Kaberle and the Cat

Long serving Toronto Maple Leaf Tomas Kaberle's no-trade clause has an interesting wrinkle - it includes a short window each summer where the Leafs can trade him without his approval. This window opens on July 1 and runs to mid-August [or earlier/ later depending on the source]. It's very likely that Kaberle will be moved when his trade window opens, consider:

• What little organizational depth the Leafs have is on the blue line;
• In order to compete, the team needs to add quality forwards;
• Kaberle's age profile doesn't quite fit with the Leafs (hoped for) window of opportunity; and
• Kaberle seems to be the only asset of value on the roster that's even somewhat expendable.

I've been trying to think of an equivalent deal from the Leafs' past and I'm coming up short.

The Leafs have turned over their roster many times in the three decades that I've been following them but it's not often that such a long-serving player, drafted by the club, is so transparently put in position of waiting on a trade.

In terms of parallels, the only situation I can think of is Felix "the cat" Potvin.

Potvin and Kaberle's CVs cover some similar ground...

The Cat was drafted by the Blue and White and played eight seasons in Toronto after winning the starter's job over Hall of Fame goalie Grant Fuhr.

In his eight seasons as a Leaf, Potvin was a member of the NHL all-rookie team in 1993 and a finalist in the 1993 Calder voting. He made the NHL All Star team twice, led the NHL in goals-against in 1996-97 and had the best goals-against average in 1992-93. In his first full year as a Leaf, he backstopped the Leafs all the way to the Conference Finals.

Kaberle made the club as a surprise rookie and in his 10 seasons as a Leaf was a four time all-star. In his first full year as a Leaf, the team went all the way to the Conference Finals.

In 1998, the signing of UFA goalie Curtis Joseph created a log-jam in nets, making Felix expendable. After just five starts, Potvin left the Leafs in frustration and was AWOL for five weeks before being traded.

The signings of Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin, along with the emergence of Luke Schenn, created a log-jam on the Leafs' blue line, making one Leafs' D expendable. The odd man out appears to be Kaberle.

Potvin, it was claimed, was never the same after a cheap goal that came late in a game against the St. Louis Blues who were leading the league at the time. An Al MacInnis slap shot from out near centre ice beat Potvin over his glove, the Leafs lost the game and Potvin lost his mojo.

Kaberle, it has often been claimed, was never the same after a cheap hit by New Jersey Devil Cam Janssen.

In the end, Potvin went to the Islanders for former top draft pick Bryan Berard. The Islanders felt that Berard's offense would never make up for the defensive deficiencies in his game. The Leafs were looking to add more youth to their system and thought their coach, former defencemen Pat Quinn, was perfectly situated to help Berard develop into a top flight defenceman. Tragically, Berard's career was derailed by an errant high stick.

If, and when, Kaberle is moved in the next few weeks, in keeping with his similarities to Potvin, I wouldn't be surprised if the return to the Leafs is once again a flawed young prospect with lots of upside.

I do hope that a Kaberle trade has a happier ending than the Potvin deal for both the Leafs and whomever it is that they acquire.

Mike Smith and the legend of Curtis Joseph

MC79 has a very interesting post up today that draws on a recent Mike Smith Blog entry over at THN. Both are worth the read...

Smith was the Associate General Manager of the Leafs during the Ken Dryden years and was part of the group that brought in Pat Quinn. According to Smith's post at THN, he was the one that signed Curtis Joseph. It's far different from the "going out for ice cream and coming back with a goalie" version of the tale that Ken Dryden told.

Who knows where the truth lies on this one (or if it matters...)

Sidebar Blues

I’m contemplating a response to Steve Maich's inept Macleans piece on why the Leafs Stink (and wondering when Masthead Magazine or the Ryerson Reveiw of Journalism will feature their cover story on why Macleans Magazine stinks. I've got a few insights I can offer up...)

In the interim, while the Leafs clean-out their lockers and Leafs Nation turns its lonely eyes to Monday's draft lottery (C'mon Phoenix - 24th place is still within the Leafs grasp!) I thought I'd have a quick go at the side-bar that accompanies the larger Macleans piece.

The sidebar, by Chris Selley (whose reporting I usually like) looks at the Leafs' worst deals as part of the overall, so-called "examination" as to why the Leafs, uh, suck.

Of the seven trades cited by Macleans, any hockey fan would agree that the top three deals - Mahovolich, Sittler and MacDonald - were all terrible deals for the club, the franchise and the fans.

No debate here.

In fact, I think most sports fans will attest it’s difficult to look back at these franchise altering trades – one can't help but wonder what the GM was thinking and maybe even daydream a little about what could have been. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for an Islanders fan to look back on the Milbury era.

After these top three trades, Macleans is far less persuasive. When you have 40 years of transactions to draw upon, there's going to be more than a few mistakes. I suspect the Leafs aren't any better or any worse than most NHL clubs. But that doesn't exactly fit with the "subtle" narrative of a Leafs suck cover story.

I’m not sure that the Kordic for Courtnall deal is really deserving of a top seven notation, and if it is, the Leafs clearly haven’t too much to be ashamed about. Down Goes Brown wrote an admirable defense of this trade and the reason it was completed – his take is worth the read (more so than the entire Macleans side-bar).

As for the rest of the list, I'm going to split some hairs.

Tom Kurvers for Scott Neidermayer, should actually be Kuvers for a first round pick (who turned out to be Scott Niedermayer). Given that the Leafs of the late 80s thought scouting referred to teams playing between Oshawa and Belleville and were all but wholly reliant on Central Scouting reports for their draft table, I’m doubtful the awful 1988 Leaf club would have drafted Neidermayer. Yeah, it’s still a terrible trade, but call it what it is – a deal for a pick that turned out amazingly well for the New Jersey Devils.

Kenny Jonsson and Roberto Luongo for Wendel Clark and Mathieu Schneider is another deal where it was a pick that was dealt and that pick turned out to be Roberto Luongo. To suggest that the Leafs would have drafted Luongo is a stretch at best and misleading at worst.

Something to bear in mind when looking at deals like these two: Robert Picard was dealt for a third round pick that turned out to be Patrick Roy. If it’s positioned as Picard for Roy, it’s clearly one of the worst deals of all time. But a player like Picard for a third round pick is a deal many a GM pulls off each and every year.

Steve Sullivan for nothing – this wasn’t a trade, it was a questionable waiver wire decision. The Leafs chose to protect Dmitri Khristich in lieu of Sullivan, admittedly a mistake. While Macleans cites Sullivan's “impressive 180 goals and 281 assists in 520 games” they fail to mention Sullivan’s annual invisibility act in the playoffs (ask folks in Nashville about that one). It's the main reason the Quinn administration deemed Sullivan expendable.

Maybe I expect too much from a news magazine that promises to enlighten and engage. Maybe as a Leafs fan I expect the Doug Jarvis for Greg Hubick deal to make the list (or at least make the list ahead of a waiver wire transaction).

It also might have been nice for Macleans to have provided a bit context to help readers better understand these deals - what do NHL experts make of them? How do these deals compare to other deals being made at the time? Where do these transactions fit in alongside some of the top trades of the past 40 years.

Of course, had they done so, transactions 4 through 7 wouldn't look so bad. They're no Red Berenson for Ted Taylor*

*Certainly, none of the Leaf transaction rival any of the all-time great one-sided deals like Cam Neely and a first round pick for Barry Pederson; Gretzky from Indianapolis to Edmonton for future considerations; Alek Stojanov for Markus Naslund; the original Lindros deal for Forsberg and $15MM; Patrick Roy and Mike Keane for Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Rucinsky, and Andrei Kovalenko; Luongo for Bertuzzi; Pavol Demitra for Christer Olsson; Briere for Gratton; or Mark Messier for Louie DeBrusk, Bernie Nicholls, and Steven Rice or (heaven forbid Macleans mention it) maybe even Gilmour, Macoun, Wamsley, Natress and Manderville for Leeman, Petit, Reese, Berube, and Godynyuk.

Just Like Punch

Today's column by Damian Cox hits a new low, even for him.

The Maple Leafs just never learn their lesson.

There is no other way to assess the second coming of Cliff Fletcher.

Yup. No single other way to assess a hiring that is less than 24 hours old. No insights to be gathered, no other perspectives to be considered. What you saw at a 30 minute news conference is all that you need to know. Don't wait for any trades or any actual activities from Fletcher - it's over.

Fletcher, history tells us, left the cupboard nearly bare in 1997 because he had traded away young players (Vince Damphousse, Kenny Jonsson), made poor draft selections (Brandon Convery, Eric Fichaud, Jeff Ware) and sacrificed first-round draft picks to acquire high-priced veteran assistance.

Fletcher, history tells us, also pulled off two of the best trades in Leaf history (Gilmour and later, Sundin) landing arguably one of the best skaters to ever wear a Leaf sweater.

History tells us that Fletcher resuscitated a moribund franchise in record time.

History also tells us that, fresh off a Stanley Cup win in Calgary, Fletcher built Leaf club that went to the Conference Finals twice and was a blown high-sticking call away from a Stanley Cup Final.

History may tell us lots of things, but you won't find them in an article by Cox.

Now, in the salary cap era, he's embracing a new religion.

"Without that core of young players you're going to be in a continuing struggle," he said.

But really, that was the case before the salary cap, as well. The impatient Fletcher just didn't want to play by those rules.

Really? The Avalanche shed lots of young talent for vets to build their cup winners. Detroit too. How many players on the '94 Rangers were part of a young core? In the pre-cap big salary days, wasn't it more a case of Fletcher not having to play by those rules?

I swear, had Cox been writing for the Calgary Herald back in '89, he would have led his column on the Flames' Cup victory by bemoaning the loss of Brett Hull.

That an honest man of integrity, Ferguson, was lied to and treated unprofessionally here matters not to the mandarins of MLSE.

Too true. Bet let's also not confuse kindness, integrity and character with competence.

Put another way, there are two types of failure: failures of character and failures of talent. Clearly, Ferguson failed on the talent front and deserved to be fired. Words that somehow didn't make it into Mr. Cox's column.

Moreover, why is it that Cox is all to happy to point out Imlach's and Fletcher's propensity to deal away picks, but forgets to mention that JFJ has dealt away three first rounders and four second rounders in just fiver years as GM.

Then, unlike the gutless Pat Quinn, Ferguson stayed to face the media music and chose to blame no one. A good man, that Ferguson. He's respected in the industry and already a hot commodity.

I sure hope JFJ is a hot commodity and is a GM in this league ASAP, it's the only way the Leafs will ever get rid of Raycroft.

...Fletcher will guide the Leafs through the minefield leading up to the Feb. 26 trade deadline, into this year's entry draft and then into the summer's free agent season.

He could do a lot of good.

Or a lot of damage.

Wow. That is some powerhouse top-drawer big-brain analysis right there folks. That's why Cox is the Star's senior hockey writer. It takes years to develop that level of insight.

Unless, that is, you consider the third option that Cox left out: Fletcher could also be just like that man of super-integrity and character that's such a hot commodity right now named JFJ.

That's right, Fletcher could take the mushy middle ground and trade some veterans for middling prospects (Klee: Suglabov) and then trade picks and prospects for middling vets (2nd, Bell: Perreault).

After nine months on the sidelines, he'll be starting from ground zero. Under Ferguson, the Leafs had been talking to teams for weeks, assessing the market for the likes of Mats Sundin, Darcy Tucker and Bryan McCabe and lining up potential trades.

There were three teams interested in McCabe, more in Tucker. If the meddling MLSE board hadn't stonewalled the process, one or more futures deals might have been done by now.

Instead, Fletcher starts with no deals on the table, a demoralized hockey department in upheaval and 34 days to the deadline. He's going to have to roll up his sleeves and hustle, work the phone relentlessly and put in long hours to get this done effectively.

Um, the hockey staff is still there and if JFJ managed to leave his super-secret decoder ring behind, that "demoralized" hockey staff can let Mr. Fletcher know the juicy details of all these supposed wonderful rainbow coloured franchise saving trades that JFJ had allegedly set-up.

More importantly, that same staff can let Mr. Fletcher in on JFJ's master plan to get guys like Tucker, Sundin and McCabe to waive their NMC and NTCs that JFJ threw around like candy.

Also, what's with the roll-up the sleeves stuff? Has anyone suggested that Fletcher was brought in to lolly gag? I hate this type of lazy writing...the team stinks, the organization stinks, isn't it just implicit that there's a great deal of work to be done? Based on Cox's observation, are we to conclude that if JFJ was still GM, there wouldn't be a lot of work to do? That they could, uh, leave their shirt sleeves rolled down?

When it came to the possible trading of Sundin, Fletcher said: "The most important thing is to do what's right for Mats." Questioned further as to whether it wasn't more vital to do what was best for the hockey club, Fletcher said: "Mats is driving the engine here."

Well, at least we know who's in charge.

Wonder who asked those two questions and got shut-down on the follow-up? Hmmm...

Look, Fletcher's biggest job, one that goes largely unmentioned by Cox, is to get Mats to waive his NTC so that he can be moved before the deadline so the Leafs can re-stock their cupboard of picks and prospects.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks the best way to start that process is by pulling an Alexander Haig and publicly dictating Mats' fate at an introductory media conference. Maybe that's just the way Cox rolls but Cox isn't the one trying to deal the Leafs' premier player.
Perhaps Fletcher will indeed start the logical process of moving veterans and big contracts for prospects and draft picks. There's nothing stopping him.

Moreover, that's what Fletcher now says he believes in.

Just like Punch.

Perhaps Fletcher will start wearing a snappy fedora to work.

Just like Punch.

Perhaps Fletcher will get a shiny gold helmet and ride a police motorcycle.

Just like Punch.

Or maybe Fletcher will take to pumping out 750+ word missives full of straw men, weak logic and commissive truths.

Just like Cox.

Draft Schmaft

I've been doing my best to keep track of the Leafs while I'm half a world away. The 11 hour time difference means I'm listening to Leaf games while eating breakfast - it's an interesting change. In fact, the only North American sports coverage I've seen locally in the last two weeks are two wire photos from NBA games, both involving the Lakers. The slug line didn't even give the score.
***UPDATED***

Inspired by a recent comment from K_r_Raven, I wanted to see how Quinn's tenure as GM compared to JFJ's in terms of moving and acquiring draft picks.

In Quinn's four years as GM, he dealt 10 draft picks including one first round pick and three second round picks.

In JFJ's three years as GM, he's dealth five draft picks including one first round pick and one second round pick.

Coming back the other way, Quinn was able to acquire six draft picks, none higher than the second round.

JFJ has only added one draft pick to the Leafs cupboard acquired a sixth rounder from Dallas for Nathan Perrot and a fourth rounder for Tellqvist (thanks to Wardo for that update). Considering JFJ's alleged "build from within strategy" I was quite surprised by the fact that he has pursued other options (free agency, college players) rather than dealing spare parts for draft picks...wonder if that's a sign of things to come at the trade deadline.

Anyways, here's the big list - I'll let you guys decide what to make of it...

Draft Picks Traded by Pat Quinn
6th round to the Islanders as part of the Berard/Potvin deal
3rd round to Los Angeles for Yanic Perrault
2nd round to Boston for Dmitri Kristich
5th round to Tampa as part of the Darcy Tucker deal
6th round to Tampa as part of the Darcy Tucker deal
2nd round to LA for Aki Berg and Adam Mair
4th round to Carolina for Tom Borasso
1st round to San Jose for Owen Nolan
2nd round to Carolina for Glen Wesley
6th round to Montreal for Doug Gilmour

Draft Picks Acquired by Pat Quinn
6th round from the Islanders as part of the Berard/Potvin deal
2nd round from Chicago for Sylvain Cote
3rd round from Tampa for Todd Warriner
4th round from Tampa as part of the Darcy Tucker Deal
3rd round from Washington for Dmitri Kristich
3rd round from Chicago for Igor Korolev

Draft Picks Traded by JFJ
1st round to NYR for Leetch
2nd round to NYR for Leetch
4th round to Carolina for Francis
4th round to Carolina for Jeff O’Neill
5th round to Columbus for Luke Richardson

Draft Picks Acquired by JFJ
6th from Dallas for Nathan Perrot
4th from Phoenix for Michael Tellqvist

JFJ Redux

I heard JFJ on the Fan590 Wednesday evening and I have to say I actually felt sorry for the guy.

McCown and Brunt asked him about his contract status at MLSE and JFJ spoke openly and honestly about his desire to remain GM of the Leafs and to secure a longer-term deal. It might have been the first time that I’ve felt he came across as a genuine person.

Based on that interview and the panel discussion that followed, I have a strong feeling that MLSE is going to ink Ferguson to a longer-term deal.

I came to this conclusion not as a result of heavy analysis, insider knowledge, or any brilliant gems that the talking heads offered-up at 5:45 on a Wednesday night.

No, I came to this conclusion mostly because this is the Leafs and extending JFJ is the wrong thing to do - so odds are it’s going to happen.

If there’s anything my three decade long one-way love affair with the Leafs has taught me it’s that this is an organization that likes to do things the difficult way and that 9 times out of 10 they like to make the wrong decision (please refer to: Sittler and MacDonald, treatment of; Roger Neilson and the paper bag; Carl Brewer’s come-back; Fred Boimstruck; trading Randy Carlyle; Brophy’s tenure; Courtnall for Kordic; Nimrod; Nykoluk; Nyland; Draft schmaft; the Gardens closing ceremony; the Smith-Dryden-Quinn triumvirate; Rick Ley's line-up cards; Post-lockout contracts for Belfour, Domi, Belak; the Jason Allison experiment; trading first round picks four times in the past 10 years; and on and on and on...)

Let me be clear about this: JFJ may be one helluva nice guy. He may be a smart hockey man; he may one day be a giant among NHL executives. But at the moment, he’s still a GM feeling his way and that’s not what this club needs. This club needs the best mind in hockey and, no offense to JFJ, he’s not that guy.

Let me put it in starker terms. According to Stats Canada, the average life span of a Canadian male is 75 years. That means I’ve got about 40 more chances to see the Leafs win the Cup before I kick the bucket. The last thing I need is to waste another 2 or 3 of those chances while JFJ goes about learning his job. JFJ's hesitant tenure is, if you will, killing me.

JFJ has been GM of the Leafs since 2003. This is his fourth year and third season as GM of the Leafs. The sum total of his achievements – a second round exit in his first year with the club; a post-lockout scramble that resulted in missing the playoffs for the first time since 1997-’98 and lots of questionable player personnel moves. (As an aside, if any of you readers seriously believe for one second that JFJ wasn’t in charge until this year – stop reading here. Seriously. Even if you were remotely right – and you are not - there’s only one conclusion that can be drawn from that line of thinking: JFJ has no cojones and should have resigned his post if he had to play second fiddle or manage while shackled by the board. If he’s that weak of a man, I don’t want him running the team.)

The sum total that JFJ has added to the Leafs on-ice product? 12 of 28 players. And of the 12 who have JFJ’s stamp on them, half are marginal role players who will likely be back in the AHL by the mid-point of this season:

1. Jean Sebastian Aubin - UFA signed 2004
2. Bates Battaglia –AHL reclamation project. Will likely return to the A
3. Hal Gill – UFA signed 2006
4. Chad Kilger – Claimed off waivers
5. Pavel Kubina – UFA signed 2006
6. Jeff O’Neill – Acquired post-lockout for a draft pick
7. Ben Ondrus – AHL reclamation project. Will likely return to the A
8. Michael Peca – UFA signed 2006
9. John Pohl – AHL reclamation project. Will likely return to the A
10. Andrew Raycroft - Acquired for Tukka Rask
11. Aleksander Suglobov – Acquired for Ken Klee - looks great in the press box
12. Andy Wozniewski – Likely headed to the Marlies when the D overcome injuries

The rest of the team were all here prior to JFJ's arrival:

1. Nik Antropov – drafted 1998
2. Wade Belak – 2001 Waiver Claim
3. Brendan Bell – drafted 2000
4. Carlo Colaiacovo – drafted 2001
5. Jay Harrison – drafted 2001
6. Tomas Kaberle – drafted 1996
7. Staffan Kronwall – drafted 2002
8. Bryan McCabe – Acquired in trade for Karpotsev
9. Alexei Ponikarovsky – drafted 1998
10. Matt Stajan – drafted 2002
11. Alex Steen – drafted 2002
12. Mats Sundin – Acquired in trade for Clark
13. Darcy Tucker – Acquired in trade for Mike Johnson and Marek Posmyk
14. Michael Tvelquist – drafted 2000
15. Kyle Wellwood – drafted 2001
16. Ian White – drafted 2002

Some of JFJ’s other questionable moves:

• Acquiring Brian Leetch for all of 15 games
• re-signing Belfour to that goofy contract
• thinking the lock-out would be short term
• not buying-out Belfour post-lockout
• being caught flat footed post-CBA
• Inking Domi to a two-year contract
• all of his post-CBA player acquisitions being uniformly busts
• whiffing at last year’s trade deadline
• failing to recognize that the Leafs may have had the talent on-hand to win all year (but continued to deploy the plodding Allison, the creaky Belfour and the shaky Khavanov)
• Giving McCabe a no-movement clause – the first of its type in the NHL
• Extending Belak's contract

This is not the stuff Championships are made of. This is not the stuff that warrants mid-season contract extensions and this is not the stuff that slightly increases the odds of the Leafs winning the cup before some very important personal StatsCan indicators kick-in.

I think the Leafs owe it to JFJ and his family to either put a bullet in him or ink him to a new deal.

If I were on the MLSE Board, I’d thank JFJ for his time, provide him with a nice reference and move him along or offer him a more junior post with the club. This team needs the best mind in hockey, not a guy who’s still learning as he goes.

Crap Shoot or Shooting Crap?

I think I’m one of the rare leaf fans that occassionaly agrees with Damien Cox, but I can’t say I agree with his absurd post in his blog The Spin at the Star.

He writes:

[If the Canes win] its sure going to make all the crap spewed by Pat Quinn and others with the Maple Leafs in recent years look like, well, crap. These guys tried to convince hockey fans that winning championships was a crapshoot, that in a 30-team league it was as much about luck than an excellence and what really mattered was accumulating the greatest amount of playoff games over the course of three or four seasons.

It’s hard to know where to begin in taking this paragraph apart.

1. As much as I love to bash the folks at MLSE, I don’t believe any of the suits have ever stated that it’s the accumulation of playoff games that matter. Does Cox really believe that Quinn and Co. didn’t want to win the cup? By and large these are men that have spent their entire working in pursuit of a drink from that great silver mug.
   
   We’re all grown-ups, we know how corporations work – you communicate the positive and stay away from the negative. Haven’t won a championship in 40 years? Talk up how many conference finals you’ve made or how many playoff games you’ve appeared in over the years. For a veteran newspaper man, Cox is picking an interesting time to play dumb on this one.
   
   
2. There is no denying that Luck plays a big part in sports, but I don’t recall anyone in Leaf management claiming that winning a championship was a crapshoot or a matter of spinning a roulette wheel. If that were indeed the case (both the luck part and the Leafs’ claiming it was so) why would successive teams have loaded up at the playoffs for a run at the cup. Why trade for Nolan or Leetch if it’s all going to come down to rabbits’ feet and pyramid power?
   
   
3. If the Canes have been anything in making it to the finals, it’s lucky. I’d advise Mr. Cox to go way way back deep into his archives and re-read his post of four days ago where he details all of the breaks that have come the Canes way. The odds of that many breaks going the Canes way? I'd call it a crapshoot.

The Spin indeed.

Link

Quelle Suprise

Paul Maurice (268-299-99-16; .484%) was named the 26th coach of the Leafs today.

Plenty of people who know far more about hockey than I do think this hiring is a very good thing. I just look at that winning percentage and his ratio of post-season appearances to tee times (3 for 9) and wonder how Maurice stacks up against the other available coaches who are out there…I also wonder if there’s a multi-syllabic German word for “Hope the coach succeeds and the GM fails.”

Top 5 questions I trust were asked of JFJ at the newser:

1. What did the delay between Quinn’s firing and Maurice’s hiring allow the club to achieve?
2. How many other candidates did you personally interview and why was Maurice the big winner?
3. Do you think that if Maurice were given the same player personnel that you provided Quinn last season, the Leafs would have made the post-season?
4. What the heck does “respect the process” even mean?
5. After watching nearly two complete rounds of playoffs, what would you say is the key to the Leaf's success moving forward and the single biggest asset the Leafs need to acquire - speed, depth, better goaltending, a qualified knowledgeable President of hockey operations, or a longer-term deal for the lame-duck GM?

Link

Quinn Fired (Updated)

Breaking News (sort of) - Quinn was fired by JFJ at noon today.

You can read all about it here.

Media frenzy, speculation, finger-pointing, hand-wringing, belly aching sure to follow.

JFJ should also be shown the door, but I doubt he will.

Quinn is a good coach and a good hockey mind. I would have preferred to see him stay with the club in another capacity. I'm going to presume the politics of MLSE preclude this from happening - which is an awful thing to consider.

JFJ has pretty much bungled everything he's touched at the NHL level. He's done good, if not great, work in scouting, player development, cleaning up the Leafs' AHL situation. But he's been the anti-midas where it really matters.

Given JFJ's track record to date, I have little, if any faith, that he can make the appropriate hire to replace Quinn. The easy call is Paul Maurice and easy decisions are rarely good decisions.

Over under on Ted Nolan being cited as an ideal replacement on a fan discussion board? Gotta be within 10 minutes of the news being public...

**Update**
Should have taken the over - Nolan comes up 16 minutes post-firing at the Star; 23 minutes at Maple Leafs Forever

Link

Cups

Not to be a cup-is-half-full kinda guy, but I finally got a chance to watch the Leafs play last night and - was it just me, or did they look pretty bad?

Considering the Leafs are desperately clinging to their post-season dream and the Islanders dressed nine rookies and a goalie who hasn’t won since November 26, you wouldn’t think overtime would be in the cards.

The Leafs' turnovers were some of the worst I’ve seen (Ondrus didn’t see the ice again after his near terminal brain cramp – he’s lucky Quinn even let him stay on the bench).

There was no sense of urgency whatsoever when they had a 5 on 3 powerplay at the start of the 3rd in a tie game. Did they even register a shot on goal? Where’s the hunger on this club?

Let’s face it, if it weren’t for some pretty spectacular goaltending early, the Leafs’ dreams would have ended like Gatsby’s - shot down dead in Long Island.

Lost among all the horse-race media coverage of the will-they/ won’t they make the post season is the fact that the Leafs still aren’t a very good club. They struggle with basic defensive zone coverage, they clearly need better D for the 3 and 4 slots and they need to find that killer instinct.

My grumbling aside, any time you grab 16 out of a possible 18 points you’re doing something right and should be commended, but I just hope there’s an appropriate assessment of this team in the off-season. Given the ever-shorter news cycles, the ‘round the clock coverage of the Leafs and the long-shot odds of the Leafs actually making the post-season, I have a bad feeling that coverage and analysis of the Leafs is going to move from the horse-race to the glue factory pretty quickly.

As an aside, some of the women that I work with play this odd game where they come up with really strange forced choice questions for each other. The most recent one I can think of was: “Would you rather have a lesbian affair with an enormously pregnant Gwennyth Paltrow or Carmen Electra if she had a permanent unibrow?” (I’m not making this up and yes, I have a great job. FWIW the only time the three of them agree in this game is when Angelina Jolie is involved - be it as a hunchback or any other mal-formed condition - go figure.)

I bring this up because as I was making breakfast this morning, I actually stopped to think about what it must be like to be an Islanders fan.

In the spirit of my very fun, but rather odd colleagues, I wondered, for the past 30 years, would I rather have cheered for the Leafs or the Islanders?

If you choose the Isles, you’d have tremendous memories of those great teams that won the string of cups in the early 80s. You’d be able to fondly recall cheering for Bossy, Potvin, Trottier, Gillies, Nystrom, and one of the craziest goalies ever in Billy Smith. But then there’s the 10 year hangover known as Mike Milbury.

As a modern-day Islander fan, there would be teams I just couldn’t watch – I’d refuse to tune into any games involving the Panthers (Jokinen and Luoungo), the Sens (Chara, Spezza and Redden), Vancouver (Bertuzzi) – the list is near endless when you think of all the bad deals Milbury made. Never mind the whole Yashin thing. I’d have so many sleepless nights trying to undo those trades and re-building all-star rosters that could challenge for the cup that I don’t know if the memories of the early 1980s could compete with Milbury’s 10 year gong show.

On the flip side, the Leafs might not have Mike Milbury’s reign of error, but there are no Stanley Cup banners from the days of my youth hanging from the rafters of the ACC and my
Mike Palmateer hockey cards don’t have any pictures of the team hoisting the Cup or skating a celebratory lap.

What a choice. I'm glad it's one I don't have to make.

Link

SOL

Make it 3-7 in shootouts for the Blue and White this year as they go down to the Bruins 3-2.

The Leaf shooters are now officially 4 for 24 on these game-deciding breakaway contests.

Boston went 2 for 2 in the irony column with Czerkawski opening the scoring and Boyes putting the Leafs on ice in the shootout.

Once again, I have to wonder why Quinn went with the Sundin, Tucker and Ponikarovsky trifecta. If I was at the craps table with Quinn holding the dice, I'd be wagering on the don't pass bet. I also have to wonder how a supposedly hungry team opens the game with 2 shots in the first 20 minutes. What did they think this was, a game 7 against New Jersey?

To date, here's how the Leafs have fared this season (and if anyone can fill me in on how to remove the three miles of blank space between this sentence and my table, I'd be really grateful.)

Player	Shots	Goals	Shooting %
Sundin	7	1	14.2%
Ponikarovsky	5	1	20%
Tucker	4	1	25%
Lindros	3	1	33.3%
Allison	3	0	0%
Wellwood	1	0	0%
O'Neill	1	0	0%

What the Hecht?

Seems to be a lot of chatter today about the Tucker-Hecht tumble from last night’s Leafs game. After the game, during the media scrum, Lindy Ruff pulled a page out of Pat Quinn’s playbook and called on the league to suspend and fine Tucker.

I can’t offer much of a comment on the "hit" as the game was only available on Leafs TV and I refuse to give the Leafs an additional $2.49 a month, so I didn’t see it. (I’m not a cheap guy, but when you consider that the Leafs achieved an instant savings of $26 million through the collective bargaining agreement and then thanked fans with a 5% ticket roll-back - those $37 nosebleeds are now just $35! - I just can’t bring myself to put another $20 or so in MLSE’s coffers.)

A quick search of youtube didn’t turn up the footage (although it did turn up the strangest Pixies homage I've ever seen and further evidence that Titanica Rules!).

The on-line footage at TSN (free registration required) looks like it was either shot by one of Zapruder’s grandchildren or it’s a special-ed project using plasticine and stop-time animation. Perhaps this lack of quality footage explains some of the questionable disciplinary decisions that get handed down by the NHL.

In the absence of the Hecht-Tucker evidence, I'll offer up three quick thoughts on the Leafs shootout loss:
1) The Leafs are 3-6 in shootout games – considering there are approximately 3 shooters each time out the Leafs are actaully about 3 for 27. That’s like Mike James on a bad run. Isn’t it time for Quinn and Co. to consider sending out some different shooters?
2) What’s with the slow starts? Grandma Moses was quick out of the gate compared to this year's Leafs.
3) The shootout may be the most exciting play in sports but it really sucks on the radio.