Andrew Who?
Goalie heavy San Jose landed a few extra draft picks by sending Mark Bell and Vesa Toskala for draft picks in this year's first major draft day trade. For these two players, San Jose is receiving a conditional 2007 first rounder, a 2007 second rounder and a 2009 fourth rounder.
Toskala is a sound goaltender who lead the Sharks this past year in wins and goals against. TSN has him ranked as a no. 2 goalie, but most would disagree with that assessment as demonstrated by his record from this year (26-10-1). Toskala was definitely grouped with Ilya Bryzgalov and Manny Fernandez as this year's top goalie trade bait.
Mark Bell is a solid left-winger who has size and decent scoring ability. In a division where you need to deal with the bangin' Sens and my pesky Sabres, a power forward like Bell will do just fine.
The Bell move makes sense and could serve the Leafs well. The Toskala move is a little more puzzling than brilliant. I'm sure there are Leaf fans who have seen Toskala play and look forward to him playing in the ACC, but the move does beg the question, what about Raycroft?
Raycroft signed a decent size deal last year to come in and solve the inconsistency in the Toronto net, but it seems the Leafs' brass was not convinced. Now, it's Toronto that is goalie heavy and may have backed themselves into a corner cap-wise.
In the old days, these move would have made perfect sense. The Leafs would just pay both and be done with it. But now, they need to be a little careful because there are other things to consider in the cap era, like injuries. The last time we checked, there are some Leafs that are getting up there in age, eh-hem, Sundin.
Now, of course, it's not like either guy is getting Guigere money, but carrying $4MM in goalies is never a good strategy when you got close to $14MM tied up in Sundin and McCabe. Also, when you have guys like Ilya Brzgalov, Christ Mason and Manny Fernandez out there as coveted trade bait goalies, the market isn't so hot for under performing starters or high-priced back-ups. So, the Leafs may be stuck with Raycroft's salary. All this is, of course, predicated on the assumption that brining in Toskala meant that Raycroft is out of a starting job, neither of which was announced by Toronto.
On the San Jose side of things, I just hope it's not a move to clear space for a certain Buffalo UFA that may or may not be set on moving out to Cali. That would just plain suck.
Toskala is a sound goaltender who lead the Sharks this past year in wins and goals against. TSN has him ranked as a no. 2 goalie, but most would disagree with that assessment as demonstrated by his record from this year (26-10-1). Toskala was definitely grouped with Ilya Bryzgalov and Manny Fernandez as this year's top goalie trade bait.
Mark Bell is a solid left-winger who has size and decent scoring ability. In a division where you need to deal with the bangin' Sens and my pesky Sabres, a power forward like Bell will do just fine.
The Bell move makes sense and could serve the Leafs well. The Toskala move is a little more puzzling than brilliant. I'm sure there are Leaf fans who have seen Toskala play and look forward to him playing in the ACC, but the move does beg the question, what about Raycroft?
Raycroft signed a decent size deal last year to come in and solve the inconsistency in the Toronto net, but it seems the Leafs' brass was not convinced. Now, it's Toronto that is goalie heavy and may have backed themselves into a corner cap-wise.
In the old days, these move would have made perfect sense. The Leafs would just pay both and be done with it. But now, they need to be a little careful because there are other things to consider in the cap era, like injuries. The last time we checked, there are some Leafs that are getting up there in age, eh-hem, Sundin.
Now, of course, it's not like either guy is getting Guigere money, but carrying $4MM in goalies is never a good strategy when you got close to $14MM tied up in Sundin and McCabe. Also, when you have guys like Ilya Brzgalov, Christ Mason and Manny Fernandez out there as coveted trade bait goalies, the market isn't so hot for under performing starters or high-priced back-ups. So, the Leafs may be stuck with Raycroft's salary. All this is, of course, predicated on the assumption that brining in Toskala meant that Raycroft is out of a starting job, neither of which was announced by Toronto.
On the San Jose side of things, I just hope it's not a move to clear space for a certain Buffalo UFA that may or may not be set on moving out to Cali. That would just plain suck.
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