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  • Grading the Leafs

    There isn’t much to look at when it comes to the on-ice product put forth by the Toronto Maple Leafs.  To that end, we’ll definitely spend some time reviewing their player transactions.  Here’s a review of the last couple days.

     

    ALEXEI PONIKAROVSKY to PITTSBURGH – LUCA CAPUTI and MARTIN SKOULA to TORONTO

    Ponikarovsky was bound to be traded, so the question is then related to the return.  I have to believe there was a small market for Poni, given his contract situation (UFA come July 1) and play.  Pittsburgh was clearly in play, beyond that there probably wasn’t much.  He doesn’t provide enough offense for teams like Boston, or enough of the “intangibles” for teams like Washington or San Jose.  Given that, I like this trade.  Skoula is clearly a salary dump (as we find out later).  Luca Caputi is a local kid that’s crazy about playing for the Leafs, which is good.  From what I’ve heard, read, and seen (thank you Internet), Caputi plays typical Burke hockey.  Not the best skater, but he drives the net and can put the puck behind the goalie.  He’ll need to bulk up to play that game consistently at the NHL level, however.

    I’ll give this one a B.

     

    MARTIN SKOULA to NEW JERSEY – 5TH ROUND PICK to TORONTO

    If the talking-heads are to be believed, the market for Skoula was limited to 1 team.  That makes it difficult to drive the price up.  There’s no room for Skoula on the Leafs blueline, and the cupboard is bare when it comes to prospect.  That said, any draft picks you can acquire are a good thing.  Outside the top 20-30 picks the draft is essentially a crapshoot, so the more opportunities you get, the better.

    This is almost insignificant, but Burke gets a solid B- for the return in a tough situation.

     

    LEE STEMPNIAK to PHOENIX – MATT JONES, 4TH ROUND PICK, and 7TH ROUND PICK to TORONTO

    There was a point, a few seasons back, where Stempniak was a highly regarded player capable of putting the puck in the net.  Now, he’s a spare part on the league’s worst team.  With that track record, I’m impressed that the Leafs were able to get anything for Stempniak.  Draft picks are good, and while I don’t know anything about Matt Jones, it seems that Brian Burke is committed to acquiring US collegiate players.

    This one earns an A for getting something…anything, for Lee Stempniak.

     

    JOEY MACDONALD to ANAHEIM – 7TH ROUND PICK to TORONTO

    I’m not sure I get this, other than the Ducks wanting to secure another goaltender in the minor leagues as a very shaky insurance policy for Jonas Hiller.  The Leafs get a 7th round pick back, while Joey Mac will still play for the Marlies.

    This one gets a B as it’s impressive to get anything in return for MacDonald.

     

    6TH ROUND PICK to PITTSBURGH – CHRIS PELUSO to TORONTO

    Brian Burke revealed last night that the Leafs had this deal planned as part of the Ponikarovsky deal.  Essentially, the Penguins had to ditch Skoula’s salary.  In exchange for taking it on, the Leafs promised to flip the Penguins a draft pick 1 round later than they could receive for Skoula.  They added a 5th for Skoula, so a 6th goes to Pittsburgh.

    Given those conditions, it seems certain that Peluso was considered extremely expendable by the Penguins.  He’s another defenseman from the NCAA, something Burke seems to be collecting.  When it’s all said and done, this means the Leafs give up Alexei Ponikarovsky and a 6th round draft pick in exchange for Luca Caputi, Chris Peluso, and a 5th round pick.

    No grade here as it falls into the main Poni trade.

     

    All-in-all, a pretty solid day for Burke and Leafs.  I would’ve liked to see them dump Exelby, and if they had found any kind of home for Jeff Finger I’d have jumped for joy.  I’m also wondering if Burke explored any avenues with their growing collection of veteran depth forwards, like Wayne Primeau, Freddy Sjostrom, and Jamie Lundmark.

    March-04-10 at 12:16:43 PM
  • Trade Deadline Idiocy – Steve Simmons Edition

    Today is truly a good day for those of who believe the majority of the MSM (main-stream media) are idiotic.  The only guys worth watching are those who don’t take themselves seriously; the rest are hilarious. 

    For example, Steve Simmons just spent a couple minutes evaluating the Ken Sutton trade.  Of course, there was no Ken Sutton trade.  There was an Andy Sutton trade.

    The guys around the office that talk hockey rarely screw up names, and it’s a secondary activity for us.  These guys get paid reasonable money (I assume) to appear on national television and talk about hockey.  And they can’t get name right.

    I imagine I could have about 1000 more examples if I flipped to Sportsnet.  If only TSN could trade Steve Simmons to Sportsnet for Doug Maclean. 

    March-03-10 at 4:17:21 AM
  • Enter the Vikingstad

    I ordered mine…can’t wait. http://www.puckinghilarious.com/store.php?Design=vikingstad I wonder if the Leafs could somehow land this guy?  It would certainly be a boon for jersey sales, not that I’m not eager for my Luca Caputi jersey.
    March-02-10 at 2:36:53 PM
  • A Downside?

    If there’s any downside to the Olympics, it’s that it makes the Leafs virtually impossible to watch. Seriously. I’ve maintained that I’m not an avid supporter of women’s hockey because when I’m watching hockey I don’t care whether it’s men or women playing the game, I care about the quality.  And if men played hockey at the same level as the women, it wouldn’t be very entertaining. Now that I’ve had prolonged exposure to Olympic hockey, it’s making the Leafs look worse than we all know they are; at least, I hope that’s the Olympic effect. It’s going to be
    March-02-10 at 11:27:11 AM
  • Olympic Hockey and Fighting

    I’m not a sufficiently talented writer to express my thoughts on the conclusion of the Olympic hockey tournament in anything resembling lucidity, so I’m not going to bother trying.  Suffice to that I was immensely happy and that it was an incredibly exciting end to a great tournament. Anyhow… One of the biggest follow-up stories making the rounds the last couple of days is that the Olympic hockey was so much better because of the lack of fighting.  Proponents of eliminating fighting point to this as evidence of what the NHL could be. There’s just one problem with that. The
    March-02-10 at 9:16:27 AM
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  • The Russian Game

    While watching the German game tonight, I couldn’t help but realize one very important aspect of the tournament thus far. You can essentially throw out the results of every Canadian and Russian game that’s been played thus far. Here’s why. With the exception of short stints of USA/Canada and Russia/Czech Republic, nobody has taken an attacking approach to either of the super-powers.  The game plan going into all 7 games they’ve combined to play has unanimously been “let’s not get stomped.”  The Norwegians and Swiss played a tough trap against Canada, any prolonged offensive pressure resulted from a breakdown of
    February-23-10 at 3:07:38 PM
  • Thoughts from the Germany Game

    It looks like Mike Babcock kind of followed up some of my advice, although he still has this strange delusion that Corey Perry is worthy of a regular shift. The Canadians played the same game they have thus far in this tournament.  Sloppy, scattered, and disorganized.  They rarely established any prolonged organized pressure; Greiss was instead peppered with randomly sprayed shots from anywhere.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Chris Pronger seemed to log a lot of minutes once the game was in hand, which I believe is an indication that Chris Pronger will not see a lot of minutes
    February-23-10 at 2:22:21 PM
  • How to Fix It

    What a disaster. The problems with the men’s Olympic hockey team thus far are well documented, but nobody’s really talking about what I believe to be one of the biggest factors.  For 3 years now, we’ve been anticipating a Canada vs. Russia final, a Crosby vs. Ovechkin showdown for gold.  Both teams have lacked enthusiasm in their game thus far, and I think that part of it relates to looking forward and forgetting that they have to win to get there. That said, here’s some adjustments I’d make. Martin Brodeur is done, for this tournament at least.  I’m rolling Roberto
    February-22-10 at 9:35:04 AM
  • Questionable Truthiness

    Yahoo’s hockey blogs are typically spot on, but after this comment from the Slovakia vs. Czech Republic live blog…I’m starting to lose faith. Czechs got a power play at 1:54, and Halak was fantastic: Stopping three booming Tomas Kaberle(notes) shots, including one on which the puck trickled through his legs. Kaberle?  3 booming shots?  LIARS!
    February-17-10 at 10:44:44 PM
  • Checking in on the Olympic Divisions

    4 games into the men’s Olympic hockey tournament, focus is beginning to shift from pre-Olympic hype into the requirements for the elimination round.  If the IIHF is good at anything, it’s creating ridiculously complicated tournament formats with plenty of room for debate and controversy.  These Olympics are no exception. Before getting into possible scenarios, here’s a breakdown of the format. The 12 teams are divided into 3 pools of 4 teams each.  The teams within each pool will play a round-robin.  Afterwards, the winning team from each division will earn a bye into the quarterfinals.  Joining them will be the
    February-17-10 at 10:03:25 AM