Hockey Trade Rumors

Until now I have come to HTR and been a passive fan of this site. I find the information that I can access here serves mulitple purposes. Sometimes its informative, but usually it makes me laugh. Im refering here to the ridiculous banter that goes on and of course the insane speculations. I am a leaf fan (regretably). Yes it hard to watch them nowadays and even more difficult to defend.

During the off season, the Leafs made a few, what were then called, “high profile” free agent signings. Guys like Jason Allison (who hadn’t played in years due to injuries), Jeff O’Neil (who Carolina couldn’t wait to dump), and Eric Lindros (who was and still is damaged goods). The Toronto-centric media was all over these signings. But the worst spate of journalistic bias came with the signing of Mariusz Czerkawski. In September 2005, Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun wrote:

Reputedly, Mariusz Czerkawski can do back flips after he scores.

With the exceptional play of Jean-Sebastien Aubin as of late is there a significant chance of him returning as a starting/sharing goalie with Tellqvist?

TSN.ca is reporting that Jason Allison has had his

season ending hand surgery and Belfour plans to have knee surgery! Allison sustained his injury on

March 25th versus the Canadiens while Belfour has

had lingering knee problems. This surely spells the

end for Allison’s career in Toronto and Ed Belofur’s

playing career.

Another day, another season filled of mediocrity for the Toronto Maple Leafs. It almost sounds like a pre-recorded message as Toronto media writers and fans have been hearing and saying it over and over again. With 11 games left and an embarrassing weekend at the Bell Center in Montreal, it appears all but over for the Toronto Maple Leafs who will be missing it’s first post-season in 8 years.

Finland’s state television network YLE reported on their website yesterday that Toronto Maple Leafs has confirmed rumours that Aki Berg won’t be returning to the NHL next season. He instead will return to Finland, where he might play for TPS.

First off i want to say Pat Quinn’s resume speaks for it self. However, watching the new NHL its clear that Quinn and the his staff are not quit cut for this type of hockey. Watching them play you can clearly see that the Leafs have no style of play.

The main focus for the GM of the Leafs if it remains fregason or someone else should be the defence. Leafs defence has never been on of the top D-groups in the league and this off-season is an opportunity to change that. The amount of quailty defenceman that are free agents this year is a lot. First off if the Leafs can sign McCabe anywhere between 4.5 to 5 million they should. Second priority should be defenceman Kubina in the range of 3.5 to 4 mill. Then get a soild #4 defencman like Van ryan or Salei in the range of 2 to 2.5 mill. Then you have coliacovo and then finishing off with a young guy like harrison or vet like Careny or Richardson. Here’s a look at the D then

If you’re a baseball fan, you’ve heard the references to my beloved New York Yankees as “the evil empire”, but something that never really occured to anyone, is that the Toronto Maple Leafs are more like the evil empire in the movie then any sports franchise.

Prepare for an exsessively long article about the relatively short team future of the Leafs.

Alright, I’m making it clear that this is not a suggestion of trades or rumors but rather an opinionated gameplan of mine if I was the GM. I hate the constant Leaf rumors as much as the next guy, I’m unbiased, and not really fan. That’s where I come in, and besides it’ll be pretty interesting to see what really happens in Toronto this offseason. After all, they may very well be the most scrutinized team in the NHL. (Toronto being like one of the biggest hockey towns in the world.)

If the Leafs make it to the playoffs or don’t here

are some realistic moves the Leafs could do:

With the regular season winding down, and a post season that barring a very hot Leafs team, won’t include the buds for the first time in 7 years, JFJ has EVERY opportunity to turn this team into a winner in the off season. We’ll start with the players that are under contract past this season, that should be locks heading into next season.