Inside the Blue Paint

What is the biggest Leaf question mark for next season?

Who will play goal?

What is the greatest area of strength in the Leaf organization?

Strangely enough, goal.

A worry and yet a comfort, all at the same time.

See, the Ed Belfour era is over, short though it was. That means some way, somehow, GM John Ferguson has to find a way to fill the net next season without having the net filled, if you know what I mean.

He can go for a big fix, like, say, trying to see if the Florida Panthers would be interested in trading Roberto Luongo rather than signing him.

Or, he can go for the short-term fix in hope one of the club's goaltending prospects comes through as a bona fide NHL star in two or three years.

What's interesting, however, is that the claim of goaltending consultant Steve McKichan  halfway through this season that the Leaf goalie depth chart ran seven masked men deep has proven to have more than a grain of truth to it.

Belfour, of course, was at the top of the pyramid, followed by his Swedish understudy Mikael Tellqvist. Tellqvist was pushed in training camp by J. F. Racine, who seemed third on the totem pole.

But not so quick. Jean Sebastien Aubin has emerged in the past three days to stake his own claim, winning for the big club twice on the road while allowing five goals on 69 shots.

Aubin came up from the Marlies, where Todd Ford has found some success this season. Finally, there are the two potential gems, Tuukka Rask of Finland and Canadian  national junior hero Justin Pogge.

Despite all the hype and hope, there's no guarantee either Pogge or Rask will turn out. Indeed, Pogge has struggled of late for the Calgary Hitmen and on Wednesday surrendered six goals in a 6-4 playoff lost to Lethbridge, a game in which coach Kelly Kisio considered pulling his star goalie several times.

Many goalies are quirky, and apparently Pogge is no exception. After wearing white pads and gloves all season, he ditched them in favor of an all-black, Johnny Cash look for the playoffs. But after the second period against Lethbridge, he dumped the black and went back to the white.

Hopes are high, of course, that one or both of Pogge and Rask will turn out, but finding goalies is an inexact science, moreso perhaps even than unearthing defencemen and forwards.

One need look no further than Cristobal Huet, the hottest goalie in the league with six shutouts in 30 games for the Montreal Canadiens. Glenn Healy, meanwhile, was never drafted at any level of hockey, from Jr. B to the NHL, yet played 16 years in the bigs.

Which brings us back to the central question for the Leafs going into the off-season. Clearly, the Leafs need to find a veteran goalie capable of playing at least 40 games, with the hope being that one of Tellqvist, Aubin or Racine emerges as the netminder who can handle the other half of the job.

Unless, of course, it's decided that, say, Tellqvist and Aubin could be a workable duo, with cap money spent elsewhere to buttress a thin lineup.

That said, after a year in which the absence of standout goaltending may well have cost the Leafs a playoff berth, the team can little afford to gamble.

Forget the decision about Bryan McCabe or whether Pat Quinn returns as coach.

Figuring out this net puzzle while laying the ground for future stars to emerge is the most fundamental and significant issue facing the club this summer.

Comments

[Ankur Arora]

True, very true, I believe the Leafs should sign Cujo back, his value has dropped signifcantely, and I am sure both the smart leaf fans and Cujo would like to have him come back. He was the true MVP of this team for the 4 years he was here, and not Mats Sundin from 1998-2002, he helped turned the team to a playoff contender plus 2 Conference finals. But thats the past, for 1 year, if the leafs could sign him for 2-3 million and that would add up to the amount the paid belfour this year. Also the leafs should pursue a 3rd quality d man and not overpay for McCabe, he is not good as Kaberle and should not get more money then him.

[Fred]

This seems pretty obvious. After watching the past two leaf games, Aubin should be starting every game for Toronto. He's a great young goaltender and doesn't let in weak goals such as Tellqvist. Im glad Allison is out of the lineup, since his turtle like movements are only costing the team. We need young, quick players to step up. During the past two games, not only have the Leafs got faster without Allison, they have even got two much needed wins. This would free up more room for talented quick skating players like Steen, Ponkiarovsky, Stajan, Ondrus, just to name a few. Allison is a liability to the team, since his style of play doesn't benefit other players on the team. Look at Ottawa for example, their speed is tremendous when they cross the blue line, usually 3 on 2. Tucker also doesn't have much talent except a pretty good shot. All he knows how to do is grind it out and forecheck in the opposing zone. You won't get very far with that, you need to carry the puck fast through the blue line and find the open man. My advice is to trade Tucker, get rid of Mccabe, Ian White will be a much better player than Mccabe as well as have a fraction of his salary, and bring in some fast skating youth to play with Sundin.

[Brian Marto]

Bringing CUJO back seems like a good idea it would give the prospects another few years to develop. Roberto Luongo is an interesting one what would it cost to bring him over , Mcabe and quite possibly a prospect goalie like Pogge along with a draft pick might do it . I think the Leafs have to sit down after this season and think what they want to do . But right now CUJO seems like a good cheap fit

[Nik]

Is one round of playoffs really worth giving up a top 5 pick? I hope not and I hope the leaf organization realizes that. Now is not the time to chase the 8th place spot and end up playing a team that's thrashed us all year in Ottawa. The goal should be to start giving the kids in the Farm a chance at playing in the NHL, let them get their feet wet so mgmt knows where they have to build on during the summer. A Jordan Staal would look great on this team and give them the speed they need to compete with the Carolinas and Ottawas – although one player does not a team make (see Sid the Kid), but at least its a move in the right direction.

So, goal seems like a likely place to start – the backbone of the team – we haven’t had one since Cujo left town and what better person to bring it back then the dog himself. He’ll want to be treated with respect, which he never got at the end of his campaign here. Hopefully the team realizes that and gives him his due. Next let one of J.F. Racine, Telqvist or Aubin fight out the other goalie role and then split the games between Cujo and the winner. That will help set the stage for the following year, where possibly one of Pogge or Raask can compete for the other spot against Racine or Telqvist as it looks right now. But regardless of who’s in net, the key is a good defence. We saw it with Potvin in net – with a solid D in front of you clearing the pucks, you can go pretty deep in the playoffs – Potvin even outlasted Cujo during the playoffs because of our D’s ability to get rid of the garbage before it turned in to gold. Something this year’s core group has no interest in doing.

[norm depalma]

I almost always agree with damien, but not re. leafs most pressing concern being goalie. Paramount issue is getting rid of veterans with value: i.e. sundin.

Obviously, that is assuming the Leaf braintrust is smart enough to fire Quinn and Fergie. Which can't be assumed. Even though any intelligent coach on the NHL knows that the surefire way to beat the Leafs is to engage them in a penalty fest...the leafs are sure to give up more goals on the penalty kill than they score via power play, since Quinn still strategizes specialty teams play as if he was coaching the Flyers in 1982.
And Fergie has no clue re. value of veterans...he couldnt even swing a deadline deal of sundin even though mats was at the highest value level of the rest of his career, coming off olympic greatness.