Are the Maple Leafs about to unload?
Are the Maple Leafs about to unload?
A couple of trades have already gone down with the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators on the buying end of the shopping, the Islanders and Thrashers doing the selling off. With the deadline just a week away now (Mar 4), rumors have the Toronto Maple Leafs about to hold a fire sale of their own that could see Tomas Kaberle, Nik Antropov and Pavel Kubina shipped out of town to greener pastures.
It looks like we won’t have to wait until the Mar. 4 trade deadline for NHL general managers to pick up their phones and push the panic button. We’ve already had three significant deals this month, and judging by the buzz around the league, we’re going to have a lot more very soon.
The big noise right now is coming out of the Big Smoke, aka Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 22-26-12 Maple Leafs are 12 points out of a playoff spot at press time with 22 games left to play in the regular season. It’s not an insurmountable obstacle, but Toronto has two teams to leapfrog: Carolina and Pittsburgh, both a lot closer to that eighth seed than the Buds. Rumor has it that Leafs GM Brian Burke will hold a fire sale that will include the likes of winger Nik Antropov and Czech defensemen Tomas Kaberle and Pavel Kubina.
But that’s rumor. Let’s stick for now with analyzing the most recent pair of trades.
Feb. 16: Montreal Canadiens acquire D Mathieu Schneider and a conditional draft pick in 2009 from the Atlanta Thrashers for a second-round pick in 2009 and a third-round pick in 2010.
Schneider was part of a bright future for the Canadiens when they won the Stanley Cup in 1993. But he was shipped to the Islanders in 1995, then passed around the league like a collection plate. All the while, Schneider remained one of the top power-play defensemen in the game. He led all Anaheim Ducks skaters last year with 77 Player Contribution points (Chris Pronger had 66), and Schneider already has two power play goals and an assist for Montreal in four games, with the Habs going 2-1-1 and the over cashing in three times.
Feb. 20: Ottawa Senators acquire C Mike Comrie and D Chris Campoli from the New York Islanders for C Dean McAmmond and a first-round pick in 2009.
This is Comrie’s second tour of duty in Ottawa; he’ll provide more scoring punch up front than McAmmond, but Comrie only had 36 PC points for the Islanders last year compared to McAmmond’s 24 in Ottawa. This trade is getting panned as a desperate effort by Senators GM Bryan Murray – he’s giving up a first-rounder for a player who’ll be an unrestricted free agent.
Take another look. The first rounder in question originally belonged to the San Jose Sharks, who are currently in first place in the NHL standings. This deal is more about getting Campoli (32 PC points), a young and inexpensive puck-moving defenseman with another year after this on his contract.
But Ottawa will happily take the goal Comrie scored Tuesday night along with Campoli’s power-play assist in a 4-2 victory over the Hurricanes. The Sens are 6-2-1 in their last nine games to improve to 23-27-9, one point behind Toronto in the East.
San Jose at Detroit (-135, 6)
Wednesday, Feb 25, 7:30 p.m. (ET)
It’s the top two teams in the West, as well as the two most publicly adored teams on the betting market. The 41-8-9 Sharks (27-31 ATS, plus-5.93 units) are among the NHL elite in nearly every category. The 39-13-8 Red Wings (22-38 ATS, minus-11.56 units) are first in scoring with 3.70 goals per game, but only No. 19 in goals against at 2.92 per game.
Chris Osgood (.879 save percentage) just can’t seem to get off the ground for the Wings this year. Ty Conklin (.915 SV%) was between the pipes for Detroit’s last two wins, and third-stinger Jimmy Howard got the start in Saturday’s 5-2 loss at Minnesota (+127). The Sharks have no problem at all in net with Evgeni Nabokov (.910 SV%) handling the bulk of the duties and Brian Boucher (.932 SV%) posting a 9-1 record in relief.
Detroit will get some relief of its own on Wednesday with bruising defenseman Brad Stuart (ribs) expected to return to action after a month in the press box. He’ll join Niklas Kronwall on the second unit, which will allow Brian Rafalski to move up into a dangerous pairing with perennial Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom. Watch for a little extra zing from Detroit’s power play at the Joe.
The early betting odds had Detroit as a -135 home chalk with a total of six goals. The Over is 37-23 for the Wings this year and 28-28 for the Sharks.
A couple of trades have already gone down with the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators on the buying end of the shopping, the Islanders and Thrashers doing the selling off. With the deadline just a week away now (Mar 4), rumors have the Toronto Maple Leafs about to hold a fire sale of their own that could see Tomas Kaberle, Nik Antropov and Pavel Kubina shipped out of town to greener pastures.
It looks like we won’t have to wait until the Mar. 4 trade deadline for NHL general managers to pick up their phones and push the panic button. We’ve already had three significant deals this month, and judging by the buzz around the league, we’re going to have a lot more very soon.
The big noise right now is coming out of the Big Smoke, aka Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 22-26-12 Maple Leafs are 12 points out of a playoff spot at press time with 22 games left to play in the regular season. It’s not an insurmountable obstacle, but Toronto has two teams to leapfrog: Carolina and Pittsburgh, both a lot closer to that eighth seed than the Buds. Rumor has it that Leafs GM Brian Burke will hold a fire sale that will include the likes of winger Nik Antropov and Czech defensemen Tomas Kaberle and Pavel Kubina.
But that’s rumor. Let’s stick for now with analyzing the most recent pair of trades.
Feb. 16: Montreal Canadiens acquire D Mathieu Schneider and a conditional draft pick in 2009 from the Atlanta Thrashers for a second-round pick in 2009 and a third-round pick in 2010.
Schneider was part of a bright future for the Canadiens when they won the Stanley Cup in 1993. But he was shipped to the Islanders in 1995, then passed around the league like a collection plate. All the while, Schneider remained one of the top power-play defensemen in the game. He led all Anaheim Ducks skaters last year with 77 Player Contribution points (Chris Pronger had 66), and Schneider already has two power play goals and an assist for Montreal in four games, with the Habs going 2-1-1 and the over cashing in three times.
Feb. 20: Ottawa Senators acquire C Mike Comrie and D Chris Campoli from the New York Islanders for C Dean McAmmond and a first-round pick in 2009.
This is Comrie’s second tour of duty in Ottawa; he’ll provide more scoring punch up front than McAmmond, but Comrie only had 36 PC points for the Islanders last year compared to McAmmond’s 24 in Ottawa. This trade is getting panned as a desperate effort by Senators GM Bryan Murray – he’s giving up a first-rounder for a player who’ll be an unrestricted free agent.
Take another look. The first rounder in question originally belonged to the San Jose Sharks, who are currently in first place in the NHL standings. This deal is more about getting Campoli (32 PC points), a young and inexpensive puck-moving defenseman with another year after this on his contract.
But Ottawa will happily take the goal Comrie scored Tuesday night along with Campoli’s power-play assist in a 4-2 victory over the Hurricanes. The Sens are 6-2-1 in their last nine games to improve to 23-27-9, one point behind Toronto in the East.
San Jose at Detroit (-135, 6)
Wednesday, Feb 25, 7:30 p.m. (ET)
It’s the top two teams in the West, as well as the two most publicly adored teams on the betting market. The 41-8-9 Sharks (27-31 ATS, plus-5.93 units) are among the NHL elite in nearly every category. The 39-13-8 Red Wings (22-38 ATS, minus-11.56 units) are first in scoring with 3.70 goals per game, but only No. 19 in goals against at 2.92 per game.
Chris Osgood (.879 save percentage) just can’t seem to get off the ground for the Wings this year. Ty Conklin (.915 SV%) was between the pipes for Detroit’s last two wins, and third-stinger Jimmy Howard got the start in Saturday’s 5-2 loss at Minnesota (+127). The Sharks have no problem at all in net with Evgeni Nabokov (.910 SV%) handling the bulk of the duties and Brian Boucher (.932 SV%) posting a 9-1 record in relief.
Detroit will get some relief of its own on Wednesday with bruising defenseman Brad Stuart (ribs) expected to return to action after a month in the press box. He’ll join Niklas Kronwall on the second unit, which will allow Brian Rafalski to move up into a dangerous pairing with perennial Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom. Watch for a little extra zing from Detroit’s power play at the Joe.
The early betting odds had Detroit as a -135 home chalk with a total of six goals. The Over is 37-23 for the Wings this year and 28-28 for the Sharks.
