Earlier today the Leafs made a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins that had been speculated about for a while. Ever since the trade with Calgary people were saying that Ponikarovski is on his way to the Pens. And now it's official.

In return for Poni Toronto is getting an unknown and a player who seems to be on the decline as of late. The unknown is prospect Luca Caputi. He was a 4th round pick, 111th overall by the Pens in the 2007 draft. He's played a total of 9 games in the NHL over the last 2 seasons and has 3 points and a -2 +/- rating. Those aren't stellar numbers and a little concerning to me.

The other piece was 30 year old defenceman Martin Skoula. Skoula has played for quite a few teams in his career starting with the Avalanche to the Ducks, Stars, Wild and Penguins. OVer the last few years his points production has started to trail off. He's only played 33 games this season, has 8 points and is a -4.

I really think Pittsburgh got the better end of this deal. Ponikarovski was one of our very few + players and a consistent point producer. And we've replaced him with nothing. Same as Nik Antropov and Niklas Hagman. Now I do understand that we have a bunch of young guys that we're handing things over too, but we REALLY need SOMEONE who's already proven themselves in order ti kickstart the offense. Kessel can't do everything and needs to have someone to help him. And that hasn't arrived in Toronto yet. Next year I expect to see Kadri, Stalber, Hanson, Bozak, Mitchell, Kessel, Grabovski, Sjostrom, Kulemin, and Stempniak to be the main starters with the other 2 spots pretty much rotated. Although who knows what will happen in the off season, or by the end of the trade deadline tomorrow.

A few of the above mentioned players could be gone, like Stempniak and Mitchell, but I don't see Kadri, Stalberg, Hanson, Bozak, Kessel, Grabovski, Sjostrom and Kulemin going anywhere...which doesn't leave much room. Which means even though I don't see them going anywhere, some of the might have to. We don't have any offense and something needs to be done about that, and I hope Burke does it tomorrow.

Written by :

Shane B.