The Fifth Liners

The trade rumour mill has been grinding vigorously of late and one name that has been at the centre is that of Carolina Hurricanes captain, Eric Staal .  Word has been that Staal would be happy to waive his no trade cause and join the Toronto Maple Leafs instead. At 30 years old and with only one year left on his contract, this would certainly help lift $8 million off the Hurricanes salary cap. But the real question is, what would be the long term effect of letting one of their stars leave? Ever since their remarkable run to the 2006 Stanley Cup win, the Hurricanes have struggled to be any where near competitive and Raleigh, North Carolina is unlikely to see another cup banner raised any time soon. Eric Staal since being a second overall pick in 2003 has been a solid player for them over the years. His 690 points from just 770 NHL games reads very well, but his plus/minus figures have been consistently dropping recently. Last season amidst a lengthy knee injury, Sta...

The Pittsburgh Penguins won a titantic back and forth battle against the Toronto Maple Leafs last night for a 6-5 shootout win at the Consol Energy Center! From the very outset, things were far from straight foward and despite Chris Connor putting the Penguins ahead after 1.57 of the first period, James Van Riemsdyk soon made thing a tie game after he scored on the powerplay after 5 minutes. From there things got very tricky for the home team as Nazem Kadri gave Toronto the lead after 11 minutes. Less than 43 seconds into the next period- the Leafs hit Pittsburgh with a double blow as a crucial mistake by Marc-Andre Fleury as he attempted to pass the puck behind his net to Jayson Megna let in Van Riemsdyk for his second goal after only 13 seconds! Thirty seconds later Phil Kessel would score to put Toronto 4-1 in front and add to the home fans frustrations! Powerplay goals by Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang midway through help raise spirits- but when Tyler Bozak popped up to score...

One of the biggest talking points north of the border recently has been the Nazim Kadri situation, the two parties have been discussing a deal for a while now and finally something has been agreed. Kadri will remain a Leaf for the next two years and pocket a reported 5.8 million. Why has it taken so long to get to this point? Toronto Maple Leafs GM Dave Nonis has been open about the situation, Kadri's camp were looking for a long term big money contract, while the Leafs were looking at more of a bridging contract. Kadri told reporters that the "deal is fair for both sides" but based on the original five or six years previously mentioned, this seems like a big concession on Kadri's part. This is understandable though. Kadri is a good player, but he's not yet proven himself to be worthy of big money. In 99 games, he's scored 26 goals. Last season he didn't make the top 20 goal scorers. Watching Kadri play, he clearly has talent, but it makes sense f...

A late goal flurry by the Boston Bruins saw them win an entertaining game 7 clash against the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime at the TD Garden last night. This result now sets up an Eastern Conference semi final clash with the New York Rangers ! The game itself was a titanic back and forth affair, the Bruins started well with Matt Bartowski putting them ahead in the first period. Cody Franson levelled for the Leafs midway through the period and then succeeded in doubling his goal tally early in the second period to give Toronto a 2-1 advantage. The third period is when the action really kicked into life as the Bruins seemed to fall to pieces as early period goals from Phil Kessel and Nazim Kadri pushed the Leafs even further ahead and appeared to be giving Boston their marching orders. But incredibly this was not the end of the story as Nathan Horton gave them hope midway through and then Milan Lucic reduced the margin to one goal with two minutes to play! But then 1st star P...