Thank You Toronto

Toronto is supposedly one of the finest cities in North America. All sorts of culture and very cosmopolitan, if that's what you're looking for. Toronto is great for another reason. It is a living and breathing ATM for the Boston professional sports teams. The Blue Jays represent an easy 12-15 wins a year for the Red Sox. The Raptors are a joke of a franchise that the Celtics roll over. The Maple Leafs make the Bruins look like a hockey power. However, it's not just the victories that make Toronto the little brother to Boston sports. The teams north of the border are not just content with losing, they also want to hand Boston some of their best players. This is especially true when it comes to the Maple Leafs. Toronto's NHL team gift wrapped Tuukka Rask for us in 2006 for Andrew Raycroft. Known as the "Razor," Raycroft had been the NHL Rookie of the Year in 2004 but by '06 he looked like he was defending a soccer goal but Toronto was hell bent on taking him in exchange for Rask, who at the time was one of the most promising goalie prospects in the NHL and looks like a future Vezina Trophy winner. The Maple Leafs also fell in love with Bruins forward Phil Kessel, a talented goal scorer who avoided most of his other duties on the ice. When Kessel wanted a massive pay raise from the Bruins at the end of the 2009 season, the B's shipped him to Toronto in exchange for first round draft picks in 2010 and 2011 and a 2010 second round pick. Well it just so happened that the Maple Leafs were terrible this past season so that 2010 first round pick turned out to be the second overall selection behind the Edmonton Oilers. After the Oilers picked Taylor Hall, Boston drafted Tyler Seguin, a gifted scorer who is expected to contribute to a Stanley Cup contending Bruins team this winter. Now, thanks to those suckers to the north, the Bruins have added a potential franchise center for the cost of a one-way player who did nothing to improve the Leafs. Just another example of Boston taking advantage of the Great White North.