Truth and the Cap

What do the following NHL teams have in common?

Detroit. Colorado. Dallas.

Philadelphia. New Jersey. Tampa Bay. Anaheim.

Well, for starters, it's not hard to see they are all teams headed to the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs.

For the most part, they are also teams who were among the NHL big spenders before the lockout.

And they are all clubs that have had to deal with significant to very serious salary cap issues this season. The Devils, for goodness sakes, were in 10th place and $4 million over the cap in December, and they ended up winning 11 straight to close the season and capturing their division title. At one point this season the Lightning couldn't recall the minor league goalie they wanted because they were too close to the $39 million cap limit.

So for Pat Quinn to claim, as he does in the Globe and Mail today, that the imposition of the salary cap is what did the Leafs in this season, he is doing one of three things:

1. Trying to curry public favor with Leaf fans who will simply buy any garbage or rationale the team cares to spit out.

2. Proving he is a complete dinosaur who doesn't understand the league's new economics.

3. Trying to obliquely point the finger of blame away from himself and at GM John Ferguson, the person responsible for guiding the Leafs through the new salary cap environment.

But for the Leafs, who had salary cap choices to make and made all the wrong ones, to now claim that the cap system is the primary reason for their failure this season, well, that's nothing short of outrageous.

And a total distortion of the facts.

Yep, the annual process of covering-your-own-butt has begun at the ACC.

Comments

[Pete]

...And,unfortunately, most Leaf fans will buy that excuse. How many Cups would the Leafs have won, in the last twenty years, if Lou Lamoriello had been GM? No excuses from Lou when the Devils were struggling...with very little NHL coaching experience, he rolled up his sleaves, went behind the bench, made some unpopular personnel decisions, and guided the Devils to a division championship...What a contrast!

[Michael]

God bless Damien Cox.

I needed that. I read a column in the Globe this morning, and all that pom-pom activity gave me motion sickness.

[John McIlroy]

Damien is too hard on the Leafs. They won 41 games. They finished with 90 points. Are Montreal and Tampa Bay great because they got 2-3 more points?

But you know what really drives me crazy? This demand that Pat Quinn be fired for non-perfomance.

Pat Quinn is by no means the best coach in the NHL. But he isn't the worst either. If Toronto coule get the best--and pick up Ken Hitchcock or Bob Gainey--I'd fire Quinn in a heartbeat.

But if it is a question of bringing in Ed Olycyk or even Paul Maurice, then forget it.

Damien Cox isn't the best sportswriter in the country, but I wouldn't fire him unless I could get someone better.

Damien seems to miss that point.

Quinn's big problems this year were Klee, Berg, and Khavanov. He played them; they stunk. The Leafs missed the playoffs.

So I would certainly send Quinn packing if I had someone better to replace him. I wouldn't fire him and then think about the replacement later.

That's the Harold Ballard approach.

[Roberto]

I don't understand what all the "cover your butt" angle is all about. The Leafs performed just about as expected by brilliant columnists like Cox, struggling for a playoff spot. The season was not a disaster (see Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston for true train wrecks), but in my books 8 games over .500 is better than I expected.
Now when the team performs like Cox predicted they would, it's a "mess" that needs to be cleaned up. Is Cox wrong now or wsa he wrong in October?
As for Quinn, he deserves blame for sticking with Belfour, Berg, Khavanov, O'Neill Domi and Antropov. He also deserves credit for finishing 8 games over .500 with such crappy talent, and his top player in Sundin injured and ineffective for half the season, and a goalie combo with a save % below .900. No team made the playoffs with such crappy goaltending.
Ferguson has no "plan" and must go, he assembled this group and must take the fall.

[Ankur Arora]

Yah I see what your saying Damien, but what can we do, I read you every morning in the papers and you have some suggestion for the leafs, some i like and some i dont, but what difference does it make. I dont know even know why you write, the Leafs my favorite team, are headed by morons right now, JFJ did nothing at the deadline, nothing to improve the team at the start of the year. Peddie dont even get me started and Quinn well he should be held responsible too, he was the one that stuck with Belfour in the lineup and he was the one that kept Allison in for 18 minutes a game almost when guys like Stajan could of easily done the job. So he too should be blamed but whats going to happen, nothing, you write about it yet nothing happens,

[Flam Flim]

One has to wonder what might have transpired if -- as Mr. Cox pointed out in columns gone by -- Ken Dryden had succeeded in convincing the insipid MLSE board of directors to hire Bob Gainey as GM. I'm willing to bet had they, in the very least, Toronto would be in the playoffs today.

Even Neil Smith, former Rangers GM/prez, would have been a snort stronger than the seemingly distant and green John Ferguson Jr.

In the end, I expect nil to change. This corporation is not interested in hockey any more or less than any other investment it has made unless it becomes a drain on the bottom line. And we all know in idiot-hockey mad T.O., that ain't a problem.

[Brian Marto]

I agree with you Damien , the Leafs since 1967 had nothing but excuses. But we the fans are equally to blame for accepting this nonsense. I do believe Ferguson has a plan and really to be honest does not include Pat Quinn. Paul Maurice was a great hire a young coach who is in tuned with today's hockey and has beaten Pat Quinn in playoffs remember. Pat Quinn is a good coach but is not the type of coach for team the Leafs are trying to built now. I would like to see more youth next year and less of the Belaks and other dead weights . I would not get rid of Domi if he can accept the reduce ice time next year his presence in the dressing room will be great for the young kids. Us leaf fans must accept that the team must rebuild retool there is some great building blocks let see them grow and with the right mix of vetrans who knows. My advise to Fergie is follow the Detroit plan .

[Jameso]

Either you can say that Quinn was speaking for himself, and trying to deflect blame in one direction or another, or you can claim that 'the Leafs' as a whole are responsible for the statement.
You can't claim both, in the same article, at the same time you predict (rightly, as it happens) that they are parting ways. So is it the Leafs feeding their fans garbage, or Quinn covering ass?
The (ex)coach, the front office, and the fans are all kind of tetchy right now, but this article manages to slag them all off equally, and for the same reason. Impressive.

[Hugh - Perhaps you don't like criticism yourself?]

Well, I think the only good news about firing Pat Quinn is that I won't have to read about Damien Cox complaining everyday about Quinn, and perhaps might enjoy reading about hockey once again from the Star.

I don't know why, or what Damien has against Pat Quinn, but it is obvious that he does. I don't think that I have *ever* seen Damien say anything good, let alone praise anything that Pat Quinn does or did.

Nothing Pat did, or would do, would make Damien happy. Pat Quinn won Canada the gold medal in 2002 -- well he should have with all that talent, anyone could have won gold. He didn't in 2006, well he should have with all that talent, anybody could have won!!

The facts are simple -- John Ferguson Jr. has done *nothing* for the Leafs. Pat may coach the players, may select who plays and who doesn't on a given day, but still can only pick from a specific pool of players provided to him by the GM.

What happened to Joe Neiwendyk, Gary Roberts, Brian Leetch, people like that? Why did Ed Belfour and Eric Lindros happen? Sure there was the salary cap to contend with, but it doesn't look like the GM did.

I am sure Damien will find some way to blame Pat for those events, but I don't think so.

Wasn't it Ferguson that said there is no place with the Leafs for "Gilmour" when they got him back?

A guy that would do anything for the Leafs, and that's what he gets in return?

I think that it is pretty obvious that the Leafs went with an older team with more experienced players, which in the end cost them (as Damien has pointed out) -- but in the end, that decision should rest on GM shoulders, not the Coach's.

When is Ferguson going to do anything major for the Leafs? Forget blockbuster deals, how about a simple good deal?

It appears that the leafs are happy riding on the coat tail of history and glory done in the past, including the GM.