It's a Canadian Game

NHL’s free agent frenzy kicked off Tuesday with a big bang. Though they didn’t make a number of monumental moves when the signing period began, the Toronto Maple Leafs did dabble in the action and also said farewell to other bodies. So with this the Toronto Maple Leafs are already looking to be a different group of players when they take to the ice next season. The Leafs transactions first began last Saturday when they sent defenseman Carl Gunnarsson to the St. Louis Blues for fellow tough-guy, defenseman Roman Polak. Gunnarsson had been with the Leafs for the last five seasons and had spent the majority of his time playing on the top pairing alongside Dion Phaneuf. After leading the team with a +12 this season, the Leafs shipped him out as they looked to bring in someone with more physicality in his game, something a lot of the Leafs’ defense core lacked. The Leafs then made another move via free agency Tuesday to try and bolster their defense core. The buds signed veteran defenseman Stephane Robidas to a three-year three million dollar deal. The 37 year-old is coming off a season where he broke his leg twice. Despite these injuries Robidas played great for Anaheim when he was healthy, putting up 10 points in just 38 games. Robidas claims right now to be at 95% and says that come the season’s start he will be 100% ready to go and injuries will not be an issue. In an interview with TSN’s James Duthie, after signing with the Maple Leafs Tuesday, Robidas mentioned that early talks with management suggest possibly playing alongside either Jake Gardiner or Morgan Reilly, but until the season finally starts we can only speculate. The other two additions to the Leafs roster that were made saw Dave Nonis bring back fellow Maple Leafs Matt Frattin and Finish pest Leo Komarov. The two acquisitions are interesting because both players played on the Maple Leaf team that made the playoffs two season ago, before losing in dramatic fashion to the Boston Bruins. Frattin had a fairly unimpressive campaign this last season recording just seven points in 44 games split between the Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets. While Komarov put up a respectable 34 points in 52 games for Dynamo Moscow in the KHL, while also representing Finland in the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The Leafs are hoping the two can help bring a bit more grit and speed, something the organization feels they had two years ago. Now besides the names that the Leafs brought in over the past week, what might be just as interesting or worth noting is the names that they saw go elsewhere. The biggest of these names is obviously that of the Mimico native, Dave Bolland. Though Bolland claimed to wanting to stay in Toronto, eventually he decided to take his services to Florida, signing a five year contract paying him $5.5 million per season. Though he played just 23 games for the Leafs last season, Bolland was a force for them especially before he suffered his Achilles injury that kept him out of the lineup for 56 games. Wednesday the Maple Leafs also saw defensive forwards Jay McClemment sign a one-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes while Nikolai Kulemin signed an extensive four-year $16.75 million contract with the New York Islanders. This will leave some holes on the Leafs penalty kill, though Komarov will likely see playing time there. Now some other interesting loses to the organization come at the hands of the Marlies and players that could very well have pushed for a roster spot with the Maple Leafs next season. Those names are AHL defenseman of the year T.J. Brennan and arguably the top goaltender in the AHL playoffs this past year, Drew McIntyre, who may now get chances elsewhere. Brennan has always proved himself to be a very offensive defenseman in the AHL and 2013-14 was no exception. The 25 year-old amassed 25 goals and 72 points in 76 games this season, most among all defenseman in the league. Brennan has only played 40 NHL games spread over three NHL seasons with the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers. In their search for a more stellar defense core its interesting the Maple Leafs would allow the best defenseman in the AHL to go for nothing. Brennan signed a one year deal with the Islanders on Tuesday. McIntyre lead the Marlies to the Western Conference finals this year, giving up just 29 goals in 14 games, putting up a 0.944 save percentage and a 2.08 goals against average. The 31 year-old McIntyre could have been a reliable backup to Jonathan Bernier and likely for a good price. Both good things for the Leafs as rumours have swirled that James Reimer has asked for a trade and with the news that the current restricted free agent has filed for salary arbitration. McIntyre was picked up by the Hurricanes on a one-year, two-way deal. In other news this weekend former Montreal Canadiens’ defenseman, now with the Sabres, Josh Gorges, was going to be shipped to Toronto, but Gorges refused to waive his no-trade clause to come to Toronto. The deal is believed to have been for Cody Franson, this likely means the Maple Leafs are looking to trade the large dman. Franson is currently an RFA and will have to either be signed or moved by the team. The Maple Leafs are most certainly not done this off season and more moves can be expected to be made, whether it’s to either further improve their back end or to try and look for a top-six centre. Either way, so far it looks like there will be some different faces dawning the blue and white next season and a few old ones. 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The 2014 NHL Entry Draft kicks off Friday night in Philadelphia and along with the excitement surrounding the new crop of young stars, comes the excitement of wheeling and dealing that is likely to occur in the coming weeks. Among the teams that early on look as though could be busy this off-season is the Chicago Blackhawks. It seems kind of interesting that the Hawks would want to make many moves after coming just a goal a way from punching their ticket to their second Stanley Cup finals in two years. This past week growing rumours about the future of Ottawa Senators star centre Jason Spezza started to heat up and according to many sources it seems as though the Blackhawks are among the teams that are showing the most desire for the 31 year old. The Hawks are looking to shake some things up, and since Bryan Murray and the Senators are hoping to get a similar type of return for Spezza that they gave up to acquire Bobby Ryan (a roster player, a prospect, and a high draft pick) it seems as though the Hawks would be forced to shake things up. In saying this Murray has made it clear that he would be interested in a one-for-one deal, obviously meaning that a high-end top six forward would be coming back the other way, something the Hawks have in abundance. Though obviously names such as Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane would not be on that list; and well get to that later. Names such as Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa could enter that discussion, Sharp especially. Despite having a fantastic regular season (leading Chicago in scoring with 34 goals and 78 points) Sharp failed to show up for the Hawks in the playoffs, recording just five goals in 19 games, and could give reason for the Hawks to ship him. Also for Chicago a deal for Spezza that includes Sharp would free up $900,000 in cap space as Sharp is currently making $5.9 million while Spezza is under contract for $5 million. For Chicago that ability to free up some salary is huge as TSN Insider Bob McKenzie reported this week that negotiations between Toews and Kane on signing contract extensions have begun. The two superstars apparently gave Chicago their initial asking prices to sign with the club; they will become unrestricted free agents following the 2014-15 season. According to early reports both players are looking to make in the ballpark of $12 million dollars a year, figures that would make them amongst the highest paid players in the league. Bob McKenzie @TSNBobMcKenzie · 23h It's believed Kane-Toews initial ask of CHI on extension is around $12M/yr each. They'll end up lower but still could be $10M+ AAV players. If Chicago is serious in signing the two, which they obviously will be, they will need to free up some cap space, while still filling out their roster. As it stand now, according to capgeek.com the Hawks would have just six of their current forwards, three defensemen, and just Corey Crawford under contract for the 2015-16 season, while having allocated just over $50 million on just these players. So, of course the Hawks would have to be selective in how they go about signing and filling out their roster. Young players such as Marcus Kruger and Brandon Saad will likely both demand pay increases as they continue to develop so Chicago management will have to decide where to find those extra dollars. Other rumours have suggested that the cap could rise to as high as $75 million in the coming years which would come as a huge relief to the Hawks moving forward. In other Chicago news as free agency approaches, TSN and ESPN Insider Pierre LeBrun has reported that the Hawks are also among a number of teams who have shown interest in soon-to-be free agent Paul Stastny. Pierre LeBrun @Real_ESPNLeBrun · 19h Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks among many teams to have reached out to Stastny camp, latest in Rumblings blog: http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/31597/rumblings-kesler-watch-stastny-market … The 28 year-old Stastny is coming off a season where he put up a very respectable 60 points in 71 games. What makes this deal again all the more interesting for Chicago is the fact that Stastny’s agent, Matt Keator, made it clear this week that his client is not looking to make any less than he made last season, which was a hefty $6.6 million. So, once again the issue will be how exactly will the Hawks make room to accommodate Stastny’s contract if they are as serious about signing him as they appear to be. Despite coming so close to playing for their second consecutive Stanley Cup it seems as though the Hawks are looking to vamp up their squad. Though most eyes will be on the draft stage this week, it should also be an interesting next few days in the boardroom as well. Follow me on Twitter: @Craig_Hagerman

Yea that number now is unheard of. He was definitely not given as much respect it seemed, especially when he was in Toronto, where I watched him the most. The Leafs have not had a dynamic one-two punch since the days of Mogilny and Sundin.

The newest class of inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame was announced Monday. This November the likes of Dominik Hasek, Peter Foresberg, Rob Blake, Mike Modano, Pat Burns, and Bill McCreary will become the newest members to be enshrined in the hall. With this year’s class named, questions about who was left off this year’s card begin to swirl. The most popular name that had been receiving a lot of consideration in the days leading up to Monday’s announcement was ‘the Big E’ Eric Lindros. However, once again Lindros was not fortunate enough to have his name added among the game’s great which now makes it five years now that Lindros has been left off the ballad since he became eligible to be inducted. Now although Lindros’ name seems to be the name people bring up when they talk about Hall of Fame snubs, another name that has also been snubbed by the hall and deserves some serious consideration is Russian great Alexander Mogilny. Like Lindros, Mogilny has been eligible to be inducted into the hall since 2009. Now although Mogilny may not have put up the most points by any Russian and may not be on a lot of people’s radar to get into the hall, there is no question that what he did on the ice and for the game was nothing short of great. The original ‘Alexander the Great’ deserves to be remembered for what he did for the sport. The Russian sniper finished his NHL career having racked up 473 goals and 1,032 points in 990 games. On top of that Mogilny is a member of the very rare Triple Gold club after winning the Stanley Cup in 2000, the World Championship in 1989, and Olympic Gold in 1988. However, what Mogilny might be known most for is the path he carved for Russian players. Mogilny was the first player to ever defect from the Soviet Union. In doing this Mogilny became the first Russian born player to lead the league in goals, when he tied Teemu Selanne with 76 in 1992-93, and became the first Russian to captain a NHL team. On top of winning Olympic gold, Mogilny also won World Junior gold in 1989 when he played on what some call the greatest line the tournament has ever seen. During the 1989 championship, Mogilny played on a line with fellow Russian greats Sergei Federov and Pavel Bure. In fact Federov believed it was Mogilny who was more skilled player on that line. “Alex, I think, was the strongest. He has the most agility, the quickest release and the best shot, the leader of our line,” said Federov. Mats Sundin once referred to him as the most talented player he had ever played with and Pat Quinn, his former coach and now chairman of the Hall of Fame, once described Mogilny as “having good size and wonderful skating ability, he can play any kind of game.” Mogilny is also a six-time all-star, winner of the Lady Byng Trophy in 2003, and was inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame in 2011. Mogilny would have won the Rocket Richard Trophy in 92-93 had the award existed at the time and above all was a threat on the ice every time he played. Mogilny had the respect of his peers and was among some of the greats during his time in the league. He led the way on the scoreboard and led the way for Russian players in the NHL. There are many great players still waiting to have their name one day immortalized among the best and ‘Alexander the Great’ deserves to one day be among them. Follow me on Twitter: @Craig_Hagerman