The Official NHL Thread

[Let's Get Down]

that was sick ^^

its a great night when both calgary and edmonton lose (so its been a great month)

Canucks suck

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

Oops, bit late but:

JAN 30TH HOCKEY STREAMS: http://www.myp2pforum.eu/nhl-icehockey/50544-ice-hockey-today-jan-30th.html

[Mo Z. Dizzle]

Leafs acquire Phaneuf from Calgary, Giguere from Anaheim


Two struggling Canadian teams. One huge, blockbuster deal.

In the wake of a humiliating 5-3 loss to Vancouver Saturday night - a game where the Leafs held at one point a 3-0 lead - Leafs General Manager Brian Burke has finally made some shake-ups with his poorly performing squad.

The Leafs have acquired star defenceman Dion Phaneuf(notes), forward Fredrik Sjostrom(notes), and defenceman Keith Aulie(notes) from the Calgary Flames. In exchange, the Flames get forwards Matt Stajan(notes), Niklas Hagman(notes), Jamal Mayers(notes) and defenceman Ian White(notes).

he trade comes as both Toronto and Calgary have been having difficult seasons. In a strange historical coincidence, the deal comes 18 years and one month after the famous Toronto-Calgary trade that made Doug Gilmour a Maple Leaf.

Burke has strongly positive comments about his new elite defenceman Phaneuf.

“(Phaneuf) is an elite player. I know him personally. I’m not worried about that at all,” Burke says. “He puts a big weapon on the blueline and makes us a lot more difficult to play against.”

The trade follows reports this season that Phaneuf was involved in a shouting match with Flames coach Brent Sutter inside the Calgary dressing room.

Burke dismissed this morning that Phaneuf wouldn’t be a good fit inside the Leafs dressing room.

“Dion Phaneuf is a warrior. He plays the game hard. I want players that are hard to play against. He makes our power play better. He’s a quality person. I think it’s an important day for us. The centrepiece of this (deal) is Dion Phaneuf.”

Leafs coach Ron Wilson also says Dion is a great addition to the Leafs.

“I got to know Dion at the NHL All-star Game in Atlanta a couple of years ago. Coached a lot against him when I was in San Jose. He adds a different dimension to our back end. Someone who’s very dangeerous on the power play,” Wilson says.

“He has a caustic type of personality. He practices just as hard as he plays. The competitiveness on and off the ice in all situations is something we need.”

It appears Sjorstrom and Mayers put the deal “over the hump,’ according to Burke.

“With Sjostrom, he’s a former first-round pick. We’ve had some difficulty killing penalties and this is one of his strong suits. He’s a quality person, has decent size and gets around the rink really well.”

Burke says Keith Aulie will not report directly to the NHL club.

“Our plans for Keith are to stay at AHL level, so he’ll report to Marlies. He’s going to be a real good NHL player down the road.”

The trade is highly significant for the slumping Leafs. Hagman leads the Maple Leafs in goals (20) this season and is tied for fourth on the team in points (33). Matt Stajan has lead Toronto in power play goals, is second in assists (25) and points (41) and fourth in goals (16). White leads all Leafs defenceman in goals (9), is second in average ice-time per game (23:47) and blocked shots (91).

Stajan will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, while White will be a restricted free agent.

Mayers, who publicly stated he wished to be out of Toronto earlier last week, has gotten his wish.

Flames General Manager Darryl Sutter will be speaking to the media today at 4:30 ET regarding the deal.

In a separate trade, the Leafs have sent netminder Vesa Toskala(notes) and veteran forward Jason Blake(notes).to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for goalie J.S. Giguere.

Burke, as former GM of the Ducks, has experience working with Giguere.

“We were fortunate enough to win a championship with [Giguere]. Francois Allaire turned J-S Giguere into a top-flight goaltender in the National Hockey League. This brings us a guy that can help manage the workload and serve as a mentor for the Monster.”

Burke also had some interesting words about his wheeling and dealing today.

“We’re still open for business. We’re not done.”


----------------------------------------------------

I like Phaneuf deal; the Giguere deal, I'm not so sure about. Hopefully that will turn out to be a good trade for us.

[Let's Get Down]

wow, didn't expect this

[Jaydc]

The deals took me completely off gaurd.

I think Toronto got worse.They add a known cancer in the dressing room with phaneuf.Not only that but they traded away the only forwards that were actually scoring goals for the team.They already had trouble getting goals now where are they going to come from?
Not that calgary got much better with the deal.

Canucks will still easily take the division.

[Let's Get Down]

Canucks still suck

[Westcoastin']

Canucks still suck

I don't think you know what that word means

[MontrealCity's Most]

Whats the story with Phaneuf, 2 years ago this guy was reguarded as one of the best now hes a problem??

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

Sources tell TSN the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames are expected to announce a trade that will send Calgary centre Olli Jokinen and forward Brandon Prust to the Rangers in exchange for forwards Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins.

Sources indicate that New York is awaiting Calgary's final sign-off before the trade call is made and the deal becomes official. It's unlikely any of that will be completed prior to Monday morning.


If this goes through, good deal for Flames, Kotalik is skilled and Higgins is solid.  Jokinen is an overachiever, not that good.

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

The Anaheim trade is pretty even, they wanna roll with Hiller as the starter, and they were looking for a solid second line player in Blake.  Toronto needs a better goalie, which they got with Giggy.

NOW THE FLAMES TRADE.  WHAT A TERRIBLE TRADE FOR TORONTO.   Leafs most consistent D all year has been Ian White.  Nuff said.   Stajan and Hagman have the ability to be top performing second liners.    All that for Phaneuf?  I mean he's been known to have a chip on his shoulder, he's having a very lackluster season, even with the help of J-Bo.  But I would be lying if I'm not excited to see Phanuef pair up with Komisarek...

The Trade ball is rolling, let's gear up for some good ones!

[Let's Get Down]

Canucks still suck

I don't think you know what that word means

They don't suck that bad but they are a bunch of overachievers and don't deserve to be winning. On top of that, the bandwagon jumpin fans don't deserve a playoff hockey team.

[Westcoastin']

there are bandwagon jumpers, like there is for every pro team in every pro league in the world..   but I'd say we've been pretty loyal, considering we havent been to the finals in 16 years  but we've still got one of the longest sell-out streaks in the league (260 games) and the waiting list for season-tickets is 7 years long.   Fans are allowed to point out their team's faults, it doesnt mean theyre off the wagon.

I dont really understand the "overachieving" part either, we've got 7 olympians on the team...   arguably the best goalie in the world, 2 top-3 draft picks just entering their prime. Once our D get back from injuries...the only weak link I can see is 3rd line center, which should have been Hodgson this year.. thats just some bad luck..  Wellwood has his moments, but we definetly need an upgrade there.

[MontrealCity's Most]

Komisarek has always been a poor man Dion Phaneuf, apperently dude is a real asshole.

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

I guess Burke plans on signing better free agents this offseason, than what they had before...  Now that I think about it, that is about the only thing he can do...  You give up all those players, that frees up alot of money for free agent signings.  You got Phaneuf already... The D looks kind of solid right now.  Just spend your money up front and watch to see how goaltending pans out now...

Still think Toronto got owned.

[ToOoOoN!!!]

rumor is : price for lecavalier what do y'all think?