So if you’re reading this site and have no clue about what happened yesterday, you’re either a liar or really, really need to diversify your viewing of websites. As the other 99.9% of you know, Ilya Kovalchuk signed a deal with the Devils that brings him to Chelios-esque age when its done, and Simon Gagne was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Matt Walker (a fifth of Jeff Finger at half the Salary) and a 4th round pick. Really, the only person on Tampa’s roster with mixed emotions on the deal appears to be, of all people, Steven Stamkos, but that’s because Walker was his roommate for road games.

Quite honestly, neither of these stories were really shocking – as much as I was trying to lead the masses into believing the additions of Kovalchuk or Gagne were just want this team needed – and I still believe that, it was pretty evident that the Leafs were front runners in neither, with Kovalchuk’s decision ultimately being between New Jersey and Los Angeles, and Gagne being a race between Tampa Bay and… Los Angeles. While the Kings are shedding a silent tear right now, it looks as if the only people who are shocked and/or disappointed in how things went in Toronto are the fans, not the actual management.

And boy, do the fans seem to be outraged. Not all of them, but definitely some. It seems that the second these two moves were made, a lot of people started freaking out. Suggestions that Burke missed the boat, that it would’ve been easy to squeak one or both moves in, that Kovalchuk would’ve signed here just like that, that he could have easily outbid Tampa Bay on Gagne. That this team is destined to do nothing, that the “July 1st is Our Draft” quote is a colossal failure. Now, here’s my issue with thinking like that.

Burke Missed The Boat – Those who are claiming this assume that Burke was taking a shot at both of these players, and had them swiped from beneath his nose. As early as January, as much as I liked to pretend the quotes didn’t exist, Burke was saying he didn’t want to add a contract to the team that was similar to what he thought Kovalchuk was going to get (10 years 100 million. This one is possibly even more absurd, so I don’t even want to know what his comments would’ve been on the matter). And even as recent as the start of free agency, he was making claims like he didn’t know who Ilya’s agent is (Jay Grossman), and that he wasn’t really going to make more than a casual first and only offer on him. As for Gagne, just a few days ago Burke had said that the Leafs were “not interested at this time”. Whether this was just him trying to avoid a tampering accusation, or an actual lack of interest remains to be seen, but seeing as this didn’t involve the Vancouver Canucks in any way, I’ll go with the latter. Point being, there was no talk about the Leafs making a substantial push on either other than speculation that it would be a good idea.

Squeaking, It Could Work – I’m probably the most guilty of this than anyone reading, but I’ll go through it anyway. There were a lot of us, myself included, adamant on making these moves, with really ridiculous salary cap ideas on how to make it work. I’m sure at some point we’ve all said something along the lines of “It could work, all we have to do is send Jeff Finger to the minors, trade Mikhail Grabovski for picks, put Phil Kessel on long term injury and sign an unknown-to-anyone minor leaguer named Phillippe Klassel, wearing #18, to a league minimum deal and hope nobody notices” Well, at least the first two, the last one is a Jeff original. My point is, everyone’s tried to find ways to tuck proposed rosters in under the salary cap, be it shredding the team by sending people to the minors, cutting the roster down to the bare minimum amount of players, using the rookie bonus, and a bunch of other ways. But really, with all due respect, the odds weren’t really in the Leafs favour to add a Kovalchuk or Gagne to the books without a cap issue. Claude Loiselle, the team capologist, probably agrees.

Kovalchuk Would’ve Come Here – As much as I’d love to say that was the case still (Kovalchuk is one of my favourite players – I’m going to be getting a Kovy Devils jersey ASAP), I don’t think anyone other than the Kings or Devils were really in the cards the entire time. If it was about being in a large market, we would’ve heard at least one big market team in the speculation during the 19 days of crazy. And if it was about the money, he’d be a New York Islander right now. But the reality is, it was a mix of both – a sizable but not totally hockey first market, and somewhat of a payday. Los Angeles and New Jersey (well, fringe New York) are massive markets, but not massive hockey markets. He no doubt would’ve gotten to enjoy the big city life with either option, without worrying about being recognized every minute of his life. On top of this, both teams were clearly willing to talk turkey, even if it wasn’t the holy grail 10 million per year. The two teams were clearly his happy median, hence them being in the race every single day of free agency, usually unopposed by others.

Tampa Could’ve Been Outbid – Somewhat true. The Leafs could have no doubt thrown a prospect or two Philadelphia’s way to get a deal done, but remember that we’re talking about a player in this 30′s with questionable health and only a year left on his contract. If the Leafs were to make such move, there’s no doubt in my mind that the non-stop talk would be about the team “mortgaging the future” or something along those lines. As for making a deal similar to the one Tampa Bay made, the scenario doesn’t really work in our respect either. The only player we have similar to Matt Walker in ability, salary, and length of term is Brett Lebda, and he signed with us mere days ago, and the league would probably be a little upset about the Leafs doing something like that. This isn’t NHL 10 we’re talking about, of course.

We’re Done – There’s still a nearly two and a half months before the season starts, and management has gone on and on about how the team isn’t done making moves yet. Will another blockbuster occur? That remains to be seen. But its very much possible that the team isn’t done making moves yet. Kaberle still has another month until his no trade clause expires, and the team has expressed interest in bolstering up the top six still. Just because these two guys weren’t the answer, doesn’t mean that the question is no longer valid.

The ‘July 1st Is Our Draft’ Quote Is A Failure – Depends on how you look at it, really. If you were looking at that quote and assuming we were trying to replace the 2nd overall pick and go after a seriously high level player, then no, the Leafs didn’t achieve what you were to expect. However, if you look at it from the angle of improving the team as a whole, then they did a solid job with it. Marcel Mueller adds more depth to the prospect pool, the various AHL signings mean the kids have some solid vets around them as they develop with the Marlies, Lebda brings versatility to the 3rd pair if defencemen are moved, if not he’s a solid 7th defencemen. Armstrong, while a little high on the dollar figures, is a fine player who has shown the ability to play all over the place in a lineup. And the Versteeg trade happened right around that date as well, adding a top six forward to this roster.

In reality, I would’ve loved to have Ilya Kovalchuk or Simon Gagne on this team. By no means am I going to go out and say “oh, we’re better without them anyway”, because I don’t think that’s true. New Jersey is going to love this guy to bits for years (decades?) to come, and I have no doubt he’ll retire there as the best offensive player the team has ever had. Simon Gagne rounds out a top six in Tampa that has serious potential. Both teams will no doubt be happy with what they got, and I’m happy for them. With that said, when you want someone as badly as I wanted these two to join this team, you tend to lose sight of the other factors that are involved in acquiring people, and drive your expectations up too high. It would’ve been awesome to have them, but in the end, the logic for them not being here makes sense.

A left winger by October would be nice, though.