Posts tagged angeles
Unrestricted Free Agency: Day One
Jul 1st
In the weeks leading up to free agency I made it clear that there were a few people I didn’t want on this team: Raffi Torres, Colby Armstrong and Dan Hamhuis. Torres is just a mess of a human and a player, Armstrong is an unneeded right-winger, and Hamhuis is an unneeded defenseman.
Which is why I’m very happy to announce the status on all three players in regards to the Toronto Maple Leafs: Vancouver outbid Toronto for Dan Hamhuis, and…are you ready? Colby Armstrong signed with the Leafs!
Yep, that’s right, the so-called gritty right-winger previously of the Atlanta Thrashers and Pittsburgh Penguins has signed with the blue and white for three years, making three million dollars in each of those three seasons. Armstrong put up just 29 points last season, and in his final season with Pittsburgh he had just 24 points in 54 games playing along the league’s top centers in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Yeah, serious questions have to be asked when it comes to this kids offensive abilities.
On the other hand, Armstrong’s a pretty gritty kid, and a character kid at that. His countless interviews on Hockey Central over the last year were hilarious, and he seems like a real loveable kid. He can play at both ends of the ice and, according to some analysts should make a pretty good net presence.
But along the likes of Kessel, Versteeg, Kulemin, Sjostrom, Brown and Orr, Armstrong becomes the seventh right-winger on this team, and he appears to be an overpaid one at that. This might not end badly, but I’m really not sure I like this one.
Leafs Off-Season Rumors #13
Jun 24th
Rumor
Various reports today coming mainly from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN and Darren Dreger of TSN suggest that the Leafs have four concrete offers in place for Tomas Kaberle but they report that Brian Burke has said, “nothing is imminent”. Pierre LeBrun very recently tweeted that he believes Buffalo and Los Angeles are among the many teams seriously interested in Kaberle.
My Analysis
Aside from Tyler Myers and an ailing Craig Rivet the Sabres are more or less empty on the blueline, so acquiring a guy who can actually move the puck with finesse from the back-end would be huge for them.
As for Los Angeles, they’re clearly not willing to be patient with a guy like Thomas Hickey to help man the PP with Drew Doughty and are seemingly looking to win now.
Other teams that are speculated to have interest in Kaberle are Columbus, Boston, New Jersey and Vancouver. What any of these teams could actually offer up for Kaberle remains to be seen.
The draft is tomorrow and it’s widely speculated that it will be Kaberle’s judgement day, so don’t be surprised if the rampant rumors finally come to an end by tomorrow night.
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Whose Drought Will End First?
Jun 19th
You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/raskofalltrades
By now we’re all well aware that the Toronto Maple Leafs hold the longest Stanley Cup drought in the entire NHL. Well, that’s what Damien Cox would like us to believe, but most of us also know by now that the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings hold the exact same miserable feat to their name.
In light of both the recent deal for Jaroslav Halak by the St. Louis Blues (as well as the lack of any other notable storylines in hockey right now) it got me thinking about how all three of these teams are seemingly on the rise, all emerging from the ashes of long and harsh rebuilding processes. Whenever one long drought ends, the next longest one seems to end within a short span. So again, with all three of these teams clearly on the quick road to contention it seems only natural that a Stanley Cup win from one of the Maple Leafs, Kings or Blues is imminent. Let’s take a further look at whose poised to hoist Stanley’s mug next.
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