Revisiting The Leafs Owen Nolan Trade

After watching Brad Boyes play so well last night in the Boston Bruins 3-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens and wondering how the Leafs could have traded Boyes away, I figured it would be a good time to look at the big Owen Nolan trade again.

On March 5, 2003 the San Jose Sharks traded Owen Nolan to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Alyn McCauley Brad Boyes and a 1st round draft choice in 2003. As we all know the Leafs are in a contract dispute with Owen Nolan and declined to pay Nolan his $5.6M salary this year. Since Nolan injured himself while at home, the Leafs also decided they are not responsible for buying Nolan out for two thirds of his salary. This matter still has not been resolved.

At the time of the trade the Leafs felt they were getting the big power forward that could get them to the promised land of the Stanley Cup finals. In 2003 Nolan finished the regular season with a respectable 12 points in 14 games. In the playoffs Nolan chipped in an unsatisfactory 2 assists in 7 playoff games and that was it. In 2003-2004 Nolan contributed 48 points in 65 games and was not available for the playoffs. This was not the player the Leafs traded for.

Alyn McCauley finished out the 2003 with 10 points in 16 games. In 2003-2004 McCauley contributed 47 points in 82 games and a further 3 points in 11 playoff matches. On paper at least, the Sharks got pretty good value just by obtaining McCauley for Nolan.

Brad Boyes spent most of his time in the AHL prior to this season picking up 75 points in 80 games with the Providence Bruins last season. In March, 2004 The Bruins traded defenseman Jeff Jillson to Buffalo, which sent center Curtis Brown to San Jose, which sent forward Brad Boyes and defenseman Andy Delmore to Boston. This season the 23 year old has 38 points in 53 games with the Bruins and is now playing on the 1st line with Patrice Bergeron and Marco Sturm. Boyes certainly would look good now wearing the Blue and White of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The first round draft choice, 16th overall in 2003 was used by the San Jose Sharks to select 6'2" 233 lb power forward Steve Bernier. After four seasons of 30+ goals in the QMJHL with Moncton Wildcats, Bernier started this season with the Cleveland Barons of the AHL. This season Bernier picked up 42 points in 44 games with the Barons and in January, 2006 was promoted to the San Jose Sharks where he has now played 8 games and picked up 2 points. Shark fans are talking long term that Bernier could be the power forward that Nolan once was.

Sometimes the best trades are the trades that are not made.

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Tuesday night the Toronto Maple Leafs ended overtime tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-2 and eventually lost in the shoot-out. Ed Belfour put together his second consecutive excellent performance turning aside 35 shots during regulation and overtime, but, it wasn't enough. Darcy Tucker also played very well for the Leafs scoring a goal and assisting on another to extend his goal scoring streak to three games since returning from injury.

Bryan McCabe returned to action and played well for his first game back, but, the rust was evident. McCabe was unable to contain Ryan Craig in front of the net in the third period which resulted in Craig scoring to tie the game at 2-2.

The worst defensive play was far more painful to watch. The play started with Tomas Kaberle clearing the puck from behind the net with a limp pass. Kaberle obviously did not realize how little time was left in the period. Cory Sarich intercepted the pass, Alexei Ponikorovsky failed to cover and Brad Richards knocked it past Belfour with 0.6 seconds left in the first period, a period the Leafs otherwise dominated.

Kaberle did redeem himself somewhat with a second period power play goal with a nice shot from the point that Darcy Tucker was later credited with deflecting. Overall the defence including the kiddie corps (Staffan Kronvall, Andy Wozniewski, Jay Harrison) did play quite well, although Belfour's stellar goaltending did cover up some sins.

The Shoot Out went poorly for the Leafs as they were clearly outclassed by World Class snipers. Mats Sundin had the first shot and had a poor attempt resulting in a shot right into the abdomen of Sean Burke and an easy save for Burke. I figured Pat Quinn would start with Sundin out of respect, but, Sundin just is not that good of a sniper at this point. Next up was Vincent Lecavalier who did a masterful deke on Belfour culminating with a back hand to the top shelf. Ponikovsky then had his turn for the Leafs and shot a laser wrist shot to the crossbar on what was a very nice attempt. Brad Richards capped the game off for the Lightning with a similar attempt to Poni's, but, with success.

I'm curious as to why Kyle Wellwood wasn't shooting for the Leafs. He has a fantastic pair of hands, is very creative and must be tough to defend against as he is very unpredictable. Wellwood is slowly blossoming for the Leafs and at times is extremely entertaining to watch.

If nothing else, the shoot out showcased the masterful skills of Lecavalier and Richards, two who I will be cheering on in the Olympics and who will be involved in capturing the Gold Medal for Canada.

Bits and Bites....There is a good article on Oshawa Generals 15 year old future super-star John Tavares ...I attend many Generals games and truth is Tavares is a joy to watch, a very good sniper and a good playmaker who is living up to his press clippings.

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