the trade deadline: the Bingleafs assessment

Well, Wednesday's trade deadline has come and gone with some fairly significant activity from the Leafs. The following are my thoughts on what the Leafs did and what the staff here at the blog think of the moves:

1. Nik Antropov to the Rangers for a second round pick: this is a good move, for the most part, but I am sure I heard Burke state that he would take no less than a first round pick for Antropov awhile back, though I could be imagining things. However, if that is the case, I am a bit disappointed that he allowed Big Nik to go for just a second round pick. The flip side is that he is fragile and totally injury-prone and if the goal is to be building toward the future, he was going to have to go as Burke establishes the new regime and overhauls all the crap that the idiotic JFJ/Peddie diad put in place. So, overall, a good deal for the Leafs.

2. Dominic Moore to Buffalo for a second round pick. This is a good deal, for sure--Moore is having a career year and thus his stock was a lot higher than it was in the past. In addition, he wanted far too much money in his contract renegotiations with the Leafs ($2.7-3m a year?? Who does he think he is??), especially for a journeyman forward who had previously put up no more than 18 points in a year in the NHL. Burke was smart to get a reasonable draft pick for him and not be lured into spending such a ridiculous amount of money to keep him--there are a number of other players out there who can do the same things that Moore does for a lower salary.


3. Gerber et. al. Well, we'll see how this works out--Gerber is known as a heartbreaker who's brilliant one moment and terrible the next. His first game for the Leafs was brilliant as he got within 39 seconds of a shutout against Washington. With Toskala out, Gerber looks to be the number one with Joseph as his backup. I have no opinion on the other names we picked up on Deadline Day and I don't know if they're really be factors.

So, there you have it, the Bingleafs assessment. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the season pans out...