Brian Burke in Afghanistan on eve of free agency

LONDON--Brian Burke doesn't have to be in Afghanistan today.

Heck, there's undoubtedly hardcore Maple Leaf fans who probably think he shouldn't be, but instead should be at home manning the phones and getting ready to knock on Brad Richards' front door on Friday when the NHL free agent season opens.

Instead, the Leaf president and general manager is with our Canadian troops in Kandahar, and that's where he'll be when Richards and other unrestricted free agents officially become available looking to make themselves extraordinary rich, or richer.

That Burke will be overseas spending time with Canadian men and women serving for anything but personal wealth, well, that's a intriguing contrast.

Burke was asked some time ago if he would be part of a group visiting Kandahar Airfield in the final days of the Canadian military withdrawal to visit with the troops as many Canadians have done in recent years. Even when he realized the trip would overlap July 1st, he agreed to go anyway. He just believes in this stuff, believes in supporting the Canadian military in all its efforts even though he is an American citizen, believes you can't just talk about supporting the troops but have to make actual concrete efforts to do so.

Indeed, he also travelled to Afghanistan in March, 2010, just weeks after the death of his 21-year-old son, Brendan, in a tragic car accident.

This won't be the first time Burke hasn't not been at his Toronto office when free agency opened. Two years ago, he was in Sweden on a clandestine mission to try and sign the Sedin twins for the Leafs. When Vancouver GM Mike Gillis beat him to the punch, Burke stayed on anyway, did some work on getting free agent goalie Jonas Gustavsson signed, all the while staying in touch with his right hand man Dave Nonis, who signed UFA defencemen Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin, along with enforcer Colton Orr.

With email, Skype and other communication devices and techniques making it so much easier to communicate from anywhere around the world. It's not like Burke will be out of touch, or won't be available to make tough decisions.

It's also part of the reason he has so much depth and experience in the Leaf front office. Nonis has more responsibilities than most assistant GMs, while Dave Poulin, Claude Loiselle and newly hired Rick Dudley will all be part of the team's decision-making process on deadline day while staying in touch with Burke in Kandahar. It will be Nonis making the direct pitch to Richards, Christian Ehrhoff, Max Talbot and whatever free agents the Leafs try to sign.

Burke's "war room," meanwhile, will be in an actual combat zone in what remains one of the world's most dangerous countries, a country that has claimed the lives of more than 150 members of the Canadian military during our country's mission there.

So good for the Leaf hockey boss. Conn Smythe, founder of the Leafs and an officer in the Canadian military who served in both world wars, certainly established this tradition with the hockey club long ago.

It's not like Burke's on vacation, or golfing at a resort. He's supporting the Canadian military in a meaningful way at a critical and still dangerous time, still able to do his job and make multi-millon dollar decisions while doing an important job on behalf of Canadians.

Could be that some free agent on Friday might think it would be cool to play for a GM with those kind of ideals.

 

 

 

Going For Depth, Not Stars

Yes, the Leafs wills be in the bidding for Brad Richards on Friday, but all the while knowing that unless Richards has a special desire to become a Maple Leaf, it won't be happening.

You never know. But the sense out there is Richards' preferences may lie elsewhere.

For the Leafs, the target then has to be depth, not impact players, and you can even debate whether Richards is quite the impact player some believe he is. He would surely be Toronto's No. 1 centre; beyond that, it's a bit of a projection. One GM said he thinks Richards has three good years left. To get that, a team will have to be willing to pay him for five years. Or more.

Christian Ehrhoff, clearly, interests the Leafs. The Islanders, after dealing for his rights from Vancouver, have the inside track and tons of cap room. Some might sneer at Long Island, but they attracted Mark Streit and aren't so far behind the Leafs (12 points last season). In fact, based on prospects and young talent, the Isles may have more upside.

Some might say the Leafs don't need another expensive defenceman, and that's true. But Ehrhoff's an asset, and it would allow the club to move another blueliner - Carl Gunnarson? - in order to address other needs. That may be the way Brian Burke and Co. have to approach this.

Various reports in the past few hours have linked the Leafs to Max Talbot of the Penguins, an eight-goal scorer who may command somewhere around $2 million a year in this inflationary market. The Penguins were willing to send his rights to the Leafs for a fifth round pick and let the Leafs talk to Talbot's agent first, but the two sides couldn't come up with a deal. It's suggested the Leafs were willing to do something in the neighborhood at four years, $1.7 million per, but there was no agreement and Talbot will see what kind of offers he can attract on Friday.

Would Talbot be an impact addition? Of course not, but he's experienced, can kills penalties and knows something about winning. The price might seem high, but UFAs are commanding those dollars this year - look at Brooks Laich's deal - and you're either in the game or not. Having teams (like the Islanders) looking to spend freely to get north of the $48 million floor just adds to inflation. The Florida Panthers are another one of those teams, and reports today suggest they're going to give Tomas Kopecky $3 million a year. So the numbers are, indeed, a bit goofy.

Richards, Laich and Kevin Bieksa were at the top of the Leaf list; two of the three are gone, and Richards is going to be tough to snare. To get the No. 1 centre the club needs, the Leafs are probably going to have to wait into the summer and look for trading partners (Colorado and Paul Stastny?) once the the landscape begins to become clear.

 

 

Always a Debate

Four terrific hockey players, each a star in his own right.

We can argue back and forth about whether others should have gone in before Doug Gilmour, Joe Niewendyk, Ed Belfour and Mark Howe, or whether the Hockey Hall of Fame adheres to the same tough criteria as Cooperstown (it doesn't).

So I don't really do the deserving or undeserving thing a whole lot other than to push hard for those unfairly overlooked (in my mind) or categories of the hockey population that should be recognized.

So I lobbied hard for the induction of women for years, and that finally got through. That's makes it a big disappointment none were inducted this year. Once again, the absence of a female voice on the induction committee stands out as a glaring ommission. Hard to be recognized by the old boys club when you're not even a boy.

Guess that fight's not over. It's okay. As the father of three daughters who play, not to mention having a wife who plays, I'm happy to keep this battle going for however long it takes.

I thought Glenn Anderson deserved to get in, and he did, and for years, Howe has deserved induction. Easily. A home run. Not sure how they missed the Son of Gordie for so long, but this was an outstanding player, both as a WHA forward and NHL defenceman, who was one of the smartest blueliners ever to play the game.

Putting Mark Howe in now rights a wrong.

Which brings us to Gilmour, Belfour and Nieuwendyk (with that many ex-Leafs inducted, you'd think maybe the club would have won something in the past decade or so.)

All outstanding players. Gilmour and Nieuwendyk played both ends of the ice, and how appropriate to see two members of the '89 Calgary champs recognized in the year we lost Harley Hotchkiss. Gilmour, to me, was the best player in the sport for almost two years in the early 1990s and was unfairly denied the Hart Trophy in '93. At his best, he was right there with the best, and his induction works for me.

Belfour was right there with Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek as the best of his era. Yeah, he was a bit of weirdo, but the man could play and he competed every night and prepared like nobody else in the business. Other than being a bad interview to the end, Eddie the Eagle is okay with me.

What about Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny, etc.? This is where I get out of the debate. The HHOF long ago decided to be a closed club and refuses to let its decisions see the light of day. So I honestly cannot tell you what the criteria is for admission, or how those decisions are reached, or why those who vote are so terrified of openness, which makes it impossible, really, to see one player or individual as more or less deserving than any others.

There will be those disappointed that Pat Burns, a personal friend who I miss greatly, was not inducted. Or Fred Shero. My preference has always been for the hall to be for players only (another battle lost) and so I generally don't wade into the builders category, particularly given that it includes all kinds of cronies and friends of friends and people who simply used their influence in the sport to gain admission.

Frankly, can't say that's a club I'd want to belong to.

So this year, my opinion, if you care, comes down to this.

The four inductees are deserving. There should have been a woman inducted, and there should be one every year for the next decade or however long it takes them to catch up. Anything short of that is a disgrace.

And thank goodness they've finally recognized Mark Howe in time for his immortal father to see it.

 

 

July 1st Letdown

More and more, it seems very possible the Maple Leafs won't be making the big splash on Friday many of their fans are hoping for.

There just may not be the players there to sign, after all, as demonstrated by the announcement today that centre Brooks Laich has re-signed with the Washington Capitals for $27 million over six years. This is a player the Leafs were very, very interested in, particularly since they seem to understand their chances of landing centre Brad Richards via free agency are small.

If Richards wants to win, there are other teams closer. If he just wants the dough, there are other teams that will probably offer more or offer one of those front-loaded, 10-year, back-sliding deals that Brian Burke says he won't do. If Richards fondly remembers the climate in Florida, well, Toronto is Toronto. Most seem to think Tampa Bay is where he'll end up.

For Laich, that's amazing dough for a 16 goal scorer. The deal is front-loaded with $6.5 million next season then $4 million for each of two years, followed by $4.5 M in 2014-15, then $4 million for each of last 2 seasons.

The Caps also added winger Troy Brouwer from Chicago at the draft, so they're obviously determined to keep the grit they have and add more.

Kevin Bieksa has re-signed with Vancouver, so that's out. His teammate, Christian Erhoff, is probably the best UFA defenceman left.

So no Laich, and probably no Richards. Who's left in terms of centres? Well, Michal Handzus of the Kings is a big, experienced body, but he's 34 years old. There's Max Talbot of Pittsburgh, an eight-goal scorer last season, but he would give the Leafs an upgrade on the likes of Darryl Boyce and Tim Brent.

But more and more, it appears that if the Leafs are going to really add a player or players who will make a major impact for next year, it will have to be via the trade route. 

The paucity of front end forwards, in particular, is obviously why Jaromir Jagr is making noises about coming back to the NHL. He smells a big dollar, and by waiting, he'll only get more.

 

 

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Nadal's Wimbledon Future Unclear

LONDON--There's great concern this morning at the All England Club that after losing a trio of women's stars on Monday, the top player in the men's field could be lost without swatting another ball.

Rafael Nadal is due to have an MRI today on an ankle injury that nearly caused him to pull out a fourth round match against Juan Martin del Potro on Monday. Wimbledon officials are anxiously awaiting news on Nadal's condition after the world's No. 1 player indicated after the del Potro match that he believed the injury was serious.

(ED NOTE: The Guardian reported this morning that Nadal has been cleared to play in Wednesday's quarterfinals after the MRI reported no major damage).

The injury is to Nadal's left heel and came just before a first set tie-break against del Potro. Nadal said it felt initially like the foot was broken.

"I don't know what the problem is, I will get it checked out. I'm worried for sure," he said. "At one moment at the end of the first set I thought I might have to retire. EDON

"To hit my forehand was very tough. I felt something really strange when it was at 6-5 in the first set when I called to the trainer. I pushed hard with a forehand and I just felt something crush in the back of the foot. I didn't know what went on.

"I changed the position of the foot so I was able to continue but with pain."

It is not the first time injury problems have affected Nadal at Wimbledon - he was unable to defend his 2008 title because of knee problems. Nadal is scheduled to play Mardy Fish of the U.S. in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

There's also the potential of a Nadal-Andy Murray match in the semifinals that Wimbledon observers have been anticipating since the draw came out.

"Let's see what's going on and let's see how the MRI looks. And after, let's see if we have the chance to recover for Wednesday. I don't know," said Nadal.

 

 

Starting to Make Sense

It's fair to say that NHL teams and executives are still getting their heads around the salary cap system, a change to the league's way of doing business six years ago that simply hasn't resulted in the kind of new practices one would think.

Perhaps the Ryan Smyth transaction from the weekend, along with a few other moves, is a sign general managers are finally seeing they can't do business the same way anymore.

Smyth, still a useful veteran player capable of scoring 20 or more goals in the league, was moved from the Kings to the Oilers essentially for nothing. The fact that he comes with a $6.2 million cap hit is the most important point in the transaction, not whether he can still play or how good he is.

The Oilers had the cap space and the need for some immediate help, plus Smyth is a popular figure in the city. The Kings had the player, but could demand little in exchange; in practical terms, their gain in this deal was to delete this cap hit from their payroll, nothing more.

Last summer, we saw the Blackhawks for for winning the Cup by losing a chunk of their roster because of cap concerns. Good players walked out the door. So far this summer, the Flames have waved goodbye to Robyn Regehr and the Flyers peddled Mike Richards and Jeff Carter primarily for cap reasons, although in the Philly situation, there were other factors.

Look at the Regehr deal. To move $7.5 million worth of cap space in Regehr and Ales Kotalik, the Flames basically got little to nothing back AND had to throw in a second round draft pick.

Regehr's the only player in the deal, maybe the best stay-at-home blueliner in the Western Conference. But to get out of salary cap hell, Calgary had to all but give him away.

This was always Brian Burke's theory, that eventually teams with cap room would benefit when teams pressed to the limit on payroll would, in effect, have to pay other teams to relieve them of that cap pressure, or at least simply give players away.

That's what happened with Smyth. This summer, with some teams in need of acquiring big salaries to get up to the cap floor and other teams increasingly mindful that the current collective bargaining deal ends after next season and could result in a significant reduction in both the players share of the gross and the cap, we could see all kinds of transactions that have more to do with salaries and contracts and very little to do with hockey.

 

 

 

 

 

Tough Week for Canada on The Lawn

WIMBLEDON--No more Canada.

Well, no more big-time Canadian hopes, at least, at the 125th Championships, as 38-year-old Daniel Nestor and partner Max Mirnyi were bounced out of the doubles tournament in straight sets today by Julian Knowle of Austria and South Africa's Kevin Anderson.

Nestor and Mirnyi, who won the French Open title earlier this month, couldn't return the 6-foot-8 Anderson's serve or convert the chances they did have in going down to the surprising second round defeat.

It's the first year together for Nestor and Mirnyi, who were seeded No. 2 in the doubles draw behind Americans Bob and Mike Bryan. Nestor, with former partner Nenad Zimonjic, had won the Wimbledon doubles title in 2008 and 2009, but the tandem split at the end of last season when Zimonjic wanted out.

Nestor said he was "disappointed" with the loss but confident he and Mirnyi have potential.

"With Max, he's definitely the most postive relationship I've had, and sometimes I'm a bit negative out there. He really is positive, which is enjoyable. Here, we didn't get to reach our potential.

"But we won a Slam, which is always nice, and that takes the pain out of this loss."

Nestor's ouster comes on the heels of a disappointing week for Canadian tennis at the world's most important tennis event. Milos Raonic of Thornhill fell during his second round match and was forced to withdraw, while Rebecca Marino of Vancouver was also eliminated in the second round of the women's singles event.

Nestor and Raonic are scheduled to play an important Davis Cup tie for Canada next month in Ecuador. Raonic's participation is uncertain because of his hip injury, although he has said he is hopeful he can play.

 

 

Early Draft Day Stories

Three stories to watch in the early going on Friday as NHL teams ready for the draft:

1. Possible move of Ryan Smyth. L.A. general manager Dean Lombardi confirmed Thursday on a conference call to discuss the Mike Richards trade that the 35-year-old Smyth has asked for a trade. But what can you get for a player who had 23 goals last year and comes with a monstrous cap hit of $6.2 million in the last year of his contract before unrestricted free agency.

Not much is the answer, although you never know what some team might cough up Either the Kings get little or they'd have to take back an ugly contract. Say, for example, they were willing to accept Sheldon Souray from the Oilers. Worth watching today, and if L.A. can move the Smyth contract, it would position them to take a shot at Brad Richards on July 1st.

Can you imagine an L.A. team down the middle with Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards and Brad Richards? Wow.

2. It's believed Robyn Regehr will decide today on whether he'll accept a trade to Buffalo and waive his no-trade clause. If he doesn't, Calgary GM Jay Feaster may have to make another move.

3. Naming of the Winnipeg franchise. Doesn't it just make sense to unveil that today before the draft or when the new team makes it's first round pick? They've got players, a GM, a head coach - isn't it about time they deliver on the name?

 

The Wheels Start Turning

Mike Richards would have been an awfully nice fit at centre for the Maple Leafs.

Jeff Carter less so - more of a shooter - but still pretty good.

Alas, the frustration for Brian Burke is on the day the Flyers moved both, he got shut out on both.

Richards, a more expensive, 2011 version of Doug Gilmour, you could argue, was the one Burke bid hardest on. But, from a Leaf perspective, at least Los Angeles likely won't be in the bidding for Brad Richards now that they've got Mike Richards, the former Philly captain.

If Brad Richards now wants the big money and the long term, it looks like he'll have to get it from the Rangers or the Leafs. Anywhere else, he'll have to go for a discount. This we know; he won't wave his no-trade, so he'll be free and open to offers on July 1st.

And the Leafs will be making him an offer. By the way, Richards again declined to waive his no-trade on Thursday to let Dallas get something for him, but it wasn't a deal to the Leafs that was in the works. Just so we're all on the same page here.

Thursday was a pretty wild day, the final 24 hours before the draft, with unrestricted free agency coming in just eight days.

As well as Mike Richards going to L.A. for Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds, and Carter heading to Columbus for a first round pick, Jakob Voracek and a third round pick, the Flyers gave $51 million to goalie Ilya Bryzgalov (a nine-year deal for a 31-year-old goalie? Really?) after playing musical goalies produced a playoff loss to Boston.

And the Bruins only went on to win it all.

Clearly, Philly GM Paul Holmgren wanted to change his team, and the Richards-Carter-Chris Pronger triumvirate wasn't working. He also needed to get some futures after giving up so many to get Pronger from Anaheim three years ago, and then giving the Leafs a first rounder for Kris Versteeg.

But Holmgren was also in salary cap jail even with the max going over $64 million, at least if he wanted to sign Bryzgalov. Carter had 11 years left on his huge deal, Richards nine years left on his (Flyers love these crazy contracts, but apparently have figured out they can trade them to others equally crazy). So to get the goalie done, Holmgren shipped out two top-six forwards for picks, prospects and young players, which kind of makes you wonder how this makes the Flyers more likely to win the Stanley Cup next year.

With the 8th pick overall that belonged to Columbus, the Flyers are unlikely to get a player who can play next year. That said, they're now in a position to move up, aren't they?

To get either Richards or Carter, the Leafs had to be offering the likes of Nazem Kadri and Nik Kulemin, and it only makes sense the Flyers would ask for Luke Schenn. It would have been a costly deal, of that there is no doubt.

L.A. general manager Dean Lombardi, meanwhile, finally bit the bullet and made the big deal. He flirted with Ilya Kovalchuk last summer, wouldn't move Brayden Schenn for Ales Hemsky at the trade deadline last winter, now makes the big play to land Richards, who is coming off an off-year.

The Kings now look like a serious threat in the west next season. And, by the way, any chance the Oilers would still be interested in Brayden Schenn, interested enough to move down to No. 8 from No. 1 to get a player ready to help next season, thus allowing Philly to get the first overall pick?

Just a thought.

Salary cap implications are also very much part of the proposed deal that would send Calgary defenceman Robyn Regehr to Buffalo, that is if Regehr will go along with it by waving his no-trade.

GM Jay Feaster has, in all, 10 players with no movement clauses and more than $57 million committed to 19 players. He needs to make his team better somehow and doesn't want to trade Jarome Iginla or Miikka Kiprusoff. So Regehr is his best option, which is interesting, given that there have been lingering suggestions in Alberta that a bad vibe between Regehr and Dion Phaneuf was part of the reason the Flames decided to send Phaneuf to Toronto.

There's also lots of Ryan Smyth rumours, plus all the Jaromir Jagr talk involving Detroit and Pittsburgh.

Boston just won the Cup eight days ago. Doesn't take long for everybody to start plotting to rip it out of their hands, does it?

Hockey Musings From Overseas

LONDON--Doesn't matter where you are. At this time of year, it's always hard to separate the real from the fictional in the hockey world.

I'd just be happy if they'd give this Winnipeg team a name. Like, today. This is getting to be like the old Baltimore CFLers, pre-Stallions. Don't think the Winnipeg NHLers is going to fly. Jets sounds right. NHL people say no chance it's going to be Moose. Again, tough to separate the real from the fictional.

Now on to other matters of interest/speculation:

--No surprises at the NHL awards, although it was gratifying that voters saw beyond the numbers and gave Corey Perry the Hart. That Daniel Sedin won the Ted Lindsay suggest players don't watch the games - or their opponents - nearly as closely as the media.

Lots of winners and honored folks from the Western Conference, not much from the east. In fact, while whiners in the west have bellyached forever about hockey writers not staying up to watch west coast games, the fact is while the media voting seemed to favour the west, the GMs voted for Tim Thomas as the Vezina winner and the broadcasters chose Dan Bylsma as coach-of-the-year.

So hopefully that's one silly theory put to rest forever.

--Gotta say that giving Ian Laperriere the Masterton after he failed to play a single game in the 2010-11 season is a joke. That the other finalists, Ray Emery and Daymond Langkow, didn't play much either is no excuse. This is an award that has struggled to stay relevant, and clearly, having Laperriere win it suggests that a minimum numbers of games to be eligible (40?) is necessary and that its probably time to re-define the award for the future.

--Jaromir Jagr with two, maybe three suitors? Really? Did nobody watch the Mike Modano scenario unfold rather badly in Detroit last year? Look, we haven't seen the 38-year-old Jagr in the NHL since the 2007-08 season when he was rather pedestrian at best for the New York Rangers. Since then, he's played three years in the KHL and popped up to generally positive reviews in the 2010 Winter Olympics, at least until he was flattened by Alexander Ovechkin.

Could he help somebody at the bargain basement price of $1 million or so? Well, maybe. But if you're a team serious about winning - which is the reason you'd chase Jagr - is it possible to envision him fighting for ice in the way that would have been necessary in the recent Vancouver-Boston Stanley Cup final? Not a chance.

Every year at this time there's a fanciful notion that some journeyman-type offensive player with flickering abilities is going to be a super-smart signing by somebody. Well, to that I say, Mike Comrie.

--The Ilya Bryzgalov saga is interesting to watch. It would appear the netminder, who has never won anything, has the Flyers right where he wants them and could extract a salary that would make him the league's highest-paid goalkeeper. This makes little or no sense, but it would appear that after missing out on the likes of Mike Richter, Curtis Joseph and Tim Thomas over the years, Ed Snider wants the best guy out there.

But isn't that Tomas Vokoun?

--There was something rather refreshing about the way in which the Leafs made changes to their coaching staff this week. Don't get me wrong - I take no joy in watching two good hockey men, Keith Acton and Tim Hunter, lose their jobs. But something needed to change.

What I liked was that neither Brian Burke nor Ron Wilson tried to spin this into anything it wasn't. Burke demanded change. Wilson resisted, didn't want to. Finally, with only a year left on his contract, Wilson relented. Neither man tried to paint the situation in any different way to make themselves look better. No dissembling. Refreshing.

--It's pretty clear that the last scenario Burke wants is to simply draft with the No. 25 and No. 30 picks tomorrow night in Minny. He either wants to move up or move out, either getting a much higher ranked draft-eligible player or players he can use in this up-coming season with the pressure on the Leafs now clearly on Burke and Wilson to produce a playoff-quality team.

As of now, the Leafs have 11 picks, five in the top 100.

--So what of J.S. Giguere? Other than being one of the new investors in the Montreal junior club along with Laperriere, Daniel Briere and Quebecor, Giguere is recovering from sports hernia surgery and waiting on his future.

Burke says he's going with James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson as his 1-2 combination next season. That would probably make Jussi Rynnas No. 3, which means a team planning to make the playoffs will attempt to do so with little or no experience in net.

The Leaf GM, however, says he may be interested in Giguere in "some other capacity." Sounds like unless Giguere gets a better offer, Burke wants to basically invite him to stay with the Leafs, maybe even come to training camp, while the club sees whether a veteran backup is required.

--Amazing all the mock drafts and pre-draft predictions out there. But lets agree on one thing. No crowing after the fact for getting two-thirds of the top 30 correct or such nonsense. Connect the exact teenager with the right team and slot - or even just the slot - or its not worth bragging about. Geez, Central Scouting can get two-thirds of the names in the first round right.

Anybody who can get nine of the first 10 picks right - and not on the draft floor when folks love to tips TV/radio/web reporters the moments before they actually select - is doing something very right. This is a very tough draft to call, even the top five selections.

--Edmonton, as has become an annual rite of June, has the first pick. The right play is to shop it to move down a bit and add something to help now. Like a defenceman with at least one full season in the NHL and upside. Zach Bogosian? Some love him, some don't. But that's the kind of deal GM Steve Tambellini could make. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins may have all kinds of upside but he can't really help the Oilers be better next year, and they need to be better next year. 

--Do Sheldon Souray and Wade Redden ever get out of salary cap prison? Doesn't sound like it.