It has begun. Began, whatever. The next few weeks will be packed full of entertainment as all of us NHL die-hards continue to refresh TSN.ca in hopes of being the first to hear about the next big trade. In the last couple days, the beloved Leafs have basically given up on their season, trading 6 players out of their regular lineup. If you follow the NHL at all, or you live in southern Ontario and own a TV, radio, computer with internet, newspaper, or obnoxious Leaf-fan family member or neighbor, you are more then aware of the two trades made on Sunday.
Dion Phaneuf, a Canadian blue line bully, is now a proud blue and white. He was surprisingly emotional during the interview following the big news, but anyone who spent 4 1/2 years with good group of friends and family should feel something, even if you are a tough guy. The Leafs also acquired Keith Aulie and Fredrik Sjostrom (There are little dots above the O’s in his name, just thought you should know). So yes, a big lad on D, and a younger, just as big lad on D as well. Aulie was actually apart of the 2008-2009 World Junior team for Canada that won gold. He wasn’t a huge name, but hey, he’s gotta be some kinda good. The second trade saw J.S. Giguere head to the buds as well.
Now, the leafs gave up quite a bit for these players. Let’s start off with the who; Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers, Ian White and Matt Stajan. Hagman and Stajan were mediocre for the Leafs and it isn’t too much of a pain to see them go. Jamal Mayers was just about as useless as a pylon, or Aki Berg. At least Aki was fun to say. The surprise for me was Ian White, who had an awesome moustache for Movember as you may remember, but yes, White has been nothing short of spectacular this season in my opinion and it was a shock to see him go as part of a 7 man deal, but nonetheless it is just spring (January) cleaning for Burke. Ian White will be missed, but Leaf nation will survive. Lastly, Jason Blake (FINALLY) and Vesa Toskala (A terrible tenure in Toronto), were traded to the Ducks for Giguere.
Ok, so. Toskala was making 4 million this season, while Blake was making 4.5 million. The Ducks picked up both of these contracts, which clears a nice bit of space considering how much these two players were underachieving (Remember when Blake scored 40 in 06.07? Yeah me too.) Actually, to continue with fun facts about Jason Blake, he had 68 goals in 2 seasons with the Isles from 05-07. After being traded to the Leafs, he scored 15, 25, 10, 10 goals respectively over those 4 beautiful years of non-playoff hockey. That is a total of 60 goals in 4 years. Hmmmm. Well unfortunately the Leafs tend to get players a bit past their prime, luckily Phil Kessel will single-handedly win games for years to come. KESSEL! I really do like Kessel. But anywho, I don’t even really need to say anything about Toskala, because we all know he will go to Anaheim and play great as a backup to Jonas Hiller. Remember Raycroft? The guy we all hated in Toronto? He is playing great as a quiet backup to Robbie Lou. His numbers, albeit less game played then his years in Tdot, are WAY better, posting a 9.14 Save percentage and a 2.19 GAA. Again, I’m just throwing these numbers out there to show that not everyone that seems awful in Toronto is really that bad.
Right, so the weird thing about this is that Toronto drops 6 players, including some big contracts to free up space for new players, young players to finally build a winning team around, right? Okay, well Phaneuf will be making an average of 6.4 million over the next 4 seasons, and Giguere is making 6 mil this season and 7 next. What the eff. That is a lot of money to be invested into a backup goalie and a defense man, when they are clearly in need of a few more forwards. Well in my opinion anyway, Kessel can’t do it all. Well he can, but still.
Well I thought I’d just do a little Leafs talk for today, tomorrow I’ll start with my dear Thrashers and debate with myself over whether poor Kovalchuk will or will not be traded. If he does get traded, I will be the first to buy that jersey and bandwagon that team faster then you can say hurrah. Oh yeah, k so we were having a great poker game with the men the other day and this guy hits a royal flush, all spades. Legit. Who does that? Needless to say, in this drinking-related-poker-thing we made up, we all had to suffer the consequences. Hello drunk. I adore trade rumors. Love.
Now that, is a man.
