The NHL Thread

Phaneuf destroys. Good stuff. Keep your head up son.

Haha, that's what I was coming on to post!! complete destruction!

Dion trying to impress Yzerman. Welcome to the league, kid.

A blurb from Tom Gulliti's article:

Does it bother Lemaire that he has this reputation as a trapping, lock-down defensive coach?

"When it bothers me [is] when a person from the outside come to me and talks about something that he just doesn't know," he said. "That bothers me. He'll say, as an example, 'Do you think this guy or that guy would be better in an offensive system?' Then, I look at him. Poor guy. Go back to school."

Wasn't that the excuse the Rangers gave for giving Gomez that retarded contract? I remember Tom Renney saying that the Rangers would let Gomez loose and his numbers would significantly increase and his contract would be jusitfied. Oops.

You would have been blasted because the majority of your posts here of that fashion. Many teams were made fun of, so it was a shot at a lot of the teams.

Damn that shot on Okposo looked real serious. That would be a blow to the Isles if his career is cut short on that one hit. Hockey is a rough sport no question about that.

Leafs fans and Bruins fans do you like this????

DREGER: LEAFS AND BRUINS REACH AGREEMENT ON KESSEL TRADE

TSN:

Sources tell TSN the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins have reached an agreement on a trade that will deliver Phil Kessel to the Leafs.

The trade is pending Kessel agreeing to a contract with Toronto. It's a process the Leafs are working on right now.

If the contract gets done, the deal is finalized and the trade goes through. If the Maple Leafs are unable to come to terms on a contract with Kessel, the deal may fall through.

The trade would end a saga that began during the lead-up to the NHL Draft when Kessel originally appeared to be headed to Toronto in exchange for defenceman Tomas Kaberle and a draft pick. However, the deal was scuttled at the last moment due to a miscommunication over the pick.

The Bruins had been unable to re-sign the 21-year old Kessel and the two sides were miles apart on a new contract. A restricted free agent, Kessel was reportedly looking for a deal in the neighbourhood of $4-5 million a season, while the Bruins, who are right up against the league mandated $56.8 million salary cap, could not afford to sign the Madison, Wisconsin native to the terms he desired.

Kessel informed the team through his agent last week that he was through negotiating and intended to sign an offer sheet with one of the league's other 29 clubs.

While both the Nashville Predators and New York Rangers had shown interest, Leafs' general manager Brian Burke's persistence finally paid off.

Kessel, who is sidelined until at least November following rotator cuff surgery, overcame a battle with testicular cancer in 2006 and captured the Masterton Trophy in 2007 for perseverance and dedication to hockey. He enjoyed a career season with the Bruins last year, leading the team with 36 goals in 70 games while adding 24 assists to finish with a career high 60 points. He was selected in the first round, fifth overall by the Bruins in the 2006 NHL Entry draft.

Gomez has hardly been an explosive player. He is a good player to compliment a scorer, but never put up MVP caliber numbers. His highest amount of points in a year was 70, which he did twice. Maybe if the Habs open it up he will get better scoring numbers. Having said all this he is a winner, so not a bad player to have, except for that high salary.

As for Lemaire. He is set in his ways and has been successful at it whether you hate him or like him. He will help the Devils.




Sharks' Heatley looks to future

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=4485309





For Anyone interested in Fantasy Hockey:


League ID: 121540
League Password: rangers
League URL: http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/hockey/121540

Keseel deal is a done deal. Signs a 5 year deal. As a long time true blue leaf fan.. I HATE this trade. way too much for a guy like Phil Kessel. We was robbed

Damn you Burkie

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=291601

The one thing that i did not realize and maybe all Leafs fans should know.......

He is only 21 years old. He is a young kid and should be able to do better.

For our Bruins fans I hope this is not similar to the Joe Thornton deal.

I still find it rather odd to trade Kessel within the division. I would not have done that if I was Boston.

This could be the deal to get the Leafs going in the right direction or could it?

was hopeful the rangers would get him but oh well...

Would you be happy Petey giving up those picks as a Ranger fan? We (the Leafs) would probably have another top 10 pick this year.. Who knows about year later. But I despise this move.. Someone talk me off the ledge

the rangers don't usually draft well so yes

Same with the Leafs. Horrible track record. Although the last 2 could really end up being good (Kadri/Schenn). I am pissed cause it almost seems like same old Leafs trade future to make playoffs now. I know Phil is only 21 but just wish they kept at least one of the 1st rounders.

Its okay very weak draft next year, and we have about 2 or 3 defencemen too many that need to go. If I was to bet Burke will have those first round picks replaced by then.
As a Leaf fan I love this trade !

We do have a ton of D but none (other than Luke) would garner a first round pick. We ahve been down the road with Kaberle before so I don't see that happening. I really hope you are right Mook.. I jsut hate giving up the picks

Holy shit two 1st rounders and a 2nd? Those two 1st rounders will probably be top 5 picks. Although next year's draft is very poor after the kid, Hall. How funny would it be if the Bruins won the Cup and also got the #1 overall pick in the draft. I bet that's never happened before.

The Bruins couldn't afford him anyway and now they have some picks that will be high. Let's see what Kessel can do with Stajan as his center.

Boston wins in my opinion.

Well we cant really tell who wins this trade for about 4-5 years, so right now short term Toronto looks smart
In the future maybe Boston will be the ones who were smart. Hard to tell

I think Toronto will be battling for a playoff spot , so hopefully the picks arent too high.
I will take a 21 yr old 40 goal scorer any day over two picks who might someday be that good.

Burke needed someone who can score, and although we need to rebuild with youth through the draft, we also need to be competitive now. I think you can do both at the same time, hopefully
We still have cap room so the off season for free agents (2010) looks good as well.
Still pissed about Nash re-signing though....lol

Good thread you guys have here, glad I found it.

Kessel played 222 games in the NHL and scored 66 goals. Over an 82 game season he's averaging about a 24 goals a year. His high was last year when he scored 36. I don't know how that makes him a 40 goal scorer.

The quality of his linemates are also worse so I'm not sure Kessel will score 40 goals this year.

Trading 1st round picks is crazy but trading potential top 5 picks is just stupid. Especially for a player like Kessel. The 2nd round pick could be good too. I also don't think Kessel will help make the Leafs a playoff team although he does make them better.

Don't get me wrong I do like Kessel but not at that price. I remember when a bad Leafs team traded their 1st round pick to the Devils for Tom Kurvers. The Leafs were terrible and that pick turned out to be Scott Niedermayer.

I think Burke is thinking since he got Bozak, Hanson, Slaney and Gustavson for nothing, he could gamble a bit with Kessel. Lets hope so.

I think he is pretty happy JFJ drafted Stalberg a couple of years ago. That kid can play

Agreed, Stalberg can play for sure. Going to the ACC tonight, should be a could rematch against the Flyers.

good deal.. enjoy... I get to TO usually for one game a year...

Rangers resign Dubinsky.. Good move for them

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=291733

:d

CHIARELLI SAYS BRUINS TRIED TO KEEP KESSEL IN BOSTON

BOSTON -- The Bruins did their best to keep restricted free agent Phil Kessel before giving in to his desire to be traded and making a deal with Toronto.

"This is not about frugality," Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli said on Saturday. "There were some significant offers made."

Chiarelli said Kessel told him in July he no longer wanted to play in Boston, and the Bruins traded the rights to the 21-year-old former first-round pick to the Maple Leafs for Toronto's first-round picks in each of the next two drafts plus the Leafs' second-round pick in 2010.

Kessel, who isn't expected to play until around Thanksgiving because of off-season shoulder surgery, then signed a five-year, US$27 million deal with the Maple Leafs.

The Bruins were less than $2 million under the salary cap and making room for Kessel would have required moving one or two players. But it didn't come to that because the right wing "did not want to play in Boston," Chiarelli said.

Even so, the GM said Kessel expressed disappointment after being traded.

"I spoke to him last night. I wished him luck," Chiarelli said. "I said, 'Look, Phil, for whatever reason it didn't work out.' We had a brief chat and he was disappointed at the outcome, but he was happy to have a new location."

Chiarelli, who cited the trade request and "threat of an offer sheet" as the two reasons behind the trade, said Kessel's "concerns" about the Bruins weren't unusual.

It is believed Kessel's problems with the team started when coach Claude Julien benched him for part of the first-round 2008 playoff series against Montreal. Julien was unhappy with Kessel's two-way play, something the coach said improved last season.

"My first year here (2007-08) was really trying to convince him that we were really trying to make him a better player and that he needed to just understand that," Julien said on Saturday. "Obviously, he did because he scored 36 goals the next year (and was a plus-23), but I even told him in a conversation that I didn't get a bonus for making him a bad player, so that he had to understand that everything I did was to try and make him a better player and I think that message was understood."

The Bruins had several options with Kessel. Besides trying to sign him, they could have waited for him to sign an offer sheet elsewhere and either matched it or accepted three drafts picks: a first-, second- and third-rounder. They also could have put him on the long-term injury list as they worked out the roster situation.

When Toronto GM Brian Burke came forward, the Leafs were the only team involved, Chiarelli said. Another, unidentified club came in late, but didn't match what Toronto was offering. The Bruins now have five picks in the first two rounds of what is projected to be a strong 2010 draft.

For now, though, Boston loses a 36-goal scorer, a young talent, and it traded him within the division.

"He's going to score goals," Chiarelli said.

While Julien labelled Kessel as a player with "superstar" talent, the coach added, "We just gotta really focus on moving forward here without him and not thinking for a second that now we've turned from a good team into a bad team because I think we'll be just fine."

The Bruins will look elsewhere to replace Kessel's offence. Marco Sturm, who is returning from injury, is a likely candidate.

The players were ready to move on, too.

"We are all happy with what we have, the group of guys we have in this room," captain Zdeno Chara said. "I can't really make comments on Phil's behalf, what he felt, why he decided not to be part of it. It's absolutely Phil's decision. It's part of the business."

Good to have you here, Mook. Welcome to the thread. Not much hockey talk on SFN, so us diehards have a place to talk about it. I take it you are a Leafs fan?

I think it is difficult to evaluate the Kessel deal until we know what the Bruins get in the draft and how those choices do in 3-5 years. I think Kessel is a good player and only 21, so not a bad thing. Burke will get the Leafs back to respectability, but it is going to take time.




This guy can't stay healthy for Columbus:

TSN:

It appears the injury bug continues to bite veteran winger Fredrik Modin.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Modin suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee on Friday and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.

Over the last two seasons, Modin has played in just 73 games, scoring 15 goals and 37 points.

The native of Sweden began his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996-97 and has collected 220 goals and 221 assists in 814 games.

A good move for the Rangers. He is one of their homegrown prospects. You like to keep those guys if possible.


Burnside's take on the Kessel deal.

With Kessel, future is now for Leafs

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=4486135