Leafs Grab Jeff Hamilton, Call Up Ondrus, Start Gerber

The Leafs are negotiating a contract with Jeff Hamilton to play for the remainder of the season with the Maple Leafs.

Hamilton was a free agent, and will help fill the roster spots that were vacated by Dominic Moore and Nik Antropov.

To fill up that second spot, the Leafs have called up Ben Ondrus. The hard hitter had served as the captain of the Marlies for this season. He had not played in a single game with the Leafs up to this point.

And we're set to see Martin Gerber in the crease for tonights tilt against the Capitals, who will be getting Alex Ovechkin back.

For some odd reason I actually think Gerber will be good for us - but I really shouldn't speak too soon. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt - he came into this season as the clear starter for the Senators, and seems to play extremely well in spurts of 20 games or so, then goes back to being bad.

Deadline Day Recap and Reflection

I know we didn't get the big blockbuster we want or a first rounder for Antropov, but I'd still say we've come out of this deadline much better off.

First of all, Burke made it clear that he's not taking any shit from players over contracts. Either you get paid for the role you know you are, or you're out of town. Dominic Moore just doesn't deserve 2.5 million plus.

In Martin Gerber we get an interesting goalie who could give us some good games and some bad ones. He's never been consistent, but since he won't be under much pressure in Toronto, he might be playing with some effort. Most people thought the second time through re-entry waivers would be a waste of time, but surely enough the truth came out about Toskala's hip injury.

We've managed to round up two second rounders (one from the Antropov trade to the Rangers, one from the Moore trade to Buffalo), a fourth rounder (from the trade that brought Heward, Kolzig and Andy Rogers) and a conditional pick in 2009 (again from the Antropov trade).

Three trades is just about what we should have expected out of today. Teams just aren't into blockbusters now that the salary cap is on pace to be lowered. There is a future-oriented consciousness in the minds of NHL GMs that just wasn't there in recent years. It's unfortunate, and it made for one dry deadline day.

But Burke has made it clear that his big moves will probably come in the offseason. Fair enough, we've got the time. The best way to counter years of short-sightedness in the Leafs organization isn't to act rashly. Evidence that Burke only traded these two players because of their UFA status is because Ian White was not moved. Moore and Antropov went for 2nd rounders, which is what was offered for White. Why was White not traded? Because he's under contract until 2011.

For a deadline day that didn't have much excitement, I was pleasantly surprised by Burke's demeanor.

No big blockbuster for us. No Bouwmeester. No Pronger. No Giguere. Nothing that The Fraud (to borrow the term from PPP, I mean Eklund) made up.

Picks, yes.

I really wasn't sure if Burke would try to pull some trades to get this team contending by 2010-2011, but it looks like he's taking his time.

After all, his six year contract gives him lots of that.

Leafs, Burke Deadline Madness Has Begun

Trade deadline today at 3:00 PM. It's going to be a day of madness.

This is the first time in a while that the Leafs have been big sellers at the trade deadline. Burke, however, is not feeling the heat on this deadline to make any rash decisions. He's got the GMs in the league held ransom and has no reason to unload unless he gets what he wants.

Burke said himself he would only make trades if his lofty demands were met. And you never know, a lot of them might be.

He's been downplaying today because he might not end up making more than two or three trades. It really depends, but it could be more like four or five.

It will be especially interesting to see who the Leafs take back, player wise. Burke said one of his positions of strength going into this deadline is that the Leafs can take back salary. It's also speculated that the Leafs might make a claim for Martin Gerber who will be placed on re-entry waivers today, because of Vesa Toskala's nagging injuries that could have him out for the rest of the season. I don't see it happening, but who knows.