What to do on NHL trade deadline when there aren’t many big fish available? Create buzz on what many thought was a dead issue. Brian Burke has said that he won’t ask Tomas Kaberle to waive his no trade clause. Tomas Kaberle has said he doesn’t want to go anywhere. Seems straight forward enough.

Nick Kypreos and Bruce Garrioch appear on Sportsnet this morning and start the banter. While they didn’t necessarily on where things stand they agreed that they believe that Tomas Kaberle will be dealt. They didn’t believe that the Kaberle camp has submitted a list of yet (one of the two suggested one was coming though).

Gord Stellick said on the fan 590 that he didn’t believe that anything would happen with Kaberle, or anyone else on the Leafs roster for that matter.

the guys at the fourth period have tweeted emphaticly that the Ducks inquired into Kaberle’s availability and were told he won’t wave his NTC.

Bill Watters is the one who brought reason to the scenario. Watters suggested that what could occur is that a list won’t change hands, and that rather Burke will get an offer he can’t refuse and he will take it to Kaberle’s agent. The agent will ask to talk to the team and either an extension will be worked out or no deal will be done. That my friends seems to make the most sense. I ask this rhetoricaly, after seeing this team last night, why Kaberle would want to stick around this season is beyond me given that he is a near certainty to be dealt this summer.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

It was quite funny listening to the sports shows today, hell, it was funny listening to all the radio shows today, sports or otherwise. All the talking heads had an opinion, most when stripped down, where saying the same thing: Shame on Tiger for being egotistical, for being the Tiger Machine, for not respecting the game, for taking the story away from the game, a tournament under his old sponsor’s name. Yes he didn’t break the law, but he has handled it poorly. Does that seem about right?

What’s astonishing to me is the coverage this prepared read statement is getting the day before it happens. During tonight’s Canada vs. Switzerland hockey game, CTV was promoing it’s live coverage of this staged, 1 camera, pre-selected media, 1 way, no question conference. It was a full sale press. The local radio stations are coaxing listeners to tune in, in case they get the rights to cover the read statement.

Now, I like watching the train wreck as much as the other guy. So don’t get me wrong. This however reeks. The guy’s a great golfer. He may be a total schmuck, but he is a great golfer. His machine is trying to control the story, and the saps are allowing them too. By blasting the fact that the Tiger press conference will be carried on their network they are feeding the beast. I am very far from perfect, but I can tell you I won’t be tuning in. I’m the idiot who works from home on NHL trade deadline day. I’m the guy who watches the NFL/NBA draft without really knowing the kids being drafted because I like the excitement. This Tiger Woods thing????? Nope. I am not going to watch. I’ll read about it. I’m sure it won’t be avoidable on twitter, the net, radio and tv.

Are we going to be surprised by anything he is going to say??? Should anyone be surprised that he is going to be coming back to play golf? Come on, we aren’t that stupid. We all know what he is going to say. We don’t need to stop our world to watch the machine at work.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Mike Toth taught us all that he knows more than any woman employed as a sports broadcaster, and well look where that landed him. So, pardon the expression in the title. No offense intended.

So, if your at all like me, you listen to your fair share of sports radio, you read the dailies and if you are reading this then I can assume you are reading the blogs too. Additionally, you pile on a few hours of television nightly, a game here or there a highlight/news show etc. You are, as they say, tuned in.

As I have written here lately, the problem with the current status of the Toronto Maple Leafs is that no man’s land isn’t a great place to be if you are covering the team or looking for a story/topic to report on. Take today for example, the big news of the day was that Ron Wilson was unhappy with the stupid penalties the Leafs took against Tampa Bay. No shit Dick Tracy. Jolly Jonas had it in an article of his, on the air and his twitter, Happy Howie Berger had it on the Fan, hell next to charity events for Haiti it was the new of the day.

My question for you is this. In the absence of anything meaningful to discuss, what do you want your scribes to cover? Should they be covering other teams? other leagues, other sports or taking on different angles. If we are willing to accept that the Maple Leafs aren’t newsworthy by virtue of them not being the least bit of interest, what should those who cover them talk about?

For me, I have lots of questions. First and foremost, and this isn’t a knock on the guy, but I am curious what a GM does in the NHL from training camp till the trade deadline. I mean o NHL GM’s have a message board like hfboards.com where they post rumours etc? What have there been so far this year, 4 trades, of which, what, 1 was of any significance? How many times can you call fellow GM’s and say, you trading anyone? Everytime there is a rumor at all the first thing a GM says is “I haven’t even talked to that team in a over a month”. There are only 30 teams in the damn league, if you aren’t talking to each 1 at least 1x a month, then what the hell are you doing?

Second question is for the coaching staff, how do you prepare your team for a meaningless battle? The whole world knows the season is meaningless, each game is becoming more irrelevant with the passing of every day, so how do you keep guy motivated. What the hell are you doing in practices at this stage of the season? Is it preparing for next season already?

Personally, I would like to see some technical information that we don’t usually get to see. What is a GM watching for when they are in press box, what is a coach thinking as his team takes another too many men on the ice penalty…you know the inside stuff that we don’t get ot hear or read about. I think the MSM should be trying to find the nuisances that we don’t get anywhere else. There are no more scoops. There are no traders, so there are no more rumors. Why not get us some real stories that are actually interesting.

What, do you want to read/listen about?

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Item- Kevin Allen’s blog post today:

” Here’s what I believe is happening, or will happen, as we move close to the March 3 trade deadline.

3. Although Tomas Kaberle has a no-trade clause, he probably will, around the trade deadline, give GM Brian Burke a list of trade destinations he would accept, just like he did last season. Why wouldn’t he want to play with a team with a chance to win the Stanley Cup?

8, Toronto will move potential free agents Matt Stajan and Alexei Ponikarovsky, and maybe a couple of others at the deadline.”

Ah yes, the annual who will be willing to wave or not wave their no trade clause as the deadline approaches. To be followed by semantics Burke who will say yet again that he won’t ask a player who has a no trade clause to wave theirs. Leaf fans will call the shows with their huge overestimates of what Kaberle would land in a deal.

Burke is in a real catch 22 with Kaberle. He isn’t arguably the best player on the team, he is hands down the best player on the team. Kessel may be come it, but he isn’t right now. I don’t care what Kaberle makes, it’s, for this argument totally irrelevant. If you are going to deal Kaberle the return has to be remarkably better than what you are giving up. Forget the first round talk. If you are dealing Kaberle it’s going to be a team he wants to go to. Those are going to be teams with a legitimate shot at the cup. So a late first rounder for TK? I think not. Prospects? Well, again, unless they are quality A+ why take the risk? I have said this before, and will say it again, Burke can’t let Kaberle go for nothing when his deal is up. However, before he trades him he has to be 100 % sure that either he can’t resign him or he is hitting a grand slam.

Now, as for Stajan and Poni or anyone else on the team not named Kessel- I have full faith that Burke and co can exchange these spare parts for some degree of upgrade. If they are resignable at below market prices, then don’t let their asses hit the door.

Item: From Kevin Paul DuPont :

“It’s the first public tickle the 22-year-old Kessel has received since his departure from the Hub of Hockey. His very public scratch from the first round of the 2008 playoffs, issued by Julien, got him going. Now we’ll see whether he responds to the same kind of goose north of the border.”

Kessel getting singled out by a coach who can’t seem to get any type of performance out of his team for the season and a half that he has been here and being benched during a playoff series, are two entirely different things. i highly doubt that Kessel was remotely bothered let alone similarly embarrassed by Wilson’s antics. Kessel is squeezing his stick way too tight right now. He needs a puck to go in off his head, his ass or some other appendage and he will be fine.

Item- From Steve Simmons weekly column:

“A quick Brian Burke report card. His team stinks. His friend, the coach, can’t get the Maple Leafs to kill penalties or play anything resembling team defence. His big acquisition, Phil Kessel, has gone soft and sour. He won’t be drafting Taylor Hall in June or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins the year after. And his college free-agent signings are nowhere to be found while David McNab, who signed Andy McDonald and Dustin Penner for Anaheim, has come up with another good one for his former team in Dan Sexton. Outside of goalie Jonas Gustavsson, who has had two heart procedures and a groin injury in his rookie season, little has gone right in Burke’s world and, knowing him, that has to driving him to absolute frustration ”

Hard to disagree with what Simmons writes. knowing and hearing Burke lately however his ego is fully intact. He is just over 1 season into his tenure. Let’s talk at this time next season. If we are still on par for an 11 point decrease from the previous season (as we are now) then Burke has a major problem.

Item- From Larry Brooks weekly column:

“Here’s what we get to find out about Brian Burke as he runs the Maple Leafs: Can he succeed taking over as GM of a club that doesn’t have a brother of a pending Hall of Fame free agent defenseman on it?”

Here’s the question, is it the Maple Leafs, that Toronto seems to be the focal point of the NHL media or Brian Burke that Larry Brooks loathes? There was a time I actually rooted for the Rangers, now given Larry Brooks, I hope they never win another game. I wonder if Burke were to take over the NHLPA if Brooks would change his tune?

Item: From Damien Cox’s article in today’s Toronto Star:

“There’s no question Gustavsson is agile and quick and aggressive. But a No. 1 goalie? That’s unclear, and there’s just no way the Leafs can go into next season just wishing they have quality netminding.

They hoped Vesa Toskala would bounce back strongly from off-season surgery, and Burke was as wrong on that as John Ferguson was on banking that Andrew Raycroft could replace Ed Belfour.

They can’t just hope Gustavsson can do it next fall. They have to know. That means the final 36 games have to include at least 25 Gustavsson starts, assuming he’s healthy enough, and then a cold, realistic assessment has to be done over whether he’s ready.

If he’s not ready now, it doesn’t mean he won’t be eventually. But a serious contingency plan, like the Islanders had with Rick DiPietro’s status unclear last summer, would be necessary if Gustavsson still has too much to learn.”

This is a serious dilemma for Burke. After all the moves Burke made this off-season, the critics who claimed the Leafs would make the playoffs all did so on the strong belief that the goaltending this year would be improved this year. Hell, given the year in net last year it HAD to be better. Ooops. I don’t care what the numbers say. The reality is, barring a miraculous turn around, the same questions about goaltending will remain after this season. Few teams have been successful with questionable goaltending. Burke has to solve this problem as Cox writes and fast.

Item- Curtis Joseph set to announce his retirement

My memories of Cujo are very strong. I remember him being one of the leagues elite goalies when he played in St. Louis when Doug Gilmour did his round and round in that playoff game where the Buds finally knocked the blues off. I then remember the return to glory on Cujo’s back when he signed with the Leafs. It was the start of one hell of a run with the Leafs. Dare I say the Maple Leafs were respectable when he played in nets here. Then I remember the stab in the heart when Cujo jumped ship to sign with the Detroit Red Wings, claiming to think he had a better chance at a cup. Of course I remember cheering as hard as I could against Cujo and the Wings while he played for them.

In all, it’s fitting that Curtis ends his career here in Toronto. He had a tremendously successful career with stints in multiple cities. Few who get to wear the Blue and White capture the hearts of the fans like Cujo did. Hats off to a great career Cujo. Here’s hoping you find something that will keep you happy and occupied in the future.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Kevin Allen is here

Kevin Paul DuPont is here

Steve Simmons is here

Brooks is here

Cox is here

Had Brian Burke taken over the Leafs gig two summers ago, then his second offseason would be worth evaluating. Attempting to evaluate Burke today on his one year anniversary is nuts. I mean, the guy may fail, and he may fail miserably, but come on. He started a year ago, just over a quarter into the season. He has had 1 draft and one free agency, one trade deadline, and we are going to write a story entitled “Jury Still out on Burke”. One friggin year and you are drawing conclusions like that? The problem is the article by David Shoalts of the Globe and mail is only bad because it says NOTHING. The title is brutal and totally misleading.

“One of the things Brian Burke promised when he took over as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs was a sea change from the country-club atmosphere that settled over the team in previous years.

With the Burke era officially beginning its second year today with a game against the Buffalo Sabres, opinions are divided about the success of his first year – but most of the critics agree the players work much harder than they did in the past. However, no one should take that as a sign that a change in culture is complete.

True culture change, say those who took on the burden of doing it, takes years, sometimes more than a decade to complete. It takes a lot more than getting rid of a few lazy players who may be a bad influence on their teammates and bringing in some hard-workers.”

Rise your hand if you are care where the Toronto Maple Leafs are after his first year, or after his 5th or 6th. Who is going to spend the time and evaluate him at this point of the season. Let’s at least give him until the end of this season don’t you think?

““If you’re looking at the change to an elite team, it was probably 10 years,” Holland said. “But if you’re talking about going from what was the worst team in the world, as it was in 1985, to a playoff team, then you could say five years.””

Exaclty! So why even bother writing the article in the first place? I mean, if that is the gist of the article, and it is, then why bother. Shoalts makes all the arguments on why these takes time…5 to ten years in some cases, and yet the headline is that jury is out? What did people expect? Burke himself said this was going to be a long process.

“The key to success with youth, Holland said, is patience. That is an issue in Toronto, given defenceman Luke Schenn’s struggles in his second NHL season.

“The odd 18-year-old kid can change the fortunes of your team, but they’re named Gretzky and Lemieux,” Holland said. “For most of them, it takes a long time.

“People think next year you’re going to be twice as good, which is unrealistic. You go home for the summer and think you made it after your first year, plus your buddies are telling you, too. So, it is not until your second off-season that you hit the gym a lot harder than you did after the first year.”

I love that the Red Wings are again the blueprint of success. No one ever would have guessed that this would be the model of success years back. I remember when they were giving away cars at the JLA in attempt to get people to come to the arena. If they are the model, then shouldn’t others be afforded the same time to follow it? Let’s see Burke try to draft the same way Illitch’s team did and then we can talk right?

““We’ve got the work ethic, no one can say we don’t,” he said. “But we don’t have the talent like a team like the Red Wings. We don’t have a leader here who is out there doing the right thing all the time, a genuine Stevie Yzerman or Nicklas Lidstrom.

“[Yzerman] wasn’t regarded as a leader until he was about 10 years into his career. He got the captaincy early, but it was Scotty Bowman who basically brought it out of him and that took three or four years. That’s why if it’s Luke Schenn for us, it’s going to take three or four years.”

Exactly the point. So why the headline, and the intro to the article? Shoalts hit a homerun on the Coyotes. On the Leafs he seems to be striking out an awful lot lately.

Talk to you from Las Vegas

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Here are the lineups for the shows at noon:

On Baseball Show:

TBA: but you can bet it will be trade deadline/roy halladay related

On Leafs Lunch:

Duff & Watters
1240 – Darcy Regier – Sabres GM

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:
Okay let’s face it there are a bunch of baseballs games and there’s a big battle in the CFL with the struggling BC Lions taking on the surprising Hamilton Ti-Cats (including the debut of Arland Bruce in the gold and black), but how can anyone look past the fact that today is the trade deadline in MLB? I’m not even going to try and compare this day with the hockey version of this day, because it’s not the same. There’s one enormous reason why today is worthy of the GOTD and it boils down to what is going to happen to Roy Halladay. Will he remain a Blue Jay until the end of this season? Will he end up going to a play off contending team in return for a some prospects? If anything today will also prove the worth of general manager J.P. Ricciardi. Today and what happens with Doc could make or break his entire legacy. It was presumed Halladay would be heading to Philly. There have been rumours about the Red Sox, Yankees and Rangers. We will just have to wait and see.

Here’s a quick link to a great article on the Roy Halladay situation from Michael Rosenberg. It pretty much sums up what I’ve been thinking throughout this process, in that JP really needs to trade Doc now that he’s come this far. And the fact is, elite prospects are a huge return versus the risk of having Halladay for one final pennant race in 2010. Otherwise, the team can lose him for pretty much nothing (compensation picks aside).

Rosenberg says it well:

“Please, J.P., tell me you’re lying. Tell me you really ARE going to trade ace Roy Halladay, despite what you told FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal Sunday. Tell me you have thought this through, and you know the best move is to deal Halladay now, while he is as valuable as he’ll ever be, and while it can help the Blue Jays the most.

I can only hope, for his sake, that Ricciardi is bluffing. I hope he is smoking out offers with the full intention of taking the best one. In fact, by this point, I hope he already has an offer that he is willing to take, and is simply trying to get an even better one.

And I really hope he has asked this question:

What happens if the trade deadline passes and Roy Halladay is still a Blue Jay?

If that happens, then Ricciardi will have announced to the world that he might trade Halladay, then turned down several very nice offers in the hope that the stars align for Toronto in 2010. He will have surrendered his chips.

This is what you need to know about Halladay: right now, he has more value to the teams that are trying to trade for him than he does to the Blue Jays. Significantly more.

Consider: the Blue Jays owe Halladay roughly $20.45 million between now and the end of the 2010 season. But since they are sure to miss the playoffs this year, they are basically paying him for one potential pennant race, next year, in a division with the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays. That is a huge chunk of money for one starting pitcher in one pennant race.

And if the Blue Jays don’t contend next year, then what? Halladay won’t come out and say it, but he’ll be out of there. He will have pitched 12 seasons in Toronto without throwing a postseason pitch. Why would he sign on for any more? Halladay’s reluctance to sign an extension is presumably what fueled these trade talks in the first place.

The Blue Jays could then try to deal him by next summer’s deadline, but the haul would be significantly smaller than it would be now, because he would be a two-month rental instead of a season-and-two-months rental.

The teams that are pursuing Halladay, on the other hand, are all contenders. They believe they will have him for two pennant races, minimum. And unlike Toronto, those teams are in prime position to sign Halladay to an extension, because they are contenders.”

I had this conversation earlier today with friends – Do we trust JP to make this decision?

Not really…

Do you?

-DL

Rosenberg is here.

Today, Blue Jays GM JP Ricciardi said he has set a July 28 deadline for trading ace Roy Halladay.

“No one has really stepped up yet,” Ricciardi said. “We’ve got to be highly motivated to move him. We haven’t been highly motivated yet.”

Ricciardi said the deadline is necessary to get an agreement in place for what is likely to be a complicated deal. He also wants the matter resolved before Halladay makes a scheduled start July 29 in Seattle.

“In three days, not much is probably going to happen,” Ricciardi said. “It’s such a magnitude, the trade. He’s got to OK the team he’s going to, we’ve got to agree on prospects. That doesn’t happen, traditionally in baseball, in one hour. I think we need a little more time than that.”

Ricciardi declined to say how many teams have entered the bidding for Halladay, but acknowledged “there’s been enough.”

The AL starter at this month’s All-Star Game, Halladay is 11-3 with a 2.73 ERA in 18 starts. He pitched a six-hitter to beat Boston on Sunday, his first victory since June 7.”

I certainly believe that Toronto may keep Halladay. They still have him signed through next season and may contend with a healthy pitching staff in 2010. There is no true urgency to trade the team’s best player.

On the other hand, Toronto’s potential trade haul will undoubtedly decrease if JP waits until the offseason, let alone next year’s trade deadline. If JP really is serious about trading Doc, he should probably do it this season, provided he gets an offer worth accepting.

For what it’s worth, I think he’s bluffing. No, I know he’s bluffing.

Let’s say the Phillies come to Ricciardi on July 30th with an incredible offer – For arguments sake, let’s say they’ve decided to include stud prospects J.A. Happ and Kyle Drabek.

JP could say, “sorry, we’ve passed our internal deadline.” But he won’t, because it’s utterly ridiculous.

If Toronto gets a great offer for Doc, even after the “internal deadline,” they will trade him. JP’s trying to bait teams into raising their offers, while adding a sense of urgency. And if I can see through it, I’m sure they can too.

-DL

Thanks to a reader who sent me this after reading my previous post. I am not going to comment at all as I am in no position to do so. Here is the gist of the article in the San Jose Mercury News, the Golden State Warriors are hoping to win the NBA draft lottery which takes place this coming Tuesday night or at the very least move from #7 to number 2 or 3(sound familiar?). If they don’t win the lottery and move up that way then they have targeted Chris Bosh as the next best thing. Here is what the article says about that:

“The main targeted veteran, I’m told, is Toronto’s Chris Bosh–no surprise, given how hard Riley tried to get him at last year’s trade deadline. Though Bosh is a big member of the great free-agent class of 2010, and therefore potentially available in a deal this summer if the Raptors are scared of losing him next year, it’s hard to see Toronto giving him
away. They’re going to want Anthony Randolph. The Warriors are going to have to think hard about anything involving Randolph, though I’m sure Don Nelson wouldn’t be broken-hearted about it. Heck, Randolph’s not going to be in his prime until Nelson is long retired, so why would Nellie want any part of him? But could the Warriors trade Randolph, at 19 with a chance to be one of the top 10 players in the league in a few years… for a possible one-year rental of Bosh, who may or may not ever be a superstar? (I guess Nelson thinks Bosh would be an idea big man in a scatter-ball mania.) Another huge problem: To get Bosh, the Warriors almost have to include Andris Biedrins (no problem for Nellie, obviously) for value and contract purposes, but Biedrins remains a base-year player until June 30 next summerOOPS THAT CHANGES THINGS. That’s complicated, but basically it means that a Biedrins-involved trade has to be a monster monetary deal (involving three or four big contracts going both ways) for Biedrins’ deal to fit into any trade. Update: But only until June 30. Again: OOPS. Randolph and Biedrins for Bosh doesn’t even come close to a workable NBA trade. The money’s all wrong. The Warriors and Raptors would have to build another $10M or so both ways into this deal. Also, by my reading of the CBA, I don’t believe Jamal Crawford can be traded until and unless he DOES NOT opt-out on June 30. It’s like the Baron Davis situation last year–Crawford, for trade purposes, is considered a potential free agent, and you can’t trade pending F/As until July 1. If Crawford opts-in, which is likely, he can be traded after June 30, since he will then have two years left on his deal. If he opts-out and becomes a free agent, then the Warriors can still sign-and-trade his rights after June 30. But, unless I’m wrong, Crawford CANNOT BE MOVED in the period from now until July 1, which means zero movement for him at draft time (June 25). Obviously another candidate to be moved: Monta Ellis, but he’s also a base-year player until June 30 next summer. Much easier to trade: Brandan Wright and Marco Belinelli, but they don’t have much value, thanks, in no small part, to Nelson’s handling of them.”

Okay NBA fans tell the rest of us….what should we think?

TSM

Not that there is much left to read, but the story can be found here.

“speculation about an Antropov and Stralman deal to Columbus for injured goalie Pascal Leclaire. The Blue Jackets netminder is out for the remainder of the season after undergoing ankle surgery.”

That from the good folks over at the Globe and Mail.

“The Leafs were involved in two bits of trade speculation yesterday — that they were haggling with the Boston Bruins and Columbus Blue Jackets over possible moves. But Burke denied he’s talking to either club.”

Denial, you all will remember is more then a river in Egypt.

Leaf fans, would you make that deal? Keep this in mind:

“If the Leafs were to make such a move and keep starter Vesa Toskala, they would have $7.8-million tied up in their goalies next season. Leclaire has two more seasons after this one at $3.8-million each. Toskala has one more season left at $4-million.”