Having had a couple of days to ponder the moves the Leafs made on Sunday, it’s time to give my thoughts on what was accomplished.

First, it’s incredibly important that Leaf fans understand what’s going on here.  Bob McCown (FAN590 personality) put it best when he said used the analogy of building a house.  Brian Burke is laying the foundation, but it’s far too early to tell what the house is going to look like, or even if it’s going to be able to stand on it’s own.

The trade with Calgary can be broken down to 3 separate trades. 

First, we traded Jamal Mayers for Fredrik Sjostrom.  This trade is so insignificant, it likely wouldn’t have been mentioned were it not part of a bigger deal.  Neither player will be a major contributor to their team moving forward, and neither player has a whole lot of trade value.  If anything, the Leafs did good here to move the malcontent (Mayers) for someone who might be able to help their atrocious penalty killing.

Next, we have Matt Stajan for Keith Aulie.  Despite the delusions of grandeur shared by Leafs Nation, Matt Stajan is not, and will not become, a legitimate 1st-line center on a good hockey team.  Stajan is a mediocre number 1 center on a bad team, a serviceable 2nd-line center on a mediocre team, and a good 3rd-line center on a contending team.  His trade value probably maxes out at a 2nd-round draft pick, so Burke did well to acquire Aulie.  Aulie was originally a 4th round pick of the Flames (in 2007), and Hockey’s Future has him listed as the 3rd best prospect in the Flames system.  A hulking defenseman, there’s a very good chance that Aulie cracks the Leafs lineup as a 3rd-pairing defender at some point in the next 2 seasons.  To sum up, acquiring a prospect of Aulie’s stature in exchange for a soon-to-be-UFA Matt Stajan is a pretty good roll of the dice.

Of course, the center piece of the deal is then Niklas Hagman and Ian White in exchange for Dion Phaneuf.  Hagman and White have been amongst the Leafs best players this season, which isn’t saying much, but there it is.  As for Phaneuf, he’s been a tremendous disappointment.  2 years ago, Phaneuf was a Norris trophy candidate, future perennial all-star, defensive mainstay for Team Canada, and the untouchable cornerstone of the Flames future.  Today, he’s a Maple Leaf.  I think that says something about how far he’s fallen.  Obviously, if Phaneuf regains any of his former promise, the Leafs are the clear winners of this multi-player deal.  If he doesn’t, then Toronto has saddled itself with an enormous contract that will be unmovable.

Personally, it’s hard to hate this deal.  The Leafs acquired a guy that could potentially be the face of the franchise for the next 10 years, in exchange for what amounts to spare parts.

The 2nd deal of the day was one of the most brilliant deals in the history of the salary cap.  Brian Burke found a team willing to take the most overpaid NHL player (Jason Blake) and the worst NHL goalie (Vesa Toskala) and he didn’t have to sweeten the pot with a prospect and/or draft picks.  He even managed to get a very good, albeit expensive, goalie in return.

A lot of people are worried about Giguere’s contract, and with a 6-million dollar cap hit they have ample cause.  It’s important to remember that his contract expires after next season.  The Leafs won’t be contenders next season, so having that money come off the books going into the 2011-2012 season is huge.  That will give the team a lot of added flexibility going forward, something they didn’t have with Jason Blake, whose contract lasted 1 year beyond that.

The only reason for concern with Giguere is the Leafs new backup goalie, Jonas Gustavsson.  An RFA at the end of the season, the Leafs need to know what they have in him.  Is he a potential starting goalie?  Is he a career backup?  If someone signs him to a 3-million dollar offer sheet, do you match?  Let him walk?  I think rolling with Giguere as the starter indicates 1 of 2 things.  Either the Maple Leafs have already made up their mind on Gustavsson, or they’re going to try convincing him to take another season and put Giguere in the mentor role.  If it’s the former, the decision has to be to let him walk; he’s shown nothing thus far to indicate that he’s an NHL goalie.  If it’s the latter, the Leafs may have to contend with other clubs wanting to gamble with the Swedish goaltender.

All in all, the Leafs are starting to build upon the foundation that started with Luke Schenn.  With Schenn, Phaneuf, Mike Komisarek, Carl Gunnarson, and Francois Beauchemin, the Leafs defensive corps is set.  They have their dynamic, goal-scoring forward in Phil Kessel.  They Leafs now need to find a true first-line playmaking center, a starting goaltender, and at least 2 more legitimate top-6 forwards.  Then, and only then, can we start talking about the rebuild having worked.  After that, we aim for the playoffs.