Improved Play Means More Than Just Points

The Toronto Maple Leafs are ranked third in the Eastern Conference during the last 10 games with a 6-2-2 record, and while that is no major accomplishment, it’s an indicator that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I’m not referring to the late-season battle for playoff berths in the bottom seeds, which seems to happen regularly since the three-point games were introduced after the lockout, but rather the National Hockey League Trade Deadline.

Since the Leafs’ abysmal failure to start the season, fans of the Blue and White have seen their team go 9-6-6 since the eight-game losing streak. That’s not exactly the most flattering record in the NHL, but all things considered, it appears as though the franchise is finally starting to exorcise its demons, capped with an unusual win on home-ice last night against the Atlanta Thrashers.

Despite the Leafs only being five points removed from a playoff spot, although with six teams to leapfrog, what’s gotten me gleeful is the performances of some of the team’s pending unrestricted free agents.

It’s no secret that Brian Burke is not content with this current Leafs squad heading into the future. Although players like Jonas Gustavsson, Phil Kessel, Luke Schenn, Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin and a few others have solidified their roles for the next few seasons, the Leafs’ roster will undergo a variety of changes in the coming years. Lucky for Burke, he’ll have the luxury of shedding half the Leafs’ roster by simply letting the players’ contracts expire this summer. The list includes Matt Stajan, Lee Stempniak, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Jamal Mayers, Wayne Primeau, Garnet Exelby, Vesa Toskala and Joey Macdonald. If the Leafs decide not to resign any of the players listed above, that would shed $21.175 million dollars, which is a whole lot of money!

Now, let’s take a look at how some of those UFA’s have been performing thus far:

Matt Stajan – 28 GP, 9 G, 21 PTS

Alexei Ponikarovsky – 29 GP, 11 G, 20 PTS

Lee Stempniak – 29 GP, 7 G, 14 PTS

Not too shabby. All of these players have picked up their play considerably and, if they can establish some consistency as a team, should see their point totals increase.

With several teams close to NHL salary cap, the stars of the league will be in short supply come the Trade Deadline, and as usualy only a few big names will be shipped to new teams. However, due to the frenzy the Trade Deadline creates amongst General Managers, several of the trades involve secondary scorers due to the affordable cap hits. Taking a glance at the Leafs’ offence, I’d say all except for Kessel are secondary scorers.

Now, the beauty of it all is that the Leafs have Tyler Bozak, Christian Hanson and Viktor Stalberg to fill-in the empty roster spots, and they wouldn’t be inserted in fourth-line roles either.

While removing players like Ponikarovsky and Stajan could affect the short-term success of the team, especially if the “Frat Boys” continue to struggle while learning the rigors of the NHL, what type of return could these pending UFA’s garner?

With a capable cast of players who appear to be primed for an eventual role with the Leafs, could Burke manage to restock the prospect cupboard this March?

It’s all contingent on the performances from some of the players listed above. If the Leafs can remain in the playoff race, Burke will be able to maximize the value of his trade assets. However, considering the inconsistent nature of the team, this could just as easily go the other way.

Whatever happens, it’s crucial the Leafs focus on acquiring as much draft picks and/or prospects as possible at the Trade Deadline instead of making a run for the post-season.

It’s still about rebuilding, and this team is not even close to being done.

You stay classy, MLHS.

ronguillet@mapleleafshotstove.com

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  • Bring the Cup Home

    but hey, burke is building from the net out.

    so let’s see what he does with the forwards this offseason.

  • ingy56

    Bring the Cup Home wrote:

    i agree ingy. unless a hell of a deal came through, keeping him to replace beauchemin in two years’ time is perfect.
    it is the reason we should have only signed one of beauchemin or komisarek and used the rest of that money on a power forward.

    They will have a decision to make because Schenn will possibly be approaching UFA status thanks to the short-sightedness shown by keeping him last year, and if he hasn’t developed as expected do they sign him for big dollars? Both Komisarek and Beauchemin will still hold value and should return decent assets should the leafs decided to part ways with either. Veteran defensemen are always a sought after item.

  • Neverlosehope

    ingy56 wrote:

    With hindsight 20/20, the time to trade Schenn was last year when Tampa wanted him in order for Burke to move up in the draft to take Hedman. Now, they would be best to keep him to take one of Beauchemin or Komisarek’s role in two years, if not sooner.

    Sooner please… they as has been wisely stated before by various people on here, they should have only have signed one (preferably Beauchemin) and used the money more wisely (on aforementioned PF). Now we are in cap hell and unless someone is willing to do us a big favour our options are very limited.

    I think we should just make a run for the Cup this year and forget about the future!

  • Neverlosehope

    sLeafsRyan. wrote:

    Hamiltonian wrote:
    If were talking about the whole defence and UFA’s I think we should consider some trades. Right now, Komi, Kaberle, Beauchamen (sp?) are a lock for the next 2 years. They all command large dollars. That leaves XLB (gone) finger (untradable), White RFA due for big raise, Schenn $3 MM rookie, Gunnarson and Oreskovich. I think the team should consider trading Schenn for an equivalent young forward prospect/ player. It not as if Scheen is bad or has done anything wrong but given the large aquisitions dollars spent on the D I think we have effectivly pushed him out.
    Maybe all that pollution in Hamilton is getting to your head but Schenn despite a poor start, can easily be a defensive anchor in the future. Not only on the leafs but on Team Canada in 2014.
    .
    RE: Hagman + Poni’s future. I think only ONE should be kept. The player with more trade value should be dealt. Victor Stalberg is very capable of filling in for either player’s role production wise. Poni will get the Jeff Finger contract, even though in Poni he will actually earn that money. 4 year 14 million dollar contract, cap hit avg = 3.5 million.

    It’s the “anchor” part that worries me… he is starting to look much too much like Komisarek and the last thing we need is another uncoordinated pylon on D. Very unlikely he will be on Team Canada in 2014 unless all the other studs are injured. Key word is “potential”. We just traded away a “potential” top line forward…

    I doubt Burke will re-up Poni for $3.5 mil. Perhaps, but I think $3 is the max he will offer him considering our very limited cap space and therefore limited options.

  • Neverlosehope

    Bring the Cup Home wrote:

    we’d need to give more than schenn to get bobby ryan i think.

    I think that you are absolutely right about that, unless Schenn learns to pass, skate and shoot like Kaberle overnight… oh, that’s right, Kaberle doesn’t shoot either.

  • slowburn

    @ Bring the Cup Home: re Orr
    Agreed.

  • LeafsRyan.

    @Neverlosehope – Luke Schenn may or may not be the defense anchor we are hoping he will be, but I for one am not ready to part with him when his value is at an all time low. Schenn is of to a slow start but last year he showed signs of greatness. Will he be great? That’s another story. However he does have one thing. The Schenn gene. I doubt he is the Wayne Primeau out of the Primeau’s but more of the Eric (albeit he is centre) out of the staal’s, because of where he was drafted. (5th overall) I usually agree with your comments and you may be correct in the thought where Luke won’t be on the 2014 team, but I can’t totally dismiss that idea. If he does reach his full potential you can be damn sure there’s a good chance he will be there. With Adam Foote, Scott stevens to old/retired to be on team Canada there is no guy that stands out as a defense anchor. Pronger is a beast and he’s both offensively gifted and defensively gifted as they come but he will be retired by 2014 despite his contract (let’s not kid ourselves) I don’t no enough about Shea Weber to comment. Drew Doughty, Mike Green, Bouwmeester, will be the top guys for team Canada and they all are offensive defencmen. Maybe Schenn could be one the 5-6 defensive defencmen possibly with She weber.
    .
    2014
    Green – Bouwmeester
    Keith – Doughty
    Weber – Schenn
    Pitreanglo?
    .
    Of coarse there are many other player’s who could emerge.

  • Jordan

    The fact that people are even THINKING of trading Schenn is laugh-able. COME ON. You wanted to tank and build with high first rounders, but now you wanna give ours away? He just turned 20, give him time. Hes gonna be a top pairing guy IMO easy in 2-3 years, but lets not “Brad Boyes” him. We have 3 now in Kadri, Kessel, and Schenn. I cant wait for when Kadri plays his first year or two and we start putting him in trade talks lol

  • trust to rust

    Jordan: you are correct sir. Schenn is not being traded any time soon. The Burke has even gone so far as to say that Schenn could be a future Leaf captain. He isn’t going anywhere and he fills his role nicely for right now. He’s 20 years old. He’s from Saskatoon. Give him two more years, an extra 10 pounds of muscle and he will be an anchor of the Leafs blue line with White (or Little Wendel) being part of it as well. Beauchemin is only 29 and Komi is only 27. They’ll be playing for a few more years for sure solidifying an amazing blue line if we get Pronger as I predicted earlier. 2 years from now our blue line is Pronger, Komisarek, Beachemin, Schenn, White, and “take your pick” and it gives you probably one of the best D groups to ever be assembled. Quality enough to make a half decent goalie look pretty damn good.

    As far as forwards go, Kadri will make the team next year which is fantastic – he might even play with Kessel to make an extra fast line. There’s speculation that he might even be coming up this year just to give him a taste. We are keeping Stajan and resigning him with a nice hometown discount applied to his contract. He’s from Mississauga, he knows there’s something good starting to happen here, and he’s also the team’s NHLPA rep. He’s staying, listen to Ronnie-Dub talk about him.

    Kulemin is moving for sure. He’s the only Russian on the team and he will no doubt be moved to Atlanta where the Red Army has relocated for the 2009-10 season. Kovalchuk is staying in Atlanta, at least for the rest of this season, where a good showing in the playoffs (1st round win) this year does more for the franchise then dealing him. He’s comfortable leading the Russians and acquiring more of his countrymen is the best chance that Thrasher Management has of keeping him in the baby blue. Look for us to trade Kulemin and Finger for someone like Bryan Little (with a little sweet talking of course) or Colby Armstrong. Atlanta will be in the playoff mix and will want to improve while not giving up their picks for next season.

    There are trades coming soon. One thing you have to understand is that The Burke does believe that the outside perception of Toronto has to be improved as well as the team and his understanding of this connection will be paramount to his success as a GM. Not trading players before the holidays is key to any player and a respected practice around the league. It’s the same reason why no prominent player has been shipped to the Marlies. Toronto the team, and the city, are being rebuilt by The Burke brick by quality brick. Watch for an influx of Canadians/home town boys.

  • office
  • ms office 2007
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