OK, they get the problem. Now, can they close the deal? For the sake of our sporting soul, let's hope this doesn't turn into A-Rod on double-runners. Note to the hockey gods: Please, guys, just this once, OK?
Word around Toronto yesterday, best detailed in the Toronto Star, is that the get-'em-at-whatever-the-cost Maple Leafs have emerged as the "prohibitive favorite" to pry the 29-year-old Gonchar from the hapless Capitals. The package reportedly includes Nik Antropov, a first-round pick, and the choice of either Carlo Colaiacovo (D) or Alexander Steen (C), both of whom are former first-round picks.
The 6-foot-6-inch Antropov, now in his fifth season with Toronto, easily can be surpassed in the bidding if the Bruins are willing to toss Sergei Samsonov into the ante. It appears they could be convinced to fork over the Magical Muscovite. The first-round pick is simple enough to match. And if they want Gonchar badly enough, which would also mean being convinced they could keep him here for the next five years or more, they could toss 18-year-old Patrice Bergeron into the offer and suit up Gonchar for tomorrow's matinee here vs. the Flyers.
As enticing as Gonchar is, however, yielding Bergeron would be just too much. Short of that, Mark Stuart might also close the deal, but the 19-year-old Colorado College blue liner, picked 21st in last year's draft, might be harder to part with than Samsonov, because Stuart looks as if he has enough Ray Bourque DNA to project as a 15-year fixture on the backline. To toss in Stuart, the Bruins would have to look at expanding the deal to include Washington's 29-year-old blue liner Brendan Witt.
Samsonov, who revealed yesterday morning that he expects to be out two more weeks with a Travis Green-like rib injury, sounded unfazed by all the trade chatter that features him among the marquee names.
"Well, it's getting close to the deadline," said the dazzling 25-year-old winger, referring to the NHL's March 9 trade deadline. "In this business, you hear rumors all the time. I guess if it happens, it happens."
