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From a source:
"I'm hearing Leafs will try to sign him immediately upon his release and Burke will be very reasonable in terms of money/term/bonuses to get the job-he really wants it. There is still some issue as to how long the Ducks will expect to keep him on which is clouding the timing somewhat. Leafs really like what Fletch has done and would happily let him finish out the year, but without a guarantee that Holland et al will be available or interested they have no choice but to get this done now. [more…]
Recent discussions have tempers flaring wildly in Minnesota, while the Maple Leafs look to trade leaves before they fall.
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The Maple Leafs are ready to set the upcoming season stage for the Detroit Red Wings tonight at the Joe Louis arena and quite a few regulars are ready to pull the jersey back on.
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The Leafs waive, demote and start rumors.
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The Leafs are looking to put up a strong performance after back to back stable appearances against the defending champs. With a similar roster, it will be interesting to see how Toskala fairs in net behind the crop.
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A momentum swing in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins can be largely attributed to a couple of in-game changes orchestrated by bench-boss Ron Wilson.
The starting first line of Mikhail Grabovski, Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky proved ineffectual in the first frame and rookie Nik Kulemin wasn't clicking with line-mates Nik Hagman and Alex Steen. The team failed to generate anything in the way of offense until late in the third, when Wilson's ad hoc lines began to fire, mounting a near come-back with two goals in quick succession. [more…]
...why the Leafs signed Jeff Finger?
Well, at least I got a Finger joke out of the way early on.
When the numbers 3.5 over 4 were first thrown around on the AM640, I figured it was a fantastic signing as Finger was one of the more underrated players in the league I hoped the Leafs would go after. I figured something in the range of $1.5-2M would be a great bargain, but less than $1M a year? Sign me up! [more…]
Rebuild.
That was the game plan going in to the off-season after another abysmal season from our boys in Blue and White.
Given this arduous task was veteran GM Cliff Fletcher. I mean, it's not every day that MLSE realize their failure and place this kind of responsibility on their GM (or… is it?).
Fletcher got to work right away, trading a 3rd round selection in the 2008 draft for Jamal Mayers. While this received mixed reception, the presence of Mayers to the Leafs' now young line-up is going to add some leadership to a team sorely lacking it.
*Sunday Morning Update: Nothing ground-breaking here, but Fletcher told me via e-mail this morning that there were no new developments in Friday's meeting between himself, Mats Sundin and agent J.P Barry. "Mats is going to take his time." It's expected that Fletcher clarified his position by reaffirming that Sundin was welcome back, with a reported $7 million, 1 year deal still on the table. Alex Tran will be checking in with his first blog sometime today. [more…]
