Jeff Finger

Dear Jeff Finger,

It’s not your fault. Really it isn’t. In fact, you deserved better.

When you left Colorado after the 2007-08 season and became a free agent, you seemed to be the definition of a late-bloomer. After spending three years at St. Cloud State and four more in the AHL, you crept into the NHL with five points in your first 22 games, and 19 points in your first full season.

If you were 21 people would say it’s the start of a promising career.

Michael Traikos of the National Post reports that demoting Jeff Finger was not just a business decision. It was because, as Ron Wilson points out, there are seven defencemen ahead of him on the depth chart.

Damien Cox thinks the demotion of Jeff Finger is a signal to the rest of the league that the Leafs have cap space to sell.Cox further elaborates that the cap space the Leafs have is a shade above $4 million. Cox sees this as a sign that the Leafs will collect some bad contracts.

Ron Wilson, head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced Tuesday after practice that the Leafs have waived everybody's favourite whipping boy, Jeff Finger.

If he clears waivers by noon Wednesday, which is very likely due to his $3.5 million salary, Finger will be sent to Toronto's American Hockey League affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.

In a move that no one is surprised with, the Leafs decided to waive defenseman Jeff Finger Tuesday.

If Finger clears waivers, the veteran defenseman will report to the Toronto Marlies, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Maple Leafs.

According to Coach Ron Wilson and Leafs brass, Finger's contract will not be bought out, however. If an injury or bad play happens to any of the defenseman, Finger will be on the club's radar as a replacement call-up.

Sheldon Souray will not be dealt to Columbus for the Mike Commodore straight up, the Oilers will have to throw in a pick, or possibly a prospect. This seems logical but since Commodore has more years left on his contract this would be a bad trade for Edmonton unless the draft pick is really low. However, I do not expect Columbus to accept a low draft pick so this deal will probably not be done.

With the Ilya Kovalchuk contract finally behind us, the Devils now move forward in their pursuit for the Cup. Unfortunately, the signing of Ilya Kovalchuk put the Devils approximately $3.0 million dollars over the cap.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lighting made a minor deal today with Alex Berry and Stefano Giliati of the Toronto Marlies going to the Sunshine State while the Lightning send bruising defenseman Matt Lashoff to Toronto.

While losing prospects has not been the norm for the Leafs as of late, this latest deal may be a pre-curser to something much bigger.

Last week I predicted that Kaberle would not be traded in “In Brian Burke’s Shoes: Keeping Kaberle” article. Since Sunday, I’ve been analyzing Burke’s future plans this upcoming season. From what I’ve thought about, the future looks bright for the blue and white.

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A summer's worth of waiting, anticipating, and hoping for a Tomas Kaberle trade all turned out to be a waste of valuable time to all Leafs fans. Much like all of the anticipation for TSN's Free Agent Frenzy, all fans are left with this bitter taste in their mouths and a feeling that they got duped by all the media speculation and rumors.

That Tomas Kaberle will now remain a Leaf, and stay with us for at least 9 more months, is no surprise.  However, that the Maple Leafs are so thin at centre heading toward Training Camp is a surprise. 

Having now likely heard straight from his opposing GM's own mouths where they believe they are weakest, should provide Brian Burke with a decent bargaining chip when contemplating who else from among his stocked blue line might add value to another team.