Leafs add another piece to the puzzle

Following two trades in the last week which saw Leafs General Manager Brian Burke ship away six players, Matt Stajan, Jason Blake, Ian White, Nik Hagman, Jamal Mayers and Vesa Toskala and bring in Dion Phanuef, Keith Aullie, Fredrik Sjostrom and J.S. Gigure. The Maple Leafs seem to have new hope for the 2009-2010 season and especially the future. It's obvious the Maple Leafs are very undermanned on forward, as they unloaded on Hagman, Stajan, Blake and Mayers and only brought it Fredrik Sjostrom. That being said, the addition of Sjostrom is a smart move as he seems to be the perfect fit on a team with a terrible penalty kill. He is excellent shorthanded, having played this role for much of his career, he`s an defencive minded forward and a very fast skater, possibly the fastest on the team. He is also an expendable player as he is a right winger with a left handed shot. I think Sjostrom is a perfect fit on left wing on the third line with either Ricard Wallin or John Mitchell at centre. That being said the Leafs only real scoring threat at the moment is Phil Kessel.

With Blake, Hagman and Stajan out of the picture the top two lines are very disoriented. On left wing the Leafs are left with Nikolai Kulemin and Alexei Ponikaroviski, but I expect Poni to be traded before the deadline as playoff bound teams will be looking to add his experience and expiring contract. I believe the obvious number one call up here is Viktor Stahlberg. The 24 year old left winger had an outstanding pre-season but has not transfered that success over to the regular season. He does posses great speed and is decent on the puck but lacks vision and overall consistency. The fourth Left winger as mentioned will most likely be new comer Fredrik Sjostrom. In my opinion they should make a run at the trade deadline or in the off-season for someone on the Left Wing that is capable of playing with Kessel on the first line. On right wing the Leafs remain remotely the same, Kessel will be on the first line, Stempniak will be on the second line and Colton Orr will remain on the fourth line. That will leave a void on the third line which I believe will be filled by 24 year old prospect Christian Hanson. Hanson has spent the majority of the season in the AHL but has preformed very well in his few games with the Maple Leafs this season. Most importantly he replaces the grit lost in Jamal Mayers.

The centre spot is maybe the weakest position at the moment for the Leafs as they are without a number one centre. Tyler Bozak out of the University of North Dakota has shown signs that he can become a number one centre in the NHL but I believe that is at least a year or two away. They also have Mikhail Grabovski who reminds me way too much of Sergei Berezin, John Mitchell, Ricard Wallin and Wayne Primeau. The Leafs also have 7th overall pick in 2009 Nazim Kadri playing in London this season and I expect him to make his NHL debut in 2010 as well as Mikhail Stefanovich. I believe the Leafs are hoping one of the two can step into a second line centre role with Tyler Bozak on the first line.

The real change for the team from these trades is on defence and in goalie. The Leafs finally bring in a big shot from the point in Dion Phaneuf, something that Thomas Kaberle has missed so much on the power play since Bryan McCabe left town. Phaneuf is a "top tier" defenceman and will instantly be there best defensive defensman and arguably their best offensively (Thomas Kaberle). He posses unbelievable raw talent, he has a rocket of a shot, good hockey IQ and is a huge hitter. His production may be down this season but I believe it mainly due to Jay Bouwmeester's addition to the Flames. Bouwmeester is a much better puck handler than Phanuef and also posses a pretty hard and accurate shot. Being the case, Bouwmeester was the main puck handler on Calgary's powerplay and Phanuef's stats are down because of a general lack of touches and therefore involvement in the offence.

The Leafs defence core which now includes Phaneuf, Kaberle, Francois Beauchemin, Mike Komisarek, Luke Schenn, Jeff Finger, Carl Gunnarsson and Garnett Exelby is arguably among the best in the league. But if you can notice I have listed way too many players at this position. If I were General Manager I would look to move Carl Gunnarsson or Garnett Exelby who are maybe as valuable as they will ever be in a package with Ponikarovski and maybe more, looking to get a top six forward in return. In the trade hey also brought in 6'6, 20 year old defenceman Keith Aullie who Burke fully expects to grow into a very good defenceman in the NHL. He will report to the AHL Toronto Marlies to play the remainder of the season.

In net the Leafs add J.S. Gigure and his 7 million dollar contract with two years left, but more importantly re-unite him with goalie coach Francois Laird. The two combined in Anaheim to bring Giggy's game to ultimate heights, carrying the Ducks to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006 and being awarded Conn Smythe for finals Most Valuable Player even in a losing cause. While no one in the city of Toronto expects Gigure to return to his 2006 form, I think its safe to say he will be the best goalie to play for the leafs to date this season. Gigure will probably play just over half of the remaining games with the rest going to Jonas Gustavson (possibly 60%-40%) who the Leafs will need to make a decison on about next season. Gustavsson makes just $900,000 this season and will certainly be looking for a long term deal and a giant raise in the off-season. Burke has stated he plans to re-sign Gustavsson I would be extremely shocked if he were to go to another team.

With the completion of these two trades, the Leafs are now able to build around Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf which I believe are two of the best corner stone pieces to have in the NHL Not to mention 19 year old Luke Schenn who after this year will already have two years of NHL experience under his belt. Kessel is a dynamic scorer with speed and a ridiculously quick release on his shot, drawing him comparisons to NHL great Brett Hull. Meanwhile Dion Phaneuf is arguably the most talented defence the Leafs have had since legend Borje Salming dawned the blue and white. Phaneuf has a canon of a shot, he is a hard hitter and most importantly he understands how to play the game of hockey. Hes won a gold medal with the Canadian Under-20 Junior team and has been an NHL all star. At just 24 years of age I expect big things of him especially on a powerplay with Thomas Kaberle who if people don't remember turned Bryan McCabe into an NHL All Star.

I cant wait to see Kaberle set up one timers for Dion Phaneuf and his rifle of a shot heading toward the net with Phil Kessel looming around. I might be insane but as a Toronto native and a huge Leafs fan I can only hope they can hit a huge winning steak and make a run at the playoffs this season. If that does not happen which I understand is more than likely the Leafs are not in as bad of a predicament as people think. Although Burke unloaded on the first and second round picks in this years draft, if the Leafs dont make the playoffs Thomas Kaberle`s no-trade-clause disappears and Burke should be looking hard to move him for young talent. For the first time in a decade the future for hockey in Toronto is bright.