Hockey Trade Rumors

It is no secret that San Jose is in desperate need of scoring and the GM is close to pulling the trigger on a trade to address that need. It has been previously reported that Martin Havlat was on his way to San Jose, but coach Brian Murray and GM John Muckler have quickly dissmissed those rumors saying they are very content with their team as of late and do not want to disrupt team chemistry.

I was listening to AM640 in the Greater Toronto Area this morning and I caught the tail end of a trade rumor involving Toronto and San Jose. From what I heard, it sees Jason Allison, Mikael Tellqvist and either Nik Antropov or Alexei Ponikarovsky to San Jose for Scott Hannan and Alyn McCauley. San Jose recieves a proven point-scoring center in Jason Allison and resurging power-forward in Ponikarovsky or Antropov. They also recieve Mikael Tellqvist, which is one of the key parts in this deal. I believe either a pick or a prospect was also mentioned going to San Jose but I could not catch which one.

Yes, Toronto is giving up youth, which Leaf fans have been used to for years. But with prospect Tuukka Rask quickly coming out of Finland, they need to make room for him, as for immediate back-up help, they have Racine or Aubin and Racine played wonderful in pre-season.

Now what Toronto gets is more than great in return. They get one of the best defensive defenseman in the league in Scott Hannan, which they absolutely need right now. And returning to the Leafs is defensive minded with a bit of a scoring touch, Alyn McCauley.

There is no telling, that I think this is a great deal for both teams as it addresses both of their needs and nobody is sacraficing too much. For arguments sake, say they give up Antropov instead of Ponikarovsky. To see what Toronto would look like is as follows;

Steen – Sundin – O’Neill

Tucker – Lindros – Ponikarovsky

Stajan – McCauley – Wellwood

Kilger – Wilm – Domi

McCabe – Kaberle

Hannan – Klee

Kronwall – Khavanov

As their conversation went on, they mentioned several times over that GM of the Sharks Doug Wilson and GM of the Leafs John Ferguson have been talking for a while now, and expect some sort of trade to happen with in the next few days, whether it is this one or not, remains to be determined.