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Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger •
There have been a number of instances that have occurred since the departure of John Ferguson Jr. that Leaf fans looked upon with hope of salvation to their team's dire future. In early 2008, it was the potential to trade the "Muskoka 5", Mats Sundin, Bryan McCabe, Darcy Tucker, Tomas Kaberle and Pavel Kubina for young players, draft picks, etc. The problem was, none of them would waive their no trade or no movement clauses. Throughout last season, it was the fervent hope, especially of the "Tank Nation" to finish 30th and draft would-be superstar John Tavares with the 1st pick in the NHL Draft. The problem was, the team on the ice was trying hard, was too good to finish so low and the management was not in line with gutting the team in favor of finishing dead last.
At the trade deadline last March, fans hoped for a bevy of prospects and draft choices for Leaf players who had disappointed or underachieved for a number of years. The problem was, Brian Burke was not getting any kind of significant return for these players and was only able to move UFA's Nik Antropov and Dominic Moore for a couple 2nd round draft picks. After the season, Burke unadvisedly proclaimed that he would move heaven and earth to move up in the first round to draft John Tavares or to obtain a higher pick to possibly draft Luke Schenn's younger brother, Brayden. The problem was, you need two general managers to tango and Brian Burke could persuade any of the top 5 managers to take such prized possessions as Ryan Hollweg or Jason Blake to move up.
This week, the latest missed opportunity was the July 1st UFA signing frenzy, in which Burke did not get a chance to bid on Jay Bouwmeester or the Sedin twins and chose not to lob loads of cash at the likes of Mike Cammalleri or Marian Gaborik, opting for a more prudent move with the signing of Mike Komisarek. The problem is, the team has no legitimate top 6 forward at this time and will have to depend on the likes of Mikhail Grabovski and Jason Blake for the bulk of their scoring. The next salvation that Leaf fans had looked wantingly at was the prospect of big-ticket UFA's for 2010, notably Rick Nash of Columbus and Ilya Kovalchuk of Atlanta being available for the team's deep pockets and sizable room under the salary cap. The problem is, those teams have all this season to sign these players to long term extensions. That scenario appears to have played out with Nash, who reportedly has signed an 8 year extension with the Blue Jackets. More than likely, the UFA class next year will be similar to this year, where the really valuable commodities will have signed before July 1st and the players left on the market will be overpaid extremely, like Gaborik this year and Brian Campbell last year.
As someone who has been disappointed in more than a few of the possible salvation opportunities not panning out, my conclusion is that this team can only be successful if they save themselves, rather than depending on a free agent savior. The best approach is to build a young, hungry team through the draft, getting a lottery pick(preferably the top draft choice) and build around a young core that would include Schenn, Kadri, Bozek, Hanson and other youngsters that Burke brings into the fold. If he can use the assets on the current roster to trade for young, talented players or if he can take advantage of the cap problems of another team to acquire assets, so much the better. This is not going to be a quick fix.
Happy July 4th to all in the United States!!
From the desk of Mike "In Buffalo" Augello
At the trade deadline last March, fans hoped for a bevy of prospects and draft choices for Leaf players who had disappointed or underachieved for a number of years. The problem was, Brian Burke was not getting any kind of significant return for these players and was only able to move UFA's Nik Antropov and Dominic Moore for a couple 2nd round draft picks. After the season, Burke unadvisedly proclaimed that he would move heaven and earth to move up in the first round to draft John Tavares or to obtain a higher pick to possibly draft Luke Schenn's younger brother, Brayden. The problem was, you need two general managers to tango and Brian Burke could persuade any of the top 5 managers to take such prized possessions as Ryan Hollweg or Jason Blake to move up.
This week, the latest missed opportunity was the July 1st UFA signing frenzy, in which Burke did not get a chance to bid on Jay Bouwmeester or the Sedin twins and chose not to lob loads of cash at the likes of Mike Cammalleri or Marian Gaborik, opting for a more prudent move with the signing of Mike Komisarek. The problem is, the team has no legitimate top 6 forward at this time and will have to depend on the likes of Mikhail Grabovski and Jason Blake for the bulk of their scoring. The next salvation that Leaf fans had looked wantingly at was the prospect of big-ticket UFA's for 2010, notably Rick Nash of Columbus and Ilya Kovalchuk of Atlanta being available for the team's deep pockets and sizable room under the salary cap. The problem is, those teams have all this season to sign these players to long term extensions. That scenario appears to have played out with Nash, who reportedly has signed an 8 year extension with the Blue Jackets. More than likely, the UFA class next year will be similar to this year, where the really valuable commodities will have signed before July 1st and the players left on the market will be overpaid extremely, like Gaborik this year and Brian Campbell last year.
As someone who has been disappointed in more than a few of the possible salvation opportunities not panning out, my conclusion is that this team can only be successful if they save themselves, rather than depending on a free agent savior. The best approach is to build a young, hungry team through the draft, getting a lottery pick(preferably the top draft choice) and build around a young core that would include Schenn, Kadri, Bozek, Hanson and other youngsters that Burke brings into the fold. If he can use the assets on the current roster to trade for young, talented players or if he can take advantage of the cap problems of another team to acquire assets, so much the better. This is not going to be a quick fix.
Happy July 4th to all in the United States!!
From the desk of Mike "In Buffalo" Augello
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