Toronto Maple Leafs Acquire Fabian Brunnstrom From Dallas Stars, More To Come?

Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke made a minor deal today to acquire 25 year old Swedish winger Fabian Brunnstrom from the Dallas Stars in exchange for 21 year old Belarusian prospect Mikhail Stefanovich.

*Useless fact: If Stefanovich had been able to make the Leafs roster, it's a safe bet the Leafs would have been the only team not only in the NHL but in hockey history to have two players named Mikhail who both hail from Belarus.

Brunnstrom is a 6'-1" speedster who has decent vision and is very strong on the puck. Various scouting reports including the one found here have him touted as a Marion Hossa type player with similar skill and speed but needs to develop a bit of a thicker skin as he has been known not to react well either to pressure or in pressure situations.

Going the other way is 21 year old Mikhail Stefanovich. Stefanovich, originally signed out of the KHL in 2009 is thought to be both highly skilled and feisty but needs to work on his skating abilities.

A veteran of international competition already at the age of 21, Mikhail Stefanovich has netted 22 goals and 11 assists in junior international play and will no doubt help the Stars down the road.

While this move doesn't do a lot to either bolster the Leafs current roster or address the more obvious need for a number one center, it at the very least gives them more depth on either wing and potentially another piece to add in a trade.

There could and likely will be more moves on the way, in spite of the Leafs recent success, there is still work to be done before this team can be considered a threat in the post season.

Burke has said publicly on more than one occasion that he had expected more from the teams current players, he also admits that making trades in the salary cap era is a lot more difficult that it was before.

 

"....I’ve been working the phones really hard. Like I said the other day my phone bill for the last two weeks could feed a small country but it's really hard in the cap system. We haven’t been able to come up with anything that makes sense"  Brian Burke, Toronto Maple Leafs GM.

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