Burkie drops a bomb on Leaf Nation

Mad scientist Brian Burke retooled the Toronto Maple Leafs with a pair of trades that brings defenseman Dion Phaneuf and former Stanley Cup winning goalie Jean Sebastian Giguere to the T-Dot.

Trade 1

To Toronto: Dion Phaneuf, Keith Aulie, Fredrik Sjostrom

To Calgary: Niklas Hagman, Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers, and  Ian White.

Seems like they Leafs have given up quite a bit with this trade, shedding themselves of Toronto mainstays Stajan and White who are usually very solid and Hagman who is arguably their best trade worth asset outside Kaberle. Jamal Mayers gets his wish... as does most Leaf fans and he is outta here!

In return they get former star defenseman Dion Phaneuf whose stock has been dropping since his phenomenal first few seasons in the league. He's a struggling player who the Leafs hope will regain his form with some new scenery. He does have a big shot so hopefully they can get him going on the powerplay. Aulie played for the Canadian junior team and is known as a big shutdown type of defenseman. Sjostrom is a left winger and used to be a first round pick, 11th overall in 2001. That was 9 years ago so I assume he doesn't exactly have a lot of upside.

Trade 2

To Toronto: J.S. Giguere

To Anaheim: Vesa Toskala, Jason Blake, a draft pick of some sort

Not much to talk about here. Giguere can probably still be a solid goalie but in my opinion he's past his prime. Here's hoping the reuniting of him and his old goalie coach can spark something. He could also be a good mentor to The Monster. Going the other way is Blake who is one of the Leafs better producers and oft ridiculed Vesa Toskala who ends up being another failed Tor experiment.

My biggest question is, who the heck are they going to put on the ice Tuesday against the Devils? They got back 2 useful contributors and and lost 6 full time players. 5 if you don't count Mayers. Initial reaction to this sees the Leafs getting fleeced but salary implications have to be considered. They shed some hefty contracts which gives the Leafs GM and President some space to move. This was in no way a cap team despite the accounting telling you otherwise. They were at the cap and had a lot of useless pieces on the ice. At least now they can say they have Dion, and Kessel. I wonder if this will allow Christian Hanson and Victor Stalberg to be brought up. Hopefully it quickens the decision to bring up Kadri cause I, like everyone else wants to see this kid play.