OT: LEAFS make huge moves, MLSE willing to spend after all?

[darew9392]

Does this trade make Kaberle more expendable. I just don't see Phaneuf and Kaberle playing together. I think that now that we've acquired Phaneuf, it makese Kaberle expandable and maybe Burke has found a great deal for Kaberle.

this is what i hope for but at his age he wont return high value picks for us if they could move him for someone to add some scoring depth on a line with kessel i would be a happy fan. he really needs to be pouring it in and right now he has no one who can really get him going.

[darew9392]

I can't believe people are saying Calgary won this.

Matt Stajan is a 3rd line center on a good team
Nik Hagman is maybe at best a 2nd line winger on a good team
White is 3-4 defencemen at best
Mayers will be out of the league in a few years.

there you go from someone who has probably watched some damn games over the past 2 years.

i don't see how ppl are disputing this as a good/bad deal for us it is unequivocally good.

[GD13]

Solid deals. But I still think that Burke fked up my acquiring Kessel for the 1st round draft picks.
Looking where we are right now, we couldve easily got a top 3 pick in the draft. But now Boston has that..

[Wally West]

Solid deals. But I still think that Burke fked up my acquiring Kessel for the 1st round draft picks.
Looking where we are right now, we couldve easily got a top 3 pick in the draft. But now Boston has that..

Do they have lottery protected picks in the NHL because if they did, that's what Burke should've done!

[Tha Cynic]

The Leafs just gave up a 25 goal scorer, a 30 goal scorer and their best defenseman for a guy who's been declining. Hardly a great deal.

Who's the 30 goal scorer?

Hagman's on pace for 30. Stajan's on pace for 23.

Dion Phaneuf is one of the most talented defencemen in the entire NHL. He isn't a "Goon". He's a physical player who is uber-skilled.

Phaneuf is an offensive defenseman who isn't as good as Kaberle on offense, and hits everything that moves, but is still not good in the defensive end. If he becomes the player he was supposed to be, this trade is a good trade, but that would require him to actually become better defensively. Right now he's playing like Luke Schenn with a little better offense. He has been on the decline for the last couple of seasons.

[Yosemite Dan]

What a horrible trade for the Leafs and I mean horrible!

Phanouf is perhaps the most overrated Dman in the league. It's the Calgary effect, much like the Leaf effect. When a player plays well for a moderate period of time in a hockey city hotbed then they achieve this certain godlike status that no matter how poorly thay play afterwards it always stays with them thru the media. See Darcy Tucker and Bryan McCabe for reference.

While Phanouf's 1st few seasans were productive he has been below average the last couple of seasons and seems already burned out although he's still pretty young. If playing in a presurre situation in Calgary got to him then wait until he plays awhile in Toronto. He has been so bad the last 2 seasons that Team Canada was forced to not include him on the Olympic roster when they considered him a lock for the team 2 years ago. At his point he is a hair better than Komisarek and another knucklehead that can fight and to have that contract for another 4 years at 7 million is cap suicide.

He's big and slow and the Leaf defense has enough of those guys. That was the problem. To give up White who was thier best dman this year and give up all that speed on offense makes me think that Burke still thinks the NHL is playing in th 1970's or trying to relive the Gilmour trade glory with Calgary.

The only thing more overrated than Phanouf is Burke as a GM. I was gonna give him a mulligan for the putrid Kessel trade but now I guess he didn't want to fire his pal Wilson so this shake up was necessary. Well I thought the Leafs were a lock for 29th place but this trade may have cemented 30th place because I have no idea who is gonna score on this team.

[SwaggyB]

i think you are overrating a decent scorer on a very bad team. we just acquired an great defense men and only had to give up a guy who is a good fit(added scoring) on the flames roster. i mean dion is not elite yet but he is 24 and his best years are ahead not behind.

And I think YOU are orerrating a d-man who had tons of potential but doesn't care to use it. He is not elite, and he probably never will be. He couldn't play well for a "good" team, why would he play well for a bad team?

I can't believe people are saying Calgary won this.

Matt Stajan is a 3rd line center on a good team
Nik Hagman is maybe at best a 2nd line winger on a good team
White is 3-4 defencemen at best
Mayers will be out of the league in a few years.

All their salary is gone before Phaneuf... Phaneuf has been nothing but a cancer in the Flames lockerroom, and hasn't done anything to be considered a top defenceman in the league. Why do you think he was left off Team Canada?

[Yosemite Dan]

All their salary is gone before Phaneuf... Phaneuf has been nothing but a cancer in the Flames lockerroom, and hasn't done anything to be considered a top defenceman in the league. Why do you think he was left off Team Canada?

Looks like Burke is in panic mode right now because with the cap room they have this summer the best guy available appears to be Tom Plekanic which isn't good. I have yet to see a GM make a good trade when in panic mode and this trade is par for the course.

[Southward1]

The Leafs just gave up a 25 goal scorer, a 30 goal scorer and their best defenseman for a guy who's been declining. Hardly a great deal.

Who's the 30 goal scorer?

Hagman's on pace for 30. Stajan's on pace for 23.

Dion Phaneuf is one of the most talented defencemen in the entire NHL. He isn't a "Goon". He's a physical player who is uber-skilled.

Phaneuf is an offensive defenseman who isn't as good as Kaberle on offense, and hits everything that moves, but is still not good in the defensive end. If he becomes the player he was supposed to be, this trade is a good trade, but that would require him to actually become better defensively. Right now he's playing like Luke Schenn with a little better offense. He has been on the decline for the last couple of seasons.

Nik Hagman is not a 30 goal scorer. He's never scored 30 and won't this year. Plus he's completely died out in the second.

Phaneuf has been average on the defensive end the past 2 seasons but has shown signs of brilliance. Saying he is slightly better than Schenn offensively is just plain ignorant. Dion is on pace for 15 goals and 40+ points. Schenn will be lucky to see 5 goals and 20 points. Since he came into the league 5 years ago, Dion Phaneuf is in the top 5 in goals and points for defencemen.

[Southward1]

i think you are overrating a decent scorer on a very bad team. we just acquired an great defense men and only had to give up a guy who is a good fit(added scoring) on the flames roster. i mean dion is not elite yet but he is 24 and his best years are ahead not behind.

And I think YOU are orerrating a d-man who had tons of potential but doesn't care to use it. He is not elite, and he probably never will be. He couldn't play well for a "good" team, why would he play well for a bad team?

I can't believe people are saying Calgary won this.

Matt Stajan is a 3rd line center on a good team
Nik Hagman is maybe at best a 2nd line winger on a good team
White is 3-4 defencemen at best
Mayers will be out of the league in a few years.

All their salary is gone before Phaneuf... Phaneuf has been nothing but a cancer in the Flames lockerroom, and hasn't done anything to be considered a top defenceman in the league. Why do you think he was left off Team Canada?

Dion Phaneuf was saddled as the next great defencemen in the NHL just 2 years ago. Before the 08/09 season Phaneuf was probably penciled in on the top pairing for team canada, before he started to struggle.

[sim_plic_i_ty]

Phaneuf IS overrated whether you guys agree or not. White IS underrated whether you guys agree or not.

Honestly, I would put White as the best player in this deal.

In other news - Giguere for Toskala and Blake. THIS one, I like. Giguere hasn't been the best the past year and a half, but we all know what he is capable of.

C'mon Burke, get us another scorer!

[Grizzled]

I think Phaneuf needs to get his head back into the game. Maybe a change of scenery will do him good. If he doesn’t then Toronto just picked up an overpaid, average, defenseman, but if he does he could be Toronto’s next Wendell Clark. He has a Wendell Cark type personality. He’s a small town prairie boy who is quite soft spoken and reserved off the ice, but hardnosed and fearless on the ice.

[Southward1]

Phaneuf IS overrated whether you guys agree or not. White IS underrated whether you guys agree or not.

Honestly, I would put White as the best player in this deal.

In other news - Giguere for Toskala and Blake. THIS one, I like. Giguere hasn't been the best the past year and a half, but we all know what he is capable of.

C'mon Burke, get us another scorer!

Giguere very well could be done.

LOL at Ian White being better than Dion Phaneuf. That's just foolish.

[ATLTimekeeper]

The Leafs didn't give up much. Hagman was the only good player. White played with heart and had nice stats, but he choked away a couple of games this year with some bad late-game decisions, and was due a large pay raise at the end of the year. Stajan's a third liner putting up 2nd liner stats. No creativity, no shot, no point paying extra for that. Hagman was the only real gem. Like Kessel, he'll look a lot better once he's surrounded by some guys with actual skill. Phaneuf's the only player that has, in the past dominated games, and he's only 24.

[SwaggyB]

Nik Hagman is not a 30 goal scorer. He's never scored 30 and won't this year. Plus he's completely died out in the second.

Phaneuf has been average on the defensive end the past 2 seasons but has shown signs of brilliance. Saying he is slightly better than Schenn offensively is just plain ignorant. Dion is on pace for 15 goals and 40+ points. Schenn will be lucky to see 5 goals and 20 points. Since he came into the league 5 years ago, Dion Phaneuf is in the top 5 in goals and points for defencemen.

I watch a lot of Flames games... I haven't seen any brilliance the past few years... Phaneuf was terrible last year, and hes shown no signs of being any better this year.

Dion may be on pace for 40+ but Hagman is on pace for 60+... Doesn't mean either of them will make it there.

[Southward1]

The Leafs didn't give up much. Hagman was the only good player. White played with heart and had nice stats, but he choked away a couple of games this year with some bad late-game decisions, and was due a large pay raise at the end of the year. Stajan's a third liner putting up 2nd liner stats. No creativity, no shot, no point paying extra for that. Hagman was the only real gem. Like Kessel, he'll look a lot better once he's surrounded by some guys with actual skill. Phaneuf's the only player that has, in the past dominated games, and he's only 24.

100% agree.

Stajan is the next Todd White.
Hagman's a decent player, but probably belongs on the third line in Detroit
White was great in the first half, but has been pretty terrible the last 10 games or so

[Marmoset]

I follow both teams very closely, so it's quite a shock to see them trade with each other. I still can't believe Dion Phaneuf is a Leaf! Overall, I think this is a very solid trade for the Leafs, with the potential to be highway robbery.

A few thoughts:
- Phaneuf IS a gamble to some degree, since he has been struggling this year. However, people often forget that when Phaneuf is 'struggling', he's still much better than most defencemen in the NHL. But players like this don't become available that often; Calgary was desperate and the timing was right.
- Hardly anybody is mentioning the fact that the Leafs picked up one of Calgary's top prospects in the deal as well (Keith Aulie).
- Stajan was likely gone next year; Burke seemed lukewarm on him and I don't think he was coming back.
- Losing Ian White hurts. He's been great for the Leafs, but to get Phaneuf, you make the deal.

Burke has redeemed himself somewhat for the Kessel disaster with this deal and the Giguere trade (which is a salary cap move). I'm not sure this quite makes up for those 1st round picks - actually, it probably doesn't - but it goes a long way.

[Southward1]

Nik Hagman is not a 30 goal scorer. He's never scored 30 and won't this year. Plus he's completely died out in the second.

Phaneuf has been average on the defensive end the past 2 seasons but has shown signs of brilliance. Saying he is slightly better than Schenn offensively is just plain ignorant. Dion is on pace for 15 goals and 40+ points. Schenn will be lucky to see 5 goals and 20 points. Since he came into the league 5 years ago, Dion Phaneuf is in the top 5 in goals and points for defencemen.

I watch a lot of Flames games... I haven't seen any brilliance the past few years... Phaneuf was terrible last year, and hes shown no signs of being any better this year.

Dion may be on pace for 40+ but Hagman is on pace for 60+... Doesn't mean either of them will make it there.

Hagman's on pace for 48 and won't make that.

[SwaggyB]

I think Phaneuf needs to get his head back into the game. Maybe a change of scenery will do him good. If he doesn’t then Toronto just picked up an overpaid, average, defenseman, but if he does he could be Toronto’s next Wendell Clark. He has a Wendell Cark type personality. He’s a small town prairie boy who is quite soft spoken and reserved off the ice, but hardnosed and fearless on the ice.

Soft spoken? Reserved? Having had a few run ins with Phaneuf, I can tell you that he is a prick. He isn't a hard-worker by any means, but I'll give you fearless. The guy is probably too stupid to be afraid of anything.

[s e n s i]

The Leafs just gave up a 25 goal scorer, a 30 goal scorer and their best defenseman for a guy who's been declining. Hardly a great deal.

LOL. Leafs got the best player in the deal and defensemen don't usually start declining at 25. If you think we were going somewhere with what we gave away, you should take a look at the current NHL standings.