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Trade deadline starts early in Ontario

Brian Elliot

By David Hollinshead

ith the trade deadline not till

the 28", it isn’t exactly looming

over the heads of NHL GMs,
but that didn’t stop Toronto Maple Leafs
GM Brian Burke or Ottawa Senators GM
Bryan Murray from starting early. Both
teams needing to completely rebuild
their rosters, as season after season, both
Ontario squads have failed to make any
sort of splash, with the Leafs not making
the playoffs since the ’03-’04 season.

Ottawa started by trading one of
their star forwards, Mike Fisher, to the
Nashville Predators on Feb 10, where his
wife, singer Carrie Underwood, resides for
a first round draft pick and a conditional
draft pick. Last Tuesday they then traded
defenseman Chris Kelly to the Boston
Bruins for a second round draft pick.

On the 17", Ottawa then traded enforcer
forward Jarkko Ruutu, who spent part of
his career in Vancouver, to the Anaheim
Ducks for a sixth round pick in this year’s
draft.

A day later the Sens dealt backup
goaltender Brian Elliot to the Colorado
Avalanche for goalie Craig Anderson.
This move was a bit of a head-scratcher.
In 43 games, Elliot went 13-19 with
three shutouts, a 3.19 GAA and a
.894 save percentage, not good stats
by any standard, but when measured
to Anderson’s record of 13-15 in 33
games, with a 3.28 GAA and a .897
save percentage, it’s hard to imagine
where Murray thinks there is going to be
a noticeable improvement, but crazier
things have happened. Anderson will most
likely be getting the majority of the starts,
splitting time with Robin Lehner, with

18

 

starting goalie Pascal Leclaire still out

with an injury.

“T didn’t think our goaltending was
good enough going forward,” Murray
said, “The good thing about it is we get a
chance for a 20-something games to look
and watch (Anderson) and, during that
time period, I would think that we’ll have
discussions and we’ll see where we want
to be and where he wants to be.”

Even with four veterans being traded
away in a week, Murray refuses to call it
a housecleaning. 28 goals and 29 assists
are leaving the nation’s capital, with
nothing in return for at least a couple
years. Despite the draft picks that the
Kelly and Fisher trades were able to bring
in, and the chance they have to turn things
around in the long run, they were fan
favourites, spending their entire careers ..
in Ottawa, and there are more rumours
swirling around as 12-year defenseman
Chris Phillips and really the only player
that has a safe roster spot on the Senators
is captain Daniel Alfredsson.

The Maple Leafs traded 12-year
defenseman Tomas Kaberle to the
Boston Bruins for a prospect center, Joe
Colborne; the Bruins first round draft
pick this year and a conditional second
rounder. The Leafs also traded forward
Kris Versteeg to the Philadelphia Flyers
in exchange for a first round and a third
round pick in this year’s draft. The Leafs,
who fully admit they are in a rebuilding
stage, shipped off defenseman Francois
Beauchemin for forward Joffrey Lupul,
prospect defenseman Jake Gardiner and a
conditional fourth round draft pick from
Anaheim.

 

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