Who Wants Barry?

Love the fact Jordan Staal earned his way into the NHL on merit, not as a would-be gate attraction or because a team wanted to prove it had a future. That said, all the fuss over the contractual implications down the road were a bit goofy. Both Staal and Evgeny Malkin, after all, are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents under the next NHL collective bargaining agreement. The rules might be totally different, so why worry now? . . . If you're keeping score at home, Andrew Raycroft is now 2-and-0 after resting and watching Jean-Sebastien Aubin play. Raycroft looked sharp and rested Monday night against Atlanta and two out of three games sounds about right. Aubin, don't forget, has a superb winning record over the past two seasons as a Leaf . . . Now that a snore of a World Series is over, baseball's most interesting story becomes the Barry Bonds free agent sweepstakes. Who wants this guy and all the baggage he brings? The natural speculation is that some AL team - speculation out of San Fran says maybe Baltimore or Texas - will want him as a DH. I'm thinking Tampa Bay is the right fit. They stink - still! - and maybe somebody might come to watch the creepy Bonds in that awful domed park . . . Even with Pavel Kubina back soon, the Leafs are still sniffing around for blueline help. The names of Jon Klemm of Dallas and Luke Richardson of Tampa Bay have come up. Richardson, getting five minutes a game most nights, played very well down the stretch for the Leafs and would come cheaply . . . The NHL received all kinds of grief last fall for its ridiculous ad campaign using actors as players in some kind of peculiar martial arts-style scenario. Well, as bad as that was, the league has done much better this fall. The concept, in case you haven't seen them, is that an NHL player pops up just to remind people that the season has started. So far I've seen Jonathan Cheechoo in full gear on a surfboard, Sidney Crosby in a shower, Marty Turco being picked up from school and jammed in the back seat of a car and Peter Forsberg lying in bed and turning out the lights with a whack of his hockey stick. They're all hilarious, and nicely illustrate the dry wit you'll find in any NHL dressing room . . . Best story of the day. New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees fighting with mom over her trying to use him to win a political campaign. And no sign of Belinda Stronach. Yet.

Heat's On in Hogtown

Who can remember a time when so many NFL teams were featuring more prolific and exciting offensive attacks than any CFL team?

Indianapolis, St. Louis, Atlanta, Chicago, San Diego and Cincinnati are all more inventive and entertaining to watch right now when they have the ball than any team north of the border. You could probably toss New Orleans in there, as well.

Only B.C., and sometimes Calgary, have come close to consistently producing offensive excellence this season in the CFL. In the East Division, it's been three yards and a cloud of crushed rubber tires all season long.

That's not the way it's supposed to be. Comparing the two leagues is generally pointless because they are so different, but by tradition we have expected the CFL to feature teams with a greater appetite for putting the ball in the end zone.

Not this season.

In that light, the CFL has got to be hoping the five playoff games over the next three weeks produce some real fireworks.

In Toronto, meanwhile, the Argonauts are clearly facing more pressure entering the post-season than the other five playoff-bound squads.

In a matter of hours over the weekend, the Argos went from hosting the Eastern final to having to play the Winnipeg Blue Bombers next weekend just to earn the right to journey to Montreal a week after that for the game that will determine this year's eastern champ.

After the Argos lost to Saskatchewan and Montreal at home to end the season, it's an open question what the fan response will be for next week's division semi at the Rogers Centre. For a franchise that has a lot of tickets to sell for the 2007 Grey Cup, every game is a litmus test of this market's interest in all things CFL.

But if the Argos go down to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, it will almost certainly usher in an era of major personnel changes for the Boatmen.

Since winning the 2004 Grey Cup, the Argos have taken great pains to maintain roster stability, particularly on defence.

But a loss to the Bombers, a strong defensive team that at best will have starting QB Kevin Glenn behind centre but on the limp next Sunday, would signify a need for the Argos to revamp their lineup.

Offensively, this team has consistently under-produced for three years now despite having a lot of flashy names.

Defensively, there's nothing to complain about, really, but the group is getting older and the manner in which Robert Edwards churned for fourth quarter yards in Saturday's 24-20 Montreal win at the dome suggested an Argo defence that ran out of gas.

It bent and bent, but this time, it finally broke.

Winnipeg's Charles Roberts led the CFL in rushing this season and averaged five yards a pop against the Argos this season. If the Toronto defence can't control Roberts next weekend, it'll be a sure sign there's need for change on that side of the ball as well.

If the Argos get through this game, a lot of the pressure will be off as they head to Montreal and then, theoretically, Winnipeg for the Grey Cup game.

But they have to win next Sunday. More than Winnipeg or the two clubs playing in the Western semifinal, Saskatchewan and Calgary, the Argos are facing a must-win proposition.

Crashing to Earth

Wow. After all the talk, has Darcy Tucker ever played a quieter game than he did Thursday against the Ottawa Senators?

Without Patrick Eaves nearby to beat up, and with Chris Neil putting him on notice at the opening faceoff, Tucker hastily got rid of the puck in order not to get hit on that first shift, was decked by Anton Volchenkov later in the period and then was curiously silent the rest of the evening.

In 24 shifts, he registered no points, one shot, one hit and zero penalty minutes.

Tucker explained his game decisions in detail to The Star's Paul Hunter, essentially saying he's not a tough guy at all and shouldn't have to take on a big guy like Neil.

That's fair. Personally, I don't care if the Leaf winger ever fights. It's all baloney anyway, and whether he scraps or not he's still, in my mind, pound-for-pound one of the toughest hombres in the league.

But if he's going to play the that-guy's-bigger-than-me card, then Tucker doesn't get to jump a pacifist like Patrick Eaves and then claim afterwards it was self-defence, or that Eaves started punching first.

Anyway, before the Leafs re-sign Tucker to the monster contract he's looking for, they might want to watch a tape of that self-preservation game a few times.

But Tucker is hardly the biggest challenge facing the slumping Leafs today. Bigger issues would be:

-- How to stop the defensive bleeding. After allowing only seven goals against in the first four games of the season, the Leafs have now surrendered 33 in their last seven.

Wade Belak, meanwhile, is setting some kind of individual record for plus-minus futility. In his last three games he has only played a total of 17:28, but is a minus-5.

-- Whether goalie Andrew Raycroft can play this much and be effective. Raycroft has played 10 of the 11 games, but in his last six outings his save percentage has plummeted to a woeful .847 despite having faced more than 30 shots only once in that span. A regular rotation - Raycroft two, Jean-Sebastien Aubin one - might be in order. Overall, Raycroft's save percentage is now .892 and his goals against is 3.23.

-- Determining what is wrong with sophomore winger Alex Steen. The young Swede has one goal in 11 games and after being promoted to the top line with Mats Sundin for no discernible reason has been booted off that unit partway through the past two games and replaced by Bates Battaglia. In the two Ottawa games this week, Steen's ice time dropped to 11:24 on Tuesday and 12:33 on Thursday, two to five minutes less than he's been playing all year.

-- Whether Kyle Wellwood can last as Mats Sundin's wingman. Wellwood began the season looking like the perfect partner for the Leaf captain, but has gone without a point in four of his last five games. The Leafs desperately want the Wellwood-Sundin combination to last but also desperately need more production than this out of Wellwood. Fortuitously for Wellwood, Paul Maurice's options are few.

Big Night

Let's deal with the Darcy Tucker stuff really quick.

Three years max. No "no movement" or "no trade" clause.

Pay him whatever salary works. The difference between $3 million and $3.5 million isn't going to significantly alter the club's salary cap situation. It's the term that could be the killer.

And the fact the club can even think about having John Ferguson do this without his own future nailed down just shows you why the 40th anniversary is around the corner.

Finally, no Tucker shouldn't have jumped Patrick Eaves. For those of you who think it was ok, don't whine and moan if, say, Chris Neil jumps Alex Steen.

'Nuff on Tucker. Now an apology.

This, you see, is going to seem like a promo for the NHL.

Sorry.

But mark down Oct. 26 as one of those rare nights on the calendar when each and every game has meaning and interest.

To wit:

--Buffalo @ New York Islanders: The Sabres, as everybody knows, are trying to tie the league's all-time record for consecutive wins from the start of a season.

--Montreal @ Boston: Controversy over goaltending and Sergei Samsonov's status in Montreal. The Bruins, rebuilt again, have looked very mediocre and got smacked by the Sabres last time out. Still waiting to see Phil Kessel do something.

--Atlanta @ Philadelphia: Flyers play their first game under new coach John Stevens. In 10 games, Thrashers have lost once in regulation.

--Toronto @ Ottawa: Oh yeah, this one. Tucker at the centre of the storm. Leafs leaking defensively. Sens offence looking buff. Some good storylines.

--Florida @ New Jersey: Panthers goalie Ed Belfour looked a sprightly 35 in beating the Rangers on Wednesday. The Devils have wobbled early under new head coach Claude Julien. The new captain, Patrick Elias, has one goal and the club has surrendered 12 goals against in last two games.

--Carolina @ Tampa Bay: The last two Stanley Cup champs are both locked at .500. Somebody's going up or down in the Southeast tonight. Eric Staal tries to keep up with kid brother Jordan.

--San Jose @ Nashville: Sharks didn't look nearly as fearsome on the road in Motown Wednesday night. Since losing three straight to start the season, the Preds have their goals-against back under control and have accumulated nine of a possible 10 points in their last five games.

--Edmonton @ Phoenix: We're getting close to must-win territory for Gretzky and his charges. Oilers may have played their worst game of the season in Anaheim on Wednesday. Coyotes have given up more power plays than any other team. This one could get chippy.

Enjoy.

Evolution and Other Matters

A Maple Leaf tradition is just about dead.

Notice I didn't say a proud tradition. Just a tradition.

For more than three decades, a big part of the Leaf story has been the club's attraction to the high profile enforcer/goon. From Kurt Walker to Tiger Williams to John Kordic to Ken Baumgartner to Tie Domi, with the odd Paul Higgins tossed in now and then, the Leafs have loved to have their scrappers.

This season, for the first time in a very, very long time, the Leafs under head coach Paul Maurice have decided to go without a designated fighter. Some might suggest Wade Belak is that player, but he's not and isn't going to be.

The result of this lineup decision is logical. In nine games this season going into Tuesday night's contest with Ottawa, the Leafs have been involved in one fight.

One fight in nine games. Somewhere, John Brophy is weeping.

One fight in nine games. That's even way below the league average of one fight every three or four games.

Does this mean the Leafs are getting pushed around? Don't think so. Fact is, they've been more competitive so far than many would have thought.

Strange, because those who ardently believe in the value of an enforcer would tell you such players are vital to the success of any team because they protect the team's skilled players (keep the sticks down, the saying goes) and allow them to go about their business without being unduly harassed.

Well, Kyle Wellwood doesn't appear to be fighting for his life out there. Same goes for Mats Sundin and Matt Stajan and Tomas Kaberle.

You could argue whether this is a direction chosen by the Leafs or the league. Last season, the club had 29 fights, just slightly more than the 26 in which Domi was involved by himself in the 1997-98 season.

According to hockeyfights.com, which tracks such things, three NHL clubs - Atlanta, the New York Islanders and the Washington Capitals - have yet to have one of their players in involved in a fight this season.

Five teams other than the Leafs have had one fight. This is sobering stuff for those who make money off hockey fight videos. More to the point, it's clear the battle over the future of fighting in hockey is over and the pro-fighting lobby is just going to have to accept it eventually. It's not even a worthwhile debate any more, sort of like the removal of the red line or the shootout.

(Note to blog readers: Before the quick-witted send their usual emails, I know, I know, I should really go cover figure skating or ballet and must own my own copy of Brokeback Mountain. Try to come up with something a little more interesting this time around).

***

Just as you were about to say Monday Night Football was back on the map it had to go and do this.

MNF invited the NFL's all-time rusher, Emmitt Smith, to be on the program this week during the Cowboys-Giants game then proceeded to ask him multiple questions about his involvment in ABC's Dancing with Stars program.

More questions than they asked him about football.

ABC and ESPN, which now broadcasts MNF, are,of course, corporate brethren. It was obvious and sickening cross-promotion. The saddest part was that the man in the booth who seemed most enthusiastic on the dancing with Emmitt issue was Tony Kornheiser, who also purports to be a journalist with the Washington Post.

***

Where will Ken Hitchcock land?

He's one of the NHL's best, so he'll be working again, sooner as opposed to later.

Columbus is off to a weak start and Hitchcock would be a fit for Gerard Gallant if he can't get that team turned around.

What about awful Phoenix? Yes, Wayne Gretzky is in the first year of a new five-year deal, but it's not hard to envision a shakeup in which No. 99 moves upstairs if the Desert Dogs continue to plummet. As a part-owner, he can't be fired, really, but he could in theory step aside.

If that were to happen, Gretzky could choose between Hitchcock and Pat Quinn, the two men he chose to run Team Canada in the 2002 Olympics and 2004 World Cup.

Taking Back A Piece of History

There was a interesting little note in the fine print of Kevin Dupont's hockey column in the Boston Globe on Sunday that will take Maple Leaf fans back a little in recent history.

Goalie Felix Potvin, Dupont reported, has decided to retire at age 35, with no takers for his netminding services. Potvin is the last member of the 1992-93 Leaf team that made it to Game 7 of the Western Conference final against Los Angeles before losing a heartbreaker on home ice to pack it in.

Potvin, of course, was also the main man in the Leaf net the following autumn when the club set an NHL record for wins from the start of the season with 10, a mark that could be in jeopardy this week as the Buffalo Sabres remain perfect out of the gate with eight consecutive victories.

And whose record did the Leafs break back in '93? Why, one owned by the Sabres, of course, the 1975-76 Buffalo squad that opened the year with eight straight wins to tie a previous best set by the 1934-35 Leafs.

So the Sabres may be looking to get a piece of their history back this week. They have Montreal on the road Monday night, and if they win that one they can tie the record of 10 straight wins to open the season on Thursday on Long Island.

The record-breaking contest would be at home against red-hot Atlanta on Saturday.

Back in October, 1993 the Leafs tied the previous record with their eighth straight win in Miami against the Florida Panthers, a 4-3 triumph with Potvin's backup, Damian Rhodes, in net.

They then set a new mark against Tampa Bay before 22,880 at the St. Petersburg "Thunderdome," and extended it to 10 games with a 4-2 triumph in Chicago that ended a four-year, 13-game losing streak in the Windy City. Potvin made 46 saves in that game.

The streak was ended on Saturday night in Montreal Oct. 30, 1993 with a 5-2 loss to the then defending Stanley Cup champion Canadiens.

Four days later Doug Gilmour signed a new five-year, $15 million contract, and a day after that Nikolai Borschevsky had his spleen removed after a game against the Panthers at Maple Leaf Gardens.

The Leafs started 12-1-2 that season, amassed 32 points in the standings in their first 21 games and went all the way the Western Conference final again, losing to Vancouver.

Whatever it Takes

Nothing - repeat nothing - will ever outdo Red Kelly's pyramid power when it comes to hockey gimmicks.

Well, given that the Maple Leafs lost the '76 quarterfinal series against Philly, maybe that's not quite true.

But give the man an "A" for creativity.

Right now, there are two good gimmicks going on in the NHL, and both are funny in their own way, but also pretty damn meaningful to the two teams involved.

The Edmonton Oilers are giving an "ugly coat" to their best player after each game, and man, this is one unsightly garment.

Long, leather and with a thick fur collar, I think I might have seen something like in Starsky and Hutch. Or maybe on Broadway Joe Namath around the time he was doing commercials for nylons.

Most important, it's a fun team thing, the kind of goofy little gimmick that creates team spirit and makes the 82-game season feel a little shorter.

The other gimmick is going on in Atlanta and actually started last season. Whenever the Thrashers get involved in a shootout, all the players on the bench turn their helmets around backwards in a hockey version of baseball's rally cap.

It particularly looks odd on players who wear shields.

When Slava Kozlov scored Atlanta's first shootout goal Thursday against Washington on a flashy deke, the veteran Russian couldn't even wait to get back to the bench to get his helmet turned around.

When Kari Lehtonen stoned Alex Ovechkin to end it, there was the hilarious sight of the Atlanta goalie being congratulated by teammates who all looked as though they were wearing the ugliest helmets since the old soup bowl model once worn by Brian Glennie.

Silly, sure, but you know what? It takes an element of the game that some complain emphasizes individual over team, and puts the team spirit back in the game.

Instead of fearing the shootout like say, oh, the Maple Leafs, the Thrashers at least give the impression they're revelling in the moment.

Ugly coats and helmets worn backwards. In a pro sports world that often seems too antiseptic, this is good stuff.

Petr the Not-So-Great

Don't worry for Petr Nedved, tossed on the waiver list by the panicking Philadelphia Flyers. Somebody's always willing to give Nedved another chance, willing to believe that they'll be able to harness his ability and make him play hard consistently. That's what the Coyotes thought coming out of the lockout. That's what Philly thought last season after picking him up from Phoenix, and they believed it some more this past summer when they signed him to a new contract worth $2.4 million per. Of course, that's what Vancouver first believed when they took Nedved second overall in the 1990 draft. No matter how many times this chronic underachiever demonstrates he's not willing to give it his all, some team is always willing to buy into the tantalizing appeal of his talent. It will likely happen again, but clearing waivers and being sent to the minors may make it harder. He has to go through waivers again to be recalled to the NHL, and if any other team claimed him, the Flyers would have to still pay half his salary . . . This we now know. MLSE valued Tie Domi's 1,000th game far more than Mats Sundin's 500th goal. Tells you a lot of how the organization understands and appreciates talent. And why is it whenever MLSE tries to hold a ceremony to honor somebody, it always seems slightly awkward? . . . Seven games in and Bryan McCabe looks very tentative out there, yet the tough-love approach used on Jeff O'Neill and Matt Stajan seems not to apply to the Leaf defenceman. A blind behind-the-back pass in the neutral zone that led to the killer goal in a 4-1 loss to Colorado might have landed some Leafs on the bench. Not McCabe. JFJ is looking good for his hiring of Paul Maurice, his acquisition of Andrew Raycroft and his signings of Pavel Kubina and Mike Peca. But as noted emphatically at the time, paying McCabe at the level of a Norris Trophy winner in the hopes he will become won was a terribly misguided notion. They gave him money, term and a no-movement clause and will regret all three . . . The consensus was that the Leafs didn't work hard enough in losing to the Avs. Don't think so. Looked more like the Avs were the smarter, more conservative team and simply kept the game close knowing that Toronto's error-prone blueline would provide the crucial chances to win the game. Look for more teams to adopt that approach . . . A change in the power structure in the Western Conference is clearly underway. Not only is Detroit not running away with its division, it got smacked hard in Anaheim Wednesday night . . . The rest of the NHL's rookie class had a two-week head start on Evgeny Malkin. Assuming he stays healthy, he'll now easily pull away from the pack with few challengers. Boston's Phil Kessel, on the other hand, has yet to score and is looking overmatched at the NHL level. Most teenagers are. On the other hand, many suggested Anaheim winger Dustin Penner could be a serious Calder candidate because he was more mature at age 24 and played so well in last spring's playoffs. So far, Penner has one goal, the same as Malkin after one game. Washington's Alexander Semin, 22, would be a great challenger to Malkin, except he's not a rookie after playing 52 games in the 2003-04 season.

The End of a Great Ride?

It was 11 years ago that the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver, and a year after that the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix.

Given what the NHL now knows about its business, specifically about the crucial importance of Canadian teams to its business model, you have to wonder if the league wouldn't have been better off keeping both teams where they were.

The Coyotes have struggled for years in the desert and are showing few signs of being a success in the very near future, even with Wayne Gretzky at the helm.

In Denver, meanwhile, the Avalanche have long been an enormous success, largely because they arrived in town with a fabulously talented lineup created by the futility of the Nords and then built on that roster.

With Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Patrick Roy, Ray Bourque, Rob Blake and others, the Avs were a team to watch for every hockey fan, both inside Colorado and out.

For years, it was an easy sell, particularly when the club's rivalry with Detroit was white hot. It was also a source of frustration for many hockey fans in Canada, who watched for years as teams north of the border lost teams and stars and struggled to stay alive while a champion was essentially gift-wrapped and dropped on the doorstep of the city of Denver.

But only Sakic is left from that galaxy of stars, and the Avs are no longer a powerhouse. Five years removed from their last Stanley Cup, the team is regrouping as fast as it can under new GM Francois Giguere. Giguere took over from Pierre Lacroix after the playoffs last year, and you have to wonder if Lacroix got out while the going was good.

The Avs are off to a very slow start, but the critical event so far may have occurred Monday night when 17,681 fans showed up at the Pepsi Centre to watch Colorado lose to the improved Chicago Blackhawks.

Good crowd, right? Sure, just 326 tickets below a sellout, but it also was the first time since Nov. 1, 1995, that the Avs didn't record an official sellout at home, a streak of 487 games.

This is a big deal in Denver, and its going to be very, very interesting to see how that market responds if the hockey team is mired in the middle of the NHL pack - or worse - for a few years.

The Avalanche are in town Wednesday night to face the Leafs, and then play the Senators in Ottawa on Thursday.

The most interesting game of their road trip, however, will be Saturday when Jose Theodore, truly a lightning rod of controversy during his time as a Hab, makes his return to the city.

So far, Theodore has one win, a goals-against average of 3.26 and a save percentage of .888. The goalie that went the other way in the trade, David Aebischer, may be on the verge of stealing the No. 1 job in Montreal from last year's hero, Cristobal Huet.

Shooting for Success

It's an interesting time for folks who cheer for the Maple Leafs.

A look at the roster and the competition suggests going back-to-back - '67 AND '07 - is a pipe dream.

But if the Carolina Hurricanes can the win the Stanley Cup and the Edmonton Eskimos can miss the CFL playoffs for the first time in 34 years and - just maybe - the Detroit Tigers can capture the World Series all within the same 12-month period, well who's to say what's possible?

But you have to wonder if something less, something more of an individual nature, might go a long, long way to giving Leaf fans a real belief the team is moving in the right direction under JFJ and Paul Maurice.

How about a scoring title? Haven't had one of those since Gordie Drillon in 1938.

Or a Rocket Richard Trophy? The silverware didn't exist back then, but Frank Mahovlich led the league in goals with had 48 back in '61, although Boom Boom Geoffrion scored two more to lead the league.

Then, there's the Hart Trophy for MVP. Ted Kennedy was the last Leaf to grab that trophy back in 1955.

Based on today, of course, Martin Havlat's going to win all three.

Just kidding.

But it's not hard to imagine the impact it would have on the city if Mats Sundin could find his way to one of those coveted awards this season.

He's shooting more and playing more like a goal-scorer, and the team is apparently looking like a club that could surprise in the standings and with the amount of offence it can generate.

Don't remember those predictions from last year than Jonathan Cheechoo was going to win The Rocket. So surprises do happen.

Nothing would be as big, of course, as winning the Cup. But if Sundin could have such a spectacular season that he would find one of those trophies on his mantle, they'd probably be willing to hang his jersey immediately from the rafters, so starved is this franchise for something resembling recent success.

As of today, the most interesting question for Leaf-aholics might be this; if you were to rank the captains of the post-George Armstrong era in order of their impact on the city and the team while they wore the "C", how would you rank them?

For me, it would go like this:

1. Darryl Sittler.

2. Mats Sundin

3. Doug Gilmour

4. Dave Keon

5. Wendel Clark

6. Rick Vaive

7. Rob Ramage.