DAILY RUMORS: No Big Trade Coming For Leafs For A Scoring Center

We at HockeyIndependent.com want to be your resource and filter for what is going on in the NHL. We try to disseminate the noise in the blogosphere. We don’t look to to attack those sources, but to question the veracity of the rumor with cold logic, hockey smarts and knowledge. To do that… we have partnered with the one of the best in the NHL blogosphere….Lyle Richardson of SpectorsHockey.net. Daily Rumors with Lyle Richardson will now be a regular feature on HI this summer and beyond…

The Toronto Maple Leafs recently added some affordable depth to their left wing over the past weekend, inking Clarke MacArthur to a one-year, $1.1 million contract.

It remains to be seen of course if MacArthur can play up to expectations his two previous teams (Buffalo and Atlanta) had of him as a possible 30-goal scorer. It’s certainly indicative Leafs management with their limited cap space (current $375K committed to 23 players following the MacArthur signing) aren’t planning on making any major trades to land more scoring punch heading into training camp and pre-season.

Still, rumors have persisted around the ‘net Burke could still try to move Tomas Kaberle (even though his “no-trade” clause is back in effect), possibly by offering up him up to Boston for center Marc Savard, who reportedly would only waive his “no-trade” clause for the Leafs or the Ottawa Senators.

The Leafs also have nine defensemen under one-way contracts for next season (totaling over $28 million combined) leading some to wonder if Burke might trade a defenseman other than Kaberle for that elusive scorer to bolster his offensive forward lines.

Hate to disappoint you, Leafs fans, but if Burke was going to move a defenseman for a scoring forward, he would’ve done it before August 15^th, when Kaberle’s “NTC” went back into effect.

He’s not moving Kaberle, or Mike Komisarek, or Dion Phaneuf (whom he made captain earlier in the off-season) or Francois Beauchemin.  Let’s face it, if these guys stay healthy that’s a pretty solid defense corps.

Burke isn’t going to give up on Luke Schenn because of his shaky sophomore season, nor will he trade Brett Lebda, who was signed in early July as an unrestricted free agent.  That’s just plain dumb.

And no, he won’t find any takers for Jeff Finger and the remaining two years and $7 million on his contract.

If Burke needs to free up cap space Finger’s a likely candidate to be moved…via demotion, not trade, because there’s simply no market for him. Burke could demote him and then perhaps try placing him in recall waivers in hopes someone might be willing to snap him up at half his salary.

Like it or not, Leafs fans, unless one of the promising young forwards steps up in a major way and becomes a Calder trophy nominee this season, what you see on your current forward lines is likely what you’ll see on opening night in October. There’s no big trade coming to bring in that scoring center or winger you so desperately crave.

Look to within and hope for the best this season.

Lyle Richardson

SpectorsHockey.net
twitter.com/spectorshockey