TB
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
As you are no doubt well aware, the NHL draft lottery will be held tonight in New York to determine the order of the 14 non-playoff teams heading into the June 25-26 draft in Los Angeles. You can catch coverage of the lottery at 8pm on TSN.
Update
And the winner is ... Edmonton. Â Leafs fans, prepare yourselves to endure "Kessel Trade" debates for the better part of the next decade.
Where will goals come from? Toronto softened offensively with the moves on the weekend and questions abound about who will put the puck in the net moving forward.
Maybe it's not about who will make up the scoring; instead, with all these moves - and proved in the 3-0 win over the Devils - in the Leafs case, the best offense, is a solid defense.
[more…]
Last season in a draft, I chose Evgeni Nabokov for an H2H league organized by James Mirtle. It seemed early, but I had reasons. To win in fantasy GMs must find an edge using unconventional analysis and strategy.
That's what I try to do.
Facts don't lie and I liked Nabokov (and Backstrom from Minnesota) better than any goalie last season. It's also why Tim Thomas ranked higher. This season both Nabby and Thomas weren't ranked as high. Maybe the Bruins and Sharks struggle this season.
Why? Find out here.
With only one day remaining before the draft, the NHL rumour mill is of course running rampant.
Here is an update on the latest "non-source" chatter I've been hearing regarding draft moves, trade possibilities, and free agent speculation as it may or may not pertain to our boys in blue.
[more…]
A quick look at the NHL standings reveals that with 11 games remaining, the Toronto Maple Leafs have not yet been mathematically eliminated from either the playoffs, or last place overall.
A numerical analysis reveals something even more interesting. Mathematically-speaking, the Maple Leafs are leading the race for the 6th overall pick in the draft.
It's official:Â the trade deadline has come and gone ... not with a bang but a whimper.
Aside from the agonizingly slow pace throughout most of the day, some fascinating moves (and non-moves) took place, for both the Maple Leafs and the league as a whole.
Here are my thoughts, in the aftermath of Deadline Day:
The final roster for Hockey Canada's 2009 World Junior Hockey team was announced early this morning and here were the final 16 cuts:
Memorial Cup winning netminder Tyson Sexsmith and Jake Allen; defencemen Travis Hamoic - who won gold with the under-18 squad - Kevin Marshall, Patrick Wiercioch, Jarred Spurgeon, Brendan Smith and Tyler Cuma, who suffered a knee injury during camp; forwards Evander Kane, Riley Nash, Jamie Arniel, Nazem Kadri, Matt Duchene, Brayden Schenn, Taylor Hall and Matt Calvert.
