Six transactions today for the Leafs, Toskala on the IR, Antropov and Moore traded for picks, the Leafs end up in a salary dump with Tampa and the Leafs claim a few bodies off the waiver wire. Check out the details after the jump and discuss in the comments!
| In | Out |
| Martin Gerber (G) | Nik Antropov (F) |
| Erik Reitz (D) | Dominic Moore (F) |
| Andy Rogers (D) | Richard Petiot (D) |
| Jamie Heward (D) (IR) | |
| Olaf Kolzig (G) (IR) | |
| 2009 NYR 2nd | |
| 2009 NYR Conditional | |
| 2009 CAR 2nd | |
| 2009 TBL 4th |
Leafs put G Vesa Toskala on IR:
Toskala will be having hip and groin surgery and will be out for four months.
Leafs claim D Eric Reitz and G Martin Gerber off waivers:
Gerber will be starting tomorrow night against Washington. Erik Reitz will report to the Marlies in all likelihood.
Leafs trade F Nik Antropov to the New York Rangers for a 2nd round pick in 2009 and a conditional pick:
This seems like a horrible deal unless Antropov absolutely couldn't be signed for below market value. Antropov will probably garner $4m on the open market this summer and could be a decent signing for the Leafs in the summer if Burke chooses to go that route. The Rangers won't have the cap room to keep him.
Leafs trade F Dominic Moore to Buffalo for Carolina's 2nd round pick in 2009:
Dominic Moore wanted more than $5.1M over three years and is gone. I think getting a second rounder for a waiver wire pickup is a nice job, and it's entirely value added by Ron Wilson. Moore won't even sniff $1.7M a season on the open market this season and if desired could be resigned cheap. I think he's a greedy piece of garbage who should be appreciative of the chance he got in Toronto.
Last but not least the Leafs pick up G Olaf Kolzig, D Jamie Heward, D Andy Rogers and a 4th round pick from Tampa for Richard Petiot.
This is a move to get Tampa into revenue sharing territory, and save Tampa's owners about $625,000. In return the Leafs get a pick and a prospect. Heward and Kolzig are both injured and UFAs at the end of the season, they'll likely never play a game in a Leafs uniform.
Reactions
I think we didn't really get great value for Antropov, but I also don't know if he was refusing to re-sign in Toronto which changes things drastically. As much as I wanted more than a 2nd for Antropov having him walk for nothing would be worse.
I'm pretty happy about getting a 2nd for Moore, I kind of wish he wasn't a turd and signed here cheap, but here we are. Erik Reitz is a non-factor, Gerber is a stop gap to put someone in the net cheap for the rest of the season.
In the Kolzig move the Leafs spent $625,000 on a decent prospect in Rogers and Tampa's 4th rounder which is basically a late third. Slick move by Burke.
The most important move of the day is the subtraction. Losing Moore and Antropov is a lot of Toronto's offense, and losing Toskala for Gerber means more goals against - the Leafs are going to improve their first rounder drastically in the next few weeks.