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Leaf Rumours

Volcanologist said:
http://www.thestar.com/sports/hocke...25947--cox-maple-leafs-have-big-moves-in-mind

Damien says the Leafs are in on Horton, Sharp and....Hamhuis?
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Hamhuis is one name that I bandied about earlier in the year when discussing potential replacements on the blueline should Kaberle be dealt for help in a trade up front. While he's nowhere near the offensive threat or the puck-mover, he's a more than capable "jack-of-all-trades" man on the back that has rarely been utilized on the PP behind a deep Nashville defence corps so far in his career. He won't put up 50 to 60 points with 3 minutes a game on the man-advantage, but there's no reason why he can't put up 35-40 points like he did in the season following the lock-out when he put up 38 points in his only sizeable useage on the PP to date. He's more than solid defensively in his own end and if the Leafs can sign him to a reasonable contract in the range of $3.0-3.5 million that would be a solid addition.
 
Yeah $3.5 was what I suggested if he were to sign here, anything higher wouldn't make any sense, as far as I'm concerned.
 
As an RFA Hamhuis signed a 4 year deal for 8 million, coming off a 38pt campaign....since then he hasn't registered over 30 points in a season. (due in large part to losing his PP icetime.)


It's possible he might sign for $3.5 per, but I would have to suspect with the amount of teams looking for puck moving defenseman, and the lack of them available on the UFA market this year, Hamhuis is probably gonna get a contract over and above what he deserves.


The fact we're supposedly interested, all but ensures Burke plans on shipping Kaberle out of town at the draft.
 
Burke should go hard for Horton, assuming the price is right.

As for Hamhuis, I like him a lot, he's a 'jack of all trades' defenseman ... from the limited games I watch him play he plays a very similar game to Beauchemin.

But I don't see why we'd sign Hamhuis to replace Kaberle. Hamhuis can't QB the PP, and he's not a 'puck moving' defenseman neither. His skillset is pretty redundant among our other 5 defensemen already. I just don't see the point.

Martin is the defenseman I may target if we trade Kaberle.
 
Montana said:
As an RFA Hamhuis signed a 4 year deal for 8 million, coming off a 38pt campaign....since then he hasn't registered over 30 points in a season. (due in large part to losing his PP icetime.)


It's possible he might sign for $3.5 per, but I would have to suspect with the amount of teams looking for puck moving defenseman, and the lack of them available on the UFA market this year, Hamhuis is probably gonna get a contract over and above what he deserves.


The fact we're supposedly interested, all but ensures Burke plans on shipping Kaberle out of town at the draft.
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i just don't get the criticisms of this year's free agent corps.

as far as there not being any puck movers -- gonchar is very much in play and so long as he is an unrestricted free agent and hasn't signed any retirement papers, so is scott niedermayer.

there is a potential diamond in the rough in martin (though he won't get totally overlooked -- but might be capable of 50 points if healthy and in the right situation), some decent tertiary puck moving sorts (lydman, corvo, morris, johnsson, clark), and a few jack of all trade types (aside from hamhuis) in kubina and michalek. not to mention the likes of mitchell and volchenkov, whose presence on the market could saturate it enough to affect the value of a guy like hamhuis.

i don't think things will get too out of control, unless teams feel like he has room to grow from his 38 point form in 05-06 and just hasn't gotten the opportunity to do so since then. i say $3-$3.5mn max, like beauchemin last year.
 
and if the leafs are going for a higher priced ufa defenseman i'd love for it to be michalek. that guy's just a good, solid player.

he doesn't replace kaberle, but i think he'd fit in really well with the rough-and-tumble group they have, sans kaberle.

phaneuf-michalek
beauchemin-schenn
gunnarsson-komisarek

that's gotta be the toughest group of defensemen in the nhl. not the biggest or meanest.. but outside of gunnarsson those guys are all tough as nails.
 
hockeylover said:
Not a rumour but not huge news either...

We face the Sens three times in pre-season.

Tuesday, Sept. 21, Ottawa at Toronto, 7 p.m., Air Canada Centre

Wednesday, Sept. 22, Ottawa at Toronto, Air Canada Centre

Wednesday, Sept. 29, Toronto at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m., Scotiabank Place

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Senators+Leafs+kick+season+with+back+back+games/3171349/story.html
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Good! We need these types of games, division games are the leafs many achilies heals, if we can at least have a .500 record in the reg season against the NE, it would solidfy the playoffs. Bring on the practice.
 
Pretty sure that Hamhuis will be looking for around $4M per season. Now whether he gets that much is up for debate. Although when the free agency frenzy begins, no one can save GM's from themselves.

Seems like Kabs is a goner for sure, which may be where the money could be opened up for the Hammer.

I like that guy, but I'm not sure if he's exactly what we need right now. Then again, Burke will be making a splash soon, and could possibly ship out a d-man in addition to Kabs.
 
Unrelated. If Burke assured Kaberle that he was going to be traded on draft day would Kaberle wave his no trade allowing a move to be made earlier; does that ever happen?
 
Aberdeen said:
Unrelated. If Burke assured Kaberle that he was going to be traded on draft day would Kaberle wave his no trade allowing a move to be made earlier; does that ever happen?
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if burke has multiple offers that he likes on the table before the draft and is impartial to the return on them.. then, sure, he can ask kaberle which team he would rather be traded to. that could happen, too, and i think it would be within burke's character to try and accommodate kaberle in some way based on that, assuming that there are multiple offers that he deems satisfactory.

with that said, we have all seen the way a lot of gms tend to operate on traditional 'trading' days like the deadline and at the draft (i.e. like meth addicts whose only fix is a trade), and because of that i think it's pretty safe to assume that if they are going to maximize kaberle's full trade value it will be on draft day.

they could still run potential trades through kaberle and his agent. also keep in mind that kaberle maintains plenty of leverage because of his contract situation. he could effectively scuttle any trade by refusing to sign an extension, which decreases his value by a pretty large degree.
 
Trading Kaberle is going to be the MISTAKE this year that equals the playing of Toskala for ten straight games last year.

MLSE always has to re-invent a way to finish out of the playoffs. This will be their means to that end this year.

Sorry to be negative, but trusting alcoholics and cocaine addicts to consistently lead this team is brutal to watch.

And to rely on them to do the hardest thing in professional sports(treading upstream through the defensive zone with forwards divebombing on you) is insane.

Chiarelli is probably making sure Burke has as much Chivas as he can send without being obvious for this dismal move.

I will still cheer the Leafs with Beachemin and Phaneuf trying to bring the puck up, but it will be infinitely harder without the best defenceman the Leafs have EVER had leading the way.

I hope he is traded to a team that will properly showcase this guys impeccable skills.

Trading him is something only a moron would do.

No forward except six or seven is worth trading this guy for. JUST not worth it all.
 
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