For the past 2 seasons many Leaf fans have been a strong advocate for tanking and getting the first pick in the draft. But in both season, the Leafs did an unexpected turnaround after falling deep in the East standings to eliminate themselves of a lottery pick. Two years ago Cliff Fletcher traded away the obligatory draft picks to move up just 2 spots in the draft to grab Luke Schenn. Not the best move considering how deep the draft was that season. Last year Brian Burke pushed hard to do the same but failed.
Brian Burke pulled the rug from under Tank Nation this season by trading away this season's first and second pick and then threw in next year's first pick for good measure for the right to sign RFA Phil Kessel for $5.4 million a season. So where are the Leafs this season? Well right now in 29th place, deep deep in lottery pick country. Meanwhile Leaf Nation has been agonizing about handing over a lottery pick to the Bruins and praying that the Leafs move up in the standings. Just imagine how much lower in the standings the Leafs would be without Kessel in the lineup? Afterall they didn't give up a player from the roster in the trade.
So what does Burke do. Well he trades away all his veteran forwards which pretty much his top two lines. A classic formula for tanking. So with Edmonton coming to town tonight we can all sympathize with their miserable fans. With an already weak roster, the Oilers have endured an incredible long list of injuries all season. They currently have lost 393 man games to injuries this season which leads the NHL. these are just the players out right now: Nikolai Khabibulin (45 days), Alex Hemsky (45), Ryan Stone (40), Sheldon Souray (30), J-F Jacques (16), Ethan Moreau (6), Landislav Smid (16), Ryan Jones (3), Patrick O'Sullivan (1). So maybe those Oiler fans deserve to get Taylor Hall.
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