MacK_Attack

So basically, what you want is restricted free agency for an entire career. The only way to end the era of the rental player is to put a clause in the CBA that says something to the effect that the player traded can't re-sign or be traded back to his original team for 12 months or something like that. Although, then you have to define a rental player and put a time frame on what constitutes a trade deadline move, thereby essentially creating a new trade deadline earlier in the season for UFA players.

Kaberle is a steal. There's 29 other teams that would take him for $4.25 million. I did not say McCabe's contract is a good deal. It's just not as bad as it used to be, as $5.75 million isn't the outrageous amount that it used to be. I never brought up Tucker or Blake because I agree those were two bad signings. Thanks for putting words in my mouth, though.

Peddie was asked about it and he said they've already discussed it and have had a few inquiries already about the asking price for Sundin. He never once said they would not trade Sundin.

I'm a Leafs fan who also cheers for Dallas.

He doesn't have a family. He's single. No kids in school or anything like that. If he's going to be living out of a hotel for 4 months, what's the difference if he's down the road in Detroit or out on the coast in Anaheim or San Jose? Sundin thrives with more pressure. The higher stakes the situation, the better he performs. Mats wants to be "the guy". He's said as much, and that when he isn't that guy anymore, he's going to retire. Kaberle gets $4.25 million per year. That's a steal for how he can play and the minutes he can log. He hasn't had a great year, but he's been decent enough. Kaberle would get at least a million or two more on the open market. Thanks to inflation due to the cap going up as much as it has, even McCabe's deal isn't as bad as it used to be, even though it's a terribly restricting deal. I still don't believe that the Wings have what it takes to land Sundin in the top-end prospect department, unless you're willing to include Kindl. I think the basic formula for a deal is a top-end prospects (Kindl) a 2008 first round pick, a young roster player with decent upside and maybe a lower end prospect or draft pick. Then, you can add conditionals on there. Maybe a 2009 1st rounder if Detroit wins the Cup or Sundin wins the Conn Smythe or a 2010 1st rounder if Sundin re-signs with Detroit. Again, that's optional and can be re-worked depending on the significance of the achievement that activates the option.

Brodeur could sneak in there, too.

Anaheim, San Jose, Carolina, Vancouver, Calgary....I those would be the teams that would take the hardest run at Mats. The team that needs him the most, Dallas, sold the farm last year for Nagy & Norstrom and can't get in the bidding. There's also New Jersey, but I'm not sure they can offer anything to sway the Leafs to send Mats to the swamp.

He'd have to clear waivers to join an NHL team.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=22...amp;hubName=nhl

I don't put a whole lot of stock in what Mats says to the media at the moment in regards to a trade. If he actually said that he would consider a trade before the deadline, it was set off a media firestorm not seen in Toronto since the Eric Lindros almost-trade about 8 years ago. Mats knows this, which is why he takes the safe route in answering those kinds of questions. Mats said a few years ago that he would consider a trade if the Leafs came to him and asked him to waive his no-trade clause (and this was when the Leafs were a playoff team). I would have to think that his mindset hasn't changed in that regard. Mats is just taking the safe route with his comments at the moment.

Lehtinen has been out for about a month or so and will be out for at least another month. The Selke tends to go to the traditional defensive specialist who has a breakout offensive year. In that regard, I think Patrick Sharp might get some votes. I think Alfredsson and Mike Richards will get votes, too.

I guess this is pretty arbitrary depending on if you go by stats or by the calibre of the two goalies. There was a brief period in 1998 when the Leafs had Curtis Joseph and Felix Potvin (before he became completely washed up). I'd look at Bower/Sawchuk for the Leafs in the mid-60s, Smith/Resch for the Islanders during their Cup years. Also: 1967/68 - Montreal Canadiens - Lorne "Gump" Worsley & Rogie Vachon 1971/72 - Toronto Maple Leafs - Jacques Plante & Bernie Parent 2001-2003 - San Jose Sharks - Evgeni Nabokov & Miikka Kiprusoff 2003-2007 - San Jose Sharks - Evgeni Nabokov & Vesa Toskala

Sundin and Antropov don't play together, only occasionally on the powerplay. In fact, Antropov's slowest streak of production this season came when he was on the same line as Mats.

So if the Leafs are in true sell mode (which they would have to be to move Antropov, Gill could be had at anytime, really), why would they take back four roster players? They'd definitely want picks/prospects for Antropov & Gill. They'd be trying to shed salary, not take back a relatively equal amount. I'm not sure why the Leafs would give Antropov away for such a meagre return when he's having a career year.

Russian-born, Toronto raised billionaire Alexander Shnaider recently approached Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment chairman Larry Tanenbaum with an offer to buy his shares. Tanenbaum declined, with the reason being that he was looking to acquire more shares of MLSE. This is where it gets interesting.... It now appears that Tanenbaum, Shnaider & media mogul Ted Rogers will make a pitch to purchase the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund's 58% share in MLSE. The teachers are not actively trying to sell off their shares, but have made it known that they would do so for the right price, which would be in excess of $1 billion. This would give Tanenbaum/Rogers/Shnaider 71% control of MLSE, which includes, but is not limited to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC, Air Canada Centre, BMO Field & Toronto Marlies. (And soon, the Buffalo Bills) Tanenbaum has been the driving force in MLSE behind trying to hire Scotty Bowman to run the hockey operations, so this would stand to be a fantastic development for the pathetically-run Leafs.

Because he's 37 years old, the team is going nowhere and they have a chance to not only provide Mats with a chance to win a Cup, but to get a great head-start on re-modeling the team. It makes perfect sense for them to move Mats in the next six weeks.

If you expected Sundin to maintain the 130 point pace he started out with than I think your expectations of him are way off. He's on pace for 90-100 points and that's pretty much where he should be. There are some differences between Forsberg last year and Sundin this year that make Sundin more valuable on the trade market than Forsberg: - Forsberg, while still very good, was not quite what he used to be. Mats is still producing at a world-class pace. I think Forsberg was point-per-game or slightly less last year. Pretty good, but that's a huge drop-off from normal Forsberg outputs. - The trade deadline this year is going to feature far fewer top-notch forwards. In fact, Mats might be the only one to be had. That's huge for trade value. Simple supply and demand. - Forsberg's injury history drove his value down because he was chronically injured. Mats has been relatively injury-free for his entire career and certainly has not had any chronic injuries.

No, Sundin has more value than Forsberg.

None of those players have 1st line or first pairing potential, which is what the Leafs will get as the centerpiece to the trade. Like I said before, the Leafs probably won't do a deal that doesn't include Kindl. They have to get top value for Sundin because this is the move that sets the tone for the rebuilding phase.

Forsberg is done. He's not coming back.

I don't think the Leafs would have much use for him. Lots of "decent" defencemen in the system, they don't need another one at the moment. The Leafs would prefer a top-end forward prospect as the big prize of a Sundin trade, but Detoit really doesn't have one, so I doubt they'd do a deal that did not include Kindl. The Leafs are falling fast, sitting 4th-last in the league and dropping. If you're thinking of getting Mats Sundin for average roster players and mid-level prospects, you're dreaming. Mats has been the heart & soul of the Leafs for almost 15 years, he's their all-time leader in all offensive categories (except assists) he's been the captain for 10 years and he's currently in the top-15 in NHL scoring. Players like that are not given away. His trade return is similar to Forsberg, but I believe it's higher because there's fewer rental options on this year's deadline sellers and Mats does not have the injury concerns that Forsberg did. Also, I don't think Mats would hold the Leafs hostage in terms of where he'd go. Obviously, he'd want to go to a contender, but he isn't the type of guy to restrict it to 2 or 3 teams. He just doesn't operate that way.

He was referring to the Toronto media when he said that, not the Leafs themselves.

Ferguson would ideally like to keep Mats Sundin, but may not have any choice in the matter but to move him. Peddie wants to keep Ferguson. Peddie has a say in hockey matters as long as Ferguson is around. As soon as he's gone, Peddie's going to lose his influence, which would be the best thing to happen because he doesn't have a f^%$*# clue.

4-1 Canada is the final. Canada vs. Sweden for gold, Russia vs. USA for bronze tomorrow.

4-1, 6:34 to go.