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Leaf Rumours

I'm gonna have to go out on a limb and suggest our biggest need is a first line center... and I think they are suggesting Weber because he may be available.
 
I'm gonna have to go out on a limb and suggest our biggest need is a first line center... and I think they are suggesting Weber because he may be available.
When we traded for Phaneuf, defense was pretty far from being our most pressing concern at the time. But Burke knew that when you have a chance to add an elite, young franchise talent, you get it done and worry about filling in the rest afterwards.
 
When we traded for Phaneuf, defense was pretty far from being our most pressing concern at the time. But Burke knew that when you have a chance to add an elite, young franchise talent, you get it done and worry about filling in the rest afterwards.

100%

Phaneuf/Weber ?
Yikes.
 
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Call me crazy but I'd rather go after a guy like Parise over a guy like Weber. Dont get me wrong Weber's one of the best blueliners in the league, but we already have too many, and too much money is already invested in the back end. Our biggest need is a first line winger (and no Lupul isnt that) to play with Kessel. I'd much rather Burke spend loads of money on a guy like Parise....

You are crazy.

Parise was named captain of the Devils - no way they would do that if they planned on shopping him. Weber will most likely be available and that is why we are discussing him.
 
I don't see how being captain matters. The only reason Weber would be moved is if Nashville can't sign him to an extension.

Same applies to Parise.

Neither team wants to trade these guys.
 
I'd be just as happy with Suter.
Crazy that the Preds managed to pull both Suter and Weber from the same draft....and Weber at 49th overall. That 2003 1st round seriously has got to be the best 1st round in NHL history:

1st round: Marc-Andre Fleury, Eric Staal, Nathan Horton, Tomas Vanek, Ryan Suter, Dion Phaneuf, Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, Brent Seabrook, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Brent Burns, Ryan Kesler, Mike Richards, Corey Perry.

So, pretty much if you had a pick anywhere in the first round, you had a 50% chance of drafting an impact NHLer with it. And then the rest of the draft, and the rounds they were picked in:

Shea Weber (2nd), Loui Eriksson (2nd), Patrice Bergeron (2nd), Matt Carle (2nd), Corey Crawford (2nd), Clarke MacArthur (3rd), Joe Pavelski (7th), Tobias Enstrom (8th), Dustin Byfuglien (8th), Matt Moulson (9th).
 
Wow. That's an unbelievably stacked first round. Five or six 40 goal scorers, five team captains, four all-star defensemen, a cup-winning goalie, jeez.
 
i'd be happier with suter, who i think is a better defenseman and fits the leafs needs better (since they already have a weber clone in phaneuf).
 
The only two drafts that really approach 2003 in terms of quality are the 1979 and 1993 editions. The worst drafts are 1996, 1999, and likely 2011 (down the road). 1997 was pretty bad as well, although Thornton was obviously a very good first overall pick and Marleau an excellent second selection.
 
1990.

tough to argue with jagr (maybe the best winger of all time) and brodeur (best goalie) both going in the same round.

and then just a boat load of very good to star quality players (primeau, nedved, sydor, tkachuk, smolinski, hatcher, nolan, ricci).
 
the interesting thing about 1997 was that a lot of people had it pegged as perhaps the best ever.

though you're selling it short.. jokinen, luongo, hossa all in the first round
 
I don't think that I'm selling it short at all. Of those twelve players selected in the first round that played a minimum of 500 games (basically the low-end of what would constitute an NHL "regular") only four can be perhaps described as true impact players: Thornton, Marleau, Luongo, and Hossa. That's good but not out of the ordinary.

Eric Brewer has been a perennial disappointment despite sky-high expectations and some significant national team hardware dating from when Kevin Lowe was an executive on the Team Canada selection committee. Jokinen has had four strong seasons but otherwise been a disappointing draft pick given the hype that surrounded him at third overall. Dan Cleary and Scott Hannan have both experienced some measure of success as strong supporting pieces to their teams but are nothing particularly special and Brenden Morrow has turned into a very good player, but not a perennial all-star type talent.

And after the first round the best player selected in the entire draft was Brian Campbell. Then you have a whole whack of decent, but not great, third and fourth-line supporting components like Adam Mair (615 games), Joe Corvo (576 games), Maxim Afinogenov (651 games), Jason Chimera (588 games), Kyle Calder (590 games), Mike York (579 games), Matt Cooke (815 games), Todd Fedoruk (549 games), and Andrew Ference (648 games).

It was not a great draft at all like it was forecasted to be, as you alluded to.
 
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