Official Trade / Waive Aki Berg Thread

[gillianchung]

Sorry, I had enough of his -3 per game antics. Bump if you agree.

[Wildfire]

X

I've been begging for this for a couple of years now, and no luck yet.

[gillianchung]

Berg is such a consistant player. He does his thing at every game.

At least he should fight Chara, Neil or try to fight Alfie!!!! Take them off the ice!!! Make himself useful, coz he sucks on the ice.

Actually losing this game big may mean the Leafs talking to JFJ about his superb defense acquisitions this offseason.

He thought Khavanov would be enough, so he resigned Berg for so much money.

[The_One]

Him and Wade Belak. Don't know what Ferguson was thinking when he qualified both of them. :mad:

[d_jedi]

I dunno.. I think we should trade him. Maybe we could get a bucket of pucks.. not new ones, unless we're lucky, but better than nothing..

[Wildfire]

Him and Wade Belak. Don't know what Ferguson was thinking when he qualified both of them. :mad:
Berg has compromising photos of Ferguson with Pat Quinn.

[gillianchung]

can someone tell me how much worse we can be with Marchment and his super cheap contract compared to floating Berg and his 1 mill + contract?

[Hulkster]

Berg has always been useless. This season he's fat and useless.

[othy]

I guess belak and berg's +/- won't appear to be too bad this game since there have been all the PPGs.. still..

[gillianchung]

on a side note: Allison / Czerkawski / Khavanov haven't been very impressive at all.

I MISS MOGILNY!!! Anyone else miss him!!??!?!

The only reason I can think of for playing Berg is to Showcase him to send him to get Witt. It's not much of a showcase though.

[Anessa]

JFJ is Babcock in a hockey sweater. bump for waiving or buying out the guy

[mallik]

JFJ is Babcock in a hockey sweater. bump for waiving or buying out the guy

Don't insult Babcock like that. :D

[Carnage]

I dunno.. I think we should trade him. Maybe we could get a bucket of pucks.. not new ones, unless we're lucky, but better than nothing..

Well Columbus has one of our cast of defenseman as their #1 defensman(Anders Errikson).

Maybe they'd give us a draft pick for a 2nd slightly better cast off.

[baller]

he actually played ok today

even made a nice defensive play [gasp]

[gillianchung]

he actually played ok today

even made a nice defensive play [gasp]

i don't think you watched the WHOLE game?

[baller]

^^^ you're right i only watched the last 5 minutes of each period

[Carnage]

^^^ you're right i only watched the last 5 minutes of each period

So you probably missed all his bad plays.

Not too mention the couple bad penalites he took(I beleive at least one led to a goal)

[afong56]

X

I've been begging for this for a couple of years now, and no luck yet.

exactly.

jfj must have been on crack when he resigned that human pylon. it's not like he suddenly went downhill in terms of ability--berg has been terrible for a very long time. yes, he's big, but he's big and stupid. on heatley's first goal, guess who blew the assignment? ding! you are correct sir.

in the past, when he could clutch and grab, he was barely passable. now that he's got to skate and use his head, he's downright pathetic. . .but anyone who was following the leafs could have told you that.

ugh. amazingly, tonight was another game the leafs could have won (and yes, this time they were noticably overmatched), but for the lack of decent d-men.

[phillbert]

bump.

[d_jedi]

ugh. amazingly, tonight was another game the leafs could have won (and yes, this time they were noticably overmatched), but for the lack of decent d-men.
Wasn't just Berg's fault.. McCabe had a few brain farts.
5 on 3.. and you take yourself out of the play to pick up your stick?? Uugh.

[gretzky99]

Him and Wade Belak. Don't know what Ferguson was thinking when he qualified both of them. :mad:

Oh boy, I agree with ya.
In the Montreal game, Montreal was running around in circles around the Belak/Berg defensive combo everytime they were on the ice.
I noticed in tonights game they broke up the combo and had Belak/Klee and Berg/Khavanov.
IMO, Belak & berg are a complete waste of salary cap space! :mad:

[Geologic]

Wasn't just Berg's fault.. McCabe had a few brain farts.
5 on 3.. and you take yourself out of the play to pick up your stick?? Uugh.

lol.. I found that play quite funny. You'd think our top d-man would realize that we are on the defensive end of a 5 on 3 but he thought since we are already so talanted, he would go to the corner to get his stick. Atleast stick with the guy heading to the net..

anyways.. back on topic. Nobody really knows why Berg is still there. Even the commentators haven't really said anything about how bad this guy is, why is that? I don't get it..

[Carnage]

anyways.. back on topic. Nobody really knows why Berg is still there. Even the commentators haven't really said anything about how bad this guy is, why is that? I don't get it..

I can't think of an exact quote, but I'm sure I've heard the commentators say GOOD things about him? I can remember someone talking about how the new rules could help someone who can skate well, and make good passes like Berg. Not quite sure which game they were watching.

But then again I'm pretty sure it was either Cole/Niel so they probably thought they were talking about someone else.

[NDman]

Check

Count me in this petition.

Better yet, package him with Belak for a full visor for Sundin. I'll do this deal in a heartbeat :cheesygri

[PCDawg]

Wasn't just Berg's fault.. McCabe had a few brain farts.
5 on 3.. and you take yourself out of the play to pick up your stick?? Uugh.

At first i thought it was stupid too..but with the new obstruction calls..what can he do?? He cant us his hands to hold or block alfredsson......he could try to be an obstacle but risk using getting a penalty..what other choice does he have but to try to grab his stick quickly and perhaps get back and poke-check the player with the pcuk...

[numb555]

I would trade him for Bill Berg right now...

[Carpe Diem]

I would trade him for Bill Berg right now...

I would trade him for a Ice Berg or even a hamBERGer.

[Dibble]

I think we should ship him off to the desert and maybe pick up an elephant. At least it'll be a bigger and better pylon, not to mention the lower salary :D
And plus, i think it'll be far more entertaining to watch an elephant try and skate than berg trying to make a play. At least the elephant will be trying.

[yayawhoo2003]

They should waive Berg... They need more speed on D!! Ottawas forwards were blowin past the D all night. I like Kaberle, Klee, McCabe, and Khavanov but I think they should get rid of Berg, Belak I'm not too sure of yet, I think he is good as a reserve but nothing more. They need to either sign a couple of younger, faster Dmen or call up some guys from the farm team.

[rdtx2002]

They should waive Berg... They need more speed on D!! Ottawas forwards were blowin past the D all night. I like Kaberle, Klee, McCabe, and Khavanov but I think they should get rid of Berg, Belak I'm not too sure of yet, I think he is good as a reserve but nothing more. They need to either sign a couple of younger, faster Dmen or call up some guys from the farm team.

this is the new NHL..

you can't just waive players and sign new ones without regard of the salary cap.

and there is not much space left on the cap for the Leafs

[Ziggy007]

Forget sign/trade/waive him, I say they just toss him into the back of a pickup truck and drop him off somewhere outside of Toronto and let him disappear forever.

[mingming]

How much better the defence will look now if Dempsey and Jackman were still around.

[mallik]

How much better the defence will look now if Dempsey and Jackman were still around.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Or how about Jason Smith? Or Danny Markov?

Stupid Quinn.

[mcewen]

Can they be sent to the minors?

[mingming]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Or how about Jason Smith? Or Danny Markov?

Stupid Quinn.

Well Smith and Markov are too long ago. But how about Marchment? I'm sure he wouldnt do any worst than Berg, I alwyas thought marchment was pretty reliable. But since the leafs have to save face, they definently wont bring him nor stumpy back. That is just sad.

[mingming]

Can they be sent to the minors?

I think their contracts are one way. And Quinn is too blinded by loyalty. They'll keep playing every night and all Quinn will say is.. "i have to help them build confidence".

[CanadianMike]

I think we should ship him off to the desert and maybe pick up an elephant. At least it'll be a bigger and better pylon, not to mention the lower salary :D
And plus, i think it'll be far more entertaining to watch an elephant try and skate than berg trying to make a play. At least the elephant will be trying.
ROFL that put a hilarious image into my head.

[yayawhoo2003]

this is the new NHL..

you can't just waive players and sign new ones without regard of the salary cap.

and there is not much space left on the cap for the Leafs


Yes this is new NHL, but you still want to win regardless. How much is Bergs salary 1Mil a year?? If you dont waive him send him down, and call up some of the youngsters like I mentioned then you wont be spending any more money.. Or try and trade him for a prospect?

[Carnage]

Can they be sent to the minors?

To be sent to the minors they have to clear waivers.

If another team claims them off waivers then Toronto would have to pick up about half their salary.

Kind of a catch-22 situation.

[phillbert]

marchment is gone to the flames.

[The_One]

To be sent to the minors they have to clear waivers.

If another team claims them off waivers then Toronto would have to pick up about half their salary.

Kind of a catch-22 situation.

If he is put on waivers I'm hoping the Sens pick him up. :D

[HBP]

I think we should ship him off to the desert and maybe pick up an elephant. At least it'll be a bigger and better pylon, not to mention the lower salary :D
And plus, i think it'll be far more entertaining to watch an elephant try and skate than berg trying to make a play. At least the elephant will be trying.

Do you know how expensive an elephant is??? :!:

[oswalmi]

Step 1 - Waive, Trade, or give Berg a "Nancy Kerrigan" to the knee
Step 2 - Call up Colaiacovo
Step 3 - Sign Stumpy!
Step 4 - Give Quinn a helmet (how many pucks can this guy take?)

Problems Solved





http://www.knowitalls.ca

[sleepyguy]

I approve of everything except Step 4... fire him instead. :)


Step 1 - Waive, Trade, or give Berg a "Nancy Kerrigan" to the knee
Step 2 - Call up Colaiacovo
Step 3 - Sign Stumpy!
Step 4 - Give Quinn a helmet (how many pucks can this guy take?)

Problems Solved





http://www.knowitalls.ca

[rdtx2002]

Yes this is new NHL, but you still want to win regardless. How much is Bergs salary 1Mil a year?? If you dont waive him send him down, and call up some of the youngsters like I mentioned then you wont be spending any more money.. Or try and trade him for a prospect?

1. no cap space
2. waived players, still counts against the cap.. so if you bring up another youngerster.. that is another 450,000... if it's Carlo.. then is't 850,000

[Carnage]

1. no cap space
2. waived players, still counts against the cap.. so if you bring up another youngerster.. that is another 450,000... if it's Carlo.. then is't 850,000

There'sa long term injury clause where a player injured more then 10 days his replacement's salary does not count against the cap.

For instance techically we could bring someone up to replace Sundin, and that player's salary would not count against the cap.

So we just need Berg to have an "accident". ;)

[thelefteyeguy]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Or how about Jason Smith? Or Danny Markov?

Stupid Quinn.

No thanks on R. Jackman. He got a good chance with the leafs for a good 10 games. He had problems moving the puck and was not a very good skater.

And regards to N. Dampsey...he's a number 7 D guy.

Both players reached the age that they were no longer prospects. Had to make room for young prospects.

I'd rather the leafs keep

Colo over Jackman
Pilar, Woz, Kronwall over Dempsey

[mallik]

No thanks on R. Jackman. He got a good chance with the leafs for a good 10 games. He had problems moving the puck and was not a very good skater.

And regards to N. Dampsey...he's a number 7 D guy.

Both players reached the age that they were no longer prospects. Had to make room for young prospects.

I'd rather the leafs keep

Colo over Jackman
Pilar, Woz, Kronwall over Dempsey

A whole 10 games? I think this is the problem. Quinn is too impatient with guys he should be patient with, and too patient with guys he should start getting impatient with.

As far as Dempsey goes, there is no way he is a number 7 D guy. Maybe on a team with deep defence like Ottawa or Philly, but not on a team like Toronto.

Those guys that you mentioned may prove to be better than Jackman and Dempsey, but they're not there yet. I'm sure there are at least two guys on the defence that these two would be better than. ;)

[Carnage]

I'd rather the leafs keep

Colo over Jackman
Pilar, Woz, Kronwall over Dempsey

I'd put an * next to Pilar.

At least Jackman plays.

Pilar is kind of useless because of his health problems.

[cliff]

bump

Google results for "aki berg" and sucks (http://www.google.ca/search?num=20&hl=en&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22aki+berg%22+sucks&btnG=Search)

Results 1 - 20 of about 2,340 English pages for "aki berg" sucks. (0.52 seconds)

[thelefteyeguy]

You should read a lot more on Pilar, if healthy he's probably a good number 4 guy.

As for Jackman, those 10 (apparantly 29 from stats) games were enough for me at least. He's been bounced around so many times, from Dallas, Boston, Leafs, Pittsburg. Defensively he was worst then Berg in those 10 games. (-11 in 29 games with Toronto 03) and (-5 in 25 games with Pitts 03). Seriously, you can't play this guy with a Team going into the playoffs.

seems like there are still lots of Dempsey followers. This is what I saw. Dempsey is a 6/7 career player with ice time (to make him a 6/7 guy). The leafs could not afford to give this guy 15mins as a leaf with very little nhl experience. (The leafs were a playoff team for the past 3 yrs) You couldnt put him in St. John cause there are a lot of propects the leafs need to play (i.e Carlo, Woz, Harrison, Ian, Kronwall). Best thing the leafs could do is to trade him off to a team like Chicago to give him ice team with very little pressure. Go to any Hawks forum and ask them how they saw Dempsey during 2003. He was average at best on a really poor defensive squad.

[thelefteyeguy]

Stats on Pilar this past season with Cze league

Year Team League GP G A Pts +/- PIM Shots Sh%
2004-05 HC Sparta Praha Cze-Rep. 52 13 15 28 +15 70 - -
2003-04 Toronto NHL 50 2 17 19 +2 22 74 2.70
2003-04 St. John's AHL 6 3 4 7 +1 6 18 16.67
2002-03 Toronto NHL 17 3 4 7 -7 12 22 13.64
2002-03 St. John's AHL 7 2 5 7 -7 28 21 9.52
2001-02 Toronto NHL 23 1 3 4 +3 8 32 3.13
2001-02 St. John's AHL 52 10 14 24 +2 26 99 10.10
2000-01 CHZ Litvinov Cze-Rep. 52 12 26 38 - 52 - -
1999-00 CHZ Litvinov Cze-Rep. 49 2 12 14 - 53 - -

he was playing in the Top league in Cze with the likes of Jagr...hehe and Kaberle. Pilar was on the top like for his squad with a great record.



for ppl with nothing to do ...hehe like me this was a good read in Aug 2005 from an article in 2002!!!

Pilar ready in a pinch


By MIKE ULMER -- Toronto Sun

HAMILTON -- The cell phone lights up in the left hand of Karel Pilar II and a moment later, he does likewise.

"Hello mama," he said.

Now, Karel Pilar II, being a mannerly man, whispers the Czech equivalent of "I'll call you back," and resumes his interview but the sound of his mother Alana's voice has set free the joy that, for him, never strays too far from his face.

"She called all the way from Czech," Pilar said, enthused with either the technology or his mother's thoughtfulness in calling or, perhaps, the glory of a beautiful day in Hamilton.

With Karel Pilar II, you never know.

GOES ALL THE WAY

Not on the ice, where his brand of daring stands against the obsessive defensiveness of the NHL game. Likewise, not on the roadways, where he exudes a passion for fast driving. Not even in greeting his mother loudly and lovingly in front of a stranger.

"If I do something," he said, "I do it 400%."

Somewhere, on the windblown ledge between reason and whimsy, Pilar keeps his game. There are better defencemen, more judicious defencemen, more dependable defenceman. I dare you to find a more spontaneous one. Pilar makes Al Iafrate look like Colin Powell.

"Sometimes guys say I'm a little bit crazy," Pilar said. "I am. But you've also got to use your brain. I do that on the ice. I am sometimes crazy, but I'm using my brain as well."

A decade ago, the Pittsburgh Penguins were storming to the Stanley Cup and Larry Murphy was working the blue line.

Sixteen-year-old Karel Pilar would get up at 2 a.m. in his home town of Prague to watch the game. Like the rest of the country, his attention was focused on Jaromir Jagr but Pilar remembers Murphy.

Murphy's most singular gift was a complete unwillingness to surrender the opposition's blue line, especially on the power play. Players breezed by him bound for apparent breakaways but Murphy never budged. He would knock the passes down at the blue line like a horse knocking down flies with his tail.

When Pilar describes himself as an offensive defenceman, that is precisely the dimension to which he is referring.

He pinches. He pinches in all three zones. If he was a dog, he would be a Doberman ... you get the idea.

In the Czech Republic, Pilar took two years of university where he studied math and economics. Karel Pilar, the original, sells Renaults in Prague. I and II understand economic theory. A whole lot of success matters more than the occasional spectacular failure.

Pilar will pinch, "if it's close." So what is close? Well, that depends.

"You have to recognize the guy behind you," Pilar said. "It's about confidence. Sometimes I'll back off because it's not the right moment."

The wrong moment arrives rarely and he is at his most charming when trapped. Most defencemen will deadhead toward their own net, determined not so much to stop the rush but to be seen trying. It's a futile strategy, unless you're the second coming of Bobby Orr but you want to get back in the picture for the 11 p.m. highlights.

Not Pilar. When he is caught, he stands between the puckhandler and the target, flicking away passes in a way that would make Murphy beam with paternal pride.

This would all be an academic matter were Pilar not, at 25, a key figure along the Maple Leafs blue line.

Bryan McCabe, the recently acquired Robert Svehla and Tomas Kaberle will comprise the Leafs' top trio of rearguards. Players such as Aki Berg, Jyrki Lumme and perhaps Petr Svoboda, Anders Eriksson or Wade Belak will fill out everything after four.

But a spot on the Leafs' second pairing, with attendant power play and penalty killing responsibilities, is what Pilar is aiming for. The Leafs' top three is pretty good. Their bottom four is passable. The difference between a good defence and a poor one will hinge on the four spot, the spot right now envisioned for Karel Pilar.

After a stint in St. John's as a rookie and prime-time playoff minutes last spring, he says he is ready.

"I thought I could play in the NHL right away but I know now that isn't true," Pilar said. "I had to learn more about the NHL and I learned lots of things in St. John's like toughness and defensive styles.

"I'd be happy with the fourth spot. I want to be on the power play and the penalty kill. I love to play. I love the game."

He thinks again.

"It's too early," he said.

"I haven't even made the team yet."

[Carnage]

I realize that Pilar is a promising player.

Problem is that due to his heart condition he's never really been available. He's not dependable because of that.

Also is it really a good thing that the article compares Pilar to one of the most hated players that the Leafs have had in the past couple decades?

When I think Pilar = Larry Murphy that just makes me bitter.

[thelefteyeguy]

I realize that Pilar is a promising player.

Problem is that due to his heart condition he's never really been available. He's not dependable because of that.

Also is it really a good thing that the article compares Pilar to one of the most hated players that the Leafs have had in the past couple decades?

When I think Pilar = Larry Murphy that just makes me bitter.


larry murphy in his prime was good...

[Wildfire]

larry murphy in his prime was good...
I love how Larry Murphy was ridiculed and rode out of this town, and went to Detroit for a bag of pucks, but apparently he was good enough to win 2 Stanley Cup rings the next two years with them.

The problem wasn't with Murphy, it was with what the Leafs expected of him. He was getting up in age, yet they were playing him on the top pairing and giving him alot of ice time.
At that point of his career, he was a powerplay specialist and an excellent pointman, and that's how the Red Wings used him and why he excelled there, not as a guy getting heavy duty icetime with the Leafs.

[NDman]

In a way I felt bad for Murphy. I boo'ed him too when he was with the Leafs but on hind sight, it was Pat Burns who mis-used him, like Wildfire said. He's not a fast skater and he needs someone to complement his game. His PP was great and Detroit used it to their advantage. Too bad, so sad. Just one of those player that didn't quite work out