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PHILADELPHIA - The Toronto Maple Leafs loaded up on youth and gambled on the future at the NHL draft Saturday. But they also looked after the present, acquiring Roman Polak from the St. Louis Blues for fellow defenceman Carl Gunnarsson and the 94th pick in Saturdays draft. At six foot and 236 pounds, Polak is a wide body. "He makes people pay a price," said Toronto president Brendan Shanahan. "Hes honest but hes tough. Hes a hard-worker, hes a low-maintenance guy." "Hes going to provide a little bit of edge. A tough guy to play against," added GM Dave Nonis. The 28-year-old Czech native has 79 points in 424 NHL games, including four goals and nine assists last season. Nonis said Polak would probably "play in the (No.) 4-5 hole" on defence. "We envision him having a pretty significant impact on our back end," he said. Despite his size, Polak can also skate. "People who dont think he has skating ability really arent watching," said Shanahan. Gunnarsson, a 2007 seventh-rounder, had spent five seasons with the Leafs and played with captain Dion Phaneuf on the teams top defensive pairing. Gunnarssons departure opens the door to Jake Gardner and sophomore Morgan Rielly to step up the depth chart. "Those guys are going to have to take steps forward," said Nonis. "It might be a lot to ask for Morgan in his second year but he made some pretty big strides last year. And we would expect that hell take some more next (year). I think Jake is a good possibility as well. "Again that will be up to Randy (coach Randy Carlyle) to see what he wants to do with that. But we feel there are other people that can play that role effectively with Dion." The Leafs piled pressure on their goalies last season, giving up shots in high numbers. Change was needed. "We liked our defence individually. We didnt necessarily like how they fit together last year. So we wanted to move some pieces and change the look, rebuild it a little bit. I wouldnt say its a major overhaul by doing something like this but it does give us a different element and its a player we didnt really have." A right-handed shot, Polak also fills a void on the Toronto blue-line. Nonis sees Petter Granberg, listed at six foot three and 200 pounds, as a similar-style player to Polak. But the Swede is just 21 and has played only one game for the Leafs. "To ask him to play that way and fit in as a top-six (defenceman) right away, I think might be difficult," he said. "If he does that, great, then we have even more options there." Nonis said the Leafs will "be active" during the free agency period. "If theres a fit there, I wouldnt rule out adding a defenceman and/or a forward," he said. "But I wouldnt promise it either." Toronto took Russian winger Rinat Valiev of the Kootenay Ice in the third round (68th overall), USHL winger John Piccinich in the fourth round (103rd overall), USHL centre Dakota Joseph in the fifth (128th overall), USHL winger Nolan Vesey in the sixth (158th overall) and Swedish winger Pierre Engvall in the seventh (188th). The Leafs used their first-round pick Friday night to take Swedish winger William Nylander eighth overall. Air Max Clearance . PETERSBURG, Fla. Air Max Wholesale . Speaking on TSN Radio 1050s TSN Drive with Dave Naylor on Monday, Colangelo said he had no intention of tanking the shortened 2011-12 season, but definitely wanted a high pick in the draft. "I wish that word wasnt used for headline reasons," said Colangelo, "but the story behind it was: how can we fix the system? How can we tweak the system to make it less likely that teams are rewarded for losing records? "I do believe that if youre as transparent as we were at the time - with our season seat holders, our fans, the market place and the media - everybody knew what the plan was and what we were going through. http://www.australiacheapairmax.com/.com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Cheap Air Max . Western and the second-ranked Laval Rouge et Or (7-0) once again received 20 and 10 first-place votes from the Football Reporters of Canada panel, respectively. Rounding out the Top 10 are the Calgary Dinos (7-0), Queens Gaels (7-1), Guelph Gryphons (7-1), Montreal Carabins (5-2), Bishops Gaiters (5-2), McMaster Marauders (5-3), Manitoba Bisons (4-3) and the Saskatchewan Huskies (4-3) Western crushed York 50-10 last Saturday in its league finale to secure first place in the OUA standings and a bye in the first round of the conference playoffs. Air Max Australia Onine . It was the start of one nice night for the goalie and the Minnesota Wild. Backstrom made 33 saves in his first win of the season and the Wild defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 on Saturday in a rematch of their first-round playoff series.Portland, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - Damian Lillard had 21 points and nine assists in three quarters of work as the Portland Trail Blazers thrashed the Chicago Bulls 105-87 on Friday night. LaMarcus Aldridge added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Blazers, who won their sixth straight game. Obviously Chicago didnt have three of their main guys, but I liked our demeanor, Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. Nikola Mirotic supplied 24 points and 11 boards for Chicago, which was without point guard Derrick Rose and power forward Pau Gasol again. Rose missed his fourth consecutive game with a hamstring injury, while Gasol didnt play for a third time in a row due to a left calf strain. The Bulls lost forward Taj Gibson in the third quarter of this one with a left ankle sprain. Its just the same lingering injury, Gibson said. I keep trying to play through it, try and be there for my teammates. I pushed through a whole summer of trying to rehab the same ankle and it just keeps flaring up. The Blazers led by as many as 17 in the opening frame before the Bullls cut the gap to 39-35 in the second.dddddddddddd Portland later responded with an 18-2 run and were never threatened again. Lillard hit consecutive triples at one point and netted eight points during the surge. Allen Crabbe capped the surge with a dunk to stake Portland to a healthy 59-39 advantage late in the first half. The Blazers led 61-43 at the break and by as many as 28 in the third before settling for an 89-65 cushion heading into the fourth, where they cruised to the easy win. Earlier, Aldridge and Lillard nailed triples in the first few minutes as Portland raced out to an 18-3 margin. The spread swelled to 26-9 late in the first. A 10-2 Bulls flurry pulled them within 30-21, but Chris Kamans reverse at the horn gave the Blazers a 32-21 lead going into the second. Game Notes The Blazers held a 48-28 points in the paint advantage ... Portland shot 49.4 percent (39-of-79) from the field and 9-of-16 from beyond the arc ... The Bulls shot just 36.1 percent (30-of-83) from the floor. 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