kosydar

The thing that hurts about Raycroft (besides Rask) is that he holds the Leafs record for most wins in a season. At least the Leafs goaltending depth looks good for now. After Rask was traded, we had Raycroft/Toskala/Pogge/MacDonald/ and Gerber for a month. Now with Guigere/Gustavsson we have a very capable NHLer with loads of experience, and a young guy who looks to have a ton of potential. The new guy Rynnas is apparently pretty raw, but shows a lot of promise. And hopefully the forgotten guy Reimer can continue to grow. Obviously the Leafs don't have phenomenal goaltending as of now, but they look at least adequately set up for the future. If anything, this just shows Burke's effectiveness. Many question the Kessel deal, and to a lesser extent the Kubina deal, but Burke has shown that he can get things done. In his year and a half here he has signed Rynnas, Gus, and Bozak, all highly sought after UFAs (and to a lesser extent Irwin and Hanson). It just makes me wish he'd have been in office a few years earlier so he'd have a shot at signing Wheeler.

I didn't mean to imply you did. I sometimes lurk on HFBoards, and that seemed to be the general consensus about him from Bruins fans and Leafs fans opposed to the trade. I also remember reading about how Kessel never received any PP time on the Bruins, and everyone extrapolated his goal totals for this season based on him playing 1 1/2 minutes per penalty. Now I totally get why he never played on the Bruin's PP. His skills don't translate at all, and he ends up being pretty useless out there. And agreed about him and his former teammates. Him and Krejci seemed to have something going in their last game. Habs fan, huh?

I was really torn on whether or not I wanted Kabs to go. He's been one of my favorites for as long as I've liked the Leafs, and he is one of the elite offensive defensemen in the league (up until halfway through this year anyway). Like Chippa mentioned, he is simply phoning it in now. I don't know if its because he just doesn't care anymore, or if he knows he is as good as gone at the draft. Either way, he needs to go, unless there are absolutely no buyers out there. Thankfully, its very unlikely thats the case. Unfortunately, he won't garner nearly as much as he would have two years ago. It works out because the Leafs are very happy to have a guy like Kessel. Funny, for a guy who wasn't supposed to put up numbers without Savard, he had quite the season.

I had a shitload of problems and I didn't get any notification of a free week.

My Xbox Live won't let me add a prepaid card. I got off the phone with support and they said they hope to have it fixed by tonight.

Ah, the author everyone spouts off to sound intelligent thanks to Good Will Hunting.

i only take it occasionally because of my ADHD and i hate it (i can't eat and shit, and it only helps my concentration a tad), don't get why people would take it for fun <_< sorry for your loss Ebondo People don't take it for "fun" its solely for cramming purposes because it helps you to concentrate. I'm in my 3rd year of Uni now and I know a lot of people who take it. From what I've heard it works for some people and not at all for others, doesn't seem worth it. People definitely take it recreationally.

good luck getting getzlaf. About the same chances as us landing Kovalchuck IMO. I think this offseason we re-sign poni, white, mitchell and stajan. I'd keep Stempniak and Kulemin if they play to their potential between now and march. We let go of Van Ryn, Exelby, Mayers and possibly Primeau, although I like the way he plays and has proven to be a valuable player for what we pay him. MVR Exelby and Mayers are taking up about 5 M right now, and Id expect Stajan and White to each be expecting a raise of ~2 M next year and probably at least 1 M for Mitch. It looks like Toskala is gone for sure, which is 4 Million in the pocket, but Gustavsson will likely be wanting a raise and we'll need a reliable backup next season. On top of the existing cap room, If we can negotiate some reasonable deals I'd say we only free up about 1 or 2 million in cap space, which according to thehockeygm.com leaves us with somewhere between 6-8 Million. So, if we want a new star player come next year, we'd better either find some cheap grinding forwards and 7-8th string d-men, or buy out Blake/Finger or both. i'll keep them just because they work hard every night/have potential (well not reall primeau) lol i hate exelby, kubina's would be soooo much better AND we'll have a good right hand shot from the point on our crappy PP that was somehow no. 1 for awhile It wasn't Kubina vs. Exelby. It was Kubina vs. Exelby and the cap space to sign Komisarek.

Doing well on the LSATs.

I don't know much about goaltending so I can't say if that was unlucky or a horrible goal. But I do know that after that Toskala flat out gave up.

That's interesting, I really had no idea that it was so lax. It seems like with the CBA and the salary cap, they might be more strict about eligible and ineligible players, given the somewhat similar situation Calgary faced last year. I wonder what defines an "eligible" player, especially in regards to their contract. I guess it just means that a team could hypothetically call up Ogie from the Federal League, have him take off someone's head, and not be penalized for it unless they score during his one shift.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=4726626 I've never heard of this happening. I would have just assumed the offending team would have to forfeit for playing with an ineligible player.

The only people who will really be happy are Di Pietro and Redden, guys who either can't stay healthy or whose play has seriously dropped off. Zetterberg, Franzen, Hossa, etc, will likely be paid under market value for the entirety of their careers.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=300811 hawks ain't gonna change much next few years Hence the use of the past tense, "The thought WAS......" I'd just like to go on the record now that giving Keith a no movement clause might be the dumbest thing I've seen in a long time. It probably obvious, but the NMC likely lowered Keith's overall salary. Kaberle is one player who comes to mind who took a less than market value salary in return for a NTC. I don't think they're a bad thing for short term contracts, but on a 13 year deal is outrageous.

Burke said the Chicago deal was dead, so who knows. Any Carolina (or Q) fans know much about Paradis? I tried to go to HF, but its overrun by people trashing on Burke and having a Tlusty love-fest. From what I've gathered, Paradis is a much safer prospect, a guy who can play on any line. Tlusty was top six or bust. Not really a surprising move, Tlusty obviously wasn't Burke's guy. I don't know if he was given all the chances he might have deserved, but I'd rather get rid of him when he at least had some value. Burke's top six next year probably looks something along the lines of Kessel-Bozak-Stalberg-Grabs-Kadri-UFA. Makes no sense to keep Tlusty who is a RFA (I think), especially given the fact that he is both Euro and has a sense of entitlement as evidenced by his training camp performance.

Was he the one who didn't play at all after the Finger goal? Wonder if it was decided then and there.

Wednesday- 10am: 10 page paper due Thursday- 6pm: Easily the biggest football game in the history of the UO. Can't attend because.... Friday- 2 tests due by 5pm Saturday- 8am:LSATs, followed by Monday: 10am Final #1 Tuesday: 10am Final #2 Wednesday: 8am Final #3.

Sundin did it.

I stopped reading at 99.

I wonder what we'll hear more of, Tim Tebow is the second coming of Jesus, or excusing Alabama's sleep-inducing play as "good SEC football". I know I'll be watching that game on mute and closing my eyes every time they show a segment of Tebow not in uniform.

No way in hell Komi is going anywhere. Burke didn't sign him for a month and a half of service. Komi, Beauch, Hanson, Bozak and Gus are all staying with the team at least through this year. No GM is dumb enough to sign a highly sought after free agent and trade them that November. Besides, Komi was playing solid up until his injury. He was simply trying to do too much when he first got here. Same goes for Beauch.

Correct, Finger was a Fletcher move.

Burke really likes White. He said last year that he was offered a 2nd round pick at the deadline, but thought he was too valuable to the team. The problem with White in the future is I don't see how we can afford to pay him what hes worth. Between Kaberle, Komi, Beauch, Schenn and Finger all making at least $3-4 mil (not sure of Schenn's actual salary because of bonuses), the Leafs need at least one cheap depth guy. Right now its looking like Gunnarsson is him. I really want to lock up White long term, but someone else needs to be moved. Komi, Beauch and Schenn are staying. Kaberle is too valuable to move. So it looks like Finger is gone, but I don't know who would want him when there are cheaper options out there.

I think Gus is tired of facing 45 shots after his team gets an early 3-0 lead. This is without a doubt the most difficult stretch in my Toronto fanhood. At least when we've sucked before I can look forward to getting someone like Schenn or Kadri. Don't get me wrong, I support the Kessel trade so long as the Leafs don't give up a lottery pick. The most frustrating part about the Leafs right now is that there is no immediate fix available. There aren't any tradable assets except for Tlusty, and I doubt he has much value right now. I know the common theme with bashing the Leafs is goaltending, but it hasn't been that bad. Last night for example, the entire team basically quit in front of Gus. There is no semi-elite talent up front besides Kessel, and it is painfully obvious that everything funnels through him. Our defense is talented individually, but the unit is playing horribly together. If there is one positive to come out of this, its Ian White. Also, I stand behind Burke's philosophy of a top six/bottom six. The problem is that both our top six and bottom six suck. Kessel is the only legit first liner, while Grabovski, Poni and Stajan are maginal second liners. Same goes for Blake, Hagman and Stempniak, but they're a notch below. The only good bottom six player is Orr. Kulemin has the skill to be a legit top six winger, but hasn't put it all together yet. Primeau, Wallin and Mayers have all been underwhelming, but at least he has shown toughness. Mitchell has a third line body with a first line mentality, making him essentially useless. Comparing Burke's first and third lines in Anaheim and Toronto just highlight why this team is failing- Selanne-McDonald-Kunitz vs Poni-Stajan-Kessel, Neidermayer-Pahlsson-Marchant vs Stempniak-Mitchell-Kulemin. With the roster right now, Burke's system is an absolute failure.

I'm pretty sure Frogren has to clear due to his age when signing his contract. I feel bad for him, as I'm sure if he knew Burke was going to bring in three new D he would have stayed in Sweden. But you have to respect a Euro for honoring his contract, even though he could be playing in a better league at home.