Kabrerle and Sweatt Updates-PLUS-Leafs Roster All But Set For 2010-2011

So the Tomas Kaberle trade window opened and closed with no movement. This quote from Brian Burke sums it all up.

“I’d say there are three or four legitimate offers we needed to discuss,” Burke told the Toronto Sun. “There’s nothing worth taking — yet. If we end up with Kaberle that’s fine with me.”

Also, Bill Sweatt officially became a UFA after midnight yesterday. His rights were acquired in the Kris Versteeg deal. His agent and Burke had some difficulties coming to a deal. Sweatt’s agent made some public statements after the deal regarding testing free agency and that’s when Burke retracted the Leafs offer for the NCAA graduate. Norton, Sweatt’s agent, feels confident that the calls will come starting Monday morning.

“We’ve never said no to the Leafs, but they pulled the offer,” Norton said when asked about the chance of a last-minute truce.

“It was a bit unfair of Brian to make it personal. I’ve been in this business 17 years and I like to think this isn’t my first barbecue. But I certainly respect Brian as a GM and a man who has rebuilt two or three teams. It’s just the way things played out. I don’t see this affecting the relationship I have with other Leaf clients (three minor leaguers, including forward Alex Foster).”

“My advice to Billy now, with all due respect, is to look at every other Tom, Dick and Harry coming out of college who is getting interest. Nothing Billy has done, from being on the U.S. under-18 team (in 2004) to the day he left Colorado (last year with 109 points in 143 games) has made anyone think he won’t be a sure NHLer with great speed and forechecking ability.”

So the Leafs roster currently comprised of 21 players has 2 spot open and yes they are both on the front end.

Goaltenders are: Gustavsson, Giguere

Defenders are: Phaneuf, Beauchemin, Kaberle, Komisarek, Schenn, Gunnarsson, Lebda, and Finger (who will undoubtedly be waived to the minors)

Forwards are: Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak, Nikolai Kulemin, Colby Armstrong, Mikhail Grabovski, Kris Versteeg, Colton Orr, Freddy Sjostrom, John Mitchell, Mike Brown

With Jerry D’Amigo, Luca Caputi possibly filling the final 2 spots of the 23 man roster.

Now from the looks of it the Leafs seem like they are in pretty good shape. Defense and goaltending being great and the forward core being better than last year but still some more offense being needed, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

The cap situation looks like this:

FORWARDS

Phil Kessel ($5.400m) / Tyler Bozak ($3.725m) / Nikolai Kulemin ($2.350m)

Colby Armstrong ($3.000m) / Nazem Kadri ($1.720m) / Kris Versteeg ($3.083m)

Marcel Mueller ($1.112m) / Mikhail Grabovski ($2.900m) / Fredrik Sjostrom ($0.750m)

Colton Orr ($1.000m) / John Mitchell ($0.725m) / Mike Brown ($0.537m)

DEFENSEMEN

Dion Phaneuf ($6.500m) / Francois Beauchemin ($3.800m)

Tomas Kaberle ($4.250m) / Mike Komisarek ($4.500m)

Carl Gunnarsson ($0.800m) / Luke Schenn ($2.975m)

Brett Lebda ($1.450m)

GOALTENDERS

Jean-Sebastien Giguere ($6.000m) /Jonas Gustavsson ($1.350m)

BUYOUTS: Darcy Tucker ($1.000m)

CARRY-OVER BONUS PENALTY: $1,400,000

SALARY CAP: $59,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $60,328,333; BONUSES: $6,182,500

CAP SPACE (21-man roster): $3,526,667

I can see the starting line-up for the Leafs looking very similar to what you see above, if not exactly what you see above in terms of goaltending, defense and forward core.

So can the Leafs make the playoffs this year? Here is a projection from McKeen’s Hockey Annual Yearbook.

No	Player	Pos	Age	GP	G	A	Pts
81	Kessel, Phil	RW	22	75	35	27	62
42	Bozak, Tyler	C	24	77	19	38	57
32	Versteeg, Kris	RW	24	80	24	28	52
15	Kaberle, Tomas	D	32	80	7	45	52
3	Phaneuf, Dion	D	25	78	14	37	51
41	Kulemin, Nikolai	LW	24	80	20	22	42
84	Grabovski, Mikhail	LW	26	70	17	25	42
9	Armstrong, Colby	RW	27	77	18	19	37
36	Gunnarsson, Carl	D	23	79	6	18	24
22	Beauchemin, Francois	D	30	78	6	17	23
39	Mitchell, John	C	25	75	8	14	22
2	Schenn, Luke	D	20	77	4	17	21
33	Caputi, Luca	LW	21	60	9	10	19
43	Kadri, Nazem	C	19	35	10	6	16
11	Sjostrom, Fredrik	RW	27	65	5	7	12
8	Komisarek, Mike	D	28	70	2	8	10
20	Hanson, Christian	C	24	42	4	2	6
4	Finger, Jeff	D	30	32	2	4	6
	Lebda, Brett	D	28	42	2	4	6
28	Orr, Colton	RW	28	80	2	3	5
18	Brown, Mike	RW	25	70	2	1	3

You will notice that there is no Marcel Mueller or Jerry D’Amigo and that Finger is on the roster, but it doesn’t really matter. This gives you a rough estimation of what the Leafs could produce offensively this year. But, the key for me is what the goaltending stats look like. Also, these prediction preclude that Kadri will spend some time with the Leafs but not a whole season.

There are teams like Buffalo and Boston that were top 6 teams in the East last year that did not have good offensive years last year but goaltending saved the day. Not to say that Gustavsson or Giguere will ever output Miller type years but combined they will be great.

Fear not Leaf fans for all is well in Leaf land. This season will be great and will yield a race for a playoff spot.

Like Mike Brophy admitted to this morning on the Fan590, the Leafs are headed in the right direction.

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/13leafs01

CHEER WITH PRIDE!