The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired forward James VanRiemsdyk from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenseman Luke Schenn.
In the second blockbuster trade of the 2012 NHL draft, the Maple Leafs and Flyers exchanged stars. This is a great “hockey” trade and will benefit both teams.
The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired a very talented top-six forward General Manager Brian Burke has been searching for. James van Riemsdyk has enormous potential and is ready to have a breakout year. He missed about half of last season with a broken foot that required surgery. He is healing now and will be ready in the fall to help the Leafs make the playoffs and contend for the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship since 1967.
Van Riemsdyk joins a young but talented offensive core in Toronto. This includes star scorer Phil Kessel along with Mikhail Grabovski and Joffrey Lupul. The speed and talent on this team will make defending against them very difficult.
Brian Burke released a statement on the trade. He said, “We are really excited by the parts of the game that James will bring to the Leafs. He will provide speed, size, and finesse to our top two lines and we know that he fits those needs that we have wanted to address for some time. We thank Luke for his tremendous on and off ice contributions to our organization. He’s a true professional and we wish him the very best in Philadelphia.”
This trade allows the Leafs to potentially deal another top-six forward to acquire another defenseman to replace Luke Schenn, who went to Philadelphia in this deal.
The Philadelphia Flyers acquired a strong defensive player in Luke Schenn. Schenn is exceptional in his own end and plays a very physical game. He fits perfectly into the Flyers system. The Flyers have one of the strongest defensive units in the league with Chris Pronger (if/when he returns from his concussion), Matt Carle, Nicklas Grossman, and Andrej Meszaros. Life the Leafs on offense, the Flyers abundance of defensemen give them the flexibility to move one to boaster another part of the roster.
Luke Schenn gets to join his brother, Brayden Schenn, in Philadelphia. Brayden tweeted, “Gunna miss playing with @JVReemer21 great guy. Now get a chance to play with the bro! Happy day in the Schenn household!”. This is the second pair of siblings to be united this weekend as Jordan Staal joined Eric Staal in Carolina last night.
Only time will tell who will benefit more from this trade..
More to Come..
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