MacK_Attack

Fortunately, he spent himself out of that possibility last summer. Of course, I'm sure he'll throw $4 million at some washed-up retread come July 1 to play with Sundin. I just hope this Stralman kid is what they say he is. The Leafs could use a break like that for once. I would have to say Staffan is done in North America. He's not going to crack the Leafs lineup and I doubt anybody would trade for his rights.

Claude did'er 4 times, didn't he? Anyways, I'm glad ol' Kaptain Krusty probably won't be lifitng the Cup (I'm going out on a limb here, let's face it, Ottawa isn't known for their comebacks), I'm not sure I would've ever heard the end of it.

^ - I don't recall him ever playing for St. John's....I think you must mean the Marlies. But yeah, he's never had any interest in playing the AHL. He just goes through the motions with the Marlies.

Bad knees, bad groins and bad ankles. It's always one of the three for Staffan. Not sure if the Kronwall's are more brittle or it's just a coincidence....from what I have heard, Staffan's injuries are usually on fairly high-impact plays.

Well, Alfredsson always does something in the playoffs to screw over his team. He just waited a little longer than usual this year.

He was for about half of it. He got into 47 games for the Marlies. But he gets hurt all the time. He sneezes and he's out 4-6 weeks. He was completely disinterested in the AHL and the Leafs punished him as such by not giving him any recalls, even when he was healthy (opting to call up guys like Brendan Bell and Jay Harrison, instead).

To be fair, the Leafs powerplay was more than just Sundin & Tucker. Wellwood, Kaberle & McCabe gave them five different weapons and one was always open. Of course, it was rare to have all five healthy at the same time.

Steen's first child was born during training camp last year and it was a huge distraction for him, and it affected his game. Once he got over some of the mental hurdles of parenthood, he really settled in and had a pretty good 2nd half. I suspect he'll be on a line with Wellwood and maybe Tucker this season. I'm sure Gill is the guy they'd like to move (and may even have some market value because he played fairly well for the most part), but the return they could get for a guy like White is probably something they'll look at. Staffan Kronwall has said that he's going back to Sweden if he isn't given a one-way contract, and he's done absolutely nothing to prove that he can stick in the NHL, so I'm not sure what will happen with him.

The Leafs currently have McCabe, Kaberle, Kubina, Gill, Colaiacovo, White, Stralman & Wozniewski (and there's also the possibility of Staffan Kronwall, too) signed for next year. Wozniewski is your 7th defenceman, as he's ideally suited to that role. So you've got to move one guy, and the big-3 aren't tradable and Gill probably isn't, either, even though he had a pretty good year by his standards. White is good, but he's never going to be much with the Leafs because Kaberle is basically the exact same player (except Kaberle is better all-around) and White will never see much PP time with Kaberle around. Stralman is again a similar player to Kaberle and the Leafs are very high on him, so I think he'll be the one picking up the PP time on the 2nd unit, leaving White in the dark. The Leafs have a bit of a logjam to deal with on the blueline right now.....nice problem to have, but it probably means that they'll have to move White or Colaiacovo (and I think it'll be White).

Most hockey scouts consider Rask the best goaltender in the world outside of the NHL. Legace would've been a fine stop-gap to either giving Pogge or Rask the reigns, or going out and finding another CuJo or Belfour.

Yeah, Clint Malarchuk can tell you why it's a bad idea to have players intentionally kicking at a puck (even though his injury was caused by a race to the net). The stick is there for a reason, use it.

I wouldn't put it past them to trade White at the draft to move up higher in the 1st round....they've put a lot of stock in Stralman and the hype regarding him.

He's now an unrestricted free agent, he's not back in the draft.

I swore up and down for weeks after Fergie traded Rask for Raycroft. He threw a Vezina Trophy or two out the window by moving Rask. Fergie needed somebody to stop-gap between Belfour and the next generation goaltender (be it Pogge or Rask) and he panicked, again. He needed to get a goaltender to call his own, and Raycroft was probably the easiest guy to pry away from his current team. I still think he dropped the ball, because Manny Legace would've come to Toronto for a million bucks or less and been equal or probably even a little better than Raycroft and the Leafs would've had Rask still in the fold. I can't stand Raycroft. I can't stand his attitude. He never owes up for his own play, he never admits to being in the wrong. He could give up three soft goals and then say after the game, "Yeah, well I stopped the other 30 shots." Admit you screwed up and be a man about it. I think Justin Pogge is going to be a fine NHL goaltender, but I think Rask is going to be something special. He has an extra special talent level that isn't seen very often. The Leafs are going to majorly regret letting him go (or, at least regret giving Fergie the kind of freedom to throw away a top prospect for an average goaltender). They should've allowed both to come up in the system to battle each other for the starting goaltenders role. Make sure you're keeping the best one and get something real good for the other via trade. I think you'll see the Leafs bring in Curtis Joseph again to help "mentor" Raycroft, but one soft goal from Raycroft and the chants of "Cujo! Cujo! Cujo!" will start and Raycroft will be run out of town. Maybe it's for the better. Chances are if Raycroft flops, Fergie's headin' out the door with him, as he's on a Lame Duck season again (with no club option to bail him out).

Alex Mogilny had one good hip left when he came to Toronto. He was a fraction of what he used to be. Same with Roberts and Thomas. As well as they played, they were all past their primes, especially in a 1st line role.

Gilmour had wingers named Andreychuk, Anderson, Gartner and Clark. Sundin had wingers named Hoglund, Antropov, Renberg & Bohonos. If the cap goes up as much as it seems it will, the Leafs will have some coin to go and get a winger. We'll see if they can land one (my gut says Ladislav Nagy ends up as a Leaf when all else fails). Probably Kyle Wellwood or Ponikarovsky will ride the other wing.

I don't think Hamilton would be the permanent home for the team, just a temporary place to play while the arena in Cambridge is being built. Lots of lawyers are currently trying to figure out if Toronto and/or Buffalo would be owed compensation if a team temporarily took home inside the 65 mile radius of either club.

Hamilton and Winnipeg are basically the same size city (approx. 700,000 population), but Hamilton's surrounding area (GTA & Golden Horseshoe, Niagara Region + rest of Southwestern Ontario) has Winnipeg-area beat by millions of people. Plus, the corporate dollars in Southern Ontario make it a no-brainer for another NHL team.

The earliest that the Preds can move is after the 2007/08 season.

After the deadline, Sundin came out and said that he was never interested in being a rental player and that it isn't something he's interested in doing. I never said that they wouldn't get something good for him and then re-sign him, I merely said that he has said that he won't be a rental player. Yeah, you're right.....he totally mooches off of his all-star linemates, he doesn't do anything himself.

They lack the "franchise player" in the system, a player that has the potential to be a star player. Simple fact, they've never dropped low enough in the draft in the past 7-8 years to get one of those really special players in the draft (or more often than not, they didn't have a 1st rounder), and they will have to do it (or will be forced to do it) once Mats Sundin leaves, presumably in two years. It's about time they started from the ground up, but it won't happen with Fergie in charge.

He's stated a number of times that he doesn't want to be a rental player. He said that if he's going to win a Cup, it's going to be with a team that he's been with since the start of the season. He will not accept a mid-season trade.

The prospects thing is changing. They have some good kids coming up in a few years like Jiri Tlusty and Nikolai Kulemin. They've also made some late-round steals in the last few years, nabbing guys like Kyle Wellwood, Justin Pogge and Ian White later on in drafts. There's a kid that could crack the lineup next season named Anton Stralman. Watch for him. They still have a few years to go before being anything resembling a good hockey team. Mats Sundin had a no-trade clause that he had no intention of waiving. He'll probably get another one. They have some cap space to get in the running for one of the elite wingers, but I doubt that Fergie would land one. He has a tendancy of missing out on big free agents. They were always around 100 point teams when Quinn ran the ship. He bought whomever they needed to cover up shortfalls in trades and drafting. Can't do it anymore. Quinn missed the playoffs once in 7 years and he got fired. Fergie has missed the playoffs two out of three years and he still has a job. Confusing. Here's my theory on the McCabe signing..... Bryan McCabe had zero intention of re-signing with the Leafs. He wanted to sign with the Islanders or Rangers. However, he had to at least save some face and make it look like he wanted to return to the Leafs by opening up contract negotiations before July 1. McCabe intentionally put his demands at a sky-high level to chase off the Leafs. He asked for a huge term.....Fergie said 'yes' He asked for a huge salary.....Fergie said 'yes' He asked for the dreaded 'no movement clause'......Fergie said 'yes' McCabe suddenly realizes that he has a deal infinitely better than any deal he could get on the open market, and he reluctantly accepts the deal with the Leafs. Fergie didn't have the job security or have public opinion on his side, and he caved against making an unpopular move. As for Kubina, my theory is that Fergie went hard after Zdeno Chara (offering $7 million+) and when he didn't get him, he threw that money at the two guys that were left (Kubina & Gill). Fergie's really bad for having poor reactionary moves.

It was never a secret. What Bettman said was simply for PR purposes. Bettman has always known that Balsillie's intentions are to move a team to Southern Ontario. That has been known since he entered into the Pittsburgh chase.

Copps Coliseum is decent, but lacks the private boxes to be a permanent NHL arena. Obviously, it will make a servicable stop-gap until the RIM Arena is built in Cambridge.