Early Returns

So here's a neat little piece of trivia.

Brad Richards, we all know, wore No. 19 for many successful seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but was unable to secure the same number with his new team, the Dallas Stars, even though no other Dallas player wears it.

Why?

Well, the Stars still maintain a historical connection to their ancestors, the Minnesota North Stars, and No. 19 is one of three numbers retired by the North Stars. It was done so in honor of Bill Masterton, who died in a game in 1968 and for whom the Masterton Trophy was named.

Richards instead chose No. 91, reversing the digits, and then went out Thursday and had five assists in Dallas' romp over Chicago.

That's about as good a start as you can have with a new team. and Richards was even a plus-2 after being the league's worst plus-minus player for most of the season.

He skated more than 19 minutes, more than either Mike Modano or Mike Ribeiro, who has been leading the Stars in scoring most of the season. Richards, from his Tampa days, is used to playing a lot more than that, and it will be interesting to see how coach Dave Tippett juggles the ice time between his three pivots as the season progresses.

If that was the perfect debut for a trade deadline day pickup, the opposite was true for Marian Hossa. The Penguins were thumped by the Bruins, 5-1, in Hossa's first game, and the Slovak winger suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in a collision with Boston forward Glen Murray.

The team is saying Hossa will only miss a week, and we'll see if that's an accurate assessment. Ex-Leaf defenceman Hal Gill, by the way, was minus-2 in his first game with Pittsburgh.

The Hossa injury underlined what an ambitious but risky deal this was for Pittsburgh. In giving up two affordable, young players, their top draft pick from last summer and their 2008 first rounder, the Pens were betting that Hossa's contributions would be so significant in the remainder of the playoffs and post-season that the deal would be worthwhile even if he doesn't re-sign as an unrestricted free agent in the summer.

You applaud Pittsburgh management for the aggressive play, particularly since it was a bit of an impulse buy on the final day. But given the youth of the team's top players and the uncertainty of its goaltending, the Pens would be a bit of a longshot to get out of the conference even if Sidney Crosby returns soon and at full strength after being out since Jan. 18 with a high ankle sprain.

By comparison, Dallas gave up less for Richards in terms of actual players and prospects because the biggest asset they gave to Tampa Bay in the trade was relief from the final three years of the centre's $7.8 million per season contract.

So if Richards were to be hurt, well, the Stars didn't seriously affect their current roster in the trade and they've still got No. 91 locked up for a while yet.

Pittsburgh, by contrast, deleted regulars Erik Christenson and Colby Armstrong to get Hossa, and gave up significant futures for a player who might, in the worst-case scenario, only play a dozen regular season games and one playoff round.

It's going to be fascinating to compare how these deals have turned out in a year from now.

Thursday Mail Bag

Anybody else find it a little strange on Tuesday when, during Cliff Fletcher’s post-trade deadline chat, he sure made it sound like he wasn’t going anywhere soon?

Lots of “we’re going to do this” or “we’re going to do that.” Talk about the entry draft in June, then free agency in July, and how this team is going to have a very different face in September.

Umm, wasn’t the idea that Fletcher was a temporary fill, a caretaker? Now he’s sounding like a man determined to leave his imprint on the team, either because he wants to or because he figures, probably correctly, that the dopes on the MLSE board won’t get around to hiring a new hockey boss until, oh, maybe December.

In other words, it looks like mini-Fletchermania II is turning into full-blown Fletchermania II. Can the Return of Wendel One-More-Time be far behind?

Now on to this week’s mail bag:

Q: Hi Damien, So at the deadline Fletcher moves three guys who are clearly not part of the problem on this team (ie: they live up to the dollars on their contracts, modest as they may have been). And he gets back draft picks that are so late in the draft it would be ridiculous to think that they will yield a significant part of the solution. Basically he made trades for the sake of making trades. My verdict on the Fletcher interim era is in, it's a complete and total failure.

And now with the Leafs starting to roll (as Maurice plays the heck out of his veterans in attempt to save his job; 9th place anyone?) my dreams of Stamkos in blue and white are starting to fade.

My question is, is there any hope for Leaf fans like myself? The same core of players is comming back (even if we buy them out, they still count against the cap so what is gained by doing that?). And at this rate no exciting star potential young talent is comming from the draft.

What do we have to look forward to?

Bradley Meldrew, Toronto

A: Uh, Justin Pogge, maybe? Seriously, there could be lots to look forward to, particularly if the next czar of the Leaf kingdom turns out to be a true heavyweight with a clear plan and total freedom to make it happen. This organization needs to be cleaned out, top to bottom, and if that begins in June with a true star at the top then, sure, Leaf fans have something to look forward to even if Stamkos doesn’t land in their lap. But if it turns out to be another compromise candidate, a lightweight who Richard Peddie can manipulate, another executive whose focus will be on getting MLSE two or three playoff dates a year and that’s it, well, let the nightmare continues.

The Curtain Comes Down

As expected, the final 24 hours of NHL trading did include a couple of dozen trades, and as expected Cliff Fletcher couldn't pull a rabbit out of a hat. Asking him to do so after just over a month on the job was a MLSE fantasy, of course, but it does make you wonder whether John Ferguson, with more preparation time, could have done more.

Instead, the Leafs still have their five no-trade heroes - Mats Sundin, Darcy Tucker, Pavel Kubina, Bryan McCabe and Tomas Kaberle - and have failed to use the trade deadline to significantly advance their rebuilding needs.

"One thing I can assure you is that the face of the Maple Leaf hockey team will be different come October," said Fletcher.

Hal Gill got the Leafs Pittsburgh's second rounder, which could be helpful. Dumping Wade Belak and Chad Kilger for middle-round picks probably isn't going to mean much, but you never know.

All of this is nothing, however, that couldn't have been done without Fletcher. The notion that he could somehow recreate the magic of the Doug Gilmour trade for this franchise 16 years after the fact was foolish at best, but that's what the MLSE board tried to sell the public, and now those same board members look foolish again.

It's sad, really, to see such a prominent franchise reduced to playing on the periphery while teams like San Jose, Pittsburgh and Dallas take centre stage. The Pens deal for Marian Hossa, stealing him from under the noses of the Montreal Canadiens, while the Sharks landed Brian Campbell and the Stars added Brad Richards.

The Leafs, meanwhile, added four draft picks - and not high ones - and are remained wedded to players they clearly would like to be rid of, like Kubina, Tucker and McCabe. Fletcher had no bold moves to make, and so made three easy, simple ones. He did say one of his Untradeable Five initially agreed to a trade before the Leafs' game against Ottawa on Monday, then changed his mind after the game.

"We weren't skating in the same arena as some other teams," said Fletcher. "We're happy with the results of the day based on going in knowing the situation of all our players."

"This is just the first step of the process," said Fletcher. "I did not think we could do more."

The Final Hour

I will miss Wade Belak. Guy's got personality.

Moreover, wouldn't it be strange for a very soft Leaf team to make only one move and get rid of their enforcer?

So there's got to be more to come from Cliff Fletcher, right? Gotta be.

Interesting, meanwhile, that the Leafs got more for Belak - a fifth rounder - than the sixth rounder Ottawa gave up for Martin Lapointe, and Lapointe is being touted as a big addition by some to the Sens situation.

The Washington Capitals, on the other hand, have turned into the most surprising team of the deadline, adding goalie Cristobal Huet, winger Matt Cooke and centre Sergei Fedorov at the same time they currently sit outside of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

It's not that risky for the Caps to do this, given they haven't given up much. But compare that with the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are about the same distance from the post-season but have dumped Adam Foote and Fedorov.

There's a Marian Hossa deal still to come, most believe, plus other smaller moves. Best guess? At day's end there will be 20 or more deals, and it seems likely that both Anaheim and Detroit will have something to say by the deadline.

Things Get Rolling

Some quick thoughts on a host of major deals that have down in the past 90 minutes:

Brad Richards to Dallas: A perfect No. 2 guy behind the vastly improved Mike Ribeiro, and who knows, maybe Richards takes over the top role in the post-season. The Stars didn't hurt themselves in the deal, other than taking on Richards' huge contract, and even losing shootout Jussi Jokinen isn't that bad because Richards is outstanding on free shots.

For Tampa, they had to move a big contract after signing Dan Boyle. After failing to get the No. 1 goalie they thought they were getting when they picked up Marc Denis, the Bolts have to hope Mike Smith is really the answer this time.

Brian Campbell to San Jose: The Sharks needed that puck-mover on the back end, and Campbell is a player who has gone very deep into the post-season the past two years. The Sabres, in turn, had to get a meaningful player in return, not just futures, and Steve Bernier is a solid youngster and an NHL player right now. But does Campbell solve all the uncertainties with a maddening San Jose team?

Montreal trades away No. 1 goalie Cristobal Huet for a draft pick, leaving rookie Carey Price on his own going into the post-season. For a team thinking it has a chance to win the east, this is a perplexing move, unless there's a veteran goalie going to the Habs before the deadline. Could it be Johan Hedberg from Atlanta if the Marian Hossa deal happens?

And could Ollie Kolzig end up in Ottawa with Huet now in Washington?

And the Leafs? Surely there's more to come than Wade Belak to Florida.

Storm Brewing in Ottawa

Hmmm. What do you think's generating more angst in the nation's capital this morning? The Senators or the budget.

I agree. The Sens.

With the trade deadline coming up today at 3 p.m., there's tons of chatter in Ottawa on two fronts after last night's embarrassing home ice loss to the lowly Maple Leafs.

First, there's talk head coach John Paddock's in trouble, with the team misfiring in all phases right now.

Second, there's heightened speculation goalie Ray Emery - pulled last night - will be off the Sens roster by the deadline, either by trade or some other maneuver.

It's too bad for Paddock if he loses his job. Strong guy, good coach. Meanwhile, you can't hang this all on Emery - the key guys on that team are Spezza, Alfredsson, Heatley and Phillips, and this thing has been allowed to get away from all of them.

So keep an eye on the Sens.

One other point. Am I the only one who thinks six-years, $40 million with a no-trade clause is way, way, way too much money and term for defenceman Dan Boyle in Tampa?

Good player. But he's Tomas Kaberle, maybe with a bit more grit, and Kaberle's under contract for $4.25 million a season.

For Boyle, that's a ton.

New Jersey, meanwhile, got things rolling this morning by acquiring defenceman Bryce Salvador from the Blues for Cam Janssen. Salvador's a tough nut, and the Devils were looking for just that kind of physical presence on the blueline to augment what Colin White brings to the table. Salvador makes $1.5 million a season and is an unrestricted free agent this summer and was expendable after the Blues signed Barrett Jackman last night.

Not a big deal, but a start.

Time to Fletch His Muscles

We'll know in a few hours whether dumping John Ferguson on Jan. 22 and repatriating Cliff Fletcher was worth the trouble for the Maple Leafs.

Today, the NHL trade deadline, is the day that Fletcher was brought back to navigate. After this, well, it's ride out the wave until mid-April, then sit back and watch the scouts do their thing until the entry draft in Ottawa. By then, or even sooner, the Leafs should have their new boss of hockey ops in place (of course, given that JFJ was hired in August, you never know with these people).

The interesting question will be, what exactly constitutes success for Fletch today?

Some have made this a no-lose situation for the Silver Fox, arguing Ferguson left him in an untenable situation with five no-trade contracts -- are those people aware, by the way, that players as peripheral as Mike Grier have such clauses in their deals? -- and so he can't be expected to do much.

Is moving Hal Gill for a draft pick enough? Or Alexei Ponikarovsky? Now that Alex Steen is locked up for two more years at $1.7 million per, should the Leafs listen to calls asking for the Swede?

Or does Fletcher, to be triumphant on this day, somehow have to figure a way to get one of the no-trade cabal to waive those rights and accept a trade, with Pavel Kubina and Bryan McCabe the only possible candidates, it seems.

To me, the dream scenario for Fletcher is if he can lay his hands on that first round pick owned by Anaheim but tied to the finish of the Edmonton Oilers.

Get that, and all past sins will be, if not forgotten, at least bathed in a new, forgiving light. Promise - the Kirk Muller for Jason Podollan deal and "draft schmaft" will not be brought up again if that pick ends up in Toronto hands.

The complication to all of this, of course, is that the trade market seems strangely slow, like Jason Allison on a shootout attempt.

Two weeks ago, the Sens and Canes did the Cory Stillman deal. Last week, Jaroslov Modry and Jim Vandermeer moved.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

On Monday, the drips became a trickle. Peter Forsberg signed in Colorado, and by last night, there were actual developments.

Tampa sent Vinny Prospal to Philly and re-signed Dan Boyle for six years, thus making the Brad Richards deal today a virtual certainty. St. Louis extended Barrett Jackman, taking him off both the trade market and the unrestricted list this summer. The Islanders, meanwhile, have contract offers on the table to Mike Comrie, Miro Satan, Josef Vasicek and Ruslan Fedotenko, and the deals that aren't signed could lead to moves involving those players.

Once Richards and Marian Hossa move, there's still the chance the dam will open, with Buffalo's Brian Campbell the next major domino.

The Leafs? They were trying hard into last night, talking to teams about five or six different players but with nothing concrete in place.

Should be an intriguing day.

In Dean Wormer We Trust

Dean Wormer, bless his imaginary Animal House heart, can provide direction and inspiration when all seems lost to the Leaf Nation.

Remember the immortal line, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son," with which the embattled dean lectures pathetic Flounder?

Now apply that to the Leafs, with a bit of a twist.

Gentlemen. Stupid and nice is no way to run an NHL team.

See, it's one thing for the kingpins of MLSE and prez Richard Peddie to moronically make one bad decision after another. It's one thing for them to clumsily and idiotically mishandle the Mats Sundin situation to the point the classy captain has now become a villain to some and still won't agree to a trade before tomorrow's deadline.

When you don't win for 41 years or even once make it to the Stanley Cup final, you're Flounder stupid. No way around it.

But it's the additional niceness part that's the real killer.

Nobody EVER makes a tough decision in Leaf-land. When Cliff Fletcher was fired the first time around in 1997, they offered him another job to stay in the organization. . .and a decade later he took it.

Pat Quinn was managing the team poorly, so they replaced him as GM but let him stay to coach and make life uncomfortable for his successor. Ed Belfour and Tie Domi were bought out only after Belfour got an extra few million and proved definitely he couldn't play and Domi received the most absurd tribute night in the history of tribute nights. (And could the rumours be true that one of the conditions to be the next Leaf hockey boss will be to hire Domi - Larry Tanenbaum's buddy and Sundin's new off-the-record "spokesman" - on as part of the hockey office?)

Now look at the current situation. The core "leadership" group of Sundin, Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe and Darcy Tucker proved emphatically several years ago that together they could not provide the central focus and direction the club needed.

In response, the team - either MLSE as a corporation or JFJ as a GM - gave them all lucrative no-trade contracts and hoped they'd turn into a quartet of Bobby Clarke's or Bob Gaineys.

Now, they're heaping all the responsibility on Sundin, pretending as though the other three had nothing to do with it. But Fletcher - never cutthroat, always a nice guy - never once even slightly indicated he would play hardball with the captain, but instead gently prodded him to waive his no-trade contract and failed, in the end, to get him to do so. Geez, Ferguson could have accomplished that.

Which brings us to Kaberle, Tucker and McCabe, the three caballeros who never seem to have to be accountable for anything.

Kaberle, like Sundin, has at least put two strong seasons together. He's no leader but he's a darn good player.

Tucker has been a disaster. He took a fat contract last season, didn't score down the stretch (zero goals in final seven games) as the team was trying to make the playoffs and has produced a lemon of a campaign this season while making sure one and all are aware at all times that he's battling injuries that would have a lesser man in hospital.

A hardminded, toughnosed organization, now faced with the fading winger's plans to stay another three years in Toronto, would send show him where the waiver wire was, a strong signal to the rest of the team that Tucker does not represent a successful leader or player, and that while he has a no-movement clause as well as a no-trade clause (Ed note: Earlier post suggested he had only no-trade) for two more years, that doesn't make him indispensable or untouchable.

And McCabe? Back-to-back lousy seasons from him. The Bobby Orr of the Leafs has got 15 points in 35 games and hasn't scored since Nov. 20 (he was out with an injury from Dec. 1 to Feb. 7).

Now that he's back from injury and playing mediocre hockey, rather than dreadful hockey, everybody wants to hold his hand and tell him how well he's doing.

Can't send him down because he has a no-movement clause and a no-trade. But a tough, win-at-all-costs organization would sit him down, tell him his days as a Leaf are over. If he won't accept a trade, that's fine, but don't bother coming to camp next fall and forget about playing in the NHL until he will accept a move.

No hard feelings, pal. Just can't use your brand of shinny any longer, and its abundantly clear he can't succeed in the Toronto spotlight, which is no crime. If he simply stays home and happily counts his money, that only confirms the worst possible suspicions and believe me, you're not worse off.

Every other Leaf will see the way in which Tucker and McCabe have been dealt with and take notice.

The nice days are over. This organization doesn't mess around, even if it means spending millions to correct past management errors.

Of course, Fletcher isn't the guy to do this, and unless he pulls a rabbit out of his hat tomorrow, his second go-round with the Leafs will have been a waste of time.

But even with the Sundin disaster now complete, this team needs to understand it cannot go forward again with the leadership group of Sundin, Kaberle, Tucker and McCabe.

Tough times require tough decisions. Look at the tough calls David Poile made with Nashville last summer when it looked as though the entire franchise was going down the toilet. Let Paul Kariya walk, traded Tomas Vokoun, Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timmonen. Now look at the Preds (Hint: They're not in 28th).

Now look at the Leafs and Alex Steen. The former first round pick, just shy of his 24th birthday, has underachieved again this season, and his next 20-goal season will be his first. He had 18 goals two years ago, 15 last year (in seven more games!) and has beaten enemy goalies all of 11 times this season.

So, of course, he's rewarded with a new deal that doubles his pay, the first major decision of the temporary Fletcher regime. Wouldn't want the young boy to feel bad. Wouldn't want the hockey world to know (it already does) that the phenom the Leafs wouldn't trade for Chris Pronger isn't really a phenom but rather a soft third-liner whose apparent mentor with the Leafs is, of course, Tucker.

Being nice AND stupid, you see, has got the Leafs where they are today.

Last Days of the Sundin Era?

No Leaf captain has retired in a Toronto uniform as captain since George Armstrong.

Now, we'll find out if Mats Sundin will be the latest to wear the "C" and be shunted out of town before he hangs 'em up.

Dave Keon, Darryl Sittler, Rick Vaive, Rob Ramage, Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour all captained the Leafs, but were sent packing for something that was supposed to be better at the time. In Keon's case, he was just allowed to leave to the WHA, although he would have preferred a trade to Long Island. Clark and Gilmour, of course, both played their last NHL games for the Leafs, but neither was wearing the "C" at the time.

Does it matter if Sundin gets to retire as a Leaf? The reality is, that is almost a quaint concept in an era in which money and contracts dictate where players play as much as loyalty or anything else.

TSN is reporting today that Leaf interim GM Cliff Fletcher has asked Sundin for a list of teams he would considering waiving his no-trade clause to join. The Star's Kevin McGran, meanwhile, confirmed with Fletcher that he had met with both Sundin's agent, J.P. Barry, and Bryan McCabe today. While 29 other teams would be good fits, it's almost impossible to guess which Sundin might actually select, if any.

Anaheim and Detroit, of course, are top teams, but would he want to go to either city? Peter Forsberg didn't.

Vancouver has the Sedin twins, Matthias Ohlund and Markus Naslund, so there's lots of Swedish content there. But would that in and of itself attract the Leaf captain, particularly given he's played his entire career in the east?

It seems unlikely Ottawa would even get a chance to bid on Sundin. But what about Montreal, given that Sundin did once play in Quebec City.

And if he's really considering re-signing with the Leafs again in the summer even if he's traded away, you'd have to figure he'd prefer not to go too far.

New Jersey?

It's all a total guessing game. As it's been for months.

Still, with Atlanta tomorrow night or a visit to Ottawa on Monday looming as possibly Sundin's last game in a Leaf uniform, speculation is about to reach a fever pitch. And I don't hear Fletcher denying that he's trying to move the big fella by Tuesday.

Thursday Mail Bag

NAPLES, Fla.

With the GM meetings over, and with very little activity, its interesting to see the impatience start to build.

Of the media, that is.

Hey, we’re all guilty. Those of us in print, TV and radio want action, want stories and want controversy. In the case of the NHL, we want trades, particularly biggees. If they don’t emerge, we’ll manufacture ones supposedly close to being done as a means of creating a sense of impending drama.

That’s just what we do.

A fascinating offshoot of this is the suggestion in several media locales – my buddy Scott Burnside at ESPN.com got the ball rolling - that Leaf captain Mats Sundin should be punished and banished if he won’t waive his no-trade clause and allow Cliff Fletcher to send him somewhere for players and prospects.

If Mats won’t do it, the reasoning goes, tell him to get lost, that he’ll never be a Leaf again after this season, his No. 13 will be burned in effigy by the MLSE board at centre ice and even worse, they’ll hold another gala night in celebration of Tie Domi’s 1000th game.

I mean, seriously, do you think the Leafs are really going to scare Sundin into doing something he doesn’t want to do? He’s 37 years old with more than $80 million of NHL earnings, and people really think he’s going to curl up in a ball and cry if Fletcher yells at him?

C’mon, wake up. You can’t force Sundin to do anything. Moreover, a franchise with a disgraceful history of treating its captains should never, ever even consider doing anything less than first class with a player who has always been first class with them.

One further thought; the reason why players want to stay in Toronto even in losing times isn’t necessarily because there’s a “country club atmosphere,” although top players are never benched or sent to the press box in this city. It’s because the money’s great, the city’s beautiful and even when they stink, they’re still treated as wonderful heroes by the vast majority of people and given almost total privacy in their personal lives. Recall Chad Kilger recently leaving the team for undisclosed reasons, and then returning, with no one bothering him as to the reason why he left in the first place. It’s a comfortable place for players and their families where the pressure of media scrutiny isn’t nearly what its made out to be.

Now on to this week’s mail bag: