A deadline of selling rentals and stockpiling depth picks was expected, until the Columbus Blue Jackets came calling with an offer too good to be true. Somehow, Toronto got out of the David Clarkson era relatively unscathed. Last summer, the Leafs signed three effective top-nine forwards who can each play up and down the line-up, at every forward position, drive play, play on the PK, and chip in 25+ points. Combined, Leo Komarov, Daniel Winnik and Mike Santorelli accounted for a $5.7M cap hit. On his own, David Clarkson made $5.25M. This season Clarkson will finish with fewer points than each despite...

The deadline past yesterday, but somehow the distractions seem just as bad if not worse today, with Phil Kessel and Kyle Dubas speaking out against media treatment of Dion Phaneuf, followed by the statement launched by Lupul and Phaneuf against the broadcast station that is a property of the corporation that part-owns the team. Never a dull moment in Leafland. The Leafs will have a few new bodies in the lineup, with waiver claim Tim Erixon and deadline pickups Eric Brewer and Joakim Lindstrom available to make their Leaf debuts. It will be interesting to see if the deadline passing and a few leaders on...

The brutal incident with the unscreened tweet on TSN yesterday (we ask that you don't discuss the contents of it in the comments) may have been the straw that broke the camel's back as far as the Leafs and their media relations this season are concerned. Honest technical mistake or egregious error in judgment by a TSN staffer, it seems to have been the boiling point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45HO7tc7AUg https://twitter.com/jlupul/status/572815868566097920 https://twitter.com/longleysunsport/status/572812640000589825 The reaction from the media has been as predictable as the seasons. Within minutes of the Kessel and Dubas stuff hitting the social media rounds, suddenly the Leafs personnel in question are portrayed as ducking accountability for their horrible play and playing the...

It could fairly be depicted as a seller’s market this past deadline season, but only in the context of cap uncertainty going forward, with the big unknowns of whether the players will opt for the escalator and where the upper limit might track with the strength of the Canadian dollar. The result? A heavy majority of deals around the deadline featured expiring contracts or at the most one more year of term on the player’s contract. See for yourself: The probability of Dion Phaneuf or Phil Kessel moving going into the deadline, if the Leafs had any designs on getting decent value, was next...

Dave Nonis got his work done early, opting to do next to nothing on deadline day. Outside of cashing in his pending-UFA trade chips, the Clarkson deal is the big bang of the deadline season, as the core remains untouched for now. The net result of the past few weeks: Media address expected shortly. Dave Nonis Post-Deadline Media Address https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dybfGM9hIk

The Maple Leafs have sent Korbinan Holzer to Anaheim for a 5th round draft pick and defenceman Eric Brewer. With the deadline past and the earlier Olli Jokinen deal, only David Booth is going to walk for free as the remaining expiring UFA contract on the roster. Holzer's apparent concussion last night didn't prevent the Leafs from grabbing a draft asset for a depth D on an expiring contract, so (minor but) good news all around here. Between signing Santorelli and Winnik to one-year flyers and flipping them for picks, and taking back contracts in Joakim Lindstrom and Eric Brewer, the Leafs have...

The Leafs have found a place to offload pending UFA Olli Jokinen, sending him to St. Louis for a conditional sixth round draft choice. The pick they grab here essentially factors back into the original Mike Santorelli and Cody Franson deal, making the return Brendan Leipsic, a 1st round pick and a sixth round draft pick fetched in this trade. Any asset gained here at all is gravy. https://twitter.com/Real_ESPNLeBrun/status/572480543847260160 Joakim Lindstrom is a 31-year-old depth center with 6 points in 34 games. He's an expiring contract takeback to make the dollars line up. So ends the storied Olli Jokinen era in Toronto. Jokinen clearly didn't want to...

Former Marlies head coach Dallas Eakins joined Bob Mackowycz on TSN Radio, touching on the Leafs rebuild, the market's treatment of Phaneuf, and the futures of Rielly, Gardiner and Kadri. Have we lost sight of how good Phaneuf could be? I think it happens. It’s an easy thing to happen. When you get into a negative environment and there’s lots of losses, it’s very easy to pile on individuals. I’ve really kept an eye on Toronto since I've been gone. It’s an organization close to my heart because I was here for so long. I think a lot of the criticism of Dion and some of the...