God bless the Leafs for their annual determined "drive to 9th." I hope they beat the crap out of Ottrawa Saturday, thereby pushing the Sens more towards a lottery shot at 1st overall in the draft. Meanwhile, the Leafs will again be picking somewhere around 13 to 15. Burke must be going nuts.
Gary O., 2009-02-26 17:21:14

I admit I've been a Leafs fan since the late 50's when my family got our TV.Yes I'm gettin old,but still I keep watching,and hoping that the Leafs will turn the corner soon.I don't even care if the Leafs never win the Cup again,just give us a good quality team that plays exciting hockey and goes far in the playoffs.Can you hear us Burkey,wave your magic wand and make it good again.Lord knows the Leafs need a little magic.
JohnBoy, 2009-02-24 13:22:51

Nice pipe-dream mike deblauw. Unfortunately, that's what it is, thanks to something called the "cap."
Gary O., 2009-02-24 11:30:51

The list of those on this roster who should be traded is so long I forgot a few: Jiri "Lusty" Tlusty, Kulemin and Moore. Also, if some other organization wants to give something like a 2nd round draft pick for Pogge, let him go.
RB, 2009-02-24 10:32:34

Leafs raise ticket prices.

No one outside of T.O. is surprised. Its a reflection on the mentality of the fans and Torontonians - not MLSE, they're just like the oil companies.
leafssuck, 2009-02-23 20:06:11

lets see now, Detroit and Buffalo really need golatending. So option 1 is send Toskala to Det for McCollum and Ericsson.

option 2 would be a blockbuster with Buf. Send Toskala, Kaberle and Blake for Adam Dennis, T.J.Brennan, Dylan Hunter and Zagrapan.

Then send Kubina and Antropov to Vcr. i would ask for Raymond and Yann Sauve in return.

After that, get all the draft picks you can for anybody else that can be moved out (x-cept Schenn)

Then get Legace on waivers, prompt Pogge, retire/trade Joseph and TANK TANK TANK

BTW - That Stempniak trade really sucked
mike deblauw, 2009-02-23 13:52:01

Burke is hot to make trades. He will be succesful in my books if he can get something for any or all of these guys: Ponikarovsky,Devereaux, Deveau, Hollweg, White, Battaglia, Mitchell, Mayers, Joseph. Its pretty hopeless I know.

Now if Burke can get something equivalent to what was given up to acquire Toskala or Finger, let them go.

Finger is a special case. He fooled me because given that he is such a weakling I thought he would be injured by now. But he has the Inge Hammastrom technique down to a science. He can go into the corner with a pocket full of eggs and not break one of them. But I aks you "how effective can a defenseman be if his patented move is a poke check?" I mean come on, this is worth $3.5M?

RB, 2009-02-23 10:59:49

Lee Stempniak for Carlo and Steen was a bad trade. Stempniak has to be the worst player I have ever seen in the neutral zone. He can't handle a hard pass from his own defenseman. He overskates repeatedly the puck in the neutral zone. Now how often do you see that happen in the NHL?

If it was a trade for either Carlo or Steen, fair enough. Bit two players who were first round draft picks for Stempniak? This is trulyrebuilding Leafs style.
RB, 2009-02-20 13:15:13

Strange thing is that every single time the coach has benched a player (embarrased him), the player has responded and picked up their play.

Same with Antropov, when he was "belittled". After that, he started playing well again.

There is method in Burke's and Wilson's madness. They know how psychology works - they've been around the block.

Burke did NOT diminish Antropov's trade value; in fact, Antropov responded positively and his value has gone up quite a bit lately.

Ron Wilson jokes around at times. It's not his job to be smiling; it's his job to be a good coach who gets the most out of his players and demands hard work and effort!
gordholio, 2009-02-20 00:14:56

Burke and Hare, er, Wilson, are ignorant and viscious people who think they know everything about hockey, but their approach is pathetic. Calling out players in the media that you are trying to trade does nothing but decrease their value. If it can be recalled, mgt. said at the beginning of the year that Antropov was the only first line player the Leafs have. Name another player (except maybe Ovie) who can be a first line star with no other first line players. Antropov is actually a good and responsible player, but he is trying to be more than he is. The reality is that TO has no first line, period. Take the first line from San Jose or Detroit and add them to the Leafs and you have a cup contender. The Leafs have enough support players to solidly fill lines 2,3 and 4; there's just no first line. Finally, Wilson has to be the most sour-faced individual in the league - try smiling at your players just once, it might actually motivate them.
ignatiousjr, 2009-02-17 13:19:37