HiR:tb Toots (@warwalker)
|
By junior on March 4, 2009, at 10:12 pm The 2009 NHL trade deadline came and went at 3 p.m. today. You can find a complete recap and analysis here; briefly, out the door go Nik Antropov and Dominic Moore (in return for draft choices). In the door comes former Sens goalie Martin Gerber, who was claimed on waivers as a stopgap measure as it was revealed this morning that goaltender Vesa Toskala has been playing injured and will undergo season-ending surgery on his hip and groin tomorrow. Judging by the general reaction (check this one out) of many of the folks in the Pension Plan Puppets discussion threads, there is a sense of disappointment out there.
I confess that I am having some difficulty understanding that sense of being so tremendously let down; to me, it seems like people have missed the point of the Leafs’ participation in this exercise. It’s a little like being upset that Rocky didn’t knock out Apollo Creed in the first movie of that series. The Italian Stallion was never going to actually beat the Champ in that first fight; he wasn’t a legitimate contender, he was a tomato can whose stated goal was to simply go the distance. When he achieved this goal, it was a victory for him in the sense that he achieved his goal. It was a victory for us because it made possible Rocky II and its beach training scenes set to Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger.
So it was with the Leafs today; Brian Burke didn’t swing a trade to bring John Tavares straight from the OHL into Maple Leaf Blue & White. He didn’t use some Creole voodoo spell to raise Syl Apps from the dead and bring the Leafs their first zombie captain since Rob Ramage. He didn’t knock out Apollo Creed today.
“A couple of second rounders and a fourth?” some say, peering at the results like Charlie Brown into his Hallowe’en trick-or-treat bag, “We [Leaf fans] got screwed.” Burke didn’t revitalize the franchise with a single trade today, but if you expected that result, you were deluding yourself all along. Prepare yourself for a lifetime of disappointment, because Doug Risebrough is probably not going to be allowed to trade Doug Gilmour again anytime soon.
This is just step one of the process. Rocky wanted to make it to the end of the fight; Brian Burke’s goal today was simply to re-stock the draft pick cupboard as capably as he could. Judging by the trade of Ales Kotalik to Edmonton, (for which Buffalo received a second-round pick) the return Burke got was market value or better; the Rangers gave up a 2nd rounder and a conditional pick for Antropov, a player of more or less comparable value. The same yardstick suggests that Buffalo may well have overpaid for Dominic Moore, a useful player, but not a standout. Burke also got creative and found a way to essentially turn cash into some additional hockey assets; in one other trade, the Leafs acquired a 4th round pick from Tampa and took on the expiring contracts of Olaf Kolzig and Jamie Heward (both of whom are out indefinitely with injuries) as well as an injured prospect and former first-round pick by the name of Andy Rogers; the transaction was accomplished essentially by the Leafs agreeing to take on the salaries of the injured players (and giving up a minor league prospect, I suspect to make the trade “legal” under the NHL’s rules) in exchange for the pick and prospect. In this way, Tampa (it appears) will qualify to receive revenue-sharing money and the Leafs turn an asset they have lots of (cash) in to assets they find themselves needing (picks and prospects). Overall, Burke managed to get a fair price for the assets he had to sell, and managed to creatively manufacture a little something else that might just turn out to mean something down the road and cost us nothing in terms of hockey assets.
Step two of the process comes after the Cup is awarded to someone else. The plan will unfold a little more at the draft and during the upcoming free agent season. Burke has given himself plenty of salary cap flexibility to build the team he wants to have over the next couple of years. Like many others, I strongly suspect he has his sights set on Rick Nash the year after next. In the meantime, he can choose to deal Kaberle and/or Kubina if he feels the need to do so and gets the right offer or offers.
Brian Burke stuck to the plan today. He did what he needed to do to begin the rebuilding of the team in earnest. He managed to avoid losing Antropov and Moore for nothing; perhaps more importantly, he managed to avoid failing to move Antropov and getting himself into an uncomfortable negotiation as a result, with Antropov holding all of the cards in that little poker game (if Antropov isn’t traded, with his contract expiring at the end of the year, the pressure on Burke to re-sign him rather than letting him walk for nothing would have been immense. Antropov would have been in the driver’s seat in that negotiation.)
So Burke did what the plan asked of him. He didn’t lose sight of any of the objectives. He achieved his goal. He should now feel free to stand in the middle of the ring and shout, “Adrienne!”
By junior on February 28, 2009, at 11:14 pm Nb: I am cross-posting this article to both my own site and Pension Plan Puppets; I spent a lot of time working on this, and it occurred to me that if Jammies or Sexypants accidentally pushed the wrong “deletify” button over there at PPP, I might lose the whole thing. So here ’tis:
Here’s the lowdown on the must-see command performance of the season: Brian Burke goes to work at the trade deadline.
Artist’s rendering: Burke demonstrating how to do a proper hernia exam.
This year, for Leaf fans, there is one command performance that we are all waiting to see. Strangely, the exhibition we’re awaiting will not be given by any skater dashing up the ice with stick and puck. Rather, the demonstration of skill and excellence we await will be accomplished in an office using phone, fax and email.
Our angry Irish overlord is the only truly high-priced, blue-chip quality talent that we have in Maple Leaf blue and white this year. In truth, everything that has happened with the players on the ice to date this NHL season is but prelude to that which is about to unfold before our eyes. Burke’s handling of Pogge, his resolution of the Sundin situation, the acquisition of Brad May, the waivers of Stralman and Bell – all of these matters were mere preparation for the Bellicose One.
The eyes of Leaf Nation are upon Brian Burke at the trade deadline. Click here to continue reading Setting the Market: Brian Burke and the NHL Trade Deadline 2009
By junior on February 28, 2009, at 1:15 pm  A New Day Dawning in Leafland? Sleep was deep, my breakfast was good, and the pot of tea hit the spot. I have completed and posted the piece I promised on Brian Burke and the NHL trade deadline. It sets out the reasonable expectations that Maple Leaf fans everywhere should have of our angry Irish overlord. Looking around me at the detritus distributed throughout the house, it occurs to me that I ought to perhaps perform a little housework before Spouse returns to Juniorvania from her overnight stay in the Niagara Region (she’s joining the board of a community organization and spent the night at a retreat with her fellow board members to get to know them a little better). I don’t want to say I’ve let the place go a little, but it’s getting kind of hard to find a fork around here.
If you’re dropping by from an SBNation blog to investigate whether I’ve written anything else that you might like, here are some things I’ve written about the NHL and the Leafs. When I’m not wearing my Wendel Clark jersey and bemoaning another loss in the shootout (non-Rangers games only), I write a lot about my lawn tractor and stuff around the house. You might enjoy some of those posts.
I
By junior on February 27, 2009, at 11:39 pm Yes, yes, I know. I’ve been neglecting you for a few days. Aside from the occasional tale of nocturnal chaos, it’s been pretty slim pickin’s around here.
As usual, it’s been busy , but I’m not going to rely on that old excuse for my postFAILage. I’ve been doing quite a bit of writing over the last week or so, just not for this site. For starters, I have finally completed the script I mentioned some time ago. Tough slogging for me; not the kind of writing I’m used to doing at all – it needed to be informative and authentic, but youthful, was based primarily around dialog and I was pretty much completely unable to use any profanity – so I found it very difficult. Anyway, that’s one project finished (sort of*) which is something I am going to choose to be proud of, seeing as I am still laughably “working” away at NaNoReMo 2008.
In addition, I’ve been working on a piece about the NHL trade deadline and the reasonable expectations that Toronto Maple Leaf fans should have of their angry Irish overlord Mr. Burke over the next few days as the rebuild begins in earnest and – perhaps – various pieces of the team are dispersed across the continent in an effort to re-stock the MLSE cupboards. It’s not finished yet; I am hoping that a good night’s sleep, a hearty breakfast and a nice pot of tea will do the trick in that regard early tomorrow morning. I will post that as soon as I am finished; hopefully BEFORE the trade deadline actually passes…
I’ve also been moved to put virtual pen to paper on a few occasions over at Leaf-fan uber-site Pension Plan Puppets. It’s been a busy week over there; first, there was the return of Mats Sundin to the Air Canada Centre last Saturday night, an emotional evening for all Leafs fans and an event that had us strangely and bitterly divided about how to receive our former Captain. I spent quite a bit of time defending Sundin and encouraging anyone who would listen to take the longer view and give Mats his due when he stepped on the ice (and I’m pleased to report that Leafs fans chose to do exactly that when Sundin was feted with a tribute video at the first TV timeout during that game. Then there was the whole “Brian Burke” controversy, during which Down Goes Brown nearly broke the Internets by continuing to tweet as “Brian Burke”, making humourous and insulting observations about various people around the NHL in a tour de force of parody; the problem was that some people didn’t get the point of the joke and couldn’t find their ass with a map and a flashlight, never mind grasp the nature of DGB’s jest. There were also three game threads to enjoy in the virtual company of my homies the Triple P peeps. The last of these games – versus the Islanders on Thursday night – also produced the outrageous Brendan Witt elbow to Niklas Hagman’s head. I wrote a quick piece last night (posted at PPP) about the usefulness of the Tie Domi/Scott Niedermayer incident in the 2001 playoffs as a useful comparator for measuring the appropriate suspension that Leafs fans were sure had to inevitably be coming.
Although the NHL maintains that it is cracking down on disgraceful and gratuitous cheap shots like this, the kind that endangers the health and safety of the players that put the bread on the suits’ feasting table, there was nary a mention of this incident in the press coverage early this morning. What mention there was in the papers was only as necessarily incidental to explaining how it came to pass that both the Leafs and Isles scored in the course of a major penalty imposed upon Witt in the 3rd period. In fact, there was virtually no discussion of the incident at all until after the NHL imposed – in its infinite wisdom – a 5 game suspension on Witt.
I spent much of this evening writing about this last decision; as it happens, Witt will serve his suspension just in time to return for the rematch festivities in Toronto on March 10th. I refuse to believe this is a mere coincidence, and I am appalled by the league’s ridiculous decision to arrange things so as to enable Witt to play in this game. That, as they say, has put the cat among the pigeons indeed.
——-
*of course, there’s the inevitable re-write to do now. And filming. And editing. So…..more projects.
By junior on February 26, 2009, at 10:22 am  Artist's Depiction: Juniorvanian Sleep Lab We had a little bit of excitement around the ol’ homestead last evening. Well, more properly, “early this morning.”
Please understand that I can relate much of what follows, of necessity, not by way of a clearly-remembered first hand account, but rather by way of a careful post facto reconstruction of events worthy of the efforts of the FAA aviation accident investigation team.
It was approximately 2:30 in the morning. Spouse and I were tucked away in our bed. Spouse slumbered peacefully, recuperating from the trials and tribulations of another work day. Meanwhile, I was having some sort of a nightmare. I cannot now tell you the nature of my nocturnal torment; perhaps I was under attack by a horde of irate rabbits; it is possible that I was being stalked by a murderous piano tuner; maybe, I dreamt that Curtis Joseph was going to start the next game in goal for the Leafs. Whatever the particulars of the threats presenting themselves to my unconscious mind, I was clearly on edge and sleeping fitfully.
In an unfortunate confluence of timing and coincidence, it would seem that – at the exact moment, mind you, of some critical importance and mortal threat in the midst of my nightmare – either Spouse shifted in the bed or Henry jumped on top of me. Something living touched my legs, and this event in the real world, taken in the context of the horrors unfolding inside my troubled little skull, was sufficient to provoke an immediate, determined and physical response.
In a flash, I sat bolt upright in bed and began literally shrieking at the top of my lungs. At the same time, I whipped off the covers and began to physically bolt from my designated place of repose.
Poor Spouse was like a firefighter. She went from snoozing quietly to emergency response in a heartbeat, grabbing me by the arm and holding firm to prevent me from sprinting out of the room and down the darkened hallway, yelling “What’s wrong?” to me and – it must be said – attempting to wake me up. I have to confess that I more or less slowly became aware of the fact:
- that I was hollering bloody murder as though my hair were on fire;
- that I was attempting to flee down a darkened hallway for no apparent reason;
- that I had apparently been engaged in this process for some period of time prior to waking up; and
- that there was no way to pretend that the above-mentioned events had not occurred.
In case something like this ever happens to you – in case you ever suddenly and involuntarily begin shrieking in full throat while in close proximity to your gently napping partner or spouse – let me give you a piece of advice: in the aftermath of this incident, when your spouse or partner is attempting to gather together what little remains of her shattered nerves, clutching her heart and hyperventilating, do NOT attempt to consider the comedy inherent in the circumstances. It may be somewhat insensitive of you to begin giggling about the whole affair until after your loved one’s recovery is full and complete and she too can begin to appreciate the extraordinary humour that one might perceive in these events, when safely removed from imminent danger by an appropriate length of time.
One little bonus feature of last night’s events: Spouse and I now have reason to believe that, as a sprinter, I am remarkably quick off the line.
By junior on February 18, 2009, at 10:42 pm The family jersey jinx is now complete: yesterday, Jesse Lumsden’s days as a Ticat officially came to an end (he signed with the Edmonton Eskimos as a free agent). Two summers ago, Spouse and I made a commitment to the team and ordered two official jerseys; I ordered myself up one of Lumsden’s 28s.
Spouse could not decide between Richie Williams’ number (she’s a sucker for the unsung hero) and that of Dwight Anderson, the scrappy cornerback (she liked his flamboyant moxie). We received our jerseys late one week and wore them proudly to a game against Saskatchewan the very next day. Anderson lasted all of three quarters; he punched a guy at midfield, got thrown out of the game and was promptly sent home for the rest of the season and told to enroll in anger management. He never played another game for the Cats.
I don’t wish Jesse ill, but I have to admit I kind of hope that he doesn’t have a breakout dominant season – the one all Cats fans fear he should have had for the Black and Gold, but which he never managed as a result of injury. He seems like a good guy, but the Ticats have had such rotten luck over the past couple of years, I just couldn’t stand it if Lumsden finally shook off the injury bug and ruled the world with a broad two-handed sword; my tolerance for “number of indignities suffered by struggling sports franchise I follow” may just be reaching my maximum operating limits given the last few years of Maple Leaf hockey.
On a positive note, I was encouraged to see that the Cats’ schedule includes fewer midweek games this year; hopefully, Spouse and I will be able to make it down to more games as a result (the midweek games made it difficult for us to work, go home, feed the dog, turn around, drive back downtown, cheer the Cats to a massive defeat and then return disheartened to Juniorvania).
By junior on February 16, 2009, at 8:26 pm  A Spirit Air Plane Touches Down - Not Ours. Spouse and I have successfully returned to the tiny Kingdom of Juniorvania from our vacation in the sunny south . The Popper and Prince Henry were pampered indeed over the last few days; on this occasion, rather than bunking in at the five-star pet hotel run by my parents, the five-star came to them. We are very grateful to my folks for agreeing to come inhabit the local landscape and care for our boys; what a treat for all concerned (there was even dinner on the table for the weary travellers upon our return!)…
I will write more tomorrow about the many events of our journey. For now, in the interest of completeness, let me report, following up on the last post, that the “eagle” was in fact an osprey, that the alligators were obligingly available, and that the zebra – unfortunately – was a no-show.
Until tomorrow; it’s been a long day, up at 5:20 this morning and shambling through various airports, clutching a passport, sixteen boarding passes and my camera, which just wouldn’t fit in the carry on at the tail end of a fantastic vacation.
 Mama Gator is Watching You  An Osprey Fishing Over the Pond Behind 16 Green  What the Osprey Wanted
By junior on February 11, 2009, at 11:15 am Quickly: I can advise that we have safely and soundly alighted in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. Our flight was uneventful, though we had some considerable difficulty locating the “Park” portion of the “Park ‘n Fly” near Pearson International in Toronto yesterday.
It is warm and – as the weathermen say – “mostly sunny” in central Florida today. The road is filled with golf carts, which is taking a little getting used to, and living in the middle of a retirement community at age 42 is also a bit of an adjustment. Our first mission today: we are on the way out of doors to try and get a picture of an eagle, maybe an alligator and – wait for it – a zebra.
By junior on February 10, 2009, at 8:34 am Spouse and I are jetting off this morning to sunny Florida to visit with her parents.
Not sure if I will have a chance to post much over the next couple of days. Tawk amongst yourselves…
By junior on February 9, 2009, at 9:36 pm All that’s left is a blurry photograph. Our Siamese Fighting Fish has gone on to meet his maker; he’s shuffled off this mortal coil; he’s pining for the fjords. Walter, you were a good sort, though not very sociable. We will miss you.
 Alas, poor Walter. I knew him well, Horatio.
|
Roll of Blog
The Barilkosphere
|
