MacK_Attack

No, if it said "Sundin to sign with Bruins", then it would be misleading.

I tracked down the stats on the Leafs record with and without McCabe in the lineup. This is for the 2005/06, 2006/07 & 2007/08 seasons combined. WITH McCabe - 209 Games: 106-77-26 WITHOUT McCabe - 37 Games: 11-22-4

Trade deadline. That makes the most sense in terms of trading J-Bo. A team desperate to make the playoffs will ante up for him, even if it's for two months. J-Bo would be insane to not go on the open market. He'd get $7-8 million thrown his way, at least.

Absolutely. He'd be a Norris Trophy defenceman if he had even a steady defensive game, but it lapses so badly that it has held him back from being the #1 defenceman that he could be. He goes through stretches where he's absolutely the best player on the ice, and then almost as quickly, he's a guy you'd just want to park on the end of the bench for the 3rd period.

He's not as good as the McCabe-lovers will have you believe, and he's not as bad as the McCabe-bashers will tell you he is. He's got a top-notch slapshot, decent speed (but don't confuse that with agility, because he's not a guy that can stickhandle past anyone) and plays the body well enough. His defensive game isn't as bad as most tend to think, but it tends to lapse at the worst possible times. The Leafs are an above-.500 team with McCabe in the lineup the past three seasons, and well below .500 without him. As for the trade, the rumoured parts are McCabe & Ian White to FLA for Mike Van Ryn, Anthony Stewart & 2009 2nd round pick. The trade will go through on or slightly after Sept. 1st when McCabe is paid a $2 million bonus by the Leafs. Cliff Fletcher's mandate is to clear as much long-term cap space as possible and to get rid of the old leadership regime that existed under Paul Maurice. McCabe was a clear part of that and it was felt that he would not be a positive influence on younger players, the same was felt of Darcy Tucker. The Leafs will take the long-term cap space as the biggest piece of this trade. I don't think they're looking for a huge return because McCabe has their hands tied in terms of being able to shop him around.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=218241&hubname=nhl

He's also been one of the most consistent players of the past ten years, a time in which his game should have hit a decline, but didn't. Not many at 37 years old can play point-per-game hockey with absolutely no support. Would you rather he pull a Brett Favre, or take the time to make the decision that he will stick by? The guy owes nothing to anybody, he's not under contract, let him decide when he wants to if he's going to play or not. Besides, he's already said that if he plays, he will decide to do so before training camp opens. What's the big deal? I agree. Also, apparently captaining (and I believe setting up the winning goal) the Olympic gold medal team isn't worthy of the consideration. I haven't heard any Sundin bashers (can't believe there are any) bring that one up. If Mats Sundin has had one fault these last few years, it's that he's too loyal. Is that such a fault? In a world where loyalty can seemingly be bought, Mats stuck by his team and teammates when he could've easily jumped ship and perhaps won a Stanley Cup. Mats seems to feel that winning the Stanley Cup as a Maple Leaf was more important to him than just winning it. Sure, I'm sure he'd love to win it, like anybody who makes it to the NHL, but he's so fiercely loyal that he's willing to forgo that. Let's also get something out there. Doug Gilmour & Dino Ciccarelli are not in the Hall of Fame due to personal, off-ice issues throughout their careers. Adam Oates will get into the Hall, he's just had some incredibly stiff competition these last couple years. As for Mats' decision this summer, I think the real reason why this is taking so long is not because he can't decide if he wants to keep playing, but that he knows deep down that if he is to keep playing, it will have to be somewhere other than Toronto and I'm not sure he's willing to do that. Now that's loyalty. You'd keep a guy out of the Hall of Fame because he puts his team, teammates and the fans that much higher on a pedestal compared to his own personal accomplishments? The guy cried when he broke the Leafs all-time goals and points record (on the same goal, by the way). Not when he broke the record, but when he came out at the end of the game and was given a third stand ovation of the night by the fans.

But you'd might as well take your time and make sure you make the right decision. Players over 35 can't really back out once they've signed on the dotted line.

Just more desperate for any shred of attention.

There's an MLB blackout rule that states that no game other than the FOX Saturday game can start between 1:10pm and 7:00pm, and if it does, it's blacked out until 7pm. There's absolutely no sane reason for a television station to blackout the first hour of a game at their own will.

My guess is that there wouldn't be a captain for the first season without Mats. If I HAD to pick a guy, Kaberle it is. They'd give CuJo the "C" if they could.

Sundin's agent J.P. Barry was quoted in the Toronto Star as saying that his own personal feeling from talking to Mats is that he is going to retire. Also, Sundin typically organizes pre-training camp skates in Stockholm for Swedish NHLers in early August, but this year is he is not only not organizing it, but won't even show up to skate. One of Sundin's friends has said that he's not working out at all and is only golfing everyday. He owns a condo downtown, and owned a house out on the bridal path (where the who's-who of Toronto live), which he sold around the time of the lockout. He stills owns the condo.

The NHLPA has the ability to opt-out and re-open negotiations anytime after Sept. 15, 2008 until I believe 90 days before Sept. 15th, 2009, but it's pretty unlikely that will happen. If the NHLPA does not opt-out, then that adds an extra three years to the CBA.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=244823&amp...os=secStory_nhl

Stevens - Lemieux - Jagr

The game the night of the infamous Richard Riot in Montreal was forfeited midway through the game by the Habs when fans starting setting off smoke bombs in the Forum.

I, for one, can't wait for Vancouver. Probably the last time there will be an NHL-calibre international tournament unless Bettman & Co. want another World Cup cash-grab.

Gary Bettman said on the radio once upon a time if a team refuses to either meet the cap floor or come below the cap ceiling it will be forced to hand hockey operations off to the NHL offices who will make moves for them to either add or subtract the necessary salary.

Sundin will announce his intentions on August 1st.

Potential can land you the motherload if you play your cards properly. Just ask Rostislav Olesz.

Kris Draper is not the most popular Red Wing of his generation, like Wendel was and still is. Draper also isn't the scorer that Wendel was, nor the fighter or hitter. People often forget how dynamic of a scorer Wendel was in his day because his numbers are low due to how often he was injured. Wendel is the Toronto Maple Leafs all-time playoff goal leader. Wendel Clark sacrificed his body, mind & soul for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the fans have always appreciated him for that. Along with Doug Gilmour, Wendel lead the Leafs out of the Harold Ballard era and made fans proud to be Leaf fans again. That's something that can never be repaid enough times. http://youtube.com/watch?v=EEltpSMTDPM To give an example of how popular Wendel continues to be, here's a story from his final run as a Leaf, in the playoffs in 2000. The Leafs were in a game against the Devils and Brodeur was absolutely shutting the door. Wendel, relegated to 4th line duty at this point, jumped on the ice, took the puck down to Brodeur and ripped one of his famous wristshots off of the crossbar and out of play. This lead to a TV timeout, at which time, Wendel received a 2-minute standing ovation during the entire break. As far as I know, Wendel Clark is the only player to get a standing ovation for hitting the crossbar.

Why is it immediately assumed that the Russians will have oodles of chemistry?

Gotta disagree. Those European nations are going to be mostly NHL talent, who are all too familiar with how to play on North American ice.

Seems that $7 million is the lowest he'll go for.