McCabe has yet to publicly announce his decision but a deal is rumored to be completed between the Florida Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mike Van Ryn and possibly more are the possible returns. Squashing the rumors of Jay Bouwmeester coming to the Leafs (The Philadelphia Flyers still lead the rumor mill in the Bouwmeester sweepstakes, but don’t expect anything soon. Remember how long it took the Panthers to deal Jokinen).

This is just the latest in the craziness for the Leafs. If the deal only includes Van Ryn, and for now that’s a big if, than I give this deal a big thumbs down. Van Ryn is a solid defenseman with decent offensive skills but when it comes down to it, McCabe has more of an upside.

Some might look at this deal as addition by subtraction. Like somehow losing a former defensive cornerstone is positive, although McCabe had a poor season he could just as well return to form. And if he doesn’t, what’s the big deal? This is a rebuilding year for the Leafs; they aren’t expected to do well, aside from the die-hard Leaf fans that are so blinded by their blue and white goggles they still think Johnny Bower is in nets … and Mats Sundin is captain.

The main concern I have about this deal is who will step up to be the leader on this new and younger Leafs team? With the possibility of Sundin’s looming retirement or departure from the Leafs I expected McCabe to step up. McCabe has always been one of the more vocal leaders in the Leafs dressing room.

Another leader who could have replaced Sundin would have been Darcy Tucker; alas he was bought out, for what seems to be the same reason as McCabe; that reason being money. Usually we see deals like this to help a team squeeze under the cap but for the Leafs that’s not the problem. They aren’t close enough to the cap to resort to Lou Lamoriello type dealings, yet they seem to be doing it.

The amount of pressure the Leafs have put on players to waive no trade clauses that they gave them—albeit it was a bad decision to give them these no movement clauses—is absurd and surly does not reflect well to the NHLPA or to any player who the Leafs may hope to pursue in the future.

Of course this rant may have been as useless as Aki Berg’s practice stick but soon enough we should finally be able to put to sleep all the Bryan McCabe rumors. Hopefully it doesn’t drag on as long as Sundin has pondered his retirement.

A lot of the writers’ here on Bleacher Report have taken it upon themselves to accept the Open-Mic challenge and compose their favorite team’s All-Time Rosters.

Ken Armer wrote about the Ducks, Greg Caggiano wrote about his favorite All-Time New York Rangers, Chris Bouthillier and Chris Hoeler took on the young franchises in Ottawa and Phoenix, and fledgling B.R. writer Anders Edling took on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

And me? Well…I’m dumb. My favorite team is Toronto. Needless to say, I’m screwed—our fans can’t even agree on who to buy-out let alone an All-Time roster, and I’m the one brave enough to take this on?

I guess living a little never hurt anyone eh?

So here we go: BT’s All-Time Toronto Maple Leafs Team According to Position, Impact, and Career. (more…)

Scotty’s decision to leave his post in Detroit to go to Chicago is a slap in the face to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bowman’s name was one of the first on Richard Peddie’s list to replace John Ferguson Jr. but at the time Bowman said he was content in his current position with the Red Wings.

At the time it seemed that Scotty wanted to finish his career with the teams he set his record breaking 9^th Stanley Cup (as a head coach) with. Now it seems that is not the case. The Leafs simply do not have the lure that the Blackhawks have; never mind that Scotty’s son Stan is assistant GM in Chicago, focus on the fact that the Blackhawks are on the rise and with young players like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toewes, Cam Barker, Andrew Ladd, and their latest first rounder Kyle Beach. Not to mention a core boasting Martin Havlat, Brian Campbell, and Cristobal Huet.

The Leafs quest for Bowman began in 2003 while searching for Pat Quinn’s replacement. Bowman was offered the job but ended up turning it down due to the fact he wanted full autonomy with the team, something Richard Peddie would not offer to one of the NHL’s smartest hockey minds. Because of that reason Bowman decided not to join the Leafs. Now Peddie is willing to grant full control to his next general manager Bowman has turned him down.

At 75 years of age Bowman would not be my first decision to lead the Leafs into the future but I would much rather have him as an interim GM than Cliff Fletcher. Bowman would help beyond his job as interim GM as a senior advisor of hockey operations, which is the position he took with Chicago.

Of course this still allows the Brian Burke rumors to swirl but so far those are nothing more than pure speculation and lunacy.

They’ve watched as their Captain has wrestled with his future in hockey and familiar faces have been forced to pack it up and move on.

Similarly, the fans have been able to watch the Leafs go in a younger, tougher direction—which is refreshing when you consider their past history—while introducing some new faces who could catch the fans attention come September and October.

There’s one player however, that everyone forgets.

One player who has gone quietly about his offseason, shying away from the media’s glare (although it’s not like he’s given much choice in the matter).

That player is Mark Bell.

You may remember him as the man who annihilated Daniel Alfredsson late in the season last year, or the forward who finished the season on a three game point streak.

You may also remember him as the spare part acquired in the Vesa Toskala trade, the  -2, 10-point player with 60 penalty minutes last season, or the “scraper” who missed 31 games after fracturing his orbital bone during a fight.

You probably know him as the drunk driver, charged with a hit-and-run, forced to serve an indefinite suspension to open last season, who is currently serving his time in a Santa Clara jail.

It was because of his off-ice problems and his lack of production that fans were begging for his buyout during the waning days of the 2007/08 season.

Cliff Fletcher stuck to his guns though, and despite his six-month sentence, Bell is still a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Granted he’s one of roughly eighteen forwards who could realistically compete for a job come September, but he is still a Leaf nonetheless.

But why?

Bell is a former protege of Ron Wilson who coached him for Bell’s lone season in San Jose. Could Wilson have possibly noticed something in Bell’s game that he never got an opportunity to fix with the Sharks?

After all, Wilson came in before the buy-out period, and if he truly thought Bell wasn’t a useful player to the organization he would have convinced Fletcher to buy him out wouldn’t he?

Maybe Fletcher saw some flashes of the kid who once scored 25 goals with the Chicago Blackhawks (in 2005/06) late last season and wondered if it would transpire over to this season.

Or maybe the Leafs just want to see if Mark Bell can be more effective after his past becomes just that—his past.

It’s quite likely that Bell’s ensuing jail time was weighing heavily on his mind throughout the course of the season, which explains the low point production.

If that’s the case, then Bell will be able to move on this season, and allow himself to concentrate solely on the game he loves.

Either that, or he’ll just become another teams’ first round bust who ended up wearing a Leafs jersey.

Just don’t forget about Mark Bell. One way or the other, he may surprise you come September.

I trusted Cliff throughout the buy-out period, as well as with the release of Kyle Wellwood, as he seemed to have the mindset of what kind of players (and what age-range for that matter) he needed to build the team around.

I trusted him when he signed Jeff Finger. I didn’t trust the dollar amount, but I trusted the player that he thought he was getting.

Ryan Hollweg? Really? (more…)

Hollweg’s claim to the fame in the NHL thus far is being the recipient of a nasty slash to the face by Chris Simon; that and being one of the dirtiest players in the NHL. I guess the Fletcher and brass felt they needed to bring somebody in to replace the in your face style of Darcy Tucker.

Here’s a fun fact to think about. Hollweg has to be one of the only NHL regulars, in the forward position, (he played in 70 games for the Rangers) to have less goals and assists than Hal Gill. Hollweg only recorded 2 goals and 2 assists all season. That’s only 1 assist less than his career high of 5 points that he put up in 2005/2006. Heavyweight fighters like Georges Laraque, and Raitis Ivanans both had more points than him last year.

Here’s the Leafs team, thus far, in a nutshell.

1. A team with more defenseman than roster places for them.  
2. A team whose greatest scoring threat is Niklas Hagman. (This is based on last seasons scoring statistics)  
3. A team whose backup goalie is more accomplished than the starter.
4. A team whose captain is contemplating between retiring and playing for the Leafs forever rival the Montreal Canadiens. Ok, he could just as well end up back in
   Toronto.

Am I being too negative for you? I’m just being realistic. Last season I used the rebuilding plan set fourth by the Philadelphia Flyers to illustrate how quickly rebuilding can be done. The fact is the Leafs couldn’t do what the Flyers did for a few reasons. The first, and most obvious, is that they couldn’t get any young players, old players, draft picks, heck they couldn’t even get a bag of pucks for any of their assets because they all had no trade clauses. When the only players you can move at the trade deadline are Wade Belak, Chad Kilger and Hal Gill, you know there’s a problem. The second, being a farm team that has been beaten and battered by acquisitions of past rental players.

I would have liked to see Fletcher go after a few more valuable free agents than he did. I don’t mean the marquee players but if he could have signed a few veterans to one year deals it could help. It would give some of the youth some direction and leadership and come trade deadline they could do it right this time and manage to grab some picks and prospects.

As the season slowly approaches all I can say is it’s going to get worse before it gets better. The race for Tavares is on.

In a move that had been expected since permission to talk to him was disallowed, Joe Nieuwendyk joined the Toronto Maple Leafs front office this past week, as a special assistant to General Manager Cliff Fletcher.

For the one-time Leaf, it’s just another version of a homecoming—this time with possibly a better result. (more…)

According to reports earlier in the season Grabovski was supposed to be part of a deal that would have sent Mats Sundin to the Canadiens at the trade deadline. If that is true, and if Grabovski was the player involved in the negotiating rights to Sundin than Fletcher really pulled all the stops to grab this speedy center.

It may also explain why the Leafs drafted Mikhail Stefanovich in the fourth round, as both Stefanovich and Grabovski are Belarusian players who have played together in the past.

In his North America career Grabovski had been plagued with injuries; most of them sustained in the AHL where he spent most of his time. This past season Grabovski was tired of playing the AHL and voiced his opinions to the Canadiens front office; forcing their hand into moving him.

Grabovski, who is listed at 5’11 but seems much smaller, is blessed with blazing speed and although he has yet to be successful in the NHL has been able to put up good numbers for the Hamilton Bulldogs.

The way Cliff Fletcher has built the team heading into next year Grabovski could finally hit his stride. The Leafs have enough big bodies back on the defense to protect Grabovski; he could be a good fit playing with a big player—albeit a tad timid—Nik Antropov.

Grabovski is a very entertaining player to watch; with his speed and skill level, the only knocks on him is that he is very easy to knock off the puck and knock off his skates. To be successful at the NHL level Grabovski is going to have to improve his faceoff skills.

He’s still a young player; the next few years will be a learning experience for him; much like it will be for the entire Maple Leafs team. Overall this is a good trade for the Leafs who acquire a young player who should be able to crack the roster for a 2^nd round pick. Fletcher must have obviously seen something in him to try and trade for him 3 times.

As has become his routine the past few seasons, Sundin is seriously considering the benefits of coming back to play an eighteenth year in the National Hockey League, and the benefits of throwing in the towel and capping off what has truly been a Hall-worthy career. (more…)

With the opening of Free Agency, we saw the return home of a once-favorite son, the questionable contract given to an inexperienced defenseman, and players that seemed to be on their downward slopes in Toronto, head to places where the pastures may be greener.

Surprising could be a big understatement when you look at some of the moves that went down today—although word had been out on CuJo’s potential Toronto comeback for a while. (more…)