Maple Leafs winger Phil Kessel entered the Olympic games in Sochi as one of the hottest players in the NHL and his success continued through the two weeks in Russia, as the lead Team USA with five goals and tied for the tournament lead with eight points.
Kessel was selected as best forward of the games by the IIHF and also as part of the All-Tournament team, chosen by members of the media. Canada’s Carey Price was chosen as the top goaltender, going a perfect 5-0 with two shutouts against the United States and Sweden.
Swedish defenseman Erik Karlsson was named top defenseman, as he tied Kessel with eight points and led with a +5 plus/minus. Drew Doughty, who led Team Canada with four goals was the other blueliner selected for the All-Tournament team, with Finns Mikael Granlund and Teemu Selanne joining Kessel as the top forwards.
Selanne, who scored a pair of goals in the bronze medal game against Team USA on Saturday, was named the most valuable player in his final Olympic games.
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The NHL roster freeze for the Olympic break officially ends at 11:59pm Sunday and with that begins the 10 day countdown towards the March 5th trade deadline.
The Leafs made a move on Saturday, sending center Peter Holland down to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. Holland went pointless in his first game action in over three weeks, as the Marlies defeated Oklahoma City 4-1 at Ricoh Coliseum on Sunday.
Toronto will have to make another move to get under the 23 man roster limit if center Dave Bolland is ready to come off the long term injured reserve and only winger Carter Ashton could be sent down without having to clear waivers.
Leafs GM Dave Nonis could be open to a tweaking roster addition or possibly trading one of the club’s four unrestricted free agent forwards if the return is significant, but may hesitate to make any kind of significant transaction based on how well the club has played since losing four straight at the beginning of January.
Toronto does not have their second round pick in either 2014 or 2015 due to the trades for Jonathan Bernier and Peter Holland, which would be in the neighborhood of what they could expect in return if they traded Nikolai Kulemin, but unless a deal that cannot be passed up falls into their laps, Nonis will not move the likes of Nazem Kadri or Jake Gardiner before the deadline.
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On the ex-Leafs page, Mike Kostka has been reunited with former coach Jon Cooper, as the Tampa Bay Lightning claimed the slick skating defenseman off of waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
The 28-year-old Etobicoke, ON native was a member of Cooper’s 2011-12 Calder Cup winning Norfolk Admirals squad and was signed by the Stanley Cup champions after playing 35 games with the Leafs in 2013.
Kostka played only nine games for Chicago and scored one of his two goals against Toronto last October. He was claimed when GM Stan Bowman tried to sneak him through waivers to get him down to their AHL affiliate in Rockford.
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