2010, Hockey, Sports, The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke

Leafs

Colby Armstrong for $3 mil a season? Are you fucking kidding me? What exactly are we paying him for? He is a body check, that’s it. Just a body check. How is that worth $3 mil? This is especially true now that they are claiming they are going to clamp down on head-hunting (which is pretty much all that Armstrong does). Jesus.

The Versteeg trade I half like and half dislike. If we look at it as giving up Stalberg and Paradis for Versteeg then it’s a great trade for both teams. The Leafs get Versteeg who is a proven NHL player and young (younger than Stalberg I believe), though I don’t believe he will score 30 like Nonis claims. (There is no proof that just because I guy gets more minutes, he will automatically score more, that only happens with some players.) The Hawks get more cap space, get a player who might turn out better on a team where he is surrounded by talent.

And Paradis, I don’t know much about, but I know that we got him for Tlusty, who didn’t appear to be working out. So whatever.

But the other half, DiDomenico for Sweatt I don’t like at all. I don’t know much about Sweatt, except that he’s fast and he can supposedly make “plays at speed.” But I know a lot about DiDomenico. I know that the Leafs drafted him and he didn’t necessarily look like much. Then he got bigger. Then he scored a lot. Then he got hurt. But he seems to be okay (1.5 PPG in the Q playoffs). He seemed to be one of the rare success stories in Leafs scouting: a low pick who was turning into someone who looked like a real NHLer. Worse yet, he was probably the second most dynamic forward in the Leafs system. Now there’s Kadri. That’s it.

This move is clearly about now. The Leafs are trading picks and prospects so that they will make the playoffs this year or next year. They will. They won’t win anything. And they will trade away picks and prospects at each deadline trying to win the cup. It will be the late ’90s through mid ’00s all over again. At least they got a young player this time. I hope Sweatt makes the team and proves me wrong. Please.

Update from a few days later:

The contract to Armstrong looks even better in the light of the Ponikarovsky and Frolov signings. They are all making the same amount of money next year and Armstrong, unlike the other two, has two more years at the same. Does it still seem like Burke got a good deal for Armstrong?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.