Peter Chiarelli
In part six of his 12 burning questions series, Derek Harmsworth takes a look at Leafs sniper Phil Kessel, and whether he can hit the 40 goal plateau.
While January 31st 2010 will go down as a day Leafs fans will never forget as the Leafs acquired Dion Phaneuf, Keith Aulie, Fredrik Sjostrom, and J.S. Giguere in the span of about two hours, the date of September 18th, 2009 will also be remembered, yet highly debated, and much scrutinized.
It was on that day in September, following a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, that Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke got his man. Â After lots of rumours throughout the year, including one that involved Tomas Kaberle going the other way, Burke signed off on a deal with the Boston Bruins that landed him American born sniper Phil Kessel. [more…]
Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager, Brian Burke should have uttered one phrase to explain the situation, one simple little phrase to envelope the reasoning for the Phil Kessel trade;
“Our picks in our vision of where we ended up are overvalued in accordance to the available crop of prospects.â€
But in Toronto, to admit that in what’s deemed as a ‘rebuild’ would have been a PR disaster.
Despite popular opinion, he wasn’t wrong.
The world is no longer flat, it’s round .. like a full-cirle
The two greatest military tacticians of the past 5000 years – Sun Tzu and Sgt. Slaughter – both spoke on the value of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your enemies in the field. To effectively assess the situational realities of the Toronto Maple Leafs it pays to look at the status of their direct competition within the Northeast division. Playing 24 games against teams from their own division, pride, points and position are all on the line. While by no means comprehensive (as yet), take a gander at the past 3 weeks of moves.
The Canadians, Senators, Bruins and Sabres all earned playoff positions last season. A successful, playoff calibre Leafs squad must commit themselves to dominating these frequent opponents as more than a quarter of the season will be played against them. [more…]
It may seem uncharacteristic of  Brian Burke, historically a headline maker at the Entry Draft, to sit essentially idle on the hockey world's biggest stage. Important to remember is that the big man can be patient when he needs to be. The Anaheim and Calgary deals of last February, when Burke waited until certain pressure points reached a head, were both examples of Burke's willingness to sit back until the time was right to pull the trigger - despite all the temptations to hit the panic button as his team sat in the Eastern Conference basement with no first round pick to look forward to.
TSN's Darren Dreger is reporting a trade between Brian Burke and Peter Chiarelli that will see Phil Kessel join the Maple Leafs as agreed upon [more…]
It took sometime to manifest, prolonged in the wake of shoulder surgery and stunted contract talks, but the September 10th news that negotiations between the Boston Bruins, Wade Arnott and Phil Kessel had come to an impasse reignited the rumor mill that has surrounded the Leafs and the Madison, Wisconsin sniper since Brian Burke first tabled Tomas Kaberle in the infamous draft day “misunderstanding.â€
In the week that has passed since negotiations broke down, the value of Kessel has skyrocketed beyond the original RFA compensation of a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round selection in the 2010 draft.
Some interesting contrasting rumors/speculation in the Toronto media today regarding Kessel:
Damien Cox of the Toronto Star hears that Phil Kessel is very interested in [more…]
The Boston Globe reports that restricted free agent winger Phil Kessel will no longer be negotiating with the Boston Bruins and will likely now await [more…]
Amid speculation that Brian Burke is positioning himself to extend an offer sheet - perhaps to long-rumoured target, 22-year-old winger Phil Kessel - after swapping picks to recover the Leafs' 2010 second round pick in a deal that would seemingly make little sense otherwise, there is another possibility to consider in regards to trade negotiations.
[more…]
UPDATE:
Some changes in information:
- Hits newsstands September 8th, available at all Indigo Chapters stores in Canada as well as wherever magazines are sold in the greater Toronto area, including Walmart, grocery stores, drug stores, newsstands, etc. Apparently the the only magazine outlet in the GTA it isn’t available at is the Toronto airport.
- Should you wish to PREORDER, the SHIPPING FEE has been dropped from $11 to $5.00. Everyone who has already preordered will be credited the $6 difference.
- Pre-ordering not only guarantees you a copy but will get you one a week in advance as preorders are shipped August 25th with a 2-5 day waiting period for arrival.
- My apologies for the mistakes in my original information.
Debunking growing speculation that I've been kicking my feet up on the beaches of Cancun and ignoring all of you for the last month, myself alongside publishing company Maple Street Press are very pleased to introduce the inaugural Maple Leafs Annual. Before we get into the thick of it, I'd like to first of all thank MSP for offering me the opportunity to edit, and contribute to, this project. Although at times taxing, to see this Annual come together has been an extremely satisfying and mostly fun endeavour. I was put in the unique position of being able to unite the prominent and growing voices of the Leafs' blog-o-sphere into a consolidated project, and for that I'm very thankful. The final product is one that I think all of Leafs Nation can be proud of.
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A variety of discussion points to kick off the weekend including the imminent departure of Justin Pogge and the Marlies goaltending situation going into next season. Is it finally James Reimer's time to shine? Also, a quick look at the latest flurry of moves made by the Boston Bruins, and how that may affect a potential Leaf trade for the still unsigned Phil Kessel. [more…]
