On Wednesday, the Leafs acquired blue-liner Brian Leetch from the New York Rangers in exchange for defenceman Maxim Kondratiev and forward Jarko Immonen.
"Brian has been a premier defenceman in this league since first coming into the league," Leafs general manager John Ferguson Jr. said of the nine-time all-star.
The Leafs bolstered their blue-line on Wednesday by acquiring Brian Leetch from the Rangers. (CP Photo)
"We look forward to having a player with his great credentials joining our group."
New York also receives Toronto's first-round pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and its second-round pick in 2005, while the Leafs get a conditional pick, either a fourth-round selection in 2004 or a third-rounder in 2005 .
A two-time Norris Trophy Winner, Leetch has spent each of his 16 NHL seasons with the Rangers, helping New York win the Stanley Cup in 1994 – the club's first championship since 1940. He scored an amazing 11 goals and added 23 assists in 23 playoff games to become the first American-born player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
The Rangers drafted Leetch in the first round (ninth overall) of the 1986 draft. Leetch went on to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie for the 1988-89 season, recording 23 goals and 71 points in 68 games.
In over 1100 games for the Rangers, Leetch scored 240 goals and added 741 assists. Leetch is part of a very exclusive club that includes Harry Howell and Rod Gilbert as the only players to play 1000 NHL career games in a Ranger uniform.
The 36-year-old Leetch is making $6.6 million this season and will earn $6.4 million next season in the last year of his current contract.
But the high cost of the veteran defenceman didn't scare off the Leafs from making the deal.
"We acquired a premier defenceman, a Stanley Cup winner ... that comes at a cost," said Ferguson. "We were comfortable with the cost."
"This has gone on for quite some time. But the bottom line is that the play of our club really indicated that if we could augment our back end ... we could really have a legitimate chance of competing and doing something special this year."
New York has been busy as of late. On Tuesday, they sent forward Alexei Kovalev to the Montreal Canadiens, and on Wednesday they dealt centre Petr Nedved and goalie Jussi Markkanen to the Edmonton Oilers.
"It's never easy to make moves of this magnitude," said Rangers president and general manager Glen Sather. "But the state that we're in now, we are obviously rebuilding and trying do what we can to make this club successful in the future."
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Sather admitted the Wednesday deal that saw the Washington Capitals send Gonchar to the Boston Bruins paved the way for the Leetch trade.
"I think that the market was really set by what happened with Gonchar," explained Sather. "We didn't agree with (Washington's) assessment but as we proceeded down the path we thought we did very well with the players we got and draft picks we got."
"Brian is a great player, he's a few years older than Gonchar but they're very comparable in a lot of the things they do. Brian is outstanding in his leadership and qualities on the ice, his endurance. We tried to get more than what Washington did with Gonchar."
with files from CP Online
