Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Windsor Spitfires' Richard Greenop

On July 1st the Toronto Maple Leafs were not only looking to sign players to make the big club more truculent, pugnacious, and other words that are fun to say. Brian Burke, despite jetting over to Sweden, was able to get Richard Greenop's signature on a contract in order to make the Toronto Marlies a more entertaining team to watch as well. If I had one piece of advice though it might be to get a new agent:

A sixth-round pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2007, the NHL club opted not to sign Greenop and allowed him to become a free agent.

"I honestly have no idea what happened with Chicago," said Scott Norton, who is Greenop's agent.

Greenop was actually on the list of players headed to the prospects camp being held July 5-10 in Etobicoke and it was pretty clear that Burke wanted to get his hand on the Memorial Cup Champion:

"I had five phone calls after the draft and we were able to get a contract before he ever stepped into a camp."As noted in the article, it will be a two-way deal but what the article doesn't delve too deply into is why Brian Burke would want to sign an overaged OHL player. The picture might be a hint but come with me over the jump and we'll crack the case together.

Hockey's Future actually has a profile on Greenop and it reads like a Brian Burke help wanted ad:

Talent Analysis

Greenop is a hulking forward who plays an intensely physical game.

He's also rated a 6.0D but that might as well be farsi for the average hockey fan. Actually, it's pretty clear that a 6 out of 10 is nothing to get excited about so let's check out their explanation to confirm:

6 - Third line forward -- generally speaking, players whose game is defensively-oriented, or whose abilities aren't quite good enough to land full-time duty on the 2nd line. Think Kris Draper or Stephanne Yelle.

WOW! That is amazing! That D must stand for Delirious because that's how happy we'll be when a un-signed OHL overager turns into Kris Draper. Let's just make sure:

D - Unlikely to reach potential, could drop 3 ratings - a player who has a chance to reach his potential but is unlikely to do so.

Crap. So what the hell is he going to do on the Marlies?

Turns out that Richard Greenop is quite the scrapper. I wonder if he puts up points like Milan Lucic? Let's take a look:

At least the skilled players on the Marlies will be protected I guess.