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Leaf Rumours

leafman101 said:
I'm not attacking Poni, or saying that his size isn't a physical presence, I'm just saying Kunitz is a pretty big physical presence which is being underrated here. I'd say thats the best aspect to his game.
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fair enough - I may have been underrating his physical game.

I did like Cork's Fisher comparison.
 
Man i love those Kunitz plays, exactly what this team is missing from the forward lines. But Youtube can also convince you of pretty much anything.
 
Kunitz plays with a tenacity and sort of reckless abandon that this team is lacking (with or without Ponikarovsky). Thing is, they're just as lacking in the size department.

Would I do this for a first round pick? It might not be such a bad idea. Especially if Burke doesn't have designs on chasing Marleau or Kovalchuk this summer.

Kunitz's salary isn't debilitating. Especially by this time next year, when he'll only have one year remaining on the deal. Provided he stays healthy he is a tradeable commodity. There will always be a market for wingers who are fast, can produce 20-25 goals and 50-60 points, and who play as aggressively as Kunitz does.

Of course, injuries are a concern with small guys who play the style that Kunitz plays...
 
If Burke's adamant about getting rid of Grabovski and his contract, I'd be on board with this deal.

If I'm not mistaken, if we add Kunitz, and ditch Grabovski and Finger'z salaries.......we'd be left with approximately 6.3 million in cap space for next year?
 
I doubt Pittsburgh wants to do this at all.

Poni and Kunitz are comparable players. Why make a sideways move and lose your 1st to boot?

It doesn't make sense. If anything, it's just the 1st for Poni.

Otherwise, why do it? To clear Kunitz's salary? It just doesn't add up.
 
They are comparable players but Poni gives Pittsburgh a big presence in front of the net and down low which is something they are lacking.
 
Volcanologist said:
Yes, to clear Kunitz's salary.

aka the same reason we got Phaneuf and Giguere.
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Why not try to dump Kunitz on someone in the offseason?

I'm sure a 1st rounder would do the trick at the draft just as well as now.

If the Pens are going for it, they should be keeping Kunitz and trying to add Poni or someone like him by trading non-core assets.
 
Dumping Kunitz's salary is only a big part of it, but that isn't the only reason.

Pittsburgh believes Poni's style is a good fit with Malkin, and they think instead of a 25G/50Pts winger in Kunitz, Poni can do better ... or a 35G/60Pts winger if playing with Malkin.

So they are looking for a spark, at the same time they're looking to dump Kunitz's salary.

All that said, I'm skeptical Pittsburgh would give a 1st for all that. That seems like way too much, especially considering the only trade that involved a 1st rounder in last year's draft was Jokinen's trade (and Calgary's 1st was a late first as well). In the capped world, people don't throw 1st rounder away like they used to.

It could be Poni for Kunitz + 2nd though ...
 
I'm with LoF in general.

The only reason that makes any sense to me is if we're giving them another player like Stempniak at the same time, or if they've got another deadline move on the hook that they need to clear a bit of capsapce for.
 
I suspect that those who are against the deal are expecting Burke to sign one of the two big UFAs this summer - Kovalchuk or Marleau.

I give that about zero chance of happening. I doubt it figures into his thinking at all.
 
According to the Calgary Sun, Flames GM Darryl Sutter is being criticized by his peers for his trade involving Dion Phaneuf on Jan. 31.

The paper claims some GMs did not know Phaneuf was actually available for trade, despite the numerous reports suggesting otherwise.

It's believed some GMs were willing to offer up more than the Maple Leafs gave up in exchange for Phaneuf.
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Shades of the Thorton deal.
 
Randy Sexton just told us that he is hoping to get more deals done before the 3 p.m. mini deadline set tomorrow.

He said that no player -- including Tomas Vokoun -- is off limits in the trade talks. He has not spoken to anyone regarding waiving their no trade clauses.

And he said Rostislav Olesz is not on bench just to show people that he might be OK.

"This is the first move of the process to retool our team,'' Sexton said during the first intermission. "We need to make more moves, need to be better. We're working on a variety of things. .-.-. I think it speaks to the player Dominic is. He's a good serviceable guy.I told him when I called him that I thought he would fit in well with Jacques. He likes players with speed, guys who are smart. He has unique skills, good on face offs, good penalty killer. Those things are important to Jacques.

"From our perspective, we need to add depth. Converting a UFA guy we signed for nothing into a second round pick is something we need to do. There's going to be more things happening I hope.

"The time is ticking. We're working on a variety of things, the discussions have really picked up in the past 72 hours. We'll see. Deadlines cause people to focus.''

Randy also said the second round pick could be in play as part of a bigger deal. "Absolutely,'' he said.

-- "Whether we're buyers or sellers, we have to retool this team.''

Anyone off limits? "No.''

Even Tomas Vokoun? "There's no player off limits. There are players we'd like to keep, but at the end of the day Wayne Gretzky was traded. We have to get better and get our team to the point where we want it to be. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions.''
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http://miamiherald.typepad.com/flapanthers/
 
It baffles me that a GM could not only be willing to trade a guy like Phaneuf, but that they'd also only negotiate with a small group of teams. You'd think that they'd work the phones to every GM in the league and generate a bidding war before pulling the trigger.
 
I don't know if I really buy that... According to Burke he found out from another GM that Phaneuf was being offered around, so the cat was definitely out of the bag. Perhaps Sutter could have gotten more teams into the fold to start a bidding war, but I don't believe that Phaneuf's availability was a big secret with only one or two teams privy to that information.

It sounds to me like the writers at the Calgary Sun are setting up a contingency to get heat off themselves for falling head over heels in favour of the deal after spending the past two years perpetuating the myth that Phaneuf is no good. They have seen the return -- and are finding out that the grass isn't always greener. At the end of the day the Flames have hugely downgraded their blueline, and the only real building-block type piece they received in the deal is a pending UFA who likely could have been obtained for a second rounder.

It was a disaster of a trade for Calgary and the whole Calgary media is looking really, really f'ing stupid for having supported that deal when it was made.
 
It just speaks to the level of stupidity of some of these guys, rising to high places just because they actually played the game or have a name of some notoriety.

I'm quite certain many intelligent, educated, die-hard fans could be better GMs than most of these guys.

The Phaneuf trade was just the pinnacle of stupidity. How is it that every single hockey fan knew it the moment the news broke, but the Calgary brain(less)trust didn't realize it after weeks of negotiations?

Just unbelievable. But no complaints, it makes up for all the times we gave away a player for scraps or for nothing at all. Rask, Antropov and a whole host of 1st round picks come to mind.
 
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