“Grabovski is no stranger to the rough-housing in his first season as a Maple Leaf. The 25-year-old was suspended for three games on Jan 9, 2009 when he pushed aside an official to get at Montreal Canadiens forward Sergei Kostitsyn.”

That from Sportsnet on Grabovsky getting into a skirmish wih Jason Blake at practice today….

Anyone else see this gem?:

“HOLLWEG ON WAIVERS

Little-used forward Ryan Hollweg was placed on waivers. Any team in the league can put claim on Hollweg until noon Saturday. If he clears waivers, he can be sent to the Marlies.”

IF HE CLEARS WAIVERS???? This guy sucks. Flat out sucks. I don’t know what Cliff was smoking when he grabbed him, but he is an embarrassment to the team and the league. Why he was carried thus far is a complete mystery.

No big surprise that yesterday’s waiver players cleared. Interested to see how long they stay up if at all…

Did anyone see Doug MacLean after the Panthers meltdown (beautiful meltdown!)? He said that he was sure Burke was blowing a gasket. Well, I can tell you that the assistant to the traveling secretary for the Maple Leafs is feeling the brunt of Burke as the waivers are being flooded by blue and white bodies.

Jeremy Williams cleared waiver and is on his way to the Marlies.

The Leafs have also placed Boyd Devereaux and Bates Battaglia on re-entry waivers. Meaning they can be claimed by anyone by noon tomorrow or they join the big club.

Hat Tip to The Meatriarchy for this as i hadn’t seen it anywhere.

Man Burke must be going buts having his hands tied with the calendar being his biggest enemy!

By LT

We are just past the half way mark and mere days before the All Star break….Deadline dealings will no doubt heat up shortly.  Not all cup contending or playoff wannabe (in some cases “needtobe”) teams will be looking for this years version of Marian Hossa….Many teams will be looking for lower priced, small pieces of the puzzle….vets that can handle playoff pressure or simply more 3^rd and 4^th line depth to deal with injuries.  We all know about the Kaberle’s, Kubina’s and Antropov’s that we hope Burke can morph into picks and/or prospects….But there are a few vets on the Marlies that I believe the Leafs should consider recalling to see (and demonstrate to potential suitors) if they have anything left at the NHL level that could net more, albeit lower, picks in this years draft.   I’m referring to Mark Bell, Boyd Devereaux and Bates Battaglia.  Bell especially; who apparently has played extremely well of late (read Sun Article by Steve Buffery).  Before you laugh – I know that the league is probably filled with guys like these and that there will likely be very few teams interested in our older farmhands….but why not give it a try?  All three will be UFA’s after the season so it’s our last chance to get any value for them and there is no downside for the acquiring team as there are no long term commitments.  Drafting is a numbers game; especially in the later rounds….there are lots of great stories of low picks becoming good NHL’ers…why not try to parlay one or all three of these guys into late picks?  One might argue that playing these guys will stunt the development of others….Well, for a few games, I see no harm in asking vets like Mayers and Hollweg (who doesn’t play regularly anyway) to sit and sending a guy like Deveaux back down to the AHL for a few weeks.  If you think I’m way off – especially on Devereaux and Battaglia…at least give me Mark Bell. 

Another consideration (and perhaps most damaging to my suggestion above) is the risk of losing these players on re-entry. I’m not an expert on the CBA but after reading the rules (Article 13) I believe all three players mentioned would have to clear waivers if recalled…(someone correct me if I’m wrong).  So, we could risk losing them for nothing.  So perhaps the ultimate question is….is it worth it to attempt to bring them up to demonstrate their worth at the NHL level vs. trying to peddle them based on their AHL performance?  Another option is to focus on other moves and simply let them remain with the Marlies and ride off into the sunset at the end of the season. 

 What do you think?

I have been waiting for someone to take a stab at what the leafs lineup looks like as of now…and Globesports has done just that….I am adding in the players age, which I think is pretty important:

Jason Blake 35 ($4-million), Mikhail Grabovski 25 (unsigned), Nik Antropov 29 ($2.05-million).

Alex Steen 25 ($1.7-million), Matt Stajan 25 (unsigned), Nikolai Kumelin 22 ($1.49-million).

Jiri Tlusty 21 ($855,000), Mark Bell 28 ($2.167-million), Alex Ponikarovsky 29 ($2.11-million).

Nik Hagman 29 ($3-million), Dominic Moore 28 ($900,000), Jamal Mayers 34 ($1.33-million).

Defence

Tomas Kaberle 31 ($4.25-million), Pavel Kubina 32 ($5-million).

Jeff Finger 29 ($3.5-million), Anton Stralman 22 ($737,700).

Carlo Colaiacovo 28 ($1.28-million), Jonas Frogren 29(unsigned).

Goal

Vesa Toskala 32 ($4-million), Curtis Joseph 42 ($700,000).

Extras

F Boyd Devereaux 31 ($575,000), F John Mitchell 24($475,000), D Ian White 25 ($850,000), D Staffan Kronwall 26 ($487,500), D Bryan McCabe 34 ($5.75-million)

Total over 48m, leaving some room to get to 56. The nice thing is that the core is much younger then it has been in years.