Quebec
Contrary to numerous but erroneous reports this morning that he had succumbed to his battle with lung cancer, Pat Burns is still alive at his home in Quebec with his family.
Apparently, Burns has even had a little fun with all of the reports, telling Bob McKenzie;
"Here we go again. They're trying to kill me before I'm dead. I come to Quebec to spend some time with my family and they say I'm dead. I'm not dead, far (expletive) from it. They've had me dead since June. Tell them I'm alive. Set them straight." [more…]
Finally, the moment a lot of us have been waiting for is upon us. Â The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Tuesday afternoon the full roster of players who will represent the blue and white at the 2010 rookie tournament, taking place this weekend in London, Ontario. Â The event runs from September 11th to the 14th at the John Labatt Centre, and remember Maple Leafs Hot Stove will have wall-to-wall coverage and unprecedented access.
A tap of the pads to Gus Katsaros for providing me the email.
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
In a move that will inevitably add to the frustratingly indecipherable trade rumblings of the last few days, Eric Belanger indicated that he has essentially signed with a team, but is unable to divulge where he will be going. Â The article is French, but the English translation of the title ("Eric Belanger signs...but he won't say where!") says it all. Â The information we can gleam from this is that Belanger can not reveal his new team because they are "working on an exchange that will affect the salary cap". Â Of course, this begs the question: are the Leafs somehow involved?
Former Team Canada World Juniors captain, Patrice Cormier, will be facing charges of "assault causing injury," says Annie-Claude Bergeron, a spokes-person for the Crown prosecutor's office of Rouyn-Noranda. Cormier will appear in court on July 12 for his hit on Mikael Tam on January 25th of 2010.
Time to shake off the lingering effects of a rough Saturday night, by taking a peek at some of the stories headlining today's Leaf news. A peek at Wilson's coaching cheatsheet, a case for the Monster to start on Tuesday night, random notes from the games, and some quick prospect updates for Kadri, Blacker and Stefanovich. [more…]
Picking up on the "defenseman for a forward" trade offer that Burke received the other day, ESPN's Al Cimaglia speculated on a possible fit with the Chicago Blackhawks. After accomodating the acquisition of Hossa and the significant raises to Versteeg, Bolland and Barker, the Hawks find themselves pressed right up against the cap and still requiring a tough, stay at home defender. With Burke having up to six NHL defensive defensemen on his roster right now, Cimaglia suggested the newly acquired Garnet Exelby as a possible fit since he's young, cheap and would fit the mold of what GM Dave Tallon is looking for to round out his defense core. [more…]
Judge Redfield T. Baum has ruled that Jim Balisillie cannot use bankruptcy law to force his purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes.  The judge has also ruled that the NHL's relocation requirements do not violate anti-trust legislation.
According to their website, the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed recent draftees Mikhail Stefanovich, Carl Gunnarsson and Juraj Mikus to entry-level contracts. As General Manager Brian Burke continues the process of evaluating the Maple Leafs farm system, he has identified a trio of players with a chance of becoming part of the long-term picture in Toronto. [more…]
Hockey's Future, the renowned hockey prospects website, announced their Spring Organizational Rankings today and the Toronto Maple Leafs found themselves in the bottom tier of the league at #23. The ranking is based on an assessment of a team's farm system, which takes into account the amount of star power and depth that is likely to be produced. For a team in "rebuilding" mode, that's not a flattering number to see. [more…]
