Brayden Schenn Love, Power Rankings, Pogge, Pickups

Poll: Will Kaberle Get Moved Before the Trade Deadline? Plus Last Week's Results

In this week's poll I'm asking you to reflect on the recent developments surrounding the Leaf's Tomas Kaberle. He is likely to still recieve lots of interest from playoff contenders despite his broken hand that will keep him out until late February/early March.

Burke, however, has made it clear that he's not eager to move Kaberle. A guy of his calibre is hard to replace. It only makes sense for Burke to trade Kaberle if the return is high and future oriented. For example, were the offer Karl Alzner or Thomas Hickey and a draft pick, it wouldn't be a bad move for Burke to make.

In last week's poll I asked you who the Leafs would pick, were they to draft third in 2009. In other words, I wanted to know who the number one guy is to Leafs fans after Tavares and Hedman, the consensus top two for this year's draft. Not surprisingly, a majority of you picked Brayden Schenn, the younger brother of current Leaf Luke Schenn. Brayden will definitely be scrutinized by Leafs scouts in the upcoming months, if not already. He is ranked 5th by NHL Central Scouting, right around where the Leafs might pick.

However, I must say that there probably is one guy who is far and away more talented than Schenn. His name is Matt Duchene. A prolific scorer for the OHL's Brampton Batallion, Duchene played for Canada's U18 squad and was one of the last cuts for this year's World U20 competition. I'm confident that if we had the third pick we would take Duchene, but if the Leafs hover around the 4-7 mark, we might be able to get Schenn. What a great thing it would be for Brayden to play with his older brother.

Rankings Reassessed

I've done another update to my power rankings list. In the last update I had Nik Antropov in the number one position. Who's the new number one? Go to the power rankings now.

Plyons Protecting Pogge

Justin Pogge was back in net against the Buffalo Sabres Wednesday as part of the Leaf's 'plan' to gauge what the blue-chip prospect is made of. You might think it's hard to gauge a goalie when the defence in front of him plays like a bunch of pylons. The fact is there, though - in spite of alowing five goals, Pogge was able to stop 40 other chances. That, in front of the defensive support he received that night, is simply remarkable.

He's a very athletic goaltender, and with time he will learn to use his body to cover the angles and conserve his energy. He won't say it himself, but he probably wishes he could get just a bit more help back there. If you're Justin Pogge, you hope the Leafs rebuilding plans begin from the back out.

Kronwall Claimed

Staffan Kronwall was claimed by the Washington Capitals today on re-entry waivers. Burke knew he was taking a risk by doing this, but it's probably for the best that Staffan gets a shot to play in the NHL, where he belongs. It's a shame he never got going with the Leafs, but we wish him all the best.