The Fast and the Furious

The Fast and the Furious



Some unsettling times around Leaf Land these past few weeks. With a few key holdouts in camp, plans were being made to expect the unexpected.


First up was Vincent Lecavalier. He was offered a 4 million dollar raise that would have seen him make over 5 million. A nice jump from 1.5 million considering Vinny's numbers were good by not spectacular. Vinny felt otherwise and decided to listen to offers from other teams. Rumors persisted it was only a ploy to get more and Vinny and others were certain the Leafs' brass would match any offer.



Well, the offer came in alright, a whopping 4yr/9.66 mill/5M SB. That was pure greed as far as the Leafs were concerned and little did Vinny know, they had a backup plan. As it turns out, the offer came from the Wild, who had to pay compensation in the amount of a 1st rnd pick this season, a 1st rnd next season, a 2nd rnd pick and 1 million cash. One of those picks was this years first overall pick in the upcoming draft, which everyone knows will be Alexander Ovechkin. The other pick may also turn out to be a top pick next year as well, seeing as the Wild are in a rebuidling phase. Sufficed to say , the Leafs were far from dissapointed in losing Vinny.



Next up was team captain Dman Tomas Kaberle. Again, the Leafs made another generous offer, increasing the pay of Tomas the same as Vinny from 1.5 to over 5 mill a season. Seeing Vinny balk, Tomas followed suit hoping to see even more money. The offer came in but was much more reasonable at 7 mill per season. The Leafs jumped to match quickly, but not before they made another big move to fill the hole left by Vinny's departure.








Then the leafs got into the FA bidding wars themselves. No less than 10 teams bid on Eric Lindros' services. Perhaps with a rookie GM behind the helm, others thought they may not have what it took to sign him or felt that since they let Vinny go, why would they pay for Eric??....well pay the Leafs did!!. Outbidding everyone and signing Eric to a 4yrs / 6,330,000 / 5,000,000...only 12,000 higher than the closest bid. Nothing short of amazing (or lucky as most would see it).



After the dust had settled, the Leafs offseason looks like this....


---Leafs aquire 1st,7th and 12th picks in the first round of this years draft.
---Brian Leetch resigned for 8 million cheaper than when the Leafs traded for him at the deadline
---Tomas Kaberle resigns
---Leafs let Vincent Lecavalier go thus landing first overall pick Alexander Ovechkin
---Eric Lindros is newest Leaf after huge bidwar ends

Will any of these moves help? Wish I knew. This new staff will be lucky to find the podium come draft day...lets get that done first ok?