Mike Gillis announced on Monday that the Vancouver Canucks have officially filed tampering charges against the Toronto Maple Leafs after Toronto GM Brian Burke went public in saying that the Canucks offered Kevin Bieksa, Alex Burrows and their 1st round pick (22nd overall) to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for the 2nd overall pick (Victor Hedman) at this year' NHL entry draft. Gillis commented on the issue on the Team 1040 earlier this week.
"There are certainly some issues that the league needs to take control off when players' names are being thrown around. You're talking about lives and families and those things need to be kept confidential when you may be discussing a transaction of some type. There was a mention of player's names, which was very upsetting for them, and it doesn't make me feel very good."
Furthermore, earlier in the summer, Maple Leafs' head coach Ron Wilson made remarks that could possibly be interpreted as tampering on a Toronto radio station when he stated that the Leafs' would be interested in going after the Sedin twins during the free agency period.
Stay tuned to CanuckCity for the latest on this issue.
Our take: Brian Burke and Gary Bettman are tight and it seems like Burkie can get away with almost anything. With that said, the precedent will be set with the outcome of this case, so if the NHL doesn't dish out any punishment expect tampering to become a prevalent issue in the future. Clearly these things are considered illegal according to the CBA, especially Wilson's comments before July 1st about signing the Sedins (who were UFA's).
Wewould be naive to think that these kinds of things don't happen quite regularly, but they definitely shouldn't be done publicly. If found guilty, expect Toronto to owe Vancouver a draft pick and some cash.
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