Don’t you just love Burke? I mean really love the guy. He wanted to get a top six forward and he got just that in Kris Versteeg. Leafs also acquired the rights to left-winger Bill Sweatt in exchange for forwards Viktor Stalberg, Chris DiDomenico and Philippe Paradis. From what I hear, Sweatt is a young player (21) that can skate, who plays a solid two way game and has some scoring upside. He can also be used on the penalty kill. For those of you that are frequent readers of my blog, you might remember me saying that I wouldn’t try to trade for Kris Versteeg. And that was true. My reasoning was that even a cap hindered Chicago team would ask for more for someone like him, especially with many teams interested in that player. One rumor had the asking price too high for Atlanta which is knee deep in prospects and wanting to improve, and Vancouver who I guess were willing to part with a pick and a prospect.  Not to say I wouldn’t like him on the team, I would, but for about exactly what we gave up. In reality, Leafs took full advantage of Chicago’s predicament with this trade, and it’s just the kind of trade we needed. It is picture perfect.

If you compare Stalberg and Versteeg (let’s not pretend this deal wasn’t about those two in particular) you can see the only step that Viktor had on Kris is speed. Not to say Versteeg isn’t fast. As for the rest, the shot, goalscoring instincts, movement without the puck and excellent defensive play, those are all trademarks of a player we got, not one we gave up. The big thing about this deal is that Versteeg is 24 years old. Young actually. He can be a really big part of the rebuilding process and has the ability to explode in the Leafs uniform. Watching this kid, and I think we’ve all watched a little too much of Chicago this year (their road to the Finals as well as their cap situation), I often thought that on a less talented team Versteeg could really up his points total. The fact that the Hawks roster was so deep ment less playing time for him on the top two lines, although he did play almost the entire playoffs in that role.

This is some kind of news. You don’t just get that kind of talented forward unless the team dealing you the player isn’t really up against it. Or just has a molecule mind GM, but that wasn’t the case here. I’m not saying he’s Kovalchuk or anything, but he’s way better than any other free agent winger out there, and the price we got him at isn’t exactly what he would cost if Chicago wasn’t cap deprived. I really liked Stalberg, his outside speed was amazing, he could score the odd goal plus we gave away some size in the deal by trading him. Versteeg and Sweatt are not exactly gargantuan. But, what is thrilling is that we gained a legitimate top six forward with lots of upside, maybe even a first line guy, without having to give up Tomas Kaberle. Sources say that a new Kulemin deal is in the works for about 2.5 mil. and the free agency period hasn’t even started yet. I’m sure Burke will address the size issue in the coming days, weeks, but this way he still has assets to do it with. Kaberle and a player could possibly get us a big top six forward, Burke’s possible defenceman stockpiling could get us a big top six forward, and the UFA signings can’t hurt either. This one is a win, a big win. How do I know this, just ask yourself who would you rather have, Versteeg or Stalberg? Like I said, Stalberg was a guy I liked, he brought excitement to the rink and could get you out of your seat, but the answer is clear. Keep it up Burke.

Mislav “Xterratu” Jantoljak