Leafs acquire Versteeg

[RomaniaLuvTR]

from chicago,with prospect Billy Sweatt for Stalberg,Paradis and DiDomenico...sad to see stalberg and Dido go but i like Versteeg a lot..and Sweatt is a very good prospect fromwhat i`ve heard https://twitter.com/Real_ESPNLeBrun/status/17459578089

[sh00n]

Works for both teams, but I still think Toronto should've tried to keep Stalberg.

[Crowned]

I played Sweatt awhile back, and I'll tell you...he's got wheels. He was a few years younger than me, and still dominated. If you guys thought Stalberg was fast, Sweatt is right up there with him. Solid prospect.

I hate giving up Stalberg, and I certainly hate giving up Dido, but to get talent, we have to give talent. I like Versteeg, and I'm glad we have a legit 2nd line player on this roster.

Even trade for both teams, but I'm a little concerned with what we gave up.

[bryant08]

Didomenico has an unreal work ethic and I think he'll persevere from that femur injury and play in the NHL. Stalberg is OLDER than Versteeg which I found really cool, so I don't mind that trade off. Stalberg will probably become a solid pro, but I'm willing to take that risk. Paradis never seemed to be a big part of the squad going forward, so I wasn't surprised to see him used as trade bait. I'm just frustrated this digs into our cap space (hope of getting Kovalchuk down to like 0).

[dawn_wan]

wooooooooooooooooooooooo!

i don't mind burkie unloading prospects for 'proven' players at all.

[Brew666]

I played Sweatt awhile back, and I'll tell you...he's got wheels. He was a few years younger than me, and still dominated. If you guys thought Stalberg was fast, Sweatt is right up there with him. Solid prospect.

I hate giving up Stalberg, and I certainly hate giving up Dido, but to get talent, we have to give talent. I like Versteeg, and I'm glad we have a legit 2nd line player on this roster.

Even trade for both teams, but I'm a little concerned with what we gave up.

If it was Dido and Stalberg for Versteeg I would be a bit more concerned but from what I've heard about Sweatt it seems like we're not losing that much in the end. We received a lot more talent than gave. I think we definitely won this trade.

[Griff83]

This is basically a Versteeg for Stalberg trade.

Sure we included Paradis and Didomenico for Sweat but all 3 are depth prospects and theres a good chance that non turn out to be anything and theres also a decent chance that none of them even carve out NHL careers. Sweat is the best prospect out of the 3 so I'll call it a wash at this point and its really nothing to get worked up over.

Versteeg and Stalberg are the same age yet one has a cup ring, 40+ goals to his name, a calder trophy nomination while the other hasnt even played over a half season. I'm a big Stalberg fan and was excited to see how he developed but he has 2 rather large weakness's and thats his hockey sense and his hands. Too many times last season he would over handle the puck in tight spaces and also try to dangle when the right play was to dump the puck. His stickhandling is also rather mediocre and this can be seen when he has trouble carrying the puck sometimes at top speed. His speed and shot are definitely two things that will help him carve out a productive NHL career but the hockey sense thing especially is a bigtime hurdle.

Versteeg is smaller but he plays with more edge then Stalberg. Great hands and very slippery and can be both a finisher and a faciliatator. He might have only had 40 points last season but he was basically a third liner seeing about 15 minutes a game and very limited powerplay time. He most common linemates where Ladd and Bolland. If you bump up his icetime to about 17:50 and increase the powerplay time to about 2:00 per game, you're prolly looking at a 25+ goal 35 assist player in his prime and possibly more depending on linemates and role. Versteeg was also second on the hawks in terms of forwards in takeaways. There was also only 3 other players in the NHL who scored 20 goals this past season that got less playing time then Versteeg.

Heres a special Yahoo sports did on Versteeg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUVrd5H_MuM

[CRACKSMATIC]

this is an awesome move. i hate losing stalberg but you gotta give something to get something

chicago wouldn't of even done this deal if it weren't for their cap problems. i hear Bill Sweat is a good prospect too