At Least They Didn't Get Him For Pronger

After about 30 seconds I finally managed to scrape myself off of my office floor when I got wind of the Leafs trading for Joff Lupul.

My first thought was Dave Nonis must have slipped moonshine in Burkie's coffee this morning. Then I saw this on tsn.ca:

"Maple Leafs president and general manager Brian Burke told a press conference that the deal for Lupul had been about three weeks in the making, and that he had tried to acquire the forward while he was still with Philadelphia up until the end of the 2008-09 season."

That's right, Joff Lupul - he of the same cap hit as Ales Hemsky - has been sought by Brian Burke for a long time. Burke and Richard Peddie must have been hitting 9:00 a.m. happy hour together for the last 2 years.

There is no way a sober man gives another GM a call and says, "hey, whaddya want for Joffrey Lupul. Our pro scouts really like him."

I remember watching Lupul for a year in Edmonton. If there was such a thing as a truculence quotient, Joff's rating would be worse than his career plus/minus number (-46 for those wondering).

Have fun Leaf fans. Jake Gardiner better turn into something special.