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Leaf Rumours

Blueman said:
Why do people keep leaving Finger out of their rosters? Wishful thinking?
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Because he's a prime candidate to get sent down to the AHL, if the Leafs all of a sudden need the salary cap space that he's taking up. He's already on the bench every night for Garnet Exelby, so it's not much of a stretch.
 
I just don't think that anyone thinks Burke is insane enough to keep funnelling $3.5 mil in caphit to our #8 defenseman.
 
I'm confident that if Finger's contract is preventing us from adding a player he will promptly be shipped to the Marlies. I can't see Burke letting a plug like him get in the way of improving the team.
 
the Kaberle ice time thing is interesting.

On one hand, I think Wilson likes his 3 pairings very much:

Beauch-Phaneuf, Kaberle-Komisarek, and Gunnar-Schenn.

And I could see him just wanting to stick with those three next year, so he doesn't want to mix them up this year - which means Kabby is just getting the shortend of the stick because with Komi's injury, he's stuck being paired with the unplayable Exelby.

And since we're not making the playoffs this year, and the rest of this season is just building towards next year, and since he knows what he's going to get from Kabby/Komi anyways, I can see him just wanting to work out the two new pairings as much as possible, without worrying too much about the known quantity that is Kabby.

But of course, the low minutes could also just mean that Kabby's on his way out.
 
either on his way out or Zekes idea or it simply could be that he is the oldest leaf defender and will be playing in the olympics coming up shortly and they do not want to wear him down when we have a very low chance of making the playoffs.

He will see big minutes in the olympics
 
yep.

and a key thing is that Kabby is still playing bigtime PP minutes for us, which shows that he's not exactly being shunted out of all the important situations for a team - and shows us that we don't have a ready replacement for him in all situations, either.
 
It could mean a whole lot of things couldn't it? Doesn't want him to get hurt for a trade. Or he could be slightly hurt. But mistreating him would diminish his value? No?
 
I really think its just a case of Schenn and Gunn playing really well and earning big minutes. Like zeke said, Kabby is still getting all of his PP time. Also, rightly or wrongly, Wilson evidently never thought much of him as a defensive player seeing as how he never plays him on the PK. Its not really surprising that his minutes are cut back in games the Leafs have big leads.

I really think its just a case of having two guys who can play 27+ minutes, and two youngsters playing some great hockey right now and earning some development time.

Additionally, Wilson/Burke have shown that when they are dealing someone they showcase them, not pull back their minutes.
 
I'm hoping if it's just a matter of seeing what Schenn and Gunnarson have, that Burke and/or Wilson had the forsight to sit down and explain the situation to Kabs, as opposed to let him think his ice time has dropped by 7+ min a game for no good reason.

:
 
leafman101 said:
Additionally, Wilson/Burke have shown that when they are dealing someone they showcase them, not pull back their minutes.
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That's actually a pretty good point. But at the same time, an argument could be made that Kabs doesn't need to be showcased. Everyone knows what they're getting with him.

It really is an odd situation with his ice time.
 
zeke said:
the Kaberle ice time thing is interesting.

On one hand, I think Wilson likes his 3 pairings very much:

Beauch-Phaneuf, Kaberle-Komisarek, and Gunnar-Schenn.

And I could see him just wanting to stick with those three next year, so he doesn't want to mix them up this year - which means Kabby is just getting the shortend of the stick because with Komi's injury, he's stuck being paired with the unplayable Exelby.

And since we're not making the playoffs this year, and the rest of this season is just building towards next year, and since he knows what he's going to get from Kabby/Komi anyways, I can see him just wanting to work out the two new pairings as much as possible, without worrying too much about the known quantity that is Kabby.

But of course, the low minutes could also just mean that Kabby's on his way out.
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Well, it sounds a little fishy to begin with (I mean, d-pairings change throughout the season, so pretty tough to imagine you'd minimize Kabby's icetime to under 20 min for rest of the season because you want Schenn to play with Gunnarson) ... but the more I watch these 2 pairs play, the more I like them both.

I think both pairs compliment each other well, and I also like the 'young tandem' in Schenn and Gunnarson.

And Kaberle did play very well with Komi when he was healthy.

I still don't know if I buy the notion that's the reason they will limit a defenseman of Kabby's calibre, his experience, his contract and his ability to ~ 17 min a game. Especially with Wilson bad-mouthing Kabby's +/- and defensive game every other day.
 
Thats a good deal, a really good deal. Hamil is the type of prospect we should be looking for when dealing Ponikarovsky. Add in the fact that we would hopefully be picking up our early 2nd rounder.

Maybe expanding the deal?

kaberle + poni???
 
This is not a rumour, but I'm curious what others here would think about acquiring my nephew Ben Eager.

If you ask me, he's a Burke type player and has reasonably good offensive upside still to be a very useful 3rd/2nd line winger.
 
BeLeafer said:
This is not a rumour, but I'm curious what others here would think about acquiring my nephew Ben Eager.

If you ask me, he's a Burke type player and has reasonably good offensive upside still to be a very useful 3rd/2nd line winger.
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Dont think he is available.

The word around the water cooler in CHicago is that he will be cheaper to keep around than Andrew Ladd.....and could fill the same role
 
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