There is an aweful lot of noise about Kovalchuk. Last time I checked, he wasnt named Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby Ovechkin or even Malkin... and this dude wants max money for max term?

Does he know what his own end of the ice looks like yet?

Does he realize that the more cap space he takes up the less chance teams have of actually putting a winning cast around him?

Oh thats right, Kovy is about Kovy and nothing more... to much ado about nothing imho... have a nice time playing on Siberia in te KHL...

See if you can split a cab ride with Patrick Kane. I think that'll be a lot of fun.

The Bears have done it again! Hershey wins the 2009-10 Calder Cup after defeating the Texas Stars in six games. Give them two straight titles and 11 in total.

Well folks, what did you think of the AHL final?

http://www.hockey54.com/editorial/item/what-the-hek-is-goin-on/stevie-y-could-solve-anything

Stevie Y Could solve anything!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big-time onions were shown by the Hershey Bears last night.

The Bears defeated the Stars 2-1 in OT to take a 3-2 series lead.

The road team has won every single game. Will this trend continue on Monday or will the Bears capture the Calder Cup?

The series is tied 2-2. Game five goes tonight. So far, the road team has won all four games.

Thoughts?

Here's something that will blow your mind:

Winter Classic 08 - Pittsburgh takes part, goes on to lose the Stanley Cup

Winter Classic 09 - Detroit takes part, goes on to lose the Stanley Cup

Winter Classic 10 - Philly takes part, goes on to lose the Stanley Cup

Is playing in the Winter Classic a curse?

I dealt with this sometime ago, watch Chicago work a deal with the Leafs, Campbell comes here, and Versteeg with either Sharp or a second rounder. The Hawks pick up part of Campbell's contract.

Kabbie is gonesville as a Leaf. The San Jose scenario also fits, but for draft picks instead, they have Boyle and can get others cheaper. I could see him land in Columbus too.

Kulimen is one of those players who got a scream at by his agent and decided to pump up his game, on a contract year. I hope I am wrong, but he is of that eastern bloc element and it happens quite often. Can someone tell me why the Leafs kept and signed Grabovski.

I guess we will see all of this happen sooner than later.

I mean, if you're looking for a Caputi, a probable career 4th line player with 3rd line potenial, then yes ship him off. If you're looking for something of equal value than there will not be any offers on the table. The problem with the Leafs is that there are enough Caputi's to go around, what they need are young top 6 forwards who will be play for a long time. You look at the top teams and you see two potent lines of players under 28 that are locked up for the long term. The Leafs have Kessel and maybe Kadri, if he develops, who fit that criteria (And no, Bozak nor Kulemin are top 6 guys). Kaberle will not get you the asset needed to help the Leafs begin to be a better team.

The real question is, which player will get you that top 6 asset? The answer may be Beauchemin, a stay at home d-man locked up longterm at reasonable dollars. I could see a team like San Jose or Pittsburgh giving up something quaility for that type of player based on their playoff performances alone (albeit in a package with a Kulemin, Garbo, etc). If you look at salaries of stay at home d-men, they've been on the rise since the lockout; one signed this year via free agency will cost you more in terms of cap than one signed last year. That type of player has yet to hit market saturation but when they do you can bet the ones on old contracts will be very sought after.

Where else can they get this player? Teams in bad cap situations obviously. Chicago is going to have to blow up a decent portion of that team after this week and you have to wonder how many teams will be willing to eat salary. As you guys mentioned, the Leafs are probably the only team in the NHL that would be willing to do that. Like the NBA, taking on bad salary can have its perks with young talent; seems like a perfect fit, no? And you wouldn't need to put Kaberle in the deal to accomplish this.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is trading Kaberle isn't anywhere close to helping solve the problems the Leafs need to address. He's in this weird nether world of great player, affordable but untradeable based on how teams are structured today. To get a great package of young players, the time to trade him was last year; the most they can get right now are long-term projects, young players with low ceilings or a low first round draft pick. Will Kaberle be traded? probably, but the return won't neccesarily blow your socks off.

You make some really good points Loreto. Brian Burke is a player's GM, and will make sure that if Kaberle gets traded that he goes to a place that makes him happy too. But, Burke also plays by the rules, and just as he defended Kaberle's no-trae clause up to this point, he's going to take FULL advantage of it being negated for a brief period of time.

Kaberle just might end up in Phoenix, and now that Burke is done coddling the guy all year, it's time for Burke to be a man and do what's right for this team, and not ONLY just for Kaberle.

My final point: Kaberle won't fetch a 'Carter + 1st' return like he once could, but if Ponikarovski can land us a good young prospect like Luca Caputi straight up, and with the master of the trade in Brian Burke as our GM, I don't think anything is out of th question.

And my best bet is with LA or Chicago. Burke will obviously allow any team to negotiate an extension for Kaberle before any big deals are made, and thus, Kaberle's value goes up instantly if a team knows they'll have him for another 4-5 years.

Trust me, Burke will get a damn good return for Kaberle.

That's a good proposition, but don't you think Campbell's salary is way too damn huge? He's getting paid over 7 million for atLEAST another 6 years. That contract makes Jeff Finger look cheap, no way he's moving.

However, Patrick Sharp is a perfect match. He's a talented centre who can still put up the big numbers on Chicago's 2nd line, even when he's overshadowed by guys like Kane and Toews who eat up much more ice time.

A guy like Huet could be had and sent to the minors, or Kris Versteeg even. If we packaged Grabovski and Kaberle for Sharp, Versteeg, Huet, Sopel and a guy like Beach, I would do it in a heartbeat.

-Pittsburgh: Jordan Staal

-Washington: John Carlson/Karl Alzner and Eric Fehr/Tomas Fleischmann

-Vancouver: Jordan Schroeder, Mayson Raymond

-NY Rangers: Derek Stepan, Ryan Callahan

-Phoenix: Kyle Turris

-Anaheim: Peter Holland, Kyle Palmieri

If available:

-Buffalo: Drew Stafford and Zack Kassian

-LA: Brayden Schenn

-Chicago: Kyle Beach, Kris Versteeg and cap relief (Brent Sopel, Cristobal Huet)

-Boston: Blake Wheeler and Joe Colborne

-Edmonton: Andrew Cogliano, Linus Omark and cap relief (Shawn Horcoff)

Keep in mind that Mikhail Grabovski and quite possibly Nikolai Kulemin are also in play.