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  • J

    JohnBaranowskiFeb 4, 2010 at 12:47 am

    I know TSN reported basically the same way, with the Leafs looking down the road and the Flames looking at right now, but the trade gave up too much of what they have going for them. The Leafs have good-enough scoring, with 11 teams scoring less than them (a statistic that surprised me). They have a problem with goals against. So the logical move is to get a defenseman and a goalie. They did that, and that should mean that their goals-against should go down. However, to do that, they gave up some of their best scorers, meaning that their goals-for should also go down.

    It’s a gift-of-the-magi situation, and I don’t think it’s going to work very well for anybody (Giggy’s performance notwithstanding, though he still might go postal when he loses his job again…), I’m having real problems seeing who will snap victory from the jaws of defeat here

  • D

    Devon SwansonFeb 4, 2010 at 12:28 am

    The winners in this trade are the Leafs. This one was made for two years down the road, not tomorrow (though a 3-0 shutout in the newbies’ first game will make the Toronto media have a field day). Phaneuf was dying alive in Calgary and the fans wanted his head, and I’m assuming Giggy was holding a gun to somebody to get out of Anaheim that quick. I don’t disagree on the Ducks’ assessment: that was one of the worst moves I’ve seen in awhile. However, Toskala’s a UFA and Anaheim’s sure as hell not going to re-sign him.
    Burke’s clearing the cupboards and got a foundational defenseman and a goalie still relatively in his prime. This isn’t going to change the Leafs that much, but without Toskala’s 4 mil and Blake’s 4 mil cap hits this year, Burke might be able to make a move at the deadline even though he had enough as it is now. I’m a Burke fanboy so you can claim I’m biased and I am, but at least the ownership has the balls to let him blow up the roster like this. Plus we’ll probably see some youngins come up from the farm. Nazem Kadri, anyone?

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Baranowski deconstructs NHL trades