Some of the blogs I've been seeing around, mainly those up on torontomapleleafs.info, are getting pretty ridiculous, and the deal isn't even 24 hours old. Naturally there will be differing opinions no matter what Toronto does, but how about a little reservation and "wait and see" from these people before blowing up and calling Fletch a senile old kook. Jesus, what does this guy have to do to get a little trust?
He's managed to rid the club of Brian McCabe's contract, something 99% of hockey followers deemed totally impossible. Not only that, he got a player back that was playing excellent hockey, especially offensively, before becoming the victim of a dirty, dirty hit.
He's managed to swindle Mikhail Grabovski out of Montreal, a deal that, at the time, was naturally criticized and mocked as per usual. In all fairness to Gainey, Grabs wasn't exactly the stand up soldier boy player you'd like on your team, but you don't let talent like that walk for a 2nd rounder and a warm body.
He's signed Hagman for a few years, and will be tradable next season and beyond, for what appears to be a massive bargain if he keeps up this kind of play.
And of course, his icing on the cake was moving up in the draft to get Luke Schenn. "BUT LOOK AT ALL THE PICKS HES TRADED!!!" Hey, interesting fact, did you know that players drafted beyond the 2nd round only have an 11% chance to play even a single game in the NHL? Weird, huh?
Moan about the Finger contract all you like, which again, is a wait-and-see scenario for the time being, but Fletcher has done an excellent job thus far, and I hope they retain Cliff for as long as he wants to work along side Bria--I mean, the general manager of the future.
I'm reading ridiculous bullshit like "Carlo is a #2 defensemen on most teams!" and "Steen has 40-goal potential!" on some of these blogs, and I'm just astounded. Not only that, the author has the gall to call out Leaf fans claiming that most of them are idiots after making these kinds of statements. Yup, Carlo definitely looks like a #2 guy, especially when hes in the press box or on a stretcher. And Steen, WHEW! The past few seasons of 18, 15 and 15 goals really suggests that 40+ goal campaign is right around the corner. These are the kinds of Leaf fans other fans hate, and give us normal fans the bad wrap. But I digress.
Any way you look at it, Stempniak is the best player in this deal, and that is all I need to know to declare that the Leafs won the trade. Fletcher took advantage of Davidson in a weak position where injuries dictated that he needs depth, and needed it now. Show me any season where Steen or Carlo COMBINED scored 27 goals, and I'll show you a guy in agreement with you numb nuts Leaf haters for bashing the deal.
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