Aki Berg retires

[riff raff]

I see that Aki Berg has retired from professional hockey.

Let's all pause and silently think of our favourite sarcastic response.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Aki play haki?

 

[Fletch]

Didn't h eretire just before coming to Toronto?

 

[moon111]

During their time with Toronto; Phaneuf, Schenn, Komisarek, Aulie, Holzer, and Lashoff all have a worst +/- then Aki Berg did.  Wasn't bad one-on-one, but had no puck movement skills.  Always wondered why forwards couldn't drop back to at least be in a better position to take a small pass to get the puck out of their own zone.  Maybe they confused him for Tomas Kaberle.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

During their time with Toronto; Phaneuf, Schenn, Komisarek, Aulie, Holzer, and Lashoff all have a worst +/- then Aki Berg did.  Wasn't bad one-on-one, but had no puck movement skills.  Always wondered why forwards couldn't drop back to at least be in a better position to take a small pass to get the puck out of their own zone.  Maybe they confused him for Tomas Kaberle.

For the most part, Berg also played in front of a much better goalie than those guys have had in their time with the Leafs (the one exception being post-lockout Eddie). But yeah, I don't think he was as bad as many made him out to be. Decent 5/6 guy.

 

[ZBBM]

During their time with Toronto; Phaneuf, Schenn, Komisarek, Aulie, Holzer, and Lashoff all have a worst +/- then Aki Berg did.  Wasn't bad one-on-one, but had no puck movement skills.  Always wondered why forwards couldn't drop back to at least be in a better position to take a small pass to get the puck out of their own zone.  Maybe they confused him for Tomas Kaberle.

For the most part, Berg also played in front of a much better goalie than those guys have had in their time with the Leafs (the one exception being post-lockout Eddie). But yeah, I don't think he was as bad as many made him out to be. Decent 5/6 guy.

Right you are.  People also got on him because he has such a high draft pick (not ours of course).

The vitriol against him reminded me a bit of the shots against Lumme. who, in his prime -- not with use unfortunately -- was a better dman than Berg.

 

[bustaheims]

For the most part, Berg also played in front of a much better goalie than those guys have had in their time with the Leafs (the one exception being post-lockout Eddie). But yeah, I don't think he was as bad as many made him out to be. Decent 5/6 guy.

Yeah, that was pretty much my read on him. A lot of the hate seems to stem less from his actual play (which was neither great nor terrible), but rather the timing of the acquisition. I think a lot of fans were hoping the Leafs would have landed one of the big fish that were dealt leading up to the 2001 deadline (Blake, Tkachuk, Selanne and Linden were all moved within 3 weeks of the deadline) and, in the end, all the Leafs picked up was Berg.

 

[Damian]

Berg was grey at best....considering his draft expectations

 

[Capital Leaf]

Berg and Cross played well together as 5th and 6th D man on those playoff teams......they were huge parts of those playoff runs by shutting down the opposition....