Toronto Maple Leafs

It has been a pretty busy week so far (compared to last week anyway). Here is what you should look out for.

A lot of teams such as the Sharks, Ducks, and Kings like Kevin Bieksa. Basically, the Pacific division loves him.

Rumor has it the Oilers are in talks with John Madden about becoming the teams third line center.

If Antti Niemi's arbitration award is too high, the Blackhawks will let him walk and pursue Jose Theodore or Marty Turco.

The Toronto Maple Leafs switched around their line-up quite a few times this past season, switching through different forwards until they figured out who deserves a spot on the team.

Well judging by last season, I narrowed my top 12 forwards if the Leafs season started right now.

Granted the fact that this list might change in a few weeks... *cough* top six forward *cough*

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Toronto Maple Leafs' general manager Brian Burke has had a busy summer acquiring numerous players via free agency and trading for some much needed depth.

This summer Burke has acquired rugged forwards Colby Armstrong and Mike Brown via free agency while also adding speedy Stanley Cup winner Kris Versteeg to the fold through a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks.

On defense Burke picked up veteran defenseman Brett Lebda, giving him even more depth on defense, which in turn may allow him to trade his ace in the hole, defenseman Tomas Kaberle.

Everybody knows that the Boston Bruins are having salary cap problems and with Blake Wheeler's arbitration hearing, Tyler Seguin's future contract, another roster player signing, and only $12,000, things aren't looking too good for the B's.

Ever since the lockout Marc Savard has been one of the premiere centers in the NHL. Over the last five seasons he has collected 392 points in 361 games.

Why?

It’s simple.

Dallas Stars are in need of boosting their defense. Dallas’ top D-man is Stephane Robidas with 41 points, which is not bad. Second is Trevor Daley with 22 points, four points less then Francois Beauchemin at 26 points, and with the rest of Dallas’ defense having less then Luke Schenn, which Schenn has 17 points, Dallas should be questioning what they have in the back end.

As you may already know, the Boston Bruins had a salary arbitration meeting with Blake Wheeler on Tuesday. Wheeler's agent said that the meeting was professional, essentially stating that it wasn't very contentious.

What is a matter of contention is how the Boston Bruins are going to respond to Wheeler's award.

The Toronto Maple Leafs recently announced that the 2010 Rookie Tournament will take place at the John Labatt Centre beginning on September 11th. This should be a great opportunity to see how the Leafs' young prospects have progressed over the summer, and give them a chance to showcase their talent in hopes of earning a spot on the big club in October.

A lot is going on in the NHL right now, here I will start with the news followed by the rumors.

NEWS

The Maple Leafs have acquired a new defenseman...again.

It's becoming a trend, doesn't it seem? The Leafs will sign or trade for another defenseman rather than focus on another forward.    

This time it was 28-year-old Brett Lebda and 25-year-old Danny Richmond.