great player
In case you haven't already heard, the Maple Leafs have broken off negotiations with prospect Bill Sweatt, acquired in the Versteeg trade from the Blackhawks. In a statement to the Toronto Sun, Burke explained that the club would rather keep a spot on the 50 contract limit open than continue discussions with Sweatt. As the talks continued to stall, the Leafs likely turned and upped their offer to Marcel Mueller, whose ELC contract value sits at $1.12 million. Sweatt is likely looking for a figure close to Blake Wheeler's $2.825 cap hit as a 4-year college free agent, which is a steep price to pay for a player with speed but limited offensive upside. [more…]
We’ve partnered up with Pension Plan Puppets to bring to you a Player Review series, where we will be evaluating and grading the 2009-10 season for every Leaf who featured in a significant number of games for the Blue and White last season, with an eye towards 2010-11. Next up we feature Luke Schenn, profiled by Skinny Fish:
"The Summary: People will point to the Calder worthy performance of Tyler Myers, or the Norris worthy performance of Drew Doughty and then say that Schenn had a terrible season; a sophomore slump if you will. Those people are dead wrong. Doughty is among the elite of the elite defensemen in the game, and Tyler Myers benefited from being on a Sabres team with terrible defense while playing in front of the game's best goal in Ryan Miller. Schenn, on the other hand, played on a team with proven veteran defensemen like Beauchemin, Phaneuf, and Kaberle. Another thing to note is that Schenn was never touted as a point producing blue liner; his game is out of a shut down style of play against tough competition. Myers led his team with nearly 3 minutes of PP time a game; Schenn averaged 14 seconds.

