So Many Possibilities

THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO

Leafs could make a double-splash tomorrow if the Sedin twins are on the market.

Having been absurdly slammed in some quarters for being too vocal prior to the draft - yes, by all means let us not encourage newsmakers to speak freely - Brian Burke has gone quiet the past two days.

Don't worry. He'll reappear tomorrow. In fact, if there are still a pair of Swedish identical twins available named Henrik and Daniel on the first day of free agency, there's a chance for Burke to make the biggest splash of his short tenure in Toronto.

The Sedins are target No. 1, and the Leafs are unlikely to do too much, or anything that would eliminate them from bidding for Rick Nash next summer if he gets to unrestricted free agency. Otherwise, precisely how Burke will spring into action is unclear, and for several reasons.

First, he's still waiting to hear from Swedish free agent goalie Jonas Gustavsson, which is why he had to cover himself by giving Justin Pogge a qualifying offer. Gustavsson won't be making his decision by tomorrow, it appears, and is back in Sweden overwhelmed by the decision and still grieving over the death of his mother two several weeks ago. With no parents left and no siblings, he's finding it understandably difficult to grapple with this very complex choice.

But the Leafs aren't going away on this one.

AP FILE PHOTO

If Toronto can't land the Sedins, look for them to take a run at Mike Cammalleri, a 39 goal scorer last year.

You can assume that if Gustavsson does eventually sign with Toronto, Burke has promised Pogge he'll find him a new home somewhere. That's Burke's style.

Second, It's not entirely clear which players will actually be available - hey, 44-year-old Ed Belfour wants to make a comeback - with many clubs going down to the final hours still trying to sign key athletes. Bill Guerin signed with Pittsburgh yesterday, and Rob Blake re-signed in San Jose today. So the situation is fluid.

Third, it's one thing to have a wish list and quite another to be willing to confront the financial demands of top players.

In general, Burke isn't keen on bidding wars or setting a price that other teams can top. Instead, his usual strategy is to huddle with his key advisers, set a target salary and then a number he won't go beyond. Last summer with the Ducks, for example, he ballparked $2 million a year for defenceman Jeff Finger and decided he would go no higher than $2.5 million per. The Leafs, of course, got Finger for the astronomical number of $3.5 million a season.

Dave Nonis, Burke's right hand man, is the governor on the engine here. He's determined not to let the Leafs get into a salary cap jackpot or to overpay for individual players.

That said, there is help for the Leafs out there in four areas:

1. DEFENCE.

The Leafs would love to think Jay Bouwmeester, if still unsigned, would consider them, but no one believes that to be likely. Moreover, the Leafs probably don't want to get into the $7 million a year range for a player who has really accomplished little in his NHL career because of his situation.

Their fall back positions included Anaheim's Francois Beauchemin, underrated and tough, and Montreal's Mike Komisarek, if he doesn't re-sign with the Habs. Those two players, however, could turn out to be this year's Finger, meaning the bidding could get goofy.

Vancouver's Mattias Ohlund, a long-time Burke favourite, is very much on the radar screen.

2. SKILL FORWARDS

The Sedins twins will get an offer from the Leafs if Canucks GM Mike Gillis can't get them to agree to new contracts. The Leafs are probably willing to hit the salary target unless it goes over $7 million per, but they would be likely unwilling to do anything longer than six years per twin.

Understand, the Leafs would love to rip these twins out of the hands of the Canucks, for hockey reasons first and foremost. But you can bet Nonis hasn't forgot having Gillis do an end-around to get his job in Vancouver.

The fall back position would be Calgary's Mike Cammalleri, a 39-goal scorer. Diminutive New Jersey winger Brian Gionta is another possibility here.

3. CHECKERS/GRINDERS

The Leafs want to become harder to play against, but that doesn't mean just muscle. Burke likes edgy, fast third and four liners like two players he had in Anaheim, Sami Pahlsson and Todd Marchant. Both interestingly, are available.

Local lad Manny Malhotra would be a good fit, a player who was drafted originally as a skill forward but has redefined himself in Columbus as a hard-nosed checking centre who can still score a little bit. He was skilled enough to play with Nash and Kristian Huselius for chunks of last year.

AP FILE PHOTO

Rangers tough guy Colton Orr could be high on Leafs' wish list.

Marchant could fit. while Pahlsson might not because Burke is well aware of his injury history. Domenic Moore might be another option.

4. MUSCLE

You've got to believe Burke is going to make a pitch for tough guy Colton Orr of the Rangers, the only bonafide enforcer out there who can play. He's 27 and made only $550,000 last season, and the Rangers rejected a three-year, $1 million per season offer from Orr's camp. He can play a regular shift, and in fact was used extensively by ex-Rangers coach Tom Renney in a checking role against top-end opposing forwards.

The fall back position here would be Buffalo's Andrew Peters or ex-Senator Brian McGrattan. There's also Ottawa's Chris Neil, although he's more of a middleweight compared to Orr, one of the toughest fighters in the league, and would be more secondary toughness.

Comments

[James]

What about Stempniak and Hagman??? With all of these possible leaf signings you're leaving these two star players without roster spots. Now, speaking seriously, do you think we can trade these guys for a bag of pucks and freeing up cap space?

[Calvin]

Instead of trying to trade Kaberle for Kessel. What about signing him to an offer sheet? He's an RFA and we know that Boston has some cap issues. He's young and has more potential.

[Atchinator]

The perception, by the disillusioned and insular hockey fans of Toronto, is that the Sedins are soft and are not worth 5.5 million a year.
Fans of Western conference teams know that 5.5 mil for a Sedin is a fantastic deal - just not over 12 years.
Each Sedin averaged exactly a point a game last season and played every single game. Additionally, the had a very good +/-, better than Zetterberg who they've been (unfavourably) compared to lately.
As for softness, OK, they never drop the gloves. But, as someone who's seen a lot of Canucks games, they take a lot of hits and don't shy away from the corners. They're strong as hell and control the puck in the opposing end as good as anyone in the league.
But I guess the wide-eyed, moron fans of Toronto have made their minds up about Swedes.

[Charlie]

Based on the success of Columbus this past year, how do you(Damien) figure Columbus won't make a serious offer to keep the face of their young upstart franchise. Sure it would be great if the Leafs could save some cap space for him, but with the money he will be offered from Columbus, how can the Leafs possibly afford Nash and the Sedin Sisters? We are in the 16-20 million dollar range for 3 players! Not to mention the need for a bona fide tender too!
How much money will Gustavsson be earning(before he has even proven he can play in the NHL)?
A lot of the players you mentioned are also pretty old, I thought this team was supposed to be getting younger? Most of which have proven very little.

[ray b]

Say it ain't so...Sedin Twins in Toronto?..I thought we were going to build through youth?..This would be no different then what Ferguson was doing when he was GM..Signing players for the short term..These guys are almost 30 and want way too much money..This deal would give us 5 players with lousy contracts...Finger, Blake, Kubina and now the twins?..Go for the North American players Burke...We don't need more Swedes..

[Ryan]

re: ray b

The Sedin twins have been putting up just as many points as Kovalchuk, Ovechkin, Crosby, Heatley... There are only a hand full of players in the NHL who have averaged 80pts or higher since the lockout and guess what, BOTH TWINS have. Having the two of them would be a significant upgrade. Especially if they are signed for 4-5 years. Instant Offense. Why have one guy who scores 90 pts a year when you can sign TWO guys who score 80pts + per year. I'd take two Elite Players over one any day.

As for checking line players... One name comes to mind... BIG BERTUZZI.

[Will Smith]

Atchinator,
The reason we do not want the Sedins in Toronto is not because of their nationality.Toronto was a pioneer in bringing Europeans to the NHL.Guess you are just ignorant of history.Why would anyone sign these two guys to huge long term contracts when if one of them gets hurt the others play is diminished.Its like having two players injured at the same time.They also have a tendency to disappear in the playoffs even a dimwitted vancouver fan should know this.

[kyle]

Why not sign Greg Zanon or Johny Oduya on defense? I don't want the Leafs to be big spenders this summer; save money for 2010. Travis Moen or another grinder is ideal. If we get a scorer i hope its Cammalleri on a home town discount instead of the twins.

[Parkie]

Dear god no! Please avoid the panty waist Sedins...

[Atchinator]

Will Smith,
The number of blue and white jersy wearing, Tim Hortons swilling baffoons that believe the Sedins shouldn't be signed simply because they're Swedish is pretty amusing. I mean, there's Toronto fans that still call them "the sisters"? That's a little old but I guess you have to expect that from the residents of Canada's answer to Cleveland.
The times they've "disappeared" in the playoffs have been, coincidentally, times that Vancouvers "first" line was injury plagued and opposing defense could focus on the Sedin line specifically. This years run, you could argue that they played as well as anyone else on the team. That said, I don't think the Leafs need to be too concerned about going deep in the playoffs. They need to be concerned with just making the playoffs and the Sedins will definitely help them with that.
You also don't need to worry about one of them getting hurt because...they don't get hurt.
But we can agree, a 10-12 year contract doesn't seem like a good idea at 5.5-6 million a year

[BleedingWhiteandBlue]

Pass on the Sedin Sisters. Colton Orr is a good hard player to protect our boys rather than having Luke fight our fights.

[Baltic Thunder]

You got to love it when rich teams get to retool via their chequebook. Luckily for professional hockey, deep pockets and intelligence are usually diametric opposites.

[MJ]

@Calvin

Signing Kessel to an offer sheet may not be a good idea since the larger the contract, the more picks Toronto has to give up if the Bruins don't match and choose to receive compensation. I'd be totally up for swapping Kaberle for Kessel straight up though.

[saviour]

hmm i must agree, the addition next summer of nash could be huge, but i am also intersted with the twins, these guys can really play, and i feel that ohlund would be a nice fit in leafs uniformm

[Johnny Bravo]

I am not sure why the massive hate for the Sedins. Here are the stats for the past 4 years:
Daniel: 327 games (1 game missed)118 goals, 193 assists, 311 points
Henrik: 328 games (0 games missed)65 goals, 249 assists, 314 points
Point a game scorers with great durability despite playing against the other teams top defense. In comparison here is Mats Sundin's stats the past 4 years:
260 games (average of 9 games missed/year) 99 goals, 161 assists, 260 points
This team is devoid of anyone who can consistently put points on the board. Heck, maybe Poni is the perfect guy to pair with these 2 and he could pot 30 goals?!? Anson Carter did it!
Would you rather have Jason Blake Jr - aka Mike Cammalleri?

[Conn Smythe]

The number of blue and white jersy wearing, Tim Hortons swilling baffoons that believe the Sedins shouldn't be signed simply because they're Swedish is pretty amusing. I mean, there's Toronto fans that still call them "the sisters"? That's a little old but I guess you have to expect that from the residents of Canada's answer to Cleveland.

Thanks for coming out, atchinator - if Toronto is Canada's answer to Cleveland, what does that make Vancouver? Buffalo! Reagrdless of how good the Sedin sisters are, I wouldn't want them - let them stay in Vancouver and shine in the regular season. They are good players - but not game breakers.

[Steve]

If you check out my blog... which is a Leafs blog mind you... you'd observe that at least a few "wide eyed, moron Leafs fans" actually have zero problem with them going after the Sedins.

http://leafs.hockeyanalysis.com

[Facewash]

uhh, Baltic Thunder... you have heard about the salary cap, haven't you? Each team has just as much as the other to retool with, it's how you use it.

[Steve C.]

Damien, if you think that the Sedins would be a good fit for this team (this city?) then you have exposed yourself once and for all as being completely irrelevant to Toronto hockey fans. Burke has been here less than a year and he has already shown he's more in touch with this market than you.

That Nonis would pursue them out of a perceived vendetta is simply ridiculous.

Like it or not, Leaf fans would rather LOSE with hard-nosed Canadian players than win soft, uninterested (if skilled) foreigners. Besides, that experiment has failed miserably hasn't it?

[MattM]

Colton Orr - a good player? He cost Tom Renny his job - 9 minutes a game some nights - sorry Damien but you have to be a better judge of talent than that. Is it a coincidence that the Rangers pulled out of their funk once Torterella starting rolling three lines instead of four? Orr is a good fighter, no question but he cant play more than three minutes a game. In my estimation McGrattan brings way more to the table than Orr or Peters especially since he usually tees off on them when they go., plus he has more ability than people give him credit for.

[Terry O'Shaugnessy]

Why do the Sedins have to play for the same team? Are they conjoined twins?

[Atchinator]

BleedingWhiteandBlue says:
"Pass on the Sedin Sisters. Colton Orr is a good hard player to protect our boys rather than having Luke fight our fights."

Typical Leafs fan. This joker would probably love to see Darcy Tucker back too.

[kenny]

I agree with Atchinator's assessment of the twins. They've proven to be durable (games played per season), consistent (points scored), and rugged (they generate goals by cycling in the corners and behind the net). Considering their stats, the yearly pay their agent is asking for is reasonable; the main sticking point is the length of the deal, especially considering their age. That's one of the two big reasons why I am not too hot on Burke signing them.

The other reason is that by merely being here, the twins will attract -- and force me endure -- 12 years of xenophobic, homophobic, and/or misinformed assessments of their abilities by all my fellow Leafs fans on a daily basis. "No more Swedes", "the Sedin sisters", "panty waist Sedins"... Burke was right: we have the greatest hockey fans in Toronto.

p.s. Atchinator, I've never heard the "Canada's answer to Cleveland" insult before. I got a good chuckle from that...

[LeafManInRoch]

Atchinator: What are "baffoons"? Only a buffoon can't spell. :)

Since next year is Burke's first full rebuilding year, I agree that managing salary is a key component, and that 2010-11 will be year of a diminished cap when we can probably get some bargains.

Gionta would be intriguing but doesn't seem to fit the profile Burke has in mind. Please no Andrew Peters, he is one dimensionsal and I hear enough bytching from Sabres fans already, aka the Buffalo Buffoons

[Bold Bravado]

Could we maybe sign 1 Sedin? Incidentally, Atchinator, you state that the Sedins became invisible "when Vancouver’s "first" line was injury plagued and opposing defense could focus on the Sedin line specifically". Wow what a roaring endorsement, where do you think they will fit in TO, the 2nd or 3rd lines. Not likely for that money. I'd be suiting Mike Cammalleri, Colton Orr and a couple of fringe players, Mike Komisarek and Francois Beaucheminwould fit nicely, although Komisarek has a short "best before date".
Additionally with regard to Stempniak and Hagman, minors for Stempniak awaiting a trade and Hagman gets a shot at being a first line player.