The breaking news of the Thrashers sending Ilya Kovalchuck, and Anssi Salmela to the Devils for Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier and a first round pick, one thing is clear…The Devils got hosed.
The Devils received one of the most talented players in the NHL in Kovalchuck who has been playing well for the Thrashers this season with 68 points on the season. There is no question that he will provide an excellent offencive punch for New Jersey to help them push to the Stanley Cup this June. That is all fine and dandy but it seems one thing is overlooked.
Kovalchuck is a free-agent at season end, and according to the rumours, he is heading back home.
Unless they come to terms on an agreement. But, it appears that Kovalchuck, he doesn’t want to stick around in the NHL and wants to head back to Russia and the KHL.
Darren Dreger reported on That’s Hockey earlier Thursday, that the Thrashers offered him $500,000 per year more than any other player in the NHL. That is a lot of money.
How could a player turn down that kind of money with the only team he has ever known in his North American professional career, unless there was some underlying issues.
I don’t think Atlanta was the problem, which points to one thing, Kovalchuck wants to return home. Also, with the rumour circulating that the possible deal with a KHL team that could command upwards of $20 million dollars…Per Year!
That is also TAX free and would probably come with most if not all of his expenses paid. Very similar to the deal LeBron James was offered by the Greek basketball team Olympiakos. The one major flaw in that logic, Kovalchuck could be a big name in the KHL or the NHL. Both leagues could make Kovalchuck a global icon. The NBA deals would make their players stars in their own country. Marketing in the NBA has gone so far, they have the chance to be a global icon only in the NBA.
Devils GM Lou Lamoriello is one of the smartest men in all of hockey. This time Thrashers GM Don Wadell appears to have pulled the wool over his eyes.

Greetings from Seattle. Mike Zeisberger kept up the blasting of the Maple Leafs in the Toronto Sun Sunday. A few interesting takes, including his assessment of who is going to be gone when this campaign ends..

” Then Saint Toskala came to the rescue and made it four.

The same Vesa Toskala who had not won since Feb. 26, beating the Islanders on Long Island.

The same Vesa Toskala who had not posted a home ice victory since Feb. 25, turning aside the New York Rangers.

The same Vesa Toskala, the No. 1 target of Air Canada Centre boo birds, who last night was cheered when he blanked the Caps in the shootout, leading the Leafs to a 2-1 triumph. ”

Not sure why, but the whole begging part of his article is all Vessa. Is the point that we now love Toskala after last nights game? If so, I am missing the love in part. While last night’s game is nice- in the grand scheme of thigns right now it doesn’t mean ANYHTING. They beat a very good hockey team in the Capitals. They still are the same team who has only won 4 times this year. Again, I don’t get why “Maple Leaf Nation” is lumped into this BS full of crap catch all by guys like MZ.

” But in the long run, it does not change much.

With Toskala among 11 pending unrestricted free agents on the roster, a housecleaning by Burke is inevitable. In fact, by the time Burke, named team prez on Nov. 29, 2008, reaches his second anniversary at the post one year from now, the lineup will hardly resemble the one last night.

The writing is on the wall for Toskala, who earns $4 million this season. Swedish goalie Jonas Gustavsson, a pending restricted free agent, was brought in to be groomed as the starter, and likely will be re-signed early in the new year. ”

What? if it doesn’t mean much then why the hell all the focus on it? What a strange bit. Toskala is going to have to stand on his proverbial head to get renewed by the Maple Leafs. Burke has to be able to find better given what he and his coach have seen so far since they both got here. If Toskala improves enough that they want him, he will win goalie of the year this year!

” Of the forwards who dressed against the Caps, only five — Jason Blake, Phil Kessel, Niklas Hagman, Mikhail Grabovski and Colton Orr — are under contract for next season. Two others — John Mitchell and Nikolai Kulemin — will be RFA and likely will receive offers from Toronto before the summer, as will defenceman Ian White.

After that, all bets are off. ”

Isn’t this the type of stuff that was written on Saturday. I am not sure what is more confusing, why this is being written again or the fact that Colton Orr does have a contract that extends beyond this season.

” With the screws tightening for Burke to make a move, trade discussions have already been held, with Matt Stajan reportedly a target.

Stajan’s a stand-up guy who has shown modest chemistry with Kessel. Having said that, he never has consistently proved to management that he can be a full-time first or second-liner.

A rare survivor of the John Ferguson era, Stajan, a Mississauga native, might be better served with a change of scenery. That was the same logic used when two of his buddies, Carlo Colaiacovo and Alex Steen, were traded to the St. Louis Blues for Lee Stempniak a year ago. ”

Who in their right mind is going to give up anything of value for this guy right now? How much would you give up for Matt Stajan? I am all for getting something back for unwanted assets, but you have to get something back. What round draft pick would we get at this point?

” The Stempniak experiment has not worked out. With just 16 goals in 82 games as a Leaf, Stempniak, a pending UFA, would seem as good as gone, just like Toskala, defenceman Garnet Exelby and blue liner Mike Van Ryn. The status of role players Wayne Primeau and Jamal Mayers would seem to be in doubt too.

On the other hand, the Leafs would like to retain Alex Ponikarovsky, one of the pending UFAs.

As for Blake, locked in for a cap hit of $4.5 million US for each of the next two seasons, his two goals in 21 game performance certainly is grounds for a buyout, although that could be very pricey. ”

Not much opinion or analysis there…I for one have more time for Stempniak then some of the other guys. I suspect he would get more on the open market than Stajan, but what the hell do I know. I know this, this is a lame article that shouldn’t have been written- nothing hear of value hasn’t been said the day before in another paper.

At the same time you have Stay At Home Berger with usual silly rants:

“Though it’s understandable why followers of the Maple Leafs are angry and disheartened by the club’s dreadful showing in the first quarter of the season, I’m astonished with the number of people that are essentially writing off the Brian Burke-Ron Wilson tandem. These are many of the same fans that celebrated Burke’s much-anticipated arrival almost one year ago; fervently endorsed his defensive make-over in the off-season, and sanctioned the hiring of Wilson the previous summer because of his long-time association and friendship with Burke. Now, after a tough stretch in their first full season together, folks are clamouring for heads to roll in the Leafs’ hockey department.

Give it a rest. ”

Take your own advice Stay At Home, give it a rest. The ‘number’ of people who want to take WIlson out back right now are on the majority from the MSM who are trying to sell either papers or ads. The fans who have been clamoring for that change are callers to your radio station. The sensible fan has made no such argument yet.

“And, while the first quarter of their initial campaign together has been an unmitigated disaster, it would hardly make sense for the Leafs to start over yet again; to resume their decades-long hunt for the perfect hockey amalgam. There’s still every chance it could be right beneath the tall foreheads that comprise Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. Burke and Wilson enjoyed the proverbial honeymoon period last season, as they were directing what was primarily Fletcher’s team. Modest expectations were followed by predictable results. And though Burke did some restructuring with second and third-tier free agents, only the foolishly optimistic expected monumental advancement in 2009-10. ”

Now Howie, is that any way to talk about Sir Damien and others who predicted that the Leafs would make the playoffs? Remind me again by the way why they are tall foreheads at MLSE….

“But, double-B will truly begin to earn his keep next summer, when so many burdensome contracts are no longer on the Leafs’ ledger. With enormous cap space, he’ll be able to go after the biggest fish in the free agent pond, and a Toronto team built around Jonas Gustavsson, Phil Kessel, Luke Schenn and perhaps Tyler Bozak, Victor Stalberg, Christian Hanson and Nazem Kadri will begin to emerge. At that point, it will be fairer to judge Burke, and to gauge how Wilson is able to guide a representative team. ”

Write that in blood and let’s all remember this the next time he slams Burke or the Leafs. Stay At Homer Berger is more like Short Term Memory loss berger… Remember the words, folks- he won’t I gurantee you….

“This season is a complete write-off, which is extremely and legitimately disappointing for Leafs’ fans after the manner in which it was pre-positioned. Burke and Wilson either got caught up in their own excitement, or they tried to sell the city a bill of goods. In my view, it was the former. Burke accurately determined last year’s club to be devoid of valor and he sought to remedy the problem in free agency. But, he may have overestimated the caliber of his acquisitions and their ability to withstand the Toronto hockey spotlight. ”

Why is it so hard for people to understand what Burke said at the start of the season? He said, that the goal is to make the playoffs. That is not to say that he thought they would make the playoffs, rather that it is the goal. It’s no different than a start-up business esteeming to be profitable in year one. Doesn’t mean they are going to be, rather, it is a goal. Burke has said repeatedly, that if that isn’t your stated goal at the beginning of the year then why be in the game. He is right, he had to state that the goal was playoffs, the alternative is pretty lame, and how do you motivate your players when the goal isn’t even to make the playoffs.

“But, the feeling of dread among Leaf supporters has to stop for no other reason than its utter futility. If you choose to bang your head against the wall for 15 minutes at the notion of Peter Chiarelli selecting Taylor Hall with the No. 1 pick next June, you’ll simply wind up with a sore noggin. And, when you’re done, you’ll be no further ahead than when the conniption started. The deal has been made and nothing is going to reverse it. Instead, Burke, and fans of the hockey club, must turn their focus to building a team around Kessel and hoping for the best. ”

Remember that one too should the Bruins select number one or 2 next spring!

Shoalts comes back with another stellar piece of work in tomorrow’s globe:

“For example, Burke is talking to the Chicago Blackhawks about defenceman Brent Sopel, who is earning $2.5-million this season and will get $2-million next season. The Blackhawks have agreed to long-term contracts with star players Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith but cannot make it official because they do not have the cap space now nor next season to accommodate all three. So they have to move someone now to create some room.

Burke is offering to take Sopel, who played for him when he ran the Vancouver Canucks, plus, say, a second-round draft pick to solve the Blackhawks’ problem. But Sopel is a decent player, so Hawks GM Stan Bowman is getting a lot of calls and may get a better offer.”

A better offer than what? There is nothing mentioned here. This isn’t even a proper rumour, Leafs get a 2nd rounder and Sopel for what????

“Either way, look for Burke to make a move of this nature between now and the trade deadline on March 3″

That’s not exactly rocket science David. The only thing that Burke has to trade these days is cap space. To say that between now and the deadline he will try to use that leverage isn’t exactly news.

“The most encouraging signs came from goaltender Vesa Toskala and defenceman Luke Schenn.

Toskala played his best game since 2007-08, his first season with the Leafs, although hope has to be tempered with reason since his play has waxed and waned for the last two seasons. But some long-awaited consistency from him would go a long way to easing the Leafs’ terminal goal-scoring pains.

Schenn finally looked more like the 18-year-old rookie who took the team by storm last season instead of the uncertain sophomore he’s been this season.”

I’m sorry, but one game does not a trend make. A player can look as good or as bad in one game to not mean anything. Wake me when they actually do something consistently say over 5-10 games minimum.

All that said, I get more value by reading an article like this one, don’t you?

Sun article is here

Stay at Home is here

Shoalts is here

So, if you haven’t had your Phil of Kessel yet, wait till tomorrow when talk radio gets to chime in on the deal. I suspect that when Landry and Stellick take to the air it will be all Kessel all the time. Unless of course Landry was at curing reality camp again this weekend. All the talking heads will be in full Kessel mode tomorrow. Should be interesting. Will he be on the morning show? Which Lunch show will he be on? Both????

Anyway, here are some cool things and thoughts for a Sunday:

The summary of why the Bruins dealt Kessel:

” All in all, Kessel and his agent orchestrated a clever, successful and lucrative free-agent departure. When it became clear to everyone that Kessel preferred to be in Toronto more than anywhere else, including his hometown of the last three seasons, Chiarelli had little option but to acquiesce.

Had Chiarelli not swapped Kessel to Toronto for a pair of first-round picks and a second-rounder, he likely would have been faced with committing $27 million to a kid with 66 career goals and not much grit in his tool kit.

And if Chiarelli chose not to match the presumed offer sheet, then the compensation, as spelled out by the collective bargaining agreement, would have been only first-, second-, and third-round draft picks. The potential for Brian Burke rolling out the offer sheet ultimately forced the deal, with the Leafs GM deftly, in concert with Kessel’s stated desires, forcing Chiarelli’s hand.

No other suitor stepped up with an offer, Chiarelli also confirmed, and that was because no club wanted to yield assets to Boston and then be positioned to suffer Burke’s roundhouse right of an offer sheet. Imagine if the Predators swapped Colin Wilson for Kessel one morning, only to see him that afternoon sign the Leafs’ offer sheet?

Just wasn’t going to happen, not without Kessel checking off on a sign-and-trade deal, and he wasn’t going to do that after determining over the summer that he wanted to wear Toronto’s blue and white.”

That from Kevin Paul Dupont in the Boston Globe.

Toronto Sun writer Mike Zeisberger has a good piece on where things may have gone awry in Boston:

” Phil Kessel “was pissed off.”

At the Boston Bruins.

At coach Claude Julien.

And at the embarrassment of being banished to the press box as a healthy scratch for three games in a post-season grudge match against the rival Montreal Canadiens.

If ever there was an example of the rocky relationship between the Bruins braintrust and Kessel, this was it.

It was the first round of the 2008 playoffs and Julien, having seen his Bruins blown out of the Bell Centre in the opening game by the high-flying Habs, decided to dump Kessel from the lineup.

Julien wanted more grit. He wanted better two-way play from his forwards. He was, in his own opinion, getting little of either from Kessel.

So, there was the young forward, sitting in the rafters, decked in a spiffy suit, feeling helpless as he watched his team muster just four goals during his three-game absence.

It gnawed away at his gut. How couldn’t it?

“It was tough sitting out,” Kessel admitted at the time. “It was very disappointing. It was a tough time for me.”

And maybe, just maybe, it was the beginning of the end, at least in terms of the marriage between Kessel and the Bruins.

Kessel responded by scoring twice in his return to the lineup. How’s that for making a statement?

Julien is one of the best bench bosses around, a no-nonsense guy who goes by the credo: “My way or the highway.”

But The Benching, as it is now known, was something Kessel never forgot, according to those close to the young sniper. ”

Ron Wilson isn’t going to give Kessel the warm and fuzzy’s either, but one has to believe that Brian Burke knows that.

The best article on the state of the Maple Leafs today is written by Damien Cox:

“But what Burke has indisputably achieved is a remarkable transformation of a team and an organization in slightly more than six months.

Last winter, the Leafs were an outfit adrift without personality, a club that had scored a bunch of goals early in the season, was terrible defensively, wasn’t ornery to play against and, depending on the game, might fill out half or more of its lineup with skilled European-born and trained players.

Today, the Leafs are destined to be one of the NHL’s goonier teams, a club dominated by North American talent and muscle, a team that surely has a distinct personality sculpted entirely by Burke.

He has changed the roster, added front office personnel, lured one of the game’s top goalie coaches and revamped the pro and amateur scouting staffs. A club that not that long ago seemed unattractive to players with other choices has in rapid succession outbid stiff competition for Mike Komisarek, François Beauchemin, Colton Orr, Christian Hanson, Tyler Bozak, netminder Jonas Gustavsson and, really, Kessel.

For each of these players there were at least three bidders and in some cases four times that many. But Burke got them all.

Suddenly, the Leafs are a destination, mostly because of Burke’s personal touch. He pursued Hanson and Bozak for months. He twice went to Sweden to chase Gustavsson. Kessel, while disputing Boston GM Peter Chiarelli’s assertion that he asked for a trade, clearly decided some time ago that being aggressively courted in Toronto was a great deal more enjoyable than being tolerated in Boston.”

As I asked the other night, has the tide turned in Toronto. We have been told for a long time that no one wants to come here. Suddenly players seem to be saying that they want to play here. Will the Leafs win the cup? Who the hell knows. Winning starts with an attitude and character. The malaise that was the old team, the Mats Sundin/Tie Domi country club atmosphere appears to be finally eradicated. The fact that guys like Cox and Simmons et. all are saying so publicly says a lot.

So with Kessel here, what else can we talk about? Well, the Coyotes decision isn’t newsworthy yet. Gretzky isn’t in camp and continues to get crucified for it. The lack of respect for the great one, whom I wasn’t a huge fan of before by the way, is nothing short of pathetic. Whether or not he is deserving of the money, the reality is the guy put the league on his back for YEARS. Ownership (backed by Bettman) hired the guy and guess what, he has fulfilled his end of the bargain. From where I am sitting, the guy who is arguably the greatest of all time is getting shafted. But no, that isn’t what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about it the NHLPA.

Forget the Coyotes, forget the Detroit Lions, forget the Toronto Blue Jays, there is no bigger joke in sports than the NHLPA. What a farce. What a total embarrassment for those who worked so hard for this union to be built. Those surrounded by the action should be embarrassed. Those talking from a far should be more so. Here is what sounds like has happened. A power play. Plain and simple, those who weren’t in control wanted it and got it. The way of the PA is equally as simple. They had Eagleson, we know the mess he left. As a result they brought in the hardest of hardliners, Bob Goodenow. As a result of his actions they appointed Ted Saskin. As a result of his actions they brought in Kelly. For every action there is a reaction. The constitution is too soft, so they go off the charts heavy. It’s too heavy, they go easy. It’s too easy…… How dumb are these guys? Seriously?

The press coverage over the last week would be enough to embarrass me into quitting the PA if I could. Consider this:

“According to a report from Montreal radio station CKAC – the same station that correctly broke the news and details of Roberto Luongo’s contract extension last month – former Detroit defenceman Chris Chelios is planning on speaking with other players about the possibility of bringing Kelly back, claiming that he had been misinformed. This comes not quite three weeks after Kelly was knifed in a 10-hour, all-night meeting in Chicago, against all common sense.”

Misinformed? Are you kidding me?? You are the guy who is responsible for the guy being hired. Then, you lead the effort to have him fired in the middle of the night AND NOW YOU WERE MISINFORMED????? Who admits that? Who leads a witch hunt on bad info?? Oops we fired you by mistake??? I mean somewhere Kelly’s lawyer has to be loving this.

“I definitely want to know how things happened,” Crosby told ESPN. “I am part of the union like every other player and I think we all deserve a good explanation.”

UMMMMMMMMMMMM, NO. You don’t deserve an explanation Sidney. You see, the majority of your membership doesn’t care about the issues really. Guys like you don’t take an active role in the PA, you pawn that responsibility off on the Matt Stajan’s of the world. If you cared, you would be your team rep. You would know what you signed off on when you ratified your constitution. You would be going to meetings, making calls and be up on the issue BEFORE this shit happened. Don’t cry about spilled milk after the fact! You put the current executive in place, mostly out of apathy. You, and I don’t mean to pick on Crosby, and your union brothers got exactly what you deserved.

“”You’re a player rep and the players are relying on their reps to do their job,” Stajan said. “If we could have all 750 players there, great, but that’s hard to do. We felt a change was needed and we made it.

“You had a leader (Kelly) who came under an office review,” Stajan added. “There was proof there (the office) was not functioning well, and that’s on the leader. In any business, that’s what can happen in situations like that (reviews). I don’t know why anything else is coming out now, some guys are speculating, but that’s what we decided and it was unanimous.”

As much as I loathe Matt Stajan, I can tell you this, I have a ton of respect for that position. He’s the guy who went to the meetings. He’s the rep. He’s the guy that got the job because no one else wanted it. I’d be pissed if I were him too. He got stuck doing a job and now after he did what he was asked to do people are pissed???? Give me a break.

“Indeed, the Block Report not only solved nothing, it exacerbated the mistrust and contempt that factions of the PA had for each other following its collective bargaining collapse. Union leaders — excuse the oxymoron — then produced a constitution ratified by an ignorant membership that neutered the position of executive director.”

Look, if the membership is/was ignorant it has only one place to look…in the mirror. Every player who voted in favor of the constitution has an agent. Every player could have read the damn thing. Every player, however was sick and tired of the mess. Every player wanted to get back to playing hockey. So they passed the buck. The allowed others to deal with their problems. Now they are bitching????

” Neither, however, does the Players’ Association, now apparently spoken for by people such as Matt Stajan and Andrew Ference, the latter the Boston player rep who last year famously suggested the wrong players were making too much money. Sidney Crosby isn’t the only one who wants answers. Players across the league have been left in the dark. The internal union Web site is widely disparaged by membership as more a source of propaganda than information. Players are asking for answers. Maybe this time they’ll get some. Maybe this time they’ll get answers they never received from the Block Report. Maybe this time they will be entrusted with details of their history so that they don’t repeat it.”

Sorry Larry, I am not buying it. The players have only themselves to blame for guys like Stajan and Ference be leaders. Any player who is pissed about the leadership I am sure could have been their team rep. Do you think there was one team with a battle for the rep position?? Not a chance. These guys couldn’t have cared less. They made their beds and now they are lying in them. To say otherwise is insulting.

It’s almost as insulting to hear a guy like Roenick talk about the positions on the board were held by young uneducated kids. As opposed to the harvard grad degree carrying vets like you JR??? Funny how when asked if he would be interested in playing a role on the PA Roenick took about 3 tenths of a second to say no. All the talking heads in the union have a ton to say now. Where were they before?

“”We have had numerous discussions with our clients and other players around the league regarding the dismissal of Paul Kelly as executive director of the NHLPA,” agents J.P. Barry and Pat Brisson of CAA Sports said in a statement.

“Some of the things we have learned about the process are very troubling to us. We are encouraging each of our clients to educate themselves with union matters so they can understand how these types of decisions are reached. We believe that a strong and unified voice is necessary. In order for that to happen, the majority of players must be heard.”

And there, sports fans is what you really need to know. What, or who is in large part behind this?? Agents. Rest assured that the comments by Sidney Crosby were at the request of his agents. Again, not a slam against Crosby, but rather a hunch. There has always been infighting at the top about power and who is the driving force behind the PA. Many an agent would love to be driving that bus. Who is really behind the curtain???? One day we will learn. Is it really Eric Lindros? Is it Bonnie Lindros????? Is it Chelios?? Rest assured, whomever is pulling the strings is doing so not for the good of the players, certainly not for the good of the game. No, there is only one force that could cause this, selfish greed.

Quotes on the PA came from here, here and here

By the way, who’s your favorite famous Phil?

Collins?
Donahue?
Esposito?
Bourque?
Hartman?
Jackson?
Lesh?
Dr.

And there you have it. The big deal is done, and now all that is left to do is play the games. It says here that the pressure on the team just got turned up a few notches. No more tank nation that’s for sure! This team has to make the playoffs for this deal to make any sense whatsoever. Below is a list of the early returns on the deal, there isn’t much right now, so we’ll do it again tomorrow night. Here is my thought. Most of us believed in Burke when he got the job. We can’t think that over night he got stupid. We have to faith that he knows what he is doing. I hope that he can recover some semblance of these picks in moving some of his surplus defencemen and forwards too:

TSN:

“The drama surrounding Phil Kessel has finally come to an end as the Boston Bruins have traded their disgruntled sniper to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a first and a second round pick in 2010, and a first round pick in 2011. Kessel and the Maple Leafs then quickly agreed to terms on a new five-year, $27 million deal. The trade ends a saga that began during the lead-up to the NHL Draft when Kessel originally appeared to be headed to Toronto in exchange for defenceman Tomas Kaberle and a draft pick. However, the deal was scuttled at the last moment due to a miscommunication over the pick.”

That’s all you need to know in a nutshell.

The Star:

“The trade represents a possible change in strategy for Burke. Up until now, he’s been content to stock up on draft picks and defenceman, but has done little to bolster the Leafs’ thin offence. While giving up three high picks is a big price to pay for Kessel’s negotiating rights, the Leafs also have several promising rookies in Tyler Bozak, Viktor Stalberg, Nazem Kadri and Christian Hanson, all of whom have scored during in the team’s first two pre-season games.”

The pressure on these young kids to perform just got much greater don’t you think?

The Globe and Mail:

“The Leafs could have signed Kessel, a restricted free agent, to an offer sheet at the cost of a first, second and third-round pick. But Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli stated he had ownership’s backing to match any offer sheet, therefore retaining the rights to the player. The University of Minnesota product was diagnosed with testicular cancer in his rookie season on Dec. 12, 2006. He missed 11 games to recover from surgery, played in a two-game in the AHL and scored once before returning to the Bruins. Later that season, he was given the Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”

In Burke we have to trust. I think that Burke looks at the college kids has found draft picks. Perhaps he thinks that he can dip into that well again next year for younger players.

The best article this evening (the Boston papers don’t have a word on the deal as of yet) belongs to the National Post and Bruce Arthur:

“Sure, the Leafs general manager risked ridicule by proclaiming he wanted to trade for the No. 1 pick in the draft and then failing to do so, but that didn’t exactly saddle the team with long-term liability. It just meant he swung, and missed. “I have no problem with failing publicly,” Burke said last week, “as long as out fans know we want to hit home runs.” Phil Kessel, however, could be different. Phil Kessel could be a home run.”

It’s a hell of a price for a could be. Draft Schmaft got a certain former GM in a bit of trouble. Burke seems to be saying the same thing here.

“Why Kessel? Well, he scored 36 goals last season, he was a point-per-game player in Boston’s last two playoff runs, and he can flat-out fly. And did we mention he is 21 years old? For a Maple Leafs team whose forwards could best be described as a mixed and unappetizing bag, Kessel is a top-end sniper in the race to rebuild.”

Indeed, the upside is huge. Should the leafs be a lottery team this year or next, this is a disaster.

“And yet Boston refused to fit him into its admittedly jammed salary structure. Which seems odd, until you hear the whispers about Kessel’s inability to get along with teammates, or the way he and coaches tend to disagree when he is criticized, or his distaste for extra work.

There is a passage in Gare Joyce’s recent book, Future Greats and Heartbreaks, which details Kessel’s disastrous pre-draft interview with Columbus. All the Columbus guys said was “Teammates,” and Kessel said he didn’t understand. But after an uncomfortable silence, Kessel started to blurt out answers. “I don’t have a problem with my teammates,” he claimed. “I don’t have a problem with Jack Johnson,” he added. On and on he went. Apparently, he didn’t come across as a bad kid; just as a socially vacant one. And as badly as the interview went, after Kessel walked out, one of the Columbus guys said, a little dreamily, “Kessel’s a hell of a talent.”

The pressure on one Ron Wilson is much greater for next year isn’t it. His team has to win and win now. No more nice efforts. This team has to make the playoffs this season. Burke is betting that Wilson and Co. will be able to get Kessel to the next level. If not, who do you think goes overboard first, Kessel or Wilson?

“Eye of the beholder, indeed. If Kessel really is a media-shy problem child – well, this is not the right place for him. The most essential characteristic a Toronto Maple Leaf has to have is mental fortitude. The pressure in this hockey-crazy town can crack you; the celebrity can soften you like a lobster on the boil. Similarly, the two most essential characteristics a Toronto Maple Leafs general manager are simple. One, they need the ability to tell who can and cannot deal with this environment. Plenty of players are happier in the relatively calm climes of the United States, where nobody bothers you when you eat.”

One has to hope that Burke has done his homework on what he just bought. If the media pressure is too much for Kessel, we will know very quickly. The problem is there just isn’t enough veterans on the team to help him out. Who is going to show him the ways? There are a few guys, I guess. Enough??? We shall see.

“However the Kessel experiment goes, we will learn something about Brian Burke that we did not already know. If Kessel is a star who manages to fit into Ron Wilson’s program, then Burke’s vision will be proven to extend beyond whether a guy can make somebody else pick their teeth out of the glass. This could be, as we mentioned, a home run.

But if Kessel cracks, then the questions start. The road to perdition has traditionally been paved by GMs too willing to part with draft picks, in this town. Has Burke, like too many of his predecessors, been rendered overly impatient by the blue and white beast? Naturally, Burke insists that isn’t happening. We believe him. But we’ll see.

“Just started the first of five years,” Burke said in an informal gathering with reporters last week. “I’m not going to succumb to instant response. We’re going to stay on the long-term plan, but we think we’ve short-circuited it. We think we took a shortcut.”

Kessel is a shortcut, all right. The question is to where. ”

The last trade we made with the Bruins I believe was for a guy named Raycroft. That one didn’t turn out so good. Kessel had one good year in Boston. Much like Raycroft. Here’s hoping and betting that Kessel turns out better than Raycroft.

Berger of course is steadfast in his opposition to the deal. His last two blogs have told us why he doesn’t think this is a deal that the Leafs should make.

Mccown basically said today that if the deal was for a first and second pick he would do it in a heartbeat. He wasn’t sure after that.

Hanky??? This was not one of his best days. He missed on this one big time. All of his posts today had Kessel either going nowhere or to Nashville. Not the finest moment for hockey’s most infamous blogger.

Cliff was famous for draft schmaft. Burke has in essence said the same thing hasn’t he… In Burke we trust. His team has to not be a lottery team the next two years in order for this deal to survive basic scrutiny. If they are….look out.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

First it was Stephen Harris in the Boston Herals siting unamed sources closes to the Bruins that something is imminant and now Damien Cox is suggesting that this has to end soon or Burke may pull the offer sheet out of his back pocket”

“In fact, sources indicate that if Kessel isn’t traded in the next 48 hours, the Maple Leafs may be prepared to lay down an offer sheet in order to bring the issue to a conclusion.”

“The Leafs are believed to have offered two first round picks and a second – more than the free agent compensation of a first, second and third – but could amend that to involve young players. Nazem Kadri, however, is out, and probably Tyler Bozak and Christian Hanson are too since GM Brian Burke knows future attempts to sign NCAA free agents would be damaged if he dealt either Bozak or Hanson just months after signing them.

Winger Viktor Stalberg or forward Jiri Tlusty are possibles, but the Bruins would likely view either as anything but a guaranteed contributor for this season. Tomas Kaberle, included in trade talks between the two clubs in June, now has an active no-trade clause again.

For the Leafs, waiting much longer carries with it the risk that other teams might suffer injuries and therefore join in the bidding. So the likeliehood is that this weekend will see Kessel either traded or tendered an offer sheet.

Kessel is still recovering from off-season shoulder surgery and won’t play until mid-November. But he should know the identity of his new team within days.”

Great blog post by Damien. Let the banter continue and the countdown officially begin….

@yyzsportsmedia

It’s amazing how everyone interprets how things are said. I watched Brian Burke’s media scrum today with resepct to Phil Kessel. I walked away thinking he is either going to trade for him or if he can’t he is going to sign him to an offer sheet. Multiple media outlets had a completely different interpretation. For the record, here is what Brian Burke said:

“Well, I am not sure what is going to happen next. Everyone knows we reacquired a draft pick. Puts us in a position to effect the chain of events with certain players, It’s kind of a day to day thing i don’t know what the next step will be there, it’s clear to everyone we are trying to upgrade our forward group and we will see what happens”

Question from a media member: “Are you ready to make an offer to Phil kessel?”

Brian Burke “We are not going to do that right now, that isn’t the plan right now. I haven’t talked to Peter Chiarelli.(Boston Bruins GM) since I acquired the pick, I did speak to him before I acquired the pick so he knew what I was going to do. …. I don’t contemplate an offersheet on Phil Kessel at this time.”

The headline from the Globe and Mail, curotusey the Canadian Press “Burke denies Leafs pursuing Kessel ” the byline from the story “GM quashes rumours team is putting together offer sheet for 21-year-old Bruins forward” The first paraggraph “Toronto Maple Leafs fans hoping to see Phil Kessel in blue and white are probably out of luck. Leafs general manager Brian Burke quashed rumours Tuesday the Leafs were set to put together an offer sheet for the 21-year-old forward. Kessel, a restricted free agent, remains unsigned as the Bruins prepare to start training camp this week.”

Similarily, Citytv had the same tone in their report on the story tonight.

Now, the National Post takes a different read from the exact same media scrum!:

Headline: “Leafs’ Burke wants to land Bruins’ Kessel”
From the story:

“General manager Brian Burke confirmed Tuesday that he is once again trying to pry restricted free agent forward Phil Kessel from the Boston Bruins. The 21-year-old, who was close to being traded to Toronto earlier this summer, would likely address some of the questions about the Leafs’ offence. But actually getting him into a blue-and-white jersey could involve more than a simple player-for-player transaction.”

When I worked in the IHL, the GM of the team I worked for always used to say to the beat writer who covered the team, there are multiple ways to interpret the same thing, if a team ties 4 and a row and then loses a game, are they winless in 5?????

Yes Burke said he didn’t plan on signing Kessel to an offer sheet. Hello people, what is he supposed to say? If he wanted to end this discussion he would have told all that would have listened that he has no interest in Phil Kessel. He didn’t say that. Why not? Because, he WANTS Phil Kessel. One, there is no reason to say that he is planning on making him an offer. Why tip your hat??? If he says he is going to do that, why wouldn’t another team who is interested jump ahead of him if for no other reason than to drive up the price? Also, the easiest thing for Burke to do would be to make a trade. Why tip his hat publicly to Boston? Burke didn’t lie, he said he isn’t planning on doing it and he doesn’t know what will happen next. Hell, he may have said to Boston, if we don’t get a deal done by October 1 I may just sign him. Who knows. To jump off the deep end and say, that’s it Burke isn’t getting him is a tad bit irresponsible.

TSN offered up an angle similar to that of the National Post.

Meanwhile, happy Howie, Howard Berger chimes in with a few thoughts of his own:

“But, if Chiarelli were able to dump, say, Michael Ryder’s $4 million pact on the Leafs – while obtaining a first-rounder from Burke – it would make abundant sense for him to trade Kessel to the Blue & White. Burke has implied, on several occasions, he’d be willing to assume a “bad” contract in the right deal. And that, in all likelihood, represents the tone of the Toronto-Boston negotiations right now.”

So the Maple Leafs would acquire Michael Ryder and Phil Kessel for Toronto’s #1 pick??? Interesting to say the least. Berger isn’t usually the go to guy on rumours these days as he doesn’t report them much anymore (must be because he doesn’t watch too many hockey games on tv). In his defense, this is more of a suggestion than a rumor, but given names involved it certainly is worth mentioning. From my perspective, I would sooner do this than some of the reported offers out there. I have no problem taking salary back. Burke has let it be known that there is plenty of room on the farm for under-performing, overpaid veterans. Although I don’t think it’s reasonable, I would prefer that the pick be lottery protected. That is to say that if the Leafs are in the lottery that the pick moves to next year.

Stan Fishler offers a third party observation on Keseel:

“* Phil Kessel still isn’t a Bruin, and the feeling we get is that GM Peter Chiarelli would be just as happy to unload the lad while his value is high. That, of course, presumes that Pistol Pete gets a decent return.”

That doesn’t sound like a guy with HUGE market value to me…..

Kevin Paul DuPont chimes in:

“One way or another, it now appears a fait accompli that Kessel will get his money, but likely not from the Bruins.

With a minimum of three teams bidding, Chiarelli is in a position to play them off one another in an attempt to better the offers. Burke, though, with that second-round pick, could short-circuit all trade talks by dropping a lucrative offer sheet on Kessel at any hour. Chiarelli’s only option then would be to bid Kessel adieu or match the contract, which in turn would prohibit Chiarelli from trading Kessel for the entire 2009-10 season.

It’s that overriding threat that could force Chiarelli’s hand now, encouraging him instead to cut a quality deal with either the Predators or Rangers, or perhaps another club, rather than essentially be dictated terms by the Maple Leafs.

Both the Predators and Rangers have quality prospects that make a Kessel deal feasible. If that’s the case, much like when the Bruins flipped Glen Wesley to Hartford 15 years ago, the club swapping for Kessel no doubt would insist the Bruins first sign him and then make the trade.

Otherwise, just as the Bruins right now are vulnerable to an offer sheet, another club could acquire Kessel’s Group 2 rights but still risk losing him to an offer sheet for the same three draft picks.”

Brian Burke wanted John Tavares. He didn’t get him. He wanted the Sedins. He didn’t get them. He wanted other players, he didn’t get them. I am going to say that Burke is going to land Kessel. I am not sure if he is going to trade for him or sign him, but I think Burke lands the guy he wants.

Globe/CP story is here
National Post is here
Berger is here
Boston Globe is here

Happy Labour day to all. So LT is still kicking it up north, the man is a vacation MACHINE! Here in city, we have finally had an awesome weekend.

There are 3 good things about summer ending:

1. Fall tv kicks off
2. NHL/NBA/NFL Football
3. Mrs. TSM goes back to work.

DL will be providing us a good look at the National, Football, League in days and weeks to come.

Mrs. TSM is driving everyone nuts as school kicks in tomorrow.

Damien kicked off the day with a juicy rumor that Brian Burke remains intent on landing Boston Bruins free agent Phil Kessel. Burke made a minor deal yesterday to clean up his draft pick house, reacquiring the Maple Leafs 2nd round draft pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft in exchange for two other picks. Cox, like many others feels that this move is a “shot across the Bruins bow” that Burke is now in a position to sign Kessel to an offer sheet. Man would that be ironic. Cox states that Burke is prepared to over pay for Kessel which is reason enough for caution. What is more troubling is Cox’s theory that Burke is going to forgo the proper building plan and put his foot firmly on the gas pedal to speed things up. The punch line is of course that first round picks and prospects could be thrown overboard in attempt to accelerate the building process. It’s an interesting read for sure, and certainly better than anything we have seen in the sports section Leaf related in weeks if not months. For some reason I am not buying it. I don’t see Burke following in the footsteps of others before him.

Worse yet, another article about Kadri’s religion. I have no problem with anyone’s religion or practices. What they do is what they do. The only reason this is the least bit of an issue is because certain media keep making an issue out of it.

More later

Have a great labour day

@yyzsportsmedia

According to Jarrett Jack, he will be a Raptor, officially today, as the Indiana Pacers are passing on their rights to match the offer he accepted by YOUR Toronto Raptors.

“The Indiana Pacers will not match the four-year, $20 million offer the Toronto Raptors made to restricted free agent Jarrett Jack, Jack told The Indianapolis Star in a telephone interview late Sunday night.

“It took a minute, but I was able to secure a contract for four years,” Jack said. “I’m looking forward to playing with Chris (Bosh) again. It will be like our freshman year (at Georgia Tech) all over again.”
Advertisement

The Pacers had until today to make a decision.”

Good news for us up here. He is a Chris Bosh boy and while there is no guarantee that this makes Bosh stick around it certainly can’t hurt.

“Jack said he is scheduled to fly to Toronto today and a news conference is planned for Tuesday.”

This should be one worth watching folks as he is really colorful, as evident by his interview with Brady and Watters.

“Jack, who will back up starting point guard Jose Calderon and also play some shooting guard, averaged a career-high 13.1 points as well as 4.1 assists last season.

“I wanted to be a Pacer come next season,” Jack said. “I’m indebted to coach (Jim) O’Brien for what he did for me last season. Not only him, but also (team president) Larry Bird and (general manager) David Morway. They put me in the position to play well and get a long-term contract. I’ll always be indebted to them.”

More from DL later on this (I hope) and thanks to the Indianapolis Star for this!