What's Next for The Maple Leafs?

Brian Burke just reacquired his 2nd rounder today.



http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=290103

Well, it looks like Mr. Kessel should be receiving a hefty fax tonight...
5mil per?

Isn't Burke the same guy who ripped Lowe for submitting RFA sheets prior to Penner, or maybe it was Penner. Anyway, funny how now he's ok with the thought of stealing someone elses RFA away.

Kessel isn't going anywhere as Boston will match and ultimately turn the tables on Burke in the future.

We might want to wait before judging Burke. As of right now, it`s still a pick swap.

Who will Kessel play with anyway? I still want to see what this guy can do without Savard. IN toronto he`s gonna probably be their best forward and will have to handle it.

If I'm Burkie, next offseason I offer MVR or Kaberle to Chicago for Campbell, Beach and a 1st round pick to give the 'Hawks some breathing room to re-sign their core.

The offer's going to have to be pretty serious too - at least 2 1sts, a 2nd and a 3rd, and potentially 4 1sts.

I would have no problem with the Leafs giving up their next 4 first round picks. cool)

asq2 wrote:The offer's going to have to be pretty serious too - at least 2 1sts, a 2nd and a 3rd, and potentially 4 1sts.

I would have no problem with the Leafs giving up their next 4 first round picks. cool)

That would set them back so far it's not funny. Who will Kessel play with? I suppose he helps them complete ONE good scoring line with Blake and Hagman, but after that the floor falls out.

If they are giving up 4 1sts, or even 2 1st, 2nd, 3rd, they'd better be getting Malkin or the like.

Kessel is not worth either of those two draft pick packages no matter what anyone thinks of picks.

Jordo wrote:Well, it looks like Mr. Kessel should be receiving a hefty fax tonight...
5mil per?

Yeah, the move by the Leafs makes it look like they are getting ready to submit an offer sheet on someone. Interesting...

Rumours are flying it's Kessel.

Who else could it be, really? Drew Stafford? Dubsinky? I'd almost prefer Dubinsky if I am poaching an RFA. He's more the type of player Burke likes, and almost certainly would be cheaper than a one dimensional Kessel.

Frig, I don't want to give Burkie any ideas though.

hemlock wrote:Who else could it be, really? Drew Stafford? Dubsinky? I'd almost prefer Dubinsky if I am poaching an RFA. He's more the type of player Burke likes, and almost certainly would be cheaper than a one dimensional Kessel.

Frig, I don't want to give Burkie any ideas though.

Yeah, the list of RFA's at forward is pretty short... and Kessel certainly tops it. Leafs need offense badly, very badly.

It would be quite ironic if Burke did this... considering his comments towards Lowe for pulling the same move with Penner.

EDIT: The list...

Somehow I don't think he's worried about people thinkng he's a hypocrite. I would love to see him "toss a grenade" at the Leafs with a massive Kessel RFA signing.

It'll be in the 5 million range. I posted an article somewhere here about this possibly being the end of the line for Kessel in Boston, then this happens.

The Leafs are certainly about to do something.

hemlock wrote:Somehow I don't think he's worried about people thinkng he's a hypocrite. I would love to see him "toss a grenade" at the Leafs with a massive Kessel RFA signing.

What do you think he would offer? I think we're all of the impression it will be under $6M/year.

I really don't know. I think if he's gone to the trouble to acquire his 2nd, it's to offer a package to actually acquire Kessel, and not just hoop the Bruins. $2.6 to $3.9 means a 1st and 3rd, but he's gone out of the way to grab his 2nd back, so it leads me to believe he's looking at somewhere between $3.9 and $5.2, which requires a 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Anything more for this guy is lunacy.

hemlock wrote:I really don't know. I think if he's gone to the trouble to acquire his 2nd, it's to offer a package to actually acquire Kessel, and not just hoop the Bruins. $2.6 to $3.9 means a 1st and 3rd, but he's gone out of the way to grab his 2nd back, so it leads me to believe he's looking at somewhere between $3.9 and $5.2, which requires a 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Anything more for this guy is lunacy.

Knowing Burke- he's probably looking at the heavy side of that range- maybe even 5.2... which he'll have to take- I can't see the Bruins matching that- because that's a lot of shuffling on their side to keep him... as I recall they're pressed right against the cap as is.

Just checked- they would need to clear over 4 mil to sign Kessel, AND still remain pressed right up against the cap. I can't see how they'd match anything Toronto could offer... I guess they should have taken that Kaberle deal when they could have..

Jordo wrote:

hemlock wrote:I really don't know. I think if he's gone to the trouble to acquire his 2nd, it's to offer a package to actually acquire Kessel, and not just hoop the Bruins. $2.6 to $3.9 means a 1st and 3rd, but he's gone out of the way to grab his 2nd back, so it leads me to believe he's looking at somewhere between $3.9 and $5.2, which requires a 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Anything more for this guy is lunacy.

Knowing Burke- he's probably looking at the heavy side of that range- maybe even 5.2... which he'll have to take- I can't see the Bruins matching that- because that's a lot of shuffling on their side to keep him... as I recall they're pressed right against the cap as is.

Just checked- they would need to clear over 4 mil to sign Kessel, AND still remain pressed right up against the cap. I can't see how they'd match anything Toronto could offer... I guess they should have taken that Kaberle deal when they could have..

No kidding. Adding Kaberle makes that defense even better, and from the sounds of it, they weren't keeping Kessel anyway. Maybe Chiarelli is sitting back hoping that Burke offers Kessel $5.3 per. That's 2 1sts, 2nd and 3rd. A massive overpayment (both picks and salary) for Kessel, in my opinion.

I just can't figure out what Burke is doing. Yes he's made the D alot tougher to play against, but he didn't upgrade the O. Sure they were the 10th (I think) highest scoring team in the league last year, but that was with Antropov for most of the season. I wonder if Burke is praying that Bozak can make up for Antropov's missing offense, which seems like a real leap of faith to me.

They were also 10th in goals for because they played without a semblance of a defensive system and with several offensive defencemen.

EDIT: Hey, 4K. cool)

hemlock wrote:[No kidding. Adding Kaberle makes that defense even better, and from the sounds of it, they weren't keeping Kessel anyway. Maybe Chiarelli is sitting back hoping that Burke offers Kessel $5.3 per. That's 2 1sts, 2nd and 3rd. A massive overpayment (both picks and salary) for Kessel, in my opinion.

I just can't figure out what Burke is doing. Yes he's made the D alot tougher to play against, but he didn't upgrade the O. Sure they were the 10th (I think) highest scoring team in the league last year, but that was with Antropov for most of the season. I wonder if Burke is praying that Bozak can make up for Antropov's missing offense, which seems like a real leap of faith to me.

The way he might be looking at it is: he's made his defence rock solid and it was woeful last year, he was in the Cammelleri hunt until the last second - and was willing to offer up to 6 million as well. He tried to get Kessel already in that nixed Kaberle deal, so now, he's going to spend 5 million dollars to get a guy who could be considered the best sniper in this class of UFAs other than the older, injury riddled Gaborik and Cammelleri. It'll cost him the picks, but I think he feels that he upgraded his D to such an extent that he can afford next year's picks for a young superstar.

Also, don't forget that Burke heads up Team USA and is very familiar with Kessel at this juncture. I'm sure they've had conversations regarding Team USA and Burke probably got a good vibe from him. And...if that's not enough, isn't Ron Wilson coach of Team USA as well? Talk about being motivated to play for your team above and beyond the call. :^^^^:

And the other obvious is that Boston chose to sign Derek Morris instead of dealing with this - which made me wonder whether or not they really care. Which...I don't understand.