Official Rumours Thread

[_venom_]

ridiculous

if Burke actually describes this as a rebuild, I hope one of the media slaps him

huh what did you honestly expect at the deadline, we don't have many valuable assets...The real work will come at the draft this year

I was expecting a rebuild

which at the bare minimum means kaberle

today showed me Burke's focussed on littles besides next season. Which puts him in the same company as the littany of GM's who came before him

So you wanted him to dumb Kaberle for a deal that he didn't think was worth it? You don't trade away good defenceman on good contracts just because you want to make a deal. After that who else could he move? Kubina didn't waive his no trade, Toskala is injured and untradeable, Blake is untradeable, and everyone else isn't really worth trading away for late picks.

[ansoncarter]

So you wanted him to dumb Kaberle for a deal that he didn't think was worth it?

at least one team offered something substantial. I don't think thats even arguable

Burke simply didn't intend to trade him. He saw money to spend this offseason and decided to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors.

[_venom_]

So you wanted him to dumb Kaberle for a deal that he didn't think was worth it?

at least one team offered something substantial. I don't think thats even arguable

Burke simply didn't intend to trade him. He saw money to spend this offseason and decided to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors.

And how do you know that? Bouwmeester wasn't moved, Pronger wasn't moved, Kaberle wasn't moved. Maybe the offers he got weren't that good... Add in the fact that Kaberle hurt his hand last night and maybe he really didn't get a good offer and I'd rather keep Kaberle than trade him for a bad return.

[ansoncarter]

if today's deadline wasn't enough, does this sound like a GM who is rebuilding?...

“As far as the summer, we’re positioned well from a cap standpoint. I think you folks know I’m not big on doing nothing. We will be aggressive on lots of fronts.”

it's dumbfounding. He tells our media straight to their faces that he plans to blow all our cap, but since he aptly drops the 'r' word (rebuild), our media rushes off to their typewriters all in a dither to spread the word that our brave new GM will shoulder the storm. That he has the stomach for what the previous did not. The long awaited rebuild. etc.

I mean wholly ****

it's no wonder he has such an ego. If these are the type of people he's used to dealing with, he deserves to look down on them

it's just a shame these nimrods lead so many over the cliff with them

[_venom_]

if today's deadline wasn't enough, does this sound like a GM who is rebuilding?...

“As far as the summer, we’re positioned well from a cap standpoint. I think you folks know I’m not big on doing nothing. We will be aggressive on lots of fronts.”

it's dumbfounding. He tells our media straight to their faces that he plans to blow all our cap, but since he aptly drops the 'r' word (rebuild), our media rushes off to their typewriters all in a dither to spread the word that our brave new GM will shoulder the storm. That he has the stomach for what the previous did not. The long awaited rebuild. etc.

I mean wholly ****

it's no wonder he has such an ego. If these are the type of people he's used to dealing with, he deserves to look down on them

it's just a shame these nimrods lead so many over the cliff with them

Why wouldn't Leafs use their cap space this summer? As long as they use it wisely I would have no problem with trying to build on the fly. They are for sure going to be on the Bouwmeester sweepstakes and that's perfectly fine with me since he's a 25 year old stud defenceman. Add in a top 5 pick in the draft, and moving one or both of Kaberle and Kubina at the draft and we're in good position. The two 2nd rders acquired today also gives us some flexibility at the draft at moving up/down if we want to. Two 2nds can buy you a late 1st rder if there's someone on the board you like or you could use them to move up like we did last year when we got Schenn. I think Burke did what he was supposed to do this trade deadline. It was slower than people thought it would be and he moved what he could. The team will struggle down the stretch now without Moore, Antropov, and Toskala and we'll be in good position going into the draft/offseason with cap space/picks/veteran players to move.

[chargerxthirty]

Listen, we haven't even had a draft with Burke yet. Just settle it down. Burke is well known for trading up to move up in the draft as well as drafting well with second rounders. Antropov is going to ask for 3.5-4 mil this offseason and quite frankly he's not worth that. I'll take the 2nd round pick. Dom Moore is an excellent player but in the past he's been dealt for a 3rd round pick twice. He's having a good year on a bad team and basically a 2nd round pick is more than he's ever been worth, consider it a steal.

I'm sure Burke is pushing a different and new philosophy concerning scouting etc and will make use of the picks wisely. Lets just sit and see what a real gm can do for us.

Drafting is unquestionably underrated. Everybody pays attention to the central scouting report revolving around the top 30 picks, but realistically... your drafting after the first round is what defines your success. Use Detroit as an example.

Pavel Datsyuk - 6th round (171 overall)
Henrik Zetterberg - 7th round (210 overall)
Nicklas Lidstrom - 3rd round (53 overall)
Johan Franzen - 3rd round (97 overall)
Tomas Holmstrom - 10th round (257 overall)

Correct me if I'm wrong but these are all homegrown draftpicks of the Detroit Red Wings, and if you haven't noticed they also happen to be the core of a perrenial Stanley Cup contender.

Ranging from the 3rd to the 10th round and all high caliber players which contribute to a formula equating success.

I say we hope that Brian Burkes squad comes up with some quality picks because the second round actually bears a lot of fruit. Personally, I would like to see us be in the top 5 picks of this years draft so that if we miss out on Tavares we can draft Brayden Schenn (brother of luke) who is a scoring machine in the WHL.

How awesome would it be to build our team around 2 corner stone players who are not only brothers, but close in age and extremely talented. That would be a good building block to start out.

As for tomas Kaberle. If we traded him, we'd be spending the summer trying to find someone who shares his personal strengths. Problem is, his contract @ 4.25 million is an absolute steal for those assets. So lets end the search party on that front and keep our bargain player. We can deal him when he's expiring, right now he remains an asset and will probably be a very valuable trading chip next year or beyond.

My thoughts

[_venom_]

I know it's only 1 game but Gerber tonight looked better than Toskala looked all season long...

And I really like the way John Mitchell has played this season and I hope he has a spot on the 3rd or 4th line next season.

[The Duke]

I'm completely fine with what BB did on deadline... he made good moves, but more importantly he didnt make any bad moves.

[Mike Hunt]

I think Kaberle's gone by draft day anyways so I'm not worried about not seeing him move.

The Antropov and Moore moves were predictable but had to happen so I have no problem with them.

I'm most excited about the move Burke made with Tampa Bay. Not because I think Rodgers is a good prospect (wouldn't it be nice if he made the club at some point) and not because I think a 4th rounder guarantees you anything, but because it at least showed a willingness to be creative which hasn't been seen in Toronto in decades.

It also shows that Burke has confidence in his drafting ability that he'd essentially pay 400K for a 4th round pick. This is a huge departure from the interim guy who he replaced who in regards to acquiring Jamal Mayers for a 3rd round pick said something along the lines of: "Third round picks aren't that valuable. You have a better chance of drafting a dud than an actual prospect". While somewhat true, that statement riled me up. If you've been givven the task to rebuild a team, you better have a much more optimistic view of the draft than "Outside of the first round, I won;t get a player".