Friday Morning Fun
A quick look at the Todd Bertuzzi to Toronto scenario, the NHL’s investigation into Chicago’s Marian Hossa contract (boy have they had a tough offseason), more on the Phil Kessel contract status, and a bit about Wayne Primeau’s thoughts going into next season.
It appears we can finally lay all that Bertuzzi to Toronto speculation to rest. The Calgary Herald reports that when asked about the possibility of reuniting with Brian Burke, Bertuzzi explained very simply that it’s “not going to happen.” He is expected to join one of three American teams in the Eastern conference who have expressed interest in his services. Pure speculation on my part right here, but he might make an interesting fit on a Buffalo team needing a little more grit, or down to Tampa who are supposedly on the market for a scoring winger after buying out Vaclav Prospal
Bruce Garrioch reports that the NHL is investigating the 12 year, $62.M contract that free agent winger Marian Hossa recently signed with the Chicago Blackhawks. Detroit started off the trend of the massive long-term deals that were heavily frontloaded in order to perhaps provide an out should those star players walk away from their contracts in their late 30′s or early 40′s. In the final 4 years of his contract, a 38 year old Marian Hossa would only make a grand total of $3.5M. The league will look to see if there is any evidence that Chicago discussed the possibility of retirement with Hossa as a means of circumventing the cap. If found guilty, the Blackhawks could be penalized with the loss of draft picks and a maxmium $5M fine. It’s possible the league will look to make an example of them in an effort to discourage similar long-term deals.
FoxSports examines the Phil Kessel contract situation and explains that he is looking for upwards of $4M per season on a long-term deal. The Bruins have only $1.7M in cap space, and the article suggests that may prove difficult the ship out the rumored trade candidates, either Michael Ryder ($4M) or Chuck Kobasew ($2.3M).
The National Post explains that Wayne Primeau is feeling very optmistic about the upcoming season in Toronto. He says that the ankle that has plagued him over the past few years is not yet 100%, but that it’s getting close. He is excited at the prospect of re-joining Ron Wilson, a coach for whom he had great respect in San Jose and under whom he enjoyed his best years as a strong two-way player and penalty killer.
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:21 am
I agree on the big point producing number one center. When there was talk of Lecavalier or Thornton wearing a Leaf jersey I was all for it. Hopefully Grabovski can prove us wrong. I think this guy could turn into something big as he gets accustomed to full time NHL employment. I also liked the way Kulemin came around near years end and can see good things out of him. From what I have heard though Bozak will surprise us all. He is a guy who wants to win and will do whatever it takes to get there.
I’m knocking on wood that the young guys at forward produce way better then imagined and this will be a good season for the Leafs.
I’m still driving the bandwagon
August 2nd, 2009 at 11:45 am
Well here’s to hoping! At least we all have postive things to debate nowadays…it’s been a dark couple of years…lol. Looking around the league, I just don’t see where we can pick up a top flight center who we wont have to develop. The Kessel situation with Boston’s limited cap space is still very intriguing but the Leafs have little to offer them at this point. Savard is a UFA next season and that would be awesome but Bostons priority has got to be signing this guy. So I think either Kessel or Bergeron will have to be moved shortly and while we could probably snag Bergeron for very little, I really don’t want him to be the guy.
Then there are guys like Berglund, or Brassard but again it seems like the chances of us getting those guys are slim as well. Lecavalier, or Thorton are really good options if we can somehow pry them away. I was originally against those trades but now that I see what we need and how rare it is, I think they are excellent options. How else are we going to get our big center? If we want to contend in 3 or 4 years, these guys will still be excellent players and I think we will be able to scrounge up a high scoring winger to play along side them.
I don’t know, we aren’t going to be bad enough to steal a super high pick so we can’t get a #1 center that way, unless we get lucky. We may also get lucky and someone in the system will emerge to be a superstar but sadly, I think that is doubtful too…so UFA or trading is the way I think. It will be interesting to see what Burkie does but I think the trade options will be far sweeter next off season when the cap comes down and teams start to panic. Our cap space alone will make us a preffered trading partner for teams trying to shed salary and that might just be our oppurtunity to underpay for the guy we need! That might be the time to pick up not only a number one center, but also a high scoring winger to compliment him.
Anyone see any other potential guys we could pick up for the number one slot? Who would you like to see fill the winger position??
August 2nd, 2009 at 11:52 am
@honesthockey
And who knows!? You might just be right and Grabovski, Kulemin and Bozak may turn into domr of the answers we are looking for! Wouldn’t that be sweeeeet! We may indeed have the winger developing in our system with someone like Stefanovich or Tlusty….you never know. This will be an interesting year to say the least!
August 2nd, 2009 at 12:37 pm
i think kadri will be a #1 centre, not a #2, so i’m okay with having grabovsky fill in there for a while. stefanovich is also listed as a centre, so between those 3 players, plus bozak, i think our top 2 centre positions are filled quite nicely. i can see stefanovich being moved to the wing though, in which case i’d like to see a line of tlusty – kadri – stefanovich in a few years. then kulemin, grabovsky, and stalberg… i’m salivating at the thought of that potential top 6!
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