Hey folks, couldn’t sleep, so I decided to grab a glass of milk and pop on the computer for a few minutes and was privy to some late night “breaking news”. There are unconfirmed reports that Toronto may have put in a claim on the recently waived Tampa Bay Lightning forward, Chris Gratton.
Apparently, an Edmonton radio sports host, Jason Gregor who writes for the “Oilers Nation” site, posted at around 8pm ET that the Leafs had put in a claim.
Later on, Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune, posted a column at about midnight with this little tidbit:
“Also on Monday, the Lightning placed C Chris Gratton on waivers. He has until noon today to clear, although there have been reports that at least one team, believed to be Toronto, has put in a claim for the 33-year-old. Gratton, who signed a one-year contract worth $1.25 million, has not played since Nov. 18, when he was put on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury, which at the time was tendinitis in his knee, although Tocchet said over the weekend that Gratton had an ankle injury.”
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/09/sp-homesick-vrbata-placed-on-waivers/
As mentioned in that excerpt, Gratton has until noon on Tuesday to clear. So I guess we’ll find out around that time, or maybe it’ll be “breaking news” by the time you guys all wake up for work. Who knows. If the claim is indeed true, there’s a good chance that Toronto snags him, considering their position in the standings and their consequent priority in the waiver claim order.
I’ll put up some further thoughts and statistics on this matter later on today if the move does indeed transpire, but on the surface, it looks like the expected Burke style pickup and a solid one at that. Gratton is a big, physical, two-way player and veteran leader who isn’t afraid to occasionally drop the gloves. I’m surprised he was even put on waivers in the first place, but I really have no clue what the heck they’re doing over there in Tampa.
See you all in the morning. “Broke” this story at 2:30am =)
Update:
“Lightning forwards Chris Gratton and Radim Vrbata cleared waivers. Gratton is expected to be assigned to AHL Norfolk, and Vrbata likely will play for a team in his native Czech Republic.”
http://blogs.tampabay.com/lightning/
Guess it was all for naught. Too bad. The Chris Gratton era in Toronto is over before it even started.
Always a pleasure,
Alex Tran
