This past weekend is one of the two most painful time periods in the year of any sports fan. The MLB All-Star break in July is rough, but at least it is during the summer when there are plenty of activities to keep you occupied. This is the weekend where both the NHL All-Star Game and NFL Pro Bowl are played, during the off week between the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl. The NHL All-Star Game is rather inconsequential, but for all of it’s faults, it is still much better than that football atrocity in Hawaii, where teams play pat-a-cake with each other and one side is allowed to take a six touchdown lead before the other team managed to get on the scoreboard.
The last few days were a particularly irksome time for anyone associated with the Maple Leafs, starting with the indignity of Phil Kessel being selected with the last pick in the NHL Fantasy Draft. In the grand scheme of things, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but it was just an uncomfortable scene to watch the shy Kessel singled out by being picked like a consolation prize, embarrassed by one of his peers and used as fodder by some media outlets as a means of ridiculing the Toronto organization.
GM Brian Burke communicated his displeasure with the way this spectacle was handled by the league and the NHLPA, suggesting that a group of players at the end of the draft be picked out of a hat.
To add to the negative tone of the weekend, the Player’s Association and Hockey Night In Canada released a survey of 318 current NHL players on various subjects. The winner of the most unpopular coach was Leafs bench boss Ron Wilson, with one-quarter of the leagues members saying they would not like to play for him. Undoubtedly, the fact that the Leafs coach has been publicly critical of his players throughout his career does not engender good feelings with scores of players throughout the league.
Toronto was also listed fourth on the list of teams players would least like to play for.
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The Philadelphia Flyers waiving of defenseman Matt Walker and his $1.7 Million salary down to the AHL just adds fuel to the fire that they are going to make a move at the trade deadline to shore up the only apparent weak spot on their roster; between the pipes.
A deal between the Flyers and Leafs for Jean-Sebastien Giguere makes complete sense, with Burke and Flyers GM Paul Holmgren having a long association through USA Hockey, with the goalie’s contract being up at the end of the season and Toronto having the ability to take salary back from the Flyers to make room for the veteran netminder’s $6 Million cap hit.
The Flyers boast arguably the best defensive corps in the league and are extremely deep at forward, but their management and ownership are leery of a repetition of last season, when their goaltending got them to through the Eastern Conference, but let them down in the finals. Veteran Brian Boucher is considered too long in the tooth to be depended on for a deep playoff run and the pressure on rookie Sergei Bobrovsky might be too much to bear.
The Leafs get back to action tomorrow night when they face the Florida Panthers at the ACC.
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