By HOWARD BERGER
TORONTO (Mar. 3) — According to three National Hockey League sources [one general manager and two scouts], Maple Leafs’ GM Brian Burke will have the opportunity to clean house at the trade deadline on Wednesday, if he so chooses.
“Brian has at least a half-dozen affordable players that can be useful parts on contending teams, and there will be lots of tempting offers,” said an Eastern Conference scout. “Based on what I’m hearing around the league, I’ll be surprised if [Nik] Antropov and [Alexei] Ponikarovsky are still with the Leafs after the deadline. Big forwards that can score between 20 and 25 goals don’t grow on trees and not many will be available on Wednesday.”
A Western Conference manager agrees that Burke will have lots on his plate. “It just depends on how quickly he wants to get things done,” said the GM. “Brian isn’t in a rush — he has a long, lucrative contract, and there isn’t a a ton of onus for the Leafs to get better right away. That will allow him to be more selective, and he’s put quite a price on some of his top players. But, I don’t think there are going to be as many sellers as in past seasons. A bunch of teams in our conference are feeling great internal pressure to make the playoffs this year, and they might want to add rather than subtract. That’s why I feel Brian will have lots of opportunities to trade, if he wants.
“One thing to remember about trades at the deadline,” continued the GM, “is that many of them are made at the last hour, and a lot of them don’t have their origin until it’s very late. Things happen every year in the final 90 minutes or so that have had no basis in discussion prior to that. So, it’s difficult to really predict how active Brian, or any of us, will be.”
Antropov, Ponikarovsky, Ian White, Dominic Moore, Mikhail Grabovski, Anton Stralman and Matt Stajan have all been mentioned in trade discussions, according to another Eastern scout, who added: “Burkie is proabably going to get some last-minute calls about [Pavel] Kubina, because he’s put way too high a price on [Tomas] Kaberle.” When reminded that Kubina has said he wants to remain with the Leafs through the summer, the scout replied, “That won’t dissuade a bunch of teams from asking about him on Wednesday. He’s playing terrific hockey right now, and his price won’t be nearly as high as Kaberle’s.”
Moore’s agent, Larry Kelly, hadn’t made a ton of progress with Burke on a contract extension as of Monday night, and the Leafs will almost have to trade the centreman if a new deal isn’t reached.
When asked if Burke will trade Kaberle, the western GM said, “I don’t think so. Brian really likes him, though I’m not sure that feeling is shared by [Ron] Wilson. But, I’ll be surprised if teams come to the plate with the type of deal Brian is asking for. If it happens, it will be at the last moment, when other deals have been made and a contending team decides it needs to react. We see lots of those deals every year.”
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Trade Grabovski for what you can get. White is too valuable. Antropov is gone but dig in for a first rounder. Deal Pony as his hearts not in it as you can tell when he is taking someone into the boards. You can’t trade to many as you still have to play about 20 games still. Dont waste a trade for a goalie. Pick one up during the summer as I said before the team is still going to nsuck so it doesn’t matter who is in goal. Build the defense, Your goalie will get better
- JimKaberle aggravating his injury has become a free ticket for him to stay with the Leafs and if Moore gets dealt I think Jason Blake also might be moved. His success on the ice is partly due to Moore. Will see.
- EddyOnce again Howie you add no real value. I am stunned you call yourself an Insider. You’re just a guy who gives an opinion without any merit or fact. Good job!!!
- BobbyHey Bobby, why do you keep reading the blog then?
- Jim