I Got By in Time

The guys at uber Leaf site PPP graciously asked me to submit a post on Darcy Tucker. Sideshow Bob is playing against the Leafs tonight for the first time since his buyout this Summer. Here's what I sent them...

With the exception of Mats Sundin, has there been a Leaf as polarizing as Darcy Tucker?

When one thinks of Tucker, it's just as easy to conjure up a big hit, countless cross-crease power play tap-ins and a little man willing to take on all comers as it is to recall countless bad penalties, terrible defensive play and a propensity to end up on his ass along the side wall scrambling after that helmet of his that somehow just couldn’t stay on.

Then there's the whole Sideshow Bob act: was it a display of passion and tenacity or a guy all too often playing on the wrong side of the edge (ask yourself this: if it was Tucker going after Kostitsyn instead of Grabbo what would the reaction of Leafs-nation been?)

I don't know if it's unique to the Leafs, but this is a fan base that (sometimes inexplicably) elevates certain players and vilifies others to degrees that aren’t quite warranted.

Hard work (or the perception of working hard) is often the tipping point that determines where on the Leafs Nation Effigy to ElegyTM spectrum a player ends up.

Even with (or maybe because of) his Sideshow Bob antics, Darcy Tucker was beloved by most of Leafs nation.

Tucker put up respectable numbers during his time with the Leafs, breaking the 20 goal mark in five out of his nine seasons in the Blue and White and he finished with a respectable 148 goals and 319 points in 531 games.

But he often struggled on the other side of the puck and had a penchant for taking untimely penalties.

Say what you will about +/- (and we all recognize that it's a flawed stat) but Tucker has only been a plus three times in his 12 year career. On the Leafs, Tucker could usually be found at or near the bottom of the club (32 of 33 in 2003; 15 of 36 in 2004; 28 of 32 in 2006; 30 of 30 in 2007; 26 of 32 in 2008).

My standard joke: The Darcy Tucker hat trick is a power play goal, a bad penalty and -2 on the night.

What these numbers don’t reflect is Tucker’s approach to the game. He was a small man who played a big man’s game. He threw big hits, would fight just about anyone, and if he ever had a thought, he seemed to share it with anyone and everyone on the ice.

While that may have brought him the adoration of Leafs Nation, this style of play may also have brought an untimely end to his career; which brings us to tonight.

For the first time since his buyout last summer (a final act of devotion or a final stick in the eye of the Leafs?), Tucker is facing his former club.

If history has taught Leaf fans anything, it's that former players (prospects, guys that wore a Leaf jersey once when they were 6 years old, etc.) have a long tradition of coming back to have big games against the Blue and White (see Boyes, Rask, Sullivan, Roberts, Bester, Bradley, etc.)

But for the first time in a long time I don't have that awful feeling that a former player is going to burn the Leafs.

Hip and knee issues have put Tucker on pace for just 9 goals this season and lowest point total since he broke into the league full time in 1997. He has all of 2 assists so far in 2009.

That level of production can't justify a $2.5M pay cheque. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tucker faces the ignominious fate of being the first NHLer to be bought out twice.

In fact, the fans in Colorado have already turned on him:

Terrible defensively, slower than paint drying, gets knocked on his ass all the time, takes stupid penalties, and tends to get in the way offensively. But, he's really good at tip-ins when he's not covered in front of the net. Too harsh? Maybe; Tucker does get some big hits in. But he's been a disappointment even compared to our low expectations. In general, I have been very pleased with the way Tony Granato has handled his personnel this year, but I don't understand why he keeps using Tucker late in the game.

- Mile High Hockey

Darcy Tucker is still getting powerplay time based on what results? Wojtek Wolski, Milan Hejduk, Ryan Smyth, Marek Svatos, Chris Stewart and Cody Mcleod are all scoring at a better rate than Tucker. They were all in the lineup. So was the slumping T.J. Hensick who might benefit from a little boost to his playing time.

- Avs Talk

Darcy Tucker has shown a bona fide "lack of effort" in a lot of games this season. He takes stupid penalties and doesn't offer anything on the defensive end, and offers very little on the offensive end. He just looks disinterested.

- JibbleScribbits

The fact is, Tucker never should have been re-signed by JFJ.

Yes, he was having a career year but how refreshing would it have been for the Leafs to finally trade a player at their highest value? If Nagy’s eight goals were worth a first rounder and a player at that trade deadline, imagine what Tucker might have been worth?

I don’t know that I’ll boo him tonight. It’s hard to get riled up about a guy who’s so clearly on the downside of his career.

Moreover, like McCabe I’d rather just treat all these ex-Leafs that were signed to awful contracts by JFJ as treyf.

So instead of espousing hatred, or suggesting anyone boo, I’ll just ask that Darcy Tucker be kept front in centre in the lack of leadership debate that swirled around this team when Wilson first took over. That he be remembered as a key cog in the problematic Corson-Green clique that caused a schism in the Leafs dressing room. And finally all Leafs Nation remember Tucker as one of the primary members of the NTC 5 who refused a trade at the deadline, refused to waive his NMC in the off-season, refused to help this franchise re-build and finally demanded a buy-out that saddled the Leafs with a cap hit through to 2013.

And no matter where on the effigy to elegy spectrum one might put Tucker, I think all Leaf fans can come together in the hope that Tucker doesn’t get the GWG against the Leafs tonight.

I Thought There Was a Virtue in Always Being Cool

The Leafs may be kicking-off a brand new season in Detroit tonight, but before we move on to the theme of renewal, blank slates and fresh starts (and ultimately loss, hey it's the whole circle of life thing), I want to turn the clock back a few months and ask a rather pointed question: where's the hatred for Darcy Tucker?

You don't have to go far to find criticism of the other Leafs who refused to be traded at the deadline. You don't even have to leave the Barilkosphere, just look here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Mats gets it, McCabe gets it and someone actually woke Raycroft up and told him nap time is now on the Avalanche's bench .

But where's the indignation over Tucker?

I don't see it on the blogs and I have yet to see any circle the dates (January 29, 2009 for those of you keeping score at home) or "will they or won't they boo Tucker?" articles in my local sports pages.

Dude was the lynch pin of the problematic Corson-Green dressing room schism, should be front in centre in the lack of leadership debate, refused a trade at the deadline, refused to waive his NMC in the off-season, refused to help this franchise re-build and finally demanded a buy-out that saddled the Leafs with a cap hit through to 2013.

You read that right: 2-0-1-3. You could get a university degree, finish most professional schools (law, dentistry, medicine) or if you have a baby this season it would be starting school by the time Tucker's pay-out wraps up.

And this from a self-proclaimed team-first guy.

For all of these failings, for how he stuck the Leafs there's nothing but silence...

Doesn't anyone else find that odd?

Breaking News from 2005

The Leafs need to change the culture in their locker room.

That's the latest story line from the media horde that covers the Leafs:

Vesa Toskala tells the National Post that he's "not surprised" at the changes in the room.

Ken Campbell of the Hockey News goes public with a very revealing, albeit five or six year-old quote from Bryan McCabe ("in one ear and out the other...”)

Ron Wilson says the Leafs have lacked leadership in the room for the last three seasons.

David Shoalts asks a few Leafs to comment on Wilson's lack of leadership allegations and offers this tidbit to close out his piece:

When former GM John Ferguson let both Roberts and Nieuwendyk leave as free agents, the team's leadership suffered. Four years later, the Leafs are still looking for a solution.

This is all great to know, but here's my (rhetorical) question to the army of journalists that cover the Leafs:

Where the hell have you been for the past three seasons and why is this only making the news now?

Seriously, can someone get Ken Campbell to tell us why he waited five+ years to report that juicy McCabe quote? Or perhaps Dreger can explain why his inside sources didn't tell him about the desperate need for change down at the ACC (apparently they were too busy telling Dreger that a Tucker buy-out wouldn't make sense and that Ron Wilson wasn't coming to Toronto).

Isn't the fact that the locker room was a country club (Or is it a lack of leadership? Or bad apples?) the type of information that trained professionals with primary sources and locker room access are paid to gather and report on?

In the end, it all comes down to access and favour.

If a sports repoter tells us what's really going on, he or she will lose access. And if they lose access, they won't be able to collect all those great stories that they can't tell us about.

Something I Learned Today

The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of the truth - that error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it has been cured of one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one. - H.L. Mencken

When it comes to going public with bad news, there are two types of organizations:

1. Those that deal with it in an open and transparent manner – Tylenol is the oft-cited prototype in this camp and, much more recently, Maple Leaf Meats have shown the merit of being open, honest and accountable.
2. Those who leak, bury or misdirect the news in an effort to control the message.

I’d say my beloved Toronto Maple Leafs usually fall into slot #2.

And what are some of the best tactics to get in front of a bad news story?

1. Release it late on the Friday of a long-weekend;
2. Release it when there’s a lot of other bad news in the system; and/or
3. Leak the bad news early and leak it often – by the time the news becomes official or confirmed, most people will have moved through the five stages of grief from anger to acceptance.

When it comes to the Bryan McCabe trade, the Leafs have gone for door number 3 like the RIAA going after a 12 year old with a USB drive full of Jonas Brothers mp3s and the outcome, strangely, seems to be acceptance.

What’s that Smell?

The first time I went to Kamloops I was visiting an old friend who had just gotten engaged.

Kamloops stunk. Figuratively and literally.

The town is essentially a bowl built around a pulp mill. The scent of reduced sulphurs permeates everything.

The first few days I was in town, I kept asking my friend how he could live in a place that, um, stank. I don't mean to be cruel, but everything was tinted with the malodorous combination of cabbage and rotten eggs.

But then a strange thing happened: the smell seemed to go away. I no longer spent my days with a crinkled nose and worried brow wondering how people live among such a paralyzing stink.

Except the smell never went away.

The town still stunk of the by-products of supplying the world with 477,000 tonnes of pulp related products.

I just lost my ability to detect the stench.

Scientists call this phenomena olfactory adaptation or olfactory fatigue. Our nervous systems are programmed to automatically desensitize to certain stimuli so that we are not overloaded. For example, our skin doesn't constantly sense our clothing and our noses eventually get used to the gagging stink of pulp.

By turning down a response to certain or constant stimuli our bodies are better able to recognize and respond to new stimuli/possible threats.

If you've made it this far and are still reading, you may be asking yourself what pulp products, bad odours and olfactory adaptation have to do with the Leafs.

Stick with me here...

In Leaf Land it's not Pulp, it’s the Stench of Failure

I wonder if maybe Leafs Nation is undergoing a massive case of olfactory adaptation.

That we've become so used to the smell in these parts that they don't notice it anymore.

Slam McCabe all you want. Link to the youtube compilation videos of his various gaffes. Mock his haircuts, goofy faces and penchant for taking dumb penalties.

Go ahead and cringe at the burden of his no-movement clause.

But then step back and look at the numbers.

Three out of the last five seasons, McCabe was among the top 10 in scoring by a defenseman; three times he finished in the top three for goals.

Believe it or not, McCabe placed third in Norris trophy voting in 2004 and ninth in 2006.

He cracked the taxi squad for the 2006 Canadian Olympic squad. Bitch and moan all you want that he wasn’t in the top six on that club, but to be on the Canadian Olympic team is to be among some pretty elite company.

Despite all of these accomplishments and accolades, McCabe’s no-movement clause has allegedly so diminished his value that the Leafs had to include a draft pick in order to complete the deal.

Bottom line: the return for a number 2 d-man, power play quarterback, who can log 20+ minutes a night, who has a history of finishing in the top 10 in scoring (and who occasionally scores in the wrong net) is nothing more than a 3-4 d-man who’s recovering from multiple wrist surgeries.

And the Leafs had to throw in a 4th round pick to get the deal done.

As Steve points out in his latest entry, and as I posted earlier this summer, the trade does nothing to solve the Leafs' log-jam on D where they're approaching the season with nine NHL caliber defencemen (10 if you think Schenn might get more than a cup of coffee with the big club).

Anyone that hasn't been living under a rock can tell you that the Leafs don't need more D; they don't need cap flexibility; they don't need to shed more draft picks.

And yet, that's what they get for a top pairing d-man.

The Toronto Maple Leafs: A Rich History of Horrible Asset Management

I cannot believe that I’m going to cite Damien Cox here, but he has a point (ick). The Leafs have moved a pretty big chunk of talent/assets off their roster in the last few years. Consider:

• Belfour
• Domi
• Tucker
• Wellwood
• Rask===>Raycroft (should have been ===>ECHL but for the Avs)
• McCabe

All gone for nothing more than Mike Van Ryn and a series of lingering cap hits.

If shedding all of those players for nothing weren't bad enough, Fletcher has spent even more assets to spackle over the same holes:

• Mayers for a third round pick
• Grabovski for a second round pick
• Schenn for a second and third round pick
• a Fourth round pick to kiss McCabe goodbye

Changing the Culture: Buying High and Selling Low

I understand that management is trying to change the so-called culture of this club.

They gassed the coach (could only talk a good game), waived Wellwood (uncommitted, soft); bought-out Tucker (washed-up, psychopathic) and bought-out Raycroft (glove hand not good enough for mite T-ball).

But I’d argue that the real cultural change is far more urgently needed in the executive corridors of MLSE than in the locker room.

When Fletcher first came back to the Leafs, it was with a real sense of confidence. I loved his candid approach to assessing the team. I loved the moves he made at the trade deadline. I thought PM had to go and Wilson was a pretty solid replacement.

And then things regressed back to the norm. This team has a long twisted tradition of buying high and selling low, a philosophy that, once again, has stained all of Fletcher’s moves this summer.

The Leafs' story remains too many assets out the door with too little to show for it.

And the McCabe trade is just one more deal where the Leafs come out on the losing end.

Fletcher said last Tuesday: "Trying to build a team can't be fast-tracked."

He may be right, but he's demonstrating that it sure can be chronically mismanaged.

Kubina Trade Window About to Close

The window to trade Pavel Kubina closes today (August 15).

After Kubina squashed a trade-deadline deal last February, I was positive Cliff Fletcher would deal him out of town faster than Jason Blake can ruin an odd man rush with a 40 foot wrist shot.

How sure was I that Kubina would be dealt?

I would have wagered some of my most prized posessions on it: the near-mint Rocky Saganiuk rookie card; my 7" 45 RPM of Meco's Theme from Close Encounters; or even my framed, autographed 8x10 photo of Margaret Colin as Claire McCarron.

With just a few hours to go until Kubina's trade window closes, I'm guessing it's a good thing I didn't place any bets...

McCabe to Florida?

With Kubina appearing to be staying put, the hot rumour has McCabe headed to Florida.

I just want to make sure I have this straight.

The Leafs have upwards of ten D-men on their roster and the alleged return for McCabe is D-man Mike VanRyn? Meaning that after the trade the Leafs will still have upwards of 10 NHL D-men fighting for seven or eight spots.

Great.

I have to believe the Leafs are going to get some other combination of prospects/picks/forwards back in any deal for McCabe, but then again when I first posted about possible trade destinations for McCabe on July 3, Florida was one of the first teams I ruled out...

For those of you so inclined to make up a better deal with the Panthers, Florida's roster with cap hits, can be found here. A list of Florida prospects is here.

I'll give even odds that if JFJ were re-appointed GM, he'd work hard to get Kilger back as the centerpiece to the trade.

New(ish) Leaf Blogs

I've been trying to keep the sidebar up to date, but it seems like the last few weeks have seen a bunch of new Leaf Blogs hit the ice.

If you write for one or if you know of one that isn't listed, please let me know and I'll update the blogroll. Thanks.

Leaf Captains: Two to be Honoured, One to Sign?

So the Leafs have announced they will be honouring Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark this season.

As many of you likely know, the Toronto Maple Leafs only honour numbers - they don't retire them (the only two numbers the Leafs have retired are #5 for Bill Barilko and #6 for Ace Bailey).

It's official team policy to retire the jerseys of outstanding players who are struck by tragedy while members of the club (still to be determined: if management's abject failure to properly build a club around the talents of Mats Sundin qualifies as a tragedy).

Honouring v. retiring numbers aside, it's great to see that each player will have his own ceremony. It certainly irked me in the past when MLSE honored groups of players, instead of having the class to give each guy his due at centre ice.

Clark and Gilmour will join the ranks of other honoured Leafs:
1 Johnny Bower and Turk Broda
4 Red Kelly and Hap Day
7 King Clancy and Tim Horton
10 Syl Apps and George Armstrong
21 Borje Salming
27 Frank Mahovolich and Darryl Sittler

Once they're up in the rafters, I hope the Leafs exert some control over who gets to wear such meaningful numbers. Gilmour's 93 is such an odd number that's unlikely to be worn again, but it would be nice for the Leafs to reserve 17 for a franchise guy and to make sure it's never worn by the likes of Paul Higgins again.

The Rush for Mediocrity

Mats Sundin says he's about two weeks away from a decision as to whether he'll retire or sign back with an NHL club.

I'm a big fan of Mats and all that's he done as a Leaf and for the Leafs, but I'm way past caring what decision the Big Swede comes to.

If he decides to play elsewhere, the most painful part isn't going to be Mats' return to the ACC, the potential points he might rack up against the Leafs, or even the bizarro world image of him in a Devils or Wild jersey.

I somehow managed to live through Palmateer as a Capital, Sittler as a Flyer, Vaive as Black Hawk, Wendel as a Nordique (and an Islander, Black Hawk, Red Wing and Lightning) and Dougie playing for what seemed like a third of the league (ok, it was just the Devils, Black Hawks, Sabres and Canadiens). Somehow, I think we'll be ok with Mats lacing 'em up for some other club.

Hands-down the worst part of Mats signing somewhere else is going to be the media sh*tstorm that follows it.

Stemming the tide of the craptacular media coverage will be like trying to stay dry while standing under Niagara Falls armed only a little umbrella from a girl-drink (like say a Chocolate-choo choo, you know it tastes just like candy).

And if the media coverage isn't bad enough, a close second on the continuum of bad outcomes is the possibility that Mats decides to come back and play for the Leafs.

This team desperately needs another top five draft choice and Mats' return is likely enough to move this team away from a shot at a lottery pick to another meaningless outside of the playoffs 11 - 14th selection in the first round.

If Mats signs with another team and the Leafs ice their current line-up, I foresee a nice high pick in next year's draft (hopefully to be joined by more prospects/picks acquired by dealing away Kubina and/or McCabe).

Another year of Mats would be nice but a shot at the Tavares/Hedman lottery would be even nicer.

I don't think the Leafs can have both.

A Man Called Bryan

With 10 potential NHL ready players on the blue line, and prospect Luke Schenn as the only waiver exempt defenceman, it’s clear that the Leafs are going to have to make a few moves to get down to the seven D-men they plan on carrying during the regular season.

I’m hoping the Leafs don’t give Schenn any more than the standard nine game look-see before sending him back down to junior, which would put the Leafs down to nine D.

Given the Leafs recent move towards players with more size and grit, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ian White moved, which would put the team at eight defenders.

That leaves Kubina and/or McCabe on the trading block.

Cliff Fletcher and Ron Wilson have both openly stated that McCabe is not in the team’s plans for the upcoming season. McCabe, despite his no movement clause (NMC), is clearly the more likely of the two D-men to be moved.

Timing

If it’s Kubina that’s going to be shipped out of town, the Leafs have a rather limited window to make it happen. Kubina’s contract permits the Leafs to trade him only between July 1 and August 15. After that, Kubina’s no trade clause kicks in, effectively pulling Kubina out of the trade market.

McCabe is due to receive a $2M bonus in September (his salary for this season is $4.15M+$2M bonus for $6.15 while his cap hit is $5.75M). I would presume that most teams would be far more inclined to deal for McCabe once that bonus has been paid by the fine fellows at MLSE.

Cap Hits, Chemistry and Conferences

If moving McCabe with his NMC wasn’t challenging enough, once you start to look at the cap situation across the league, it quickly reduces the number of possible trading partners for the Leafs.

So who’s a good trade destination for McCabe?

Several teams are either over the cap or so close to it they likely can’t take on McCabe’s $5.75 M cap hit. Cap issues pretty much rule out: Anaheim, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Montreal, New Jersey, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Tampa Bay.

Nashville, Phoenix and St. Louis have the extra cap space but are likely too constrained by team budget issues to take on McCabe’s $4.15M salary.

Sure, the Leafs could take back hefty salary in return, but it would have to pretty much be a dollar for dollar trade with any of these clubs, and given the log jam on D that precipitated this deal it would have to be a big-money forward. It’s difficult enough to find a trade partner never mind trying to balance out the salaries going each way, so I don’t think this is going to happen (but I could be way way off on this one).

McCabe’s rather free-wheeling style probably eliminates Minnesota and Florida outright too.

That’s 17 teams out of contention. (Of course, having said that on the record, the Leafs will definitely trade McCabe to one of these teams).

Then there’s the whole issue of location. McCabe has some personal/home life issues that have led many to conclude that he would only accept a trade to a team in the Northeastern United States.

Teams with cap space, but a west coast bias, include Colorado (still need to re-sign Sakic), Columbus, Edmonton, Los Angeles, San Jose and Vancouver.

Colorado already has seven pretty solid NHL d-men under contract.

Columbus just acquired Commodore, Tyutin and Backstrom and, despite signing Huselius, still need help upfront.

The Sharks have plenty of cap room, but having picked up UFA Rob Blake and dealt for Dan Boyle so there’s not much room there.

Similarly, with Visnovsky and Souray under contract in Edmonton there’s little to no chance a deal for McCabe is going to happen with the Oil.

That makes it 21 unlikely to make a deal.

So What’s Left?

Given McCabe’s alleged preference is to play close to home that leaves just six teams in the east as potential trading partners, two of which are division rivals.

East

Atlanta
With just five d-men under contract, the Thrashers still need to sign a few more blue liners. They have lots of cap space and could really use the PP help that McCabe could bring. The challenge will be finding the right return for McCabe as the Thrashers are rather thin upfront and don’t have the greatest prospect pool. It’s also not clear that McCabe would accept a move that far south.

Buffalo
The Sabres have just six d-men under contract for 2008-09 (having traded Campbell at the deadline and losing Kalinin as a UFA to the Rangers). Rumour has it that Sabres GM Darcy Regier has contacted 40 year old former Sabres D-man Teppo Numminen about a possible return (yikes) so there might just be an opening for McCabe (who has a knack for scoring last second game winning goals for the Sabres).

While the Sabres do have lots of young players to possibly complete a deal with the Leafs, they may have budget issues that are too large to take on McCabe’s cap hit. The Sabres have already committed $42M in salaries and they still have to qualify Bernier and Paille.

Furthermore, McCabe’s multi-year deal might also interfere with the Sabres’ ability to sign a slew of key players who are slated to become UFAs and RFAs in 2009-2010.

Carolina
The Canes do have about $9M in existing cap space. Unfortunately, they already have eight D-men under contract including PP guys Corvo and Pitkanen. The Hurricanes and Leafs do have a history as trading partners, but I have a hard time seeing McCabe squeezing into the Canes blueline or under their buget.

Islanders
The fish sticks have just six D-men under contract, but more importantly, the club has only 9F signed. There may be lots of cap space in Nassau County but most of it is going to be directed to finding another handful of forwards.

There is no doubt the Isles could use some help on their moribund PP; however, GM Garth Snow is on the record as saying he wants a pick from the Leafs in return for taking on McCabe’s contract. If that’s the opening bargaining position, I’m not sure where or how you even start to build a counter offer (how about a lower draft pick?)

Ottawa
With Redden signing in the big apple and Commodore heading out west, there is a roster spot or two open on D in the city that fun forgot (or to be more precise, in the suburbs of the city that fun forgot). The Sens do have cap room, but rumours of Boyle to the Sens might preclude a McCabe deal. I don’t see this one happening, but then again Raycroft got an NHL contract so anything is possible…

Washington
The Capitals have about $8M in cap space, but I have no idea if their budget permits them to hit the cap max. They also need to sign four RFAs to new deals and already have 7 D under contract. The Caps do have a number of young forwards and prospects that the Leafs could ask for in return for McCabe and Washington isn’t too far from the McCabe’s Long Island HQ. I wonder if Fletcher and McPhee have much of a history together…

West

Out west there appear to be just two options…

Los Angeles Kings
The team has just four D-men under contract and a whopping $28M in available cap space. Their PP quarterback Rob Blake was just signed by San Jose so there is an opening for a guy like McCabe.

As previously noted, the Kings are likely 4,000 km too far west for McCabe. The Kings are also without a coach at the moment (can you imagine the sh*tstorm in the Toronto media if the Leafs didn’t have a coach during free agency season?) which might make it a tad more difficult to talk McCabe and his agent Pulver into agreeing to a deal here. Still, it is an option.

Vancouver
The team has the cap space and the desperate need for offence that makes them a pretty good potential trade partner for the Leafs. They also need to add at least one more D-man to their roster, so they do have a vacancy on the blueline.

Having lost Markus Naslund and being such an offensively challenged club, I’m not sure they have the depth at forward to swing a deal with the Leafs. Moreover, as noted with the LA Kings, you can’t get much further away from Long Island and Toronto than Vancouver…

Life of Bryan

It’s hard to believe, but McCabe is just one season removed from being one of the top offensive defencemen in the league and two seasons removed from being an Olympian who actually got Norris trophy consideration.

Injury troubles certainly got the best of him last year and it can’t be a picnic being the whipping boy of the Toronto media (has any other athlete been called out as much by the press in this city? Has any paper ever demanded a player be traded on the front page of their paper?) but McCabe has handled all of this pressure with class.

Recent statements from Fletcher and Wilson have left little room for doubt that it’s time for McCabe to move on.

The $5.75 million dollar question is: where?

The Missing Years

Like pucks lazily drifting past Andrew Raycroft, the reasons for JFJ to be fired are almost too many to count.

The surprise isn't that JFJ’s teams will set a Leaf record for futility by missing the playoffs for three straight years.

The surprise isn’t that a team tagged by its coach as his most talented ever and positioned for a Stanley Cup run is mired in 27^th and on the cusp of a lottery pick.

The surprise isn’t that JFJ took a 100 point franchise and turned it into a soft, underperforming team, handcuffed it with long-term contracts, maxed out the cap and then stripped of its few assets for spare parts.

The surprise is that despite of all this, JFJ lasted as long as he did.

The man was the GM of my favourite team for five years. For half a decade, I watched him run a franchise I’ve followed all of my life and I still don’t have a clue what he was trying to do.

He arrived heralding the stockpiling of picks, but in five years, he traded the teams’ top pick three times and the second pick twice.

He spoke about a new era in developing talent, yet his top pick is playing four minutes a night in the NHL instead of getting big minutes in the minors.

I know that he liked to roll the dice. JFJ habitually sought to acquire high-risk high-reward players like Lindros, Allison, Raycroft, and O’Neill. And in every single case, the risk won. Under JFJ there was never a reward in Leaf land.

For every good contract he signed – Kaberle, Antropov, Poni, Sundin – he signed a bad one: Belfour, Domi, Blake, Kubina, McCabe, Tucker.

People claim his true talent was an eye for waiver wire pick-ups, landing Devereaux, Kilger and Moore. But for every fourth line surprise, there was a fourth line bust: Czerkawski, Pohl, Battaglia, Newbury, Suglabov.

Want to measure his supposed ability to assess talent? Count the number of JFJ acquisitions who can no longer find work in the NHL: Allison, Battaglia, Belfour, Berg, Czerkawski, Green, Khavanov, Lindros, O’Neill, and Slugablov.

I dare anyone to find a comparable list of post-lockout busts signed by a single GM.

In the end, he may be a great guy, a wonderful father and husband. He may have been classy when he knew his time had come, but he set the team I love back years. His incompetence or inability to stand up to the board (or some deadly combination of both) has handcuffed this club for years to come. And for that, I am glad that he’s gone.

He left with the media remarking on his class and his ability to keep his head up. His image ironically buffed by the same mouth breathers and one-fingered typists who called for his head and spent the last month in a daily vigil outside the MLSE boardroom door waiting for the blue and white smoke signaling a new Pope Leafs GM.

JFJ often said he was a reflection of his record, and that’s likely the only spot that he and I will ever agree. If ever there was a truly .500 GM – a man that won as often as he lost – JFJ is it.

A Different Approach

I don't mean to harp on the media contingent that covers the Leafs, but coming off the biggest win of the season you'd think some of the post-game coverage would include a modicum of insight or analysis into what the Leafs did differently Saturday night.

To my eyes, it looked like Coach Maurice moved away from his 2 man forecheck system and used a more conservative 1-2-2 approach. The extra forwards would cycle in if the Leafs gained possession or could clog up the neutral zone to take away the Sens' speed while providing more support for the oft-criticized Leaf D.

Two other big changes - McCabe and Kaberle were reunited and Maurice dramatically shortened his bench. The top 4 D played the vast majority of the game. Woz was limited to a season low seven minutes of ice-time and Kronwall logged 12 while McCabe played a whopping 30 minutes (and turned in his best game of the season so far).

If any of the dozens of media folks that routinely cover the Blue and White did ask the coaches or players about the short bench or the modified forecheck, the answers certainly didn't make it into any of the post-game coverage I saw.

It's too bad as I love to know the thinking/strategy behind the Leafs' big win and, more importantly, if this is a sign of things to come from the club.

Mediocre D

I was all set to post a snappy entry on the Leafs decreasing window for in-game success: they can't mount a comeback and they can't protect a lead, unfortunately the stats got in the way.

Leafs have the 5th best winning percentage when leading after the first period and the tenth best winning percentage when leading after the second period.

Although the way the Blue and White have been playing the last few weeks, it's the leading after the third period that we members of Leafs Nation should be concerned about.

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I posted earlier (ranted?) about the Leafs having the most expensive defence in the NHL. Well, the Leafs D are not the most expensive, but it is close.

Based on the data collected from NHL Team Salaries, the Leafs D are the second highest paid group in the league. The Leafs have allocated $18.708M in salary to their 7 D-men (McCabe, Kaberle, Kubina, Gill, Belak, Bell, White).

For that $18M the Leafs have given up 88 goals against, 26th overall in the NHL.

The LA Kings have the most expensive group of D-men in the league. They've spent $19.944M on their top 7: Blake, Norstrom, Tverdovsky, Miller, Sopel, Visnovsky, and Weaver.

The Kings, and that most expensive Defence in the league, are 29th in goals against giving up 97 goals in 29 games. They only have to get a little worse to catch the last place Flyers.

Best bang for the buck? The San Jose Sharks - fourth best goals against, fourth cheapest D.

(FWIW, a rough calculation of what an NHL team allocates on a complete set of D is $12.603 Million. Please note - this is a rough calculation: three teams have just six D listed; five teams have eight D and the balance - 22 teams - list 7 Dmen; totals didnt include injuries to Leopold, Berrard or Mark Stuart.)

The Six Million (plus or minus) Million Dollar Man

Bryan McCabe has reportedly signed a five-year deal with the Leafs, which includes a no-trade clause. The details beyond that are a bit sketchy (how great is it that the Leafs own web-site doesn't have any "official news" but does have a wire story from Bristol Connecticut that cites an ESPN report on the McCabe signing?)

Spackling togethter the various rumours, it's reported that McCabe will be earning somewhere between $5 million and $5.8 million a season for the next five years (there’s so much suffering in this world). Other reports have mentioned a non-movement clause, which would prevent McCabe from being waived (or part of an extraordinary rendition?).

When you consider that JFJ didn’t deal McCabe at the deadline and is widely reported as needing to make the playoffs next season in order to keep his job, the fact that he capitulated on all fronts to sign McCabe is about as surprising as Lindros suffering a catastrophic mid-season injury the Sens choking each Spring.

Did JFJ overpay? We’ll have a better sense of that once the other big free agent defensemen are signed this July. Until that date rolls around, here are a few things to consider before we can heap scorn further assess JFJ’s ability to misread the market:

1. If next season’s cap is in the mid to low-40s, the Leafs will have tied up nearly 25% of their salary room in Kaberle and McCabe.
2. Given the status of RFAs and UFAs it’s not a perfect comparison, but let's compare the Leafs salary structure with the four teams that made the semis this year. The salaries of the top 3 Leafs eats about 35% of an estimated mid-40s salary cap; the top 3 Ducks 30%; top 3 Hurricanes 28%; top 3 Oilers 27%; top 3 Sabres 16%.
3. In 2005-2006, teams spent about 39% more time on the power play – a facet of the game at which McCabe excelled.
4. The Leafs had one of the best power plays in the league and still missed the playoffs – clearly this is a team that has to do better at five on five hockey if there’s to be any measure of success in 2006-2007.
5. NHL revenues are largely driven by gate receipts. This season, the average attendance rate was 92%. In 2003-2004 it was 89% and in 2002-2003 it was 90%. There’s no new mega-TV contract on the horizon and ticket prices can only increase a few points a year. It will be interesting to see how GMs with top-loaded payrolls (Hello Mr. Feaster, Mr. Ferguson) adjust in the event that attendance/revenue drops off by 3% or more and the cap shrinks accordingly. Escrow may take care of existing contracts, but those near the cap will have little room to move...

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