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Leaf Rumours

A few teams got momentary reprieves from their obvious cap problems. That won't continue forever.

Boston may look to deal Krejci or even the recently re upped Bergeron if they can get a good enough blue liner in return for one of them. They're stuck with Savard, and Seguin looks like he belongs...they have an obvious log jam that has to be addressed at some point.

I can't see what else Burke would be interested in there really....

NJD has a bunch of solid options that we could use though. Langenbrunner, Arnott, even Clarkson or Elias.
 
PlayerToBeNamedLater said:
Size is overrated for forwards, it's a much more important quality for defensemen. As long as a forward plays gritty, it doesn't matter all that much if he's 6'0 or 6'2.
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oh i beg to differ.

Right now our first line and most of our top 6 is losing almost all the puck battles along the board and in the corners. We have a fast team, but other coaches aren't dumb and they have identified that as our strength, so the most natural thing to do, and that's happened in the last 2 games, is they clog up the neutral zone, thus taking away our speed, and we're forced to dump the puck in. And we never win those dump in's because our forwards are too small and too soft on the puck.

The only ways we can score now is either through PP (and our PP sucks but that's a different issue) and off the rush. When our opponent clogs up the middle and play more diligent defensively, it greatly reduces the # of rushes we'll have. We can't cycle the puck at all in the offensive zone. Anytime we even get close to the board they come away with the puck.

We need speed and we need skill, but we also need size. This will be big especially in the playoff. I can't remember the last SC Finalist who had no size in their top 6.
 
Maybe I'm just not seeing it but I don't feel we have been losing the puck battles this season. For the most part, we've done well at that so far. I'll give you that I'd like to see Kulemin on the top line instead of Versteeg to add a little more of the strength element there but I think the fact that our offense is coming from only two lines, and really only two players is hurting us.

I still feel like we're getting a lot of chances, we're just not capitalizing. Don't get me wrong, it'd be nice to add some size but I'm not sure that's really been our issue thus far.
 
Forechecking ability isn't determined by size. Just because you're big doesn't mean you're a good forechecker. Forechecking is a skill.

If you're saying that the Leafs need to add a certain type of player, like a gritty/forechecking type to the top lines, then I'd probably agree. But that isn't a size issue, it's a style issue.

But the #1 need remains -- a 1st line player. That's been the biggest need for a while now.
 
KenBeckett

Just talked to #Leafs GM Brian Burke. Here's what he told me...

BURKE: "Received two trade offers, do not intend to do either. Encouraged that there has been some movement."

Keep in mind, ESPN Boston reported on the weekend that Blake Wheeler and Matt Hunwick are being used as trade bait by the #Bruins as well.

MAGodin

28 scouts & NHL officials (+ Boston's Chiarelli) are in MTL to watch Habs-Yotes. Other than BOS, Clb, Tor & StL also brought more than 1 guy

MurphysLaw74

Boston Globe said Brian Burke n Peter Chiarelli will be pheasant hunting together this week. Bruins looking to make cap-clearing moves. Ummm

To follow last tweet, Told Blake Wheeler being shopped. Leafs had interest in Wheeler over summer. BB and Chia talking more than pheasants?

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Chia and Burke are going pheasant hunting? Seriously? :shocked:
 
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I don't like sport hunters, they usually get bad kharmic reactions. I guess Burke has had some kharmic reprisals but doesn't "get it".

I also think for all his bantering about truculence, that he really doesn't get that either. Sean Avery and or Darcy Tucker were more truculent than our WHOLE TEAM put together.

Honestly, I like some components of our team but we are significantly SMALL on the forward lines. And if you have EVER played high end hockey, you KNOW what it is like trying to win a battle against a BIG man who has EQUAL motivation and passion to win the puck.

It is NEXT to impossible. Pure phsyics. Its like a man versus a boy.

Second of all, there is not ONE mean guy on the team. I mean Colton Orr is like some down home boy who arranges fights and then kisses and hugs the guys.

Brown falls on his ass after taking a quick beating.

Armstrong tries to scare people with a quick glare, but he couldn't scare the flies off a piece of shit.

Phaneuf is actually a nice GUY.

We don't have a Tucker or an Avery and we need one. Everyone does.

Hanson in the exhibition season, looked ready. We need a BIG, SADISTIC, CRUEL man. I am the latter two, but sadly not the former.
 
Just what we need. Honestly, its tough in this era of players associations, where guys sorta have to see each other at meetings etc...

But the Leafs need a guy who will scare better players into being scared, cowardly and retalitative.

Our government understands this concept very well. Too bad Burke seems to have lost grasp of it.

Our team, once again, is a bunch of NICE guys. Heck Colton Orr hugs guys almost immediately after a fight.

What the shit is that?

I would have ten guys chasing me all over the ice. Problem for me was, my parents couldn't handle the backlash from the other parents any more. I was first line NHL material and the meanest little prick who ever picked up a stick. It WORKS. My parents couldn't hack it.
 
I'd love to live in Teeds world... he could have been an nhl first liner, the man who invented the cure for cancer, WTF number one ranked player, and the man who revolutionized water... and of course hhof first ballot entry.
 
Hoss said:
I'd love to live in Teeds world... he could have been an nhl first liner, the man who invented the cure for cancer, WTF number one ranked player, and the man who revolutionized water... and of course hhof first ballot entry.
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you're also forgetting:

He has produced more tennis champions than the rest of the coaches in canada combined.

He had his life saved by a dolphin while on his honey moon.

this man needs to write an autobiography.
 
Burke said he has '2 hits' in the last 24 to 48 hours. What he define as hits, are trade offers that he needs to go back and sit down with Nonis to talk about.

For whatever strange reason Burke seems to like Chiralli as a trade partner. Most teams trade within their division only as a last resort.

I don't see a trade coming anytime soon, because what the Leafs lack, is not top 6 forwards. Versteeg, Bozak, Grabs, MacArthur are all competent 2nd line forwards. Caputi and Kadri can also play on the 2nd line after some more AHL seasoning. What we need is a top line forward, and in particular a top line center. Thus the Wheelers of the world are useless to us. We don't need another 2nd line guy.

Burke said he's not desperate to make a move at all neither, for 2 reasons - 1. for everyday he waits, his cap room 'grows' (proportionally ... so the same cap space allows you to take a $3.5M contract today, but up to $7M by January) and 2. he knows with the cap space he has he can make 1 big move this season and that's it. He doesn't want to waste it on the wrong guy.
 
number17 said:
Burke said he has '2 hits' in the last 24 to 48 hours. What he define as hits, are trade offers that he needs to go back and sit down with Nonis to talk about.

For whatever strange reason Burke seems to like Chiralli as a trade partner. Most teams trade within their division only as a last resort.

I don't see a trade coming anytime soon, because what the Leafs lack, is not top 6 forwards. Versteeg, Bozak, Grabs, MacArthur are all competent 2nd line forwards. Caputi and Kadri can also play on the 2nd line after some more AHL seasoning. What we need is a top line forward, and in particular a top line center. Thus the Wheelers of the world are useless to us. We don't need another 2nd line guy.

Burke said he's not desperate to make a move at all neither, for 2 reasons - 1. for everyday he waits, his cap room 'grows' (proportionally ... so the same cap space allows you to take a $3.5M contract today, but up to $7M by January) and 2. he knows with the cap space he has he can make 1 big move this season and that's it. He doesn't want to waste it on the wrong guy.
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Good post.
 
number17 said:
Burke said he has '2 hits' in the last 24 to 48 hours. What he define as hits, are trade offers that he needs to go back and sit down with Nonis to talk about.

For whatever strange reason Burke seems to like Chiralli as a trade partner. Most teams trade within their division only as a last resort.

I don't see a trade coming anytime soon, because what the Leafs lack, is not top 6 forwards. Versteeg, Bozak, Grabs, MacArthur are all competent 2nd line forwards. Caputi and Kadri can also play on the 2nd line after some more AHL seasoning. What we need is a top line forward, and in particular a top line center. Thus the Wheelers of the world are useless to us. We don't need another 2nd line guy.

Burke said he's not desperate to make a move at all neither, for 2 reasons - 1. for everyday he waits, his cap room 'grows' (proportionally ... so the same cap space allows you to take a $3.5M contract today, but up to $7M by January) and 2. he knows with the cap space he has he can make 1 big move this season and that's it. He doesn't want to waste it on the wrong guy.
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Hopefully not this year. There's not really anything in that lineup that Chiarelli would deem expendable that I'd be interested in---namely, they'll probably be trying to dump either Ryder or Wheeler. And either one of those guys would be a tremendous waste of our cap space.
 
I'm presuming Savard in untradeable here. I really doubt anybody would take Savard, given his concussion history and the # of years left on his contract - EVEN IF he comes back and plays well. You don't know when is his next big hit coming.

Assuming Savard is untradable, and they're obviously not trading Seguin, I'd think Boston might look at trading Bergerone, even though they just re-signed him.
 
Even though the Toronto Maple Leafs have said they won't ask Tomas Kaberle to waive his no-movement clause -- which essentially means he won't be dealt -- there was speculation GM Brian Burke could still explore trades involving the veteran blueliner near the trade deadline. However, Burke re-affirmed to TSN's Bob McKenzie that he won't ask Kaberle to waive the no-movement clause.
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Re-sign. Tomas. Kaberle. Now.
 
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