Leafs finally land young dman

The Leafs search for a young well rounded dman is over, as trade was made with the Penguins


Coming to Toronto

Jussi Timonen D L OK
72 73 76 74 73 72 77 77 76 75 74 45 42 79

23 6 ft 0 200 lbs 2,000,000 2 years

Going to Pittsburgh

Igor Knyazev D L OK
71 76 73 71 79 54 80 74 73 67 70 60 53 77
(Was hold out who was traded again, then signed with calgary)
24 6 ft 1 190 lbs 3,400,000 3 years
24 Staffan Kronwall D L OK
66 64 66 68 67 70 65 63 71 74 59 27 29 70


The Leafs were very happy with his deal, as Jussi is very young and will only get better, and Igor was a hold out. It took the prying of one of the Kronwall brothers to from their gm's hands to make this deal happen. The upside of Timmonen was seen right away, as he was able to jump right in the lineup and help this team stop their 4 game slide.

As teams find their footing, some are uneasy and have been hounding the Leafs about some of their assets, most notably Centre Shawn Horcoff. His dirt cheap salary for his age and talent level is very attractive to some teams who could use the boost at the position but who are tight in cap space. A few deals were close to being completed, but lacked that finishing touch. The Leafs themselves are still trying to find themselves and arent going to jump the gun just yet just to make a deal.

It is the Holidays, and who knows if a gift will land on the Leafs lap over the next few days. Stranger things have happened.

Anon Y. Mous