades their immediate future (1st and 2nd 2010, 1st 2011) away for a star winger, they get better. not so much the case with Toronto. Here’s a quote from Burke about the trade:
“Bringing Phil Kessel aboard, it’s a statement to our players that we intend to be competitive right away (HA), and I think he gives us a dimension that we need,” Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke said.
If this and the Phaneuf trade will work is tbd, but Burke action isnt necessarily a good thing. Leafs will now have a streaky Kessel and a regressing Phaneuf taking up 1/5 the cap for about the next 5 years. I would be a little frightened about that if I was a Leafs fan.
by dennylambert!! on Jan 31, 2010 9:59 PM EST up reply actions
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