Well here we go again. The script is starting to look the same again. You know the one. Let’s start to play hockey and get some wins once our backs are pushed right against the wall. We’ll make a desperate run for a playoff spot and since we played inconsistent hockey for three quarters of the season will come up just short. The outcome will be no playoffs and we will play just good enough to screw up any chance of getting a good pick in the lottery draft in June.
First off thanks Mats, I know it was your right to refuse a trade but for the long term good of the franchise you should have let yourself be traded so the club could have got some good young prospects for you. Then if you felt so inclined you could have signed on for another year with the team in the summer. What’s wrong do you not care if you get the chance to play for the Stanley cup, is your summer cottage in Sweden calling to you that much that you need to get there in April. I mean even in the years that you did make it to the big dance you seemed to come up lame and could not dance much. Usually as a playoff performer you were just a shadow of your former self anyway. Do you not care about the Stanley Cup, is it not something that drives European born players the way it drives Canadian youth. Don’t give me that crap that you are not in agreement with the whole rent a player idea, come on that is the nature of the whole business and it always will happen. I did not see you on your high horse there a few years ago when the leafs gave up the farm in order to get Brian Leech for the stretch run and the playoffs. If I remember correctly you seemed to think it was a pretty good idea at the time. If you truly cared for the franchise the way you say you do, you should have allowed yourself to be traded for badly needed youth. Hey Mats did you ever think that maybe they could have used the pick they got for you to get a quality winger which you could have played with if you decided to come back next year.
Now all the other guys with a no trade clause in their contract are saying they don’t want to go either. Just great now were stuck with overpriced vets that will play just well enough to miss the playoff’s by a couple of points. News Flash guys, you’re just not good enough, sooner or later someone will make a bone head play that will cost the game and chances are it will be the difference of being in or not. Even if you did the unthinkable and made the playoffs, how deep do you think you would go into them? You lack team toughness and now your toughest guy will be lining up against you tomorrow night because he got traded to Florida today.
Good work by John Ferguson here too, not only did you sign guys for more than they were worth but then gave them a no trade clause so they can hang around. Not that many other GM’s in the league would be interested in them anyway with the contracts they were given. No it is a sorry state of affairs when the interest starts and finishes with Mats Sundin. Mats may end up being known more for crippling the franchise he loves than for being the all time leading scorer. Cliff Fletcher’s hands have been tied for trying to get the organization out of the mess Ferguson and Petty have put them in. Things will remain bleak until Ferguson’s contracts run out or the guys he signed start to play at the level with which they are being paid. Frankly I can’t see that happening.
Well leaf fans stay patient as it looks like we are going to have a few more rather bleak years in the near future before this leadership stench can be washed away.
Just to update Cliff Fletcher did trade Wade Belak and Chad Kilger to Florida for a 5th and 3rd round draft choice. He also sent Hal Gill to Pittsburgh for a 2nd round choice. Gill was Toronto’s biggest and likely toughest defenseman, so I think the team toughness issue took another hit. This cleared a little bit of cap room but not much. The culprits are the ones with the no trade clauses. Maybe they should look in the mirror and realize the team is not going anywhere with them on board.
