Leafs Sign Salmalaane...Salmalini...Salmonienien... a New Guy!

The Leafs have signed miniature skill forward Tony Salmelainen. Not a giant of a man, after going from Chicago to Montreal in the Samsonov trade, the Canadiens cut him after about 12 seconds because at 5'9, he outright would have been the tallest player on the team. That would have thrown the team size curve way off for those guys, and they would have had to order a new sweater (size M), and then they'd have to raise the top of the Bell Center doorways, and that's just so much more hassle for Bob Gainey.

So we have him on a one year, two-way deal which means that he'll challenge B. Battaglia and B. Deveraux for a forth line depth job. At worst he'll be a great call-up when, as usual, we go down with 1,000 man games to injury. He'll be a dependable, super-fast guy whose seen NHL games. Can't be bad.

The original report I heard on Salmelainen was that he's got crazy skills but is a bit soft; perfect for the Euro game, but not the NHL. Now I'm seeing that he has a surprising insanity streak, as evidenced by this report from Finland:

Oooooo-k. So he's nuts, what of it? Take it up with him and you'll obviously get a garbage can in the head. The little twerp can fight too, and I look sooo forward to seeing a feather-weight division death match when he kicks the life out of fellow little-person Mike Comrie.
The gold helmet he's wearing is for the most points on the team or something. It makes him look like Mordred from Excalibur: