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Updates and Rumours from around the League

Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

I still don't get why Burke didn't get Gagne, who he could've had for a song, and who wouldn't have tied his hands beyond this season. That was a good opportunity missed.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

Given To Fly said:
I did read your post, that is why I quoted it and commented on it.

Your post was talking about ownership not giving the money to spend on top UFAs, when really the owners have given the MAX amount of money they can on salaries.

You want to bitch that Burke didnt use that money the way you wanted to, fine...But to say its due to ownership not wanting to spend the money, well to me that says you dont understand how the salary cap works.
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No it wasn't about that. It was about settling for lesser lights over the superstar when they have a chance to get one.

Instead of Kovalchuk, we spend nearly 8 million on Versteeg, Armstrong and Lebda...the latter two being guys we have no business spending 4.5 million on in free agency. Your system just has to have a guy or two who can do those jobs for way less money. Instead of Forsberg on a short-term deal, we sign Allison and Khavanov. Instead of getting Chris Pronger, we decide to keep Alex Steen. It really has nothing to do with the cap at all. This is a problem we've had long before the salary cap came around.

Phil Kessel and Phaneuf are excellent players. I am very happy to have them. Those were significant moves because the last time we did something like that was 1994. It's good to see the Leafs going after young star players. They were good trades. But I'm talking about the elite of the elite. Kovalchuk. Pronger. Jagr. Any of these guys could have worn Leaf jerseys, but we never seem to end up with that type of player somehow.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

LeafOfFaith said:
I still don't get why Burke didn't get Gagne, who he could've had for a song, and who wouldn't have tied his hands beyond this season. That was a good opportunity missed.
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That would be true except for the fact that Gagne would only waive to go to Tampa. He wasn't interested in any other team.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

currently Anaheim is completely balking at paying anything close to what we're paying Kessel, for a very comparable player in Ryan.
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They offered Ryan $25M over 5 years and we're paying Kessel $27M over 5 years. I bet if they offered $15 over 3 years, he'd say yes.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

LeafOfFaith said:
I still don't get why Burke didn't get Gagne, who he could've had for a song, and who wouldn't have tied his hands beyond this season. That was a good opportunity missed.
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Maybe he didnt want to come here?
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

LeafOfFaith said:
Why would Gagne have been so married to TB?
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Could've been that they have fellow French-Canadien stars Vincent Lecavalier & Martin St-Louis. Could have been because he thinks highly of Steve Yzerman. Who knows? The bottom line is, it's foolish to berate a GM for not trading for a player, when the player in question had a NTC and never indicated he had a desire to waive it to play here.

And I guess you could also ask....why would he be jumping at the chance to come here?
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

Apparently Gagne is a huge fan and close with Yzerman. He'd only go to Tampa is what the media claimed.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

Volcanologist said:
No it wasn't about that. It was about settling for lesser lights over the superstar when they have a chance to get one.

Instead of Kovalchuk, we spend nearly 8 million on Versteeg, Armstrong and Lebda...the latter two being guys we have no business spending 4.5 million on in free agency. Your system just has to have a guy or two who can do those jobs for way less money. Instead of Forsberg on a short-term deal, we sign Allison and Khavanov. Instead of getting Chris Pronger, we decide to keep Alex Steen. It really has nothing to do with the cap at all. This is a problem we've had long before the salary cap came around.

Phil Kessel and Phaneuf are excellent players. I am very happy to have them. Those were significant moves because the last time we did something like that was 1994. It's good to see the Leafs going after young star players. They were good trades. But I'm talking about the elite of the elite. Kovalchuk. Pronger. Jagr. Any of these guys could have worn Leaf jerseys, but we never seem to end up with that type of player somehow.
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You may want to go back and read what you wrote.

You were specifically blaming ownership for not providing the cash necessary to sign top tier free agents.

Trading and signing guys are the job of the GM, not the owner.

And with having ownership paying the cap max, you cant bitch that they dont supply enough money towards salaries.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

leafman101 said:
But yeah, obviously Kovy would be a better use of the $7+ million than Versteeg, Lebda and Armstrong.

But to say Burke hasn't gone after some of the very best talent out there is just a lie.
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Exactly.

Let's just say this - Burke isn't a guy who's shy to pull the trigger on big deals. We landed Kessel, and we traded for Phaneuf in arguably the 2 biggest trades of the NHL last season.

So it's safe to say the reason Burke didn't go after Kovy isn't just because he's 'a big star' or 'too elite'. And I bet, even though Burke will never publicly admit it, that it goes beyond his contract demand too.

It may be his level of competitiveness, maybe his personality, maybe his style of play ... whatever it is, Burke just doesn't see Kovalchuk as a key piece of the puzzle to build the team around. You can argue about THAT, but you can't argue Burke doesn't spend the big bucks to bring big ticket players in when he brought in Kessel and Phaneuf in the same season.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

Given To Fly said:
You may want to go back and read what you wrote.

You were specifically blaming ownership for not providing the cash necessary to sign top tier free agents.

Trading and signing guys are the job of the GM, not the owner.

And with having ownership paying the cap max, you cant bitch that they dont supply enough money towards salaries.
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I'm sorry but your reading comprehension sucks.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

Volcanologist said:
I'm sorry but your reading comprehension sucks.
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This is what you previously wrote:

Volcanologist said:
Ah, the B-pile. A familiar tale in Toronto. What is it about the best players in the league that Leaf ownership so afraid of, I wonder? It seems to be the same thing no matter who owns the team. Don't tell me they don't have the money, because if there's one team in the league that does have the cash, it's us.
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I am not sure how I am misinterpreting this, as you are clearly pointing the finger at ownership not providing enough money to sign top tier free agents.

You can twist it anyway you want, but what you wrote is flat out not the case.

If you want to bitch about how the money is being used, fine..But thats not the fault of ownership.

If the cap was 60mil and the owners only gave 50mil, then I can see how you can bitch that with all the money MLSE makes, how can they not give us the max for salaries.

But they are giving us the max, so how they can be at fault for not providing enough money is beyond me.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

dchesnokov A source just told me that in his opinion it is very possible that Kovy will indeed sign in Rus. NHL is blocking his efforts

ajcthrashers: Blog forthcoming, but Thrashers GM Dudley says its a real possibility that Dustin Byfuglien moves to defense next season.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

Well, if kovy does go to russia, that might open up a number of trade options.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

He came up as Dman didnt he?

I remember when he first broke into the league his fantasy positions were D/RW/LF

EDIT: Wikipedia - Dustin Byfuglien (pronounced /ˈbʌflɨn/ BUF-lin or rarely /baɪfuːɡliən/ bye-FOOG-lee-ən[1] born March 27, 1985) is an American professional ice hockey player for the Atlanta Thrashers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Drafted as a defenseman, he has played both forward and defense in his career.
 
Re: Trade Updates and Rumours from around the League

I even thought he played some D in round 1 last year...though maybe I am wrong...doubt it.
 
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