Sorry about the trade deadline thing – to be honest I had simply not seen it coming. By the time I understood the trade deadline was Thursday I couldn’t free myself up to be here for the day. I missed doing it, though.. this would be the first year I wasn’t scooping both TSN and Sportsnet. :)
Leafs fans – are there any left? – must be livid. Yesterday was the day to trade Bryan McCabe, before somebody overpays for him as a free agent and the entire league realizes he can’t play defensively and only scores on the power play. This lame-duck management team just finds new ways to screw things up every year. McCabe has inexplicably found popularity in the league, and there certainly would have been demand. Heck, Washington got a first rounder and a prospect for a defenseman who was less in demand AND who’d demanded a trade. We could have got at least that for McCabe.
It is my belief that the Leafs should keep Steen as a prospect; Sundin, because he’s older and you won’t get much for him anyways; Tucker, because what we could get back wouldn’t be as valuable as what he offers, even if he’s not a star; and Kaberle, because he’s a legitimately good blueliner. Just about everything else that wasn’t nailed down should have been moved yesterday, stock up on good kids and picks, and start the process of creating a young, quick team. The only real issue is that you can’t trust this management team not to screw it up along the way. My favourite comment of the day was a caller to the FAN 590 stating that we should do as I’ve said and “draft an Ovechkin”, to which it was noted that “the issue is the Leafs consistently make the wrong decision. The Leafs wouldn’t have drafted Ovechkin, they would have found someone worse to pick ahead of him.” Preach on, brother.