Wednesday, June 24, 2009

A Respected Leafs Fan Counterpoint



I received this note this afternoon, supporting the idea of a Redden trade to Toronto (for a price):

"Nice column Mr. Dark or is it Sir Ranger. We have been hearing word of such a deal via Bob Mackenzie (TSN hockey analyst) as well as other respected hockey gurus. Burkie himself mentioned in one of his interviews, that he is willing to take on other teams cap mistakes for either draft picks and or young talent. Redden who I believe is not that bad a D-man is worth 3 to 3.5 million a year salary. The problem is... he's not playing up to his 6.5 million which would put him in the Phaneufs of the world. I can honestly see a Redden and a first for Ian White and a 4th deal. Helps NYR with the cap (can trade for Heatley... which is been reported Sathers is very high in him) and helps the Buds in the accumulation of draft picks in hopes of moving up in the draft.... "

Once you get beyond his reference to "Redden is not playing up to 6.5...blah, blah, blah" - we know all that...... it does bring to mind some of the ongoing rumors of Marc Staal being thrown into a salary dump trade. I don't like it.

It might be worth including Staal in on a trade to pick up Heatley (or any proven STUD for that matter) as we have many D-men in our system, but....it would be plain sad to not trust the franchise with home-grown newbie Blueshirt talent - a Staal, Girardi, Callahan, Dubinsky, Del Zotto, Sanguinetti -- these are the guys that will grow the franchise in time. Other team managers believe in their youth -- look at Pittsburgh, look at Chicago, etc. -- this approach makes for a stronger franchise foundation, a team loyal to the core and a stronger bond with the fans.

We are sick of buying jersies with the newest stud, later having to throw them out because they wore BLUE only for one season. Keep the kids on the roster Slats and Co. They are 'what is keeping us coming back for more' bad season after bad season.

One thing is for certain, the next couple of weeks will 'lay it all on the table.' Hang tight Rangers fans. There's a hellava ride ahead of us.

tdr

2 comments:

  1. So who didja buy TDR? Bure, Gretzky? Stevens? Robitaille? Lindros?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lindros. You? Funny...I still see dozens of Lindros Rangers jersies at the Garden and I always snicker to myself.

    ReplyDelete

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