Roughly 5.6 seconds after Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray said the only untouchables on his roster are Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu, the hockey world was abuzz with trade speculation. Some of the scuttlebutt was interesting; some idiotic. But one potential deal has received a lot of attention: Toronto acquiring the services of Ryan Getzlaf.
It’s something the Toronto Star’s Damien Cox wrote about today, based on the following logic:
-- Leafs GM Brian Burke knows Getzlaf well from Anaheim’s 2007 Stanley Cup championship.
-- Burke has a history of making big deals prior to the trade deadline. Most notably, the Dion Phaneuf trade of Jan. 2010.
-- Burke and Murray have orchestrated a number of deals together. There was the Francois Beauchemin-for-Joffrey Lupul and Jake Gardiner trade, J.S. Giguere-for-Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala trade and, most recently, the Luca Caputi-for-Nicolas Deschamps trade.
-- “Getzlaf would certainly also fit the pattern of players who appeared to run out of steam in other cities coming to Toronto and finding the atmosphere reinvigorating,” Cox writes. “It worked for Phil Kessel, Phaneuf and Joffrey Lupul, all of whom may be in the NHL all-star game later this month.”
There were other eyebrow-raising notes as well, like Burke’s recent dumping of salary (putting Phillipe Dupuis and Colton Orr in the minors) and the young assets Toronto has to offer in Luke Schenn, Nazem Kadri and Joe Colborne.
It’s all whispers and scuttlebutt right now, but could a deal eventually be in the works? Murray’s at the end of his rope with the disappointing Ducks and lit into his players after last night’s 3-1 loss to San Jose. Desperate times call for desperate measures...though Murray would have to be really desperate to ship out Getzlaf.