Maple Leafs make a pair of blockbuster deals; Land Dion Phaneuf

You probably heard by now, but the Toronto Maple Leafs have shaken things up with a pair of blockbuster deals.

First, the Leafs sent Niklas Hagman, Ian White, Matt Stajan, and Jamal Mayers to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Dion Phaneuf, Frederick Sjostrom, and Keith Aulie.

GM Brian Burke wasn't done dealing just yet, though. About an hour after the first deal was announced, the Leafs sent Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

So, all total the Leafs sent 6 players out of Toronto and got back 4 new faces. I'd say that is a major shake-up. It will be interesting to see how this will effect the value of the Toronto picks that the Bruins own as part of the Phil Kessel deal.

about 2 years ago Stanley Cup of Chowder 7 comments 0 recs |

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Never saw this trade coming

I really like it for that little draft pick of ours. Leafs trade two forwards – a 16-25-41 and a 20-13-33(Hagman, leads team in goals) – essentially for a 7% shooting d-man(10 goals) with an unimpressive +3 rating. Obviously the involvement of Mayers, White, and Sjostrom were merely to even the salary and … See Moreposition depth.

Especially after shipping Blake as well, this move puts all the weight of offensive responsibilities on Kessel and Ponikarovsky. While the defense will now be largely improved, I see the offense dropping significantly. Seeing as how they average only 2.64 goals-per-game as it is pre-trade, I’m not sure they can afford any more setbacks. Their 3.48 goals-against-per-game will improve a bit, but hopefully for our sake they don’t find a way to make the numbers work in their favor.

by Ryan Elliott on Jan 31, 2010 1:54 PM EST reply actions

Some people are even expecting Toronto to trade Ponikarovski and Stempniak at the deadline to recoup picks. That offence wouldn’t be much better then anemic, at that point. Even with that defense and their goalies becoming spectacular you couldn’t expect them to crawl out of the basement. I think these trades will set up Toronto nicely in the future, but this year, especially if Ponikarovski and Stempniak are dealt, it will be tough to improve.

by Dangles-McDonnybrook on Jan 31, 2010 3:44 PM EST up reply actions

This makes me think that the Leafs aren’t bagging the season and we might not be in the running for Taylor Hall.

by Eric B on Jan 31, 2010 2:35 PM EST reply actions

uh oh...

This may spell the end of that lotto pick. I wonder if these moves will force PC to make some of his own?!?! Should be an interesting next couple of weeks.

by j3rockstar on Jan 31, 2010 7:14 PM EST reply actions

The real tragedy in all this? Vesa Toskala is no longer a Maple Leaf. Who will we make fun of for 200 ft. goals now?

by Arenacale on Feb 1, 2010 7:15 AM EST reply actions

Giguere ducked a Brian Rolston slapshot, we’ve got that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvPVRyYtzvc

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Feb 1, 2010 10:33 AM EST up reply actions

And everyone seems to laugh at Dion Phaneuf getting hooked by Ruutu and getting a penalty for it. This doesn’t make much sense to me, since phaneuf got hooked by ruutu…but the entire rest of the hockey world loved it. I have no clue as to why, but there we are.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Feb 1, 2010 12:07 PM EST up reply actions