Brian Burke has pulled the trigger on a deal:
Burke has sent Anton Stralman, Colin Stuart and Toronto’s 7th round pick in 2012 to Calgary in exchange for
Wayne Primeau and Calgary’s Second Round Draft Pick in 2011.
Primeau is a big centre, 6’0 230 lbs.
I love that this wasn’t on any rumor boards, at least none that I have seen.
Here is the info on Primeau, who makes 1.4m this year and is an UFA after. This moves one body off the back end.
Ladies and gentlemen…the back end has been built…introducing the lead plumber for the 3rd or 4th line.
Good face off and PK guy….let the re-build continue.
I have to admit, I was a fan of Stralman…oh well.
Primeau is one of the guys my Bruins got when they gave away Joe Thornton to San Jose…………….he will fit right in with the other twelve 3rd and 4th liners that the Leafs currently have……………it has been almost 4 years since that Thornton trade and I am still bitter…………..can you tell??
Just call me befuddled.
All the yahoo know-it-all Leaf fans will be calling this trade a bust from the get go, considering youth was moved for a vet.
Sure, we get a 2nd in what, 2011’s draft?
Hmm…must be a damn good reason why this was done, perhaps we’ll never really know what the plan was with Stralman but I am definitely not sure how to swallow this.
No reason to be befuddled Nealio and no reason to be bitter Mike S. This is pretty simple:
Wilson has no use for Stralman, wasn’t going to play him. Burke trades that unwanted asset plus Stewart for his type of plumber forward and gets a 2nd rounder back. Many have asked the question how are the Leafs going to kill so many penalties given their recent additions, well Burke has brought in a fairly decent PK centre to help with that.
There is no real downside here, he gets a forward who can eat minutes, is low cost and has only 1 year left on his deal. He also gets a second rounder. He gives up a guy that his coach didn’t want. No clue what the story on Stuart was, but he was here for all of 4 weeks.
Burke said he wanted to deal 2 d. One is down. Some think this means Kaberle is certain to stay now. I am not so sure. Time will tell.
TSM
Kaberlae is not going anywhere and i do NOT know why Burke traded away a very good D-man for a pick. God knows we don’t have many offensively gifted D in our farm system. Very bad taste. Sure it clears cap space but who’re you gonna spend it on? No offence from the defense.
Some flaws in the line of thinking. As good as getting guys who will help on the PK, why acquire more guys who will get you on the PK? And why acquire a PK guy who will cost $1.4 mil?
As good of a coach as Wilson might be, at first he had no use for Ian White. Yeah, great call on that one. He also found minutes for that great d-man Jamie Sifers. So should we put stock in Wilson’s thoughts on d-men? Even then, why not deal away one of the 7 d-men who do the same thing, like Finger, Van Ryn, or Frogren?
I like the idea of getting a 2nd rounder though. I absolutely hate that it’ll be in the 2011 draft, unless it’s going elsewhere soon.
as much as Burke likes turnover with his AHL assets, i thought he was going to hang onto Anton, since late in the season the company line, as echoed by Wilson himself, saw Stralman contributing next season. but that was before Burke loaded up on D-men and made him expendable. of course, all the bad feelings that surfaced when Stralman apparently wanted to play for Sweden in the world championships over the Marlies in the playoffs made it only easier.
all in all, i guess i like what Burke is doing even if i think Primeau will end up on the Marlies.