Armchair Coach: Free Agency 2009

Every July 1st, free agency begins for the NHL, allowing teams to upgrade talent, or offload bad contracts. This season, the Leafs made many changes before and during the season, most notably in their front office. They finally landed a big time General Manager whose penchant for big moves was the talk of the town for several weeks even before he was even hired.

The NHL Draft and beginning of free agency are Brian Burke's biggest opportunities to start making his mark on a team that has lacked identity, competitiveness and skill for a very long time. During his inauguration speech last November, Burke promised that "[the Leafs will] require, as a team, proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence."


Burke promised to make a run at securing the number one pick at the draft this year, but other general managers were wary of Burke's draft-day dealings. He has orchestrated some of the biggest signings on th draft floor in modern hockey, securing the first overall pick to land Chris Pronger for Hartford and making a complicated set of swaps to land the top 2 and 3 picks to snag Daniel and Henrik Sedin. Needless to say, the Leaf draft was more subdued and no large deals were made.

Today's first day of free agency showed that Burke was serious about his promise.

Additions:
Colton Orr: 6'3" 222 lbs | RW
Garnet Exelby: 6'1" 215 lbs | D
Mike Komisarek: 6'4" 245 lbs | D

They're big, mean and hit hard.

July 6, 2009:
Burke continues to stock up on Defensemen, signing Francois Beauchemin to a 3 year $10 Million deal. Beauchemin is coming off an injury-plagued off-season with Brian Burke's former team, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. For those keeping track at home, the Leafs' current defense looks like this:
Tomas Kaberle, Ian White, Luke Schenn, Jeff Finger, Mike Van Ryn, Garnet Exelby, Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin

Marlie call-ups: Jonas Frogren, Anton Stralman, Jay Harrison, Jaime Sifers, Phil Oreskovic

It is an impressive stack of defensive presence that will hopefully quell the number of goals against this upcoming season, and maybe boost Vesa Toskala's confidence and statistics (so we can trade him for greater value at the deadline). The Leafs gave up 293 goals in 2008-09, an average of nearly 4 goals per game.

That being said, there should be no delusions of grandeur about this upcoming season. The Leafs are still going to be hard to watch. We will have trouble scoring goals (unless Patrick Lalime is the opposing goaltender)and we will rack up at least 17 penalty minutes a night. We will not make the playoffs by any stretch of the imagination. But we will be hard to play against. Anyone moving into the slot for a shot will be punished. Our younger players will get every opportunity to play and learn on the job.

July 7, 2009:
The news just keeps on rolling. Highly coveted Swedish netminder, Jonas "The Monster" Gustavsson, has signed a one-year entry-level deal with the Maple Leafs. Gustavsson is widely regarded as "the best goalie not playing in the NHL" and was between the pipes for the Swedish national team. He will play backup to Toskala, but has a good shot at taking over the number 1 spot if Toskala puts up numbers like last season's, where he played through hip and groin injuries.