Toronto Maple Leafs Update

 Leafs Nearing Some Trades?

FEBRUARY 23, 2011- 5:35:
Brian Burke and the Toronto Maple Leafs are working the phones and in the midst of many trade discussions, as they usually are. From Burke himself, the Leafs are trying to bring in a defenseman. There are a lot of names being thrown around as who could possibly be the target but the one who sticks out to me is JM Liles of the Avalanche. From various insiders, it seems as though Liles is the most common name being mentioned and in my opinion its the one that makes the most sense. The Avalanche are obviously panicking a bit and seem to be willing to move anyone. He would be one of the most likely members of the Avalanche to be moved and the fact that he is American (as we know Burke loves when he can get Americans) makes it all the more reasonable to look at him as a possible addition to the Leafs club. But its not only defensemen they are shopping for, according to various sources the Leafs have also set their sights on Dustin Penner of the Oilers. Penner is 28 years old and is a top power forward in the NHL. So far this season he has put up 20 goals and 17 assists for 37 points and last season he had a career year with 32 goals and 31 assists for 63 points. Doing all of this on a below average Oilers team is incredibly impressive. Something else to remember is, Penner was originally signed by Burke and is one of his favorite players. If you can remember back a few years when the Oilers signed Penner to an offer sheet and it started a huge war between Burke (at the time was the Ducks GM) and Lowe (at the time was the Oilers GM). If that doesn't indicate that Penner is a player Burke wants back in "his" possession, nothing will. Although Burke is trying to build his team up, he will not go out of his style of players. Nik Zherdev was put on waivers today by the Flyers, and right off the bat a lot of Leafs fans jumped to the conclusion that Burke was going to claim him...the best way to sum up that "rumor" is with exactly what Bob McKenzie said about it "A lot of Leaf fans seem to think Toronto might put in a claim on Zherdev. To which I say, not a chance in the world. But that's just me."...he is the complete opposite of everything Burke preaches and builds around. I would not count on bringing in Zherdev as being one of the moves the Leafs make in the coming days, but Leafs fans don't be disappointed because there will be many more to keep you all satisfied.




UPDATE 6:07: Here is some more Leafs news, according to ESPN, Clarke MacArthur's agent Don Meehan started negotiations with the Leafs asking for 3 years at $3 million per