I would like to start off by saying that I believe the Leafs did this trade more for Jake Gardiner, than for Joffrey Lupul. If you saw the way he played in the juniors, it is apparent to you of his two way potential. If you want to read more on his abilities.
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/jake_gardiner
Joffrey Lupul seems to get traded every single season (Aside from when he is nursing the most peculiar of injures, which also seems to happen every single year). If he plays like the way he did on the Flyers this may be a very good pickup for the Leafs, on ther other hand if we get the Oilers version of Lupul, who in 2006 might have been the worst player in the NHL, this would be a colossal disaster. Parenthetically can you imagine that all it cost Anaheim to land Pronger, was Lupul, Smid and a couple of picks. Ouch Kevin Lowe. Lupul seems to pile on the goals when he starts with a new team. His best starts to seasons have been his first season as a Flyer and last seasons 23 games before getting injured. The biggest issue with Lupul is his 4.25 million dollar cap hit. No matter how well he plays that is a hard number to absorb, on a rebuilding team filled with burdensome deals.
My fantasy recommendation is that if you have a roster spot open, nab Lupul with the hope he will take advantage of playing on a top two line with PP time, and then promptly trade him. Even with the dearth of talent on the Leafs scoring lines the chances of him staying healthy while he is still producing at a high output is is pretty low.
Assuming the Leafs realize that Lebda is completely inept, and don't give him Beauchemin's minutes, rather they call up Aulie to play, I do not think that we will see such a drop-off in talent on the backend. Beauchemin did not look good in Toronto, without playing with his longtime partner Niedermayer.
Good trade Burkie, but you got a lot more work trying to get rid of Komisarek!!
dont think trade was best move
ReplyDelete1) lupul is streaky player points-wise and the leafs have to think longterm on rebuilding team and not trying to make a last ditch effort for playoffs ( unrelated but I will never forget when leafs got aged doug gilmour for playoffs and went out in first game with puck to face!)
2) Salary cap issues are big deal for a team trying to rebuild
3) lupul is very injury prone
your right on the money again aj i couldn't agree with you more i also think the canadiens will win the cup and the leafs i agree stink they will never win a with more than six teams in the league
ReplyDeleteGood calls all around, but don't get all dramatic calling him quite possibly "the worst player in the NHL" in 2006.
ReplyDeletenobody turned the puck over better than beachemin(OK maybe mccabe) but they got a solid winger when healthy & a blue chip prospect for a pylon who coughed up the puck and was eating up minutes for aulie. Great trade. I would've done beauchemin for wendel clark.(and dougie for one shift)
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