Breaking Up the Gang

Don't expect to read any rejoicing over the departure of Darcy Tucker here.

No, he and I never liked each other, never got along. That's okay. We're all grownups.

But for the majority of his time in Toronto, you had to like his spirit and moxie, even if it was too often more self-serving than team oriented.

Tucker, like Tie Domi, created an image in Toronto, and like Domi, went south as a player when he started to believe too much in those press clippings.

But that doesn't change the fact that, pound for pound, he was one of the fiercest players to ever wear blue-and-white. Had he stayed real, had he not tried to re-invent himself as a scorer rather than his natural role of agitator, the Leafs surely would have liked to have kept him.

Fair or not, Tucker was viewed as one of the leaders of the so-called Muskoka Five, a gang now broken up by GM Cliff Fletcher. Fletcher vowed big changes, and you have to give him credit for following through. Tucker's gone, Mats Sundin's all but gone, and Kyle Wellwood, John Pohl and Andrew Raycroft are also no longer Leafs.

Bryan McCabe, by autumn, will almost certainly be playing somewhere else, as well. So the players who banded together to defy the wishes of management and remain Leafs at the 2008 trade deadline have, really, gained very little in the end.

Tomas Kaberle, at this point, seems the only one of the five certain to stick around. Tucker's pink slip was signed the day new head coach Ron Wilson mused aloud that the truculent winger seemed to have "worn down," likely echoing the thoughts of the rest of the Leaf management team that watched Tucker play all last year.

Tucker, if he can get back to his roots as a player, may find new life elsewhere. Sundin certainly will. It's less clear about Wellwood and Raycroft. McCabe, once traded, will undoubtedly be a better player elsewhere with the pressure of playing in Toronto and living up to his ridiculous contract lifted from his shoulders.

But it really doesn't matter what any of these players do in their post-Leaf career. None were going to help the team in the immediate future, with a very difficult 2008-09 season looming, and with their no question any longer this is a major rebuild.

Essentially, Fletcher has, indeed, blown up the Leafs. The next steps will be interesting. Does he try to replace Tucker with free agent Sean Avery? Would the Leafs pitch for Marian Hossa to replace Sundin as the team's franchise player?

Or will this club do the smart thing, suffered through a difficult season next year, pick very high in the '09 draft and really try to build something that lasts?

Comments

[Bill L]

I am a bit sad that Tucker is gone, but such is life. I knew Wellwood would get snapped up by someone else and I am waiting for Sundin to officially leave town before I blast him for blocking a trade 3 months ago (so he could retire a Leaf....my my, how things change...and fast!). I would have loved to get something in return for those players instead of waiving them, buying them out or letting them walk as UFA's...but I guess making deals wasn't meant to be.

Fletcher (I assume it's him anyway) is doing the right thing. Yes, this stings (losing Sundin for nada, having a $1mm/yr cap hit for buying out Tucker, etc.), but if the Leafs are truly going to be rebuilt (which is what most Leaf fans seem to want, myself included...although I wanted to do it 2 yrs ago), then the old identity of the team needs to be purged so they can forge a new one. Yeah, maybe Wellwood will become a good player in Van City, but do we want a sucky-player (who from what I hear doesn't even really like hockey much) like him on a rebuilding team? No. Would having Sundin for another year really help us accomplish anything? No (he'd take ice time away from youngsters). Would having Tucker stick around for the next 3 (sure-to-be-crappy) years make a big difference for the better? No.

When teams rebuild, tough choices need to made. We may not all like these choices, but I for one, am happy that the club finally seems to be moving in the right direction and finally seems to have a plan that they can stick to. I will gladly stink it up and be horrible for the next 3 years if it means we come out of this the type of club that is a perennial contender like the Wings. Short term pain, long term gain baby!

PS: and never, ever, ever, should we give a NTC or NMC - I don't care who wants one...never again!

[Tom]

The LEAFS should have done what they are doing now 3 years ago. I agree with Fletcher. Gut the team and suffer. Let the young guys play and learn.If they finish last, so be it,they'll make money anyway and get a high draft pick next year.

What the leafs shouldn't do is spend too much on UFA's. They should maybe get Jason Smith to help teach the yound D-men and ease Pogge into the mix and bring up the marlies.

Go for a Stanley cup , not a playoff spot. It may take 3-5 years, but it'll be well worth it.

Long Suffering Leaf Fan

[robcap]

"Where is the Mark Cuban of Ontario?"

He is in Kitchener and has apparently too much money and credibility for the NHL head office to bear.

[Newton]

With the cap increasing each year the Leafs rebuild should take 1 or 2 seasons tops as many teams won't be able to stay at or near the cap in coming years.

The club must commit however to retaining its draft picks in order to ensure a consistent pool of young/cheap NHL calibre players are ready to fill a handful of key positions each year.

Every player in the NHL has two values right now:

1) his on ice performance value
2) the difference between his on ice performance value and his annual salary

Given the cap if everybody on your team plays to a level commensurate with their salary you're bound to be an average club.

You need young guys earning a million bucks a year and potting 30 plus goals and/or logging 20-25 minutes a game on the back end if you want to win. If you don't keep your draft picks and draft well you won't have such players to draw on.

You also can't afford chumps who significantly under perform their contracts as they can negate the value of any youthful contributors your club might have.

[Happy]

Damien - finally a coherent and positive article from you with no personal jabs or low blows. wow - you must be growing up too.

[Steve]

Gained very little by holding out? He's getting 6 million reasons why he held out, and also gets the benefit of forcing the team's management to eat the rotten contract that they signed in good faith.

When players get unceremoniously dumped, the excuse is always "hockey is a business", then players get criticized every time they don't sacrifice their lives for the team. You can criticize him for his performance last year, but the guy still left it all on the ice. I'd love to see an example of another player with more grit and determination.

[Gary]

With regards to Sundin, this fellow is a clown, on the same order as JP. Having had plenty of time to decide if he wants to get his overpaid butt off the couch and play hockey, he is going to wait until July 1st to decide he wants to play, leaving the leafs with nothing in return. Then, he will look at how much is being offered, he will find the team with the least expectations, and sign with that team - probably the Rangers. The last thing that Sundin will do is sign with Montreal, as that would mean that he would have to do something he has never done before....put his money where his mouth is and WIN. Forget about this joker, and send him on his final vacation, preferably with JP.

[Derek]

I think there was an even smarter move here to be made that would not effect the cap for three years running and sent a very LOUD message. Keep Tucker and send him to the minors no cap hit and the message might get through to Mcabe to agree to waive his no trade, its not like the leafs couldnt afford it. Hell it may even cause him to walk out right or at the very least draw fans to see the marlies.

[Jason Howlett]

Quote:
"So the players who banded together to defy the wishes of management and remain Leafs at the 2008 trade deadline have, really, gained very little in the end."
Are you kidding me?
Tucker gains 6 million and the ability to sign with whoever he chooses.
Sundin gain the support of the fans who blame management on the exit,and gets to pick his team he wants to play for. He doesn't have to answer questions on deserting the team at the trade deadline either.
Kaberle probably gets to be Captain of the most important franchise
Kubina gets to be on Kaberle's other side.
McCabe soon will get to play for the team he wants and thats NYI
Tell me how they gain nothing again? The real losers are management that are to dumb and stubborn to build a team that is any good.
Leafs miss the playoffs and still pick outside the top 5 next year. You heard it here first.

[Brendan]

Tucker was prime for a buyout. His lack lustre play, injured or not last year long with his poor attitude in any scrums after games was symptimatic of how the whole team seemed to act last year. Not only Tucker, but McCabe had the same BS lines after every game. These guys and Sundin as far as i'm concerned left guys like Stajan out to dry and speak up after garbage games. I do like these buyouts, but Fletcher cannot stop there, he must trade, buyout, sitout Mccabe, whatever it takes. Trade Kubina for as best pick you can get and stockpile picks for the next two years. Good on Fletcher, he came in a bad position and these clowns sit back and think they run the team, well see ya losers. While they're at it start picking off the top scouts in the league, sign them up to help rebuild from the ground up. I will wait for 4-5 years of rebuilding, only if they boot the jerks they had last year.

[denial]

Tucker may have all the money in the world -- more power to him.

But he'll never walk into a Tim Horton's again or some sportscard show or wherever old Leafs go after they're done without people saying: there goes Tucker, the one that the Leafs bought out because he sucked.

That's quite a punishment. Professional athletes live and compete for ego, because they don't do it for money (cuz they have enough).

Buying out a player is a tremendous insult -- much more than the old-fashioned putting a player on waivers. Buying a guy out is like when you punch someone and they say sorry on your behalf.

The Leafs of 07-08 should be immortalized into a cautionary case study that should be required learning for all hockey executives.

[Dark Phoenix]

This team is doomed. The direction Fletcher is obviously taking it, he plans on building a New-Jersey-of-the-90's style neutral zone trap team, dumping basically all of the Leafs' real offensive talent in a short time. Next'll be doling out large contacts to over-the-hill veterans that were good 5 years ago.

My question is, exactly who is going to provide offense on this team next year? 10-goal Nik Antropov? Matt Stajan, who can't reach 50 points despite averaging 25 minutes of ice time? Nikolai Kulemin, who's going to be playing in his first seasons in the NHL?

The answer is, nobody. So the Leafs are going to have to play ridiculously tight defensively, which won't work, and we'll have to get used to watching them get blown out as faster, more skilled teams run rings around them. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like watching that.

This is like the 80's; why watch at all? You can predict the results before they even happen. If it was for the sake of rebuilding, I could see it, but rebuilding isn't what they're doing. If it was, they wouldn't be dumping under-25 guys for nothing.

[Don]

I wish they hadn't let Tucker go, but, if you're going to clean house, do it. If you look at Tucker's stats, last year was not too far out of line with previous years, before the sudden scoring touch he gained. Pushed into that role by the Leafs when the rest of the supporting cast was no good.
Look for Gary Roberts to join the Leafs, as I heard someplace, as player/coach or similar. His good buddy, Joe Nieuwendyk will be joining the Leafs next week, much to my relief. Another good move by the Leafs, Joe is a quality person.

[David]

Hi Damien
No doubt some of the players the Leafs let go will play better elsewhere; some may even come back to haunt their old team. But Fletcher is on the right track with the changes so far. For whatever reason, this collection of players could not win and were not going to win. I wonder, though, whether the Leafs will ever win with some of the players Fletcher will keep. There is more wrong with this roster than Tucker, Wellwood, and Raycroft. As for free agency, I wonder who the Leafs will be able to attract given the track record of the organization.

[Carla]

'Bryan McCabe, by autumn, will almost certainly be playing somewhere else, as well.'

How do you see that happening? Don't get me wrong--I am EAGER for this to happen, but just can't see any other team being willing to take his big expensive butt off our hands.

[Gary]

I don't agree that Bryan McCabe will be anywhere but Toronto next season. As long as Cliff Fletcher is not willing to buy him out (nor would I at that cap hit) he can write his own ticket. I believe McCabe when he says he won't waive his clause. Even if he would waive it to go to the Islanders, the Isles aren't interested unless Fletcher coughs up a high draft pick (like next year's #1) in return for taking the albatross from around his neck. As an Islanders fan that makes me :D

[Pete Nardi]

Wow it looks like we have a bowl full of future GMs here...and some psychics. Before I begin, comment for J Mac:

Think about what you say about Tomas Kaberle. He is one of the best defenceman we have..PERIOD. How many of your eyes are actually open when you are watching games? Or are you just looking at the ads on the boards?

Anyway, Mr Cox has once again has put his foot in his mouth, and I wonder why so many people missed it. Probably because no one likes Darcy Tucker even though he really did put his heart into every shift...that's more to say than for some other Leaf players. So Damien, you make a funny comment:

"Had he stayed real, had he not tried to re-invent himself as a scorer rather than his natural role of agitator, the Leafs surely would have liked to have kept him." Weren't you the one whining about the fact that Tucker scored all these goals two years ago, and this season he couldn't find the net? Weren't you always complaining that we overpaid him for nothing? In..order..to..win...you...have..to...score. Tucker finally has a breakout season and now, in hindsight of course, you say that he really shouldn't have done that. By that logic, only players who are known to have 30 goal seasons should shoot the puck. Wow, that makes perfect sense!

One more thing. Everyone needs to stop saying that Sundin is gone. Mark my words, if this was his last season as a Leaf, it was his last season as a player in the NHL. Hey Baac, I like how you dump on Sundin but you say that "WE have money for once." Why are you saying "we?" Buddy, YOU should get a grip. If the Leafs won a Cup with Sundin as captain, you wouldn't have the guts to say what you just posted here. Dude, you have no class. Sundin is probably the greatest Leaf to ever play the game, and Fletcher has treated him like a freaking resource instead of a person. Don't treat him like a god, but respect him like a person, at the very least.

[#13]

Ummm... Haven't seen this rumor circulated as yet - but Avery will be a Leaf very soon. Mark my words.

[Leonard Coudurier]

The solution to the Leaf future is quite simple; fire the entire scouting staff and regardless of cost woo the Detroit Red Wing European scouting group. Just look at some of their acheivements; Zetterberg (201st) Datsyuk (171st) Holmstrom (257th)! Need I say more?

[Bruce]

After reading most of the comments here it appears there's a consensus that Sundin would be better off either retiring or signing with another team. I disagree. I think he should be re-signed and part of his contract should contain a provision for how the Leafs do during the season, and if they are out of contention for the playoffs then his no-trade clause will be null & void. If he cares as much about this team as he says he does then he should have no problem with that.

As far as the rest of his pals, Kaberle, McCabe etc., if they don't perform as expected do as I've said here many times before..BENCH THEM!! Don't put them in the press box so they are out of sight, put out for all to see. BENCH THEM!!
Then maybe they'd feel as embarrassed as us fans do about this crappy team.

And since it seems Brian Burke is going to be the next GM, I wonder if he and Fletcher are exchanging e-mails with each other in regards to how to start re-building the Leafs. I don't think the moves made so far could be all Fletcher's ideas, he's not that smart.

[Neil H]

Response to "baac"

I 100% agree. That's the only intelligent comment from a leaf fan I've heard, ever.

[matthew neil]

I don't understand the wellwood move at all, to give up on a guy after 1 injury plagued season? It reminds me of another little centre who wasn't good enough for the leafs Steve Sullivan who has had a pretty good career. But I guess when you trade 2 picks to move 2 spots in the draft for a big defensive defenseman who might have been there any way and then trade another pick for a career 51 goal scorer there is no need to have offencive guys on your roster. The Leafs are so dumb they will likely end up with the 1st pick next year and trade it for Darcy Tucker (to add that grit and scoring for the playoff push... HA HA)

[Jim Bates]

Just like Leaf management to shift the blame for their short comings on players they signed to contracts.Its more of a joke when sports writers from Toronto buy into their garbage....I bet the pay is great to writwe the company line.

[Chuck]

I support most of Cliff Fletcher's moves up until now. Letting Sundin go is a tough move for a GM, but completely necessary. As for Kyle Wellwood, he had brief moments of pure magic but he couldn't finish and his stats showed that.

They should have kept Tucker. The buyout was a mistake. Like others have said already, Ron Wilson could have kept him on the bench until he started playing better, and then his inflated contract wouldn't have been a total waste. Only a fool ever thought Tucker was anything but a 3rd or 4th line grinder anyway. Moreover, agitators are a hot commodity in the new NHL and Tucker is among the most effective.

Mccabe is still a salvageable defenseman. There's no need to hastily buy out his contract and essentially pay for his services long after he's gone to another team.

Same goes for Kubina, who understated defensive style has made him a target for the warped Toronto media. He played a critical role on Tampa Bay's Stanley Cup team and continues to be a big, smooth skating, reliable defenseman.

Other forwards worth keeping around include Stajan and Steen who still have the potential to play supporting roles on a good Leafs team.

Other defenseman that should be considered long term assets include Kaberle, White, Coliacovo and obvioudly Schenn. Coliacovo has battled with injuries but I have a feeling he may be through that now, and he hits hard, which every NHL team needs somewhere on their blueline.

If I were Leafs GM I'd be submitting an offer sheet for Jordan Staal. He's a future Selke winner and has all the makings of a team captain. He deserves better than 3rd line minutes in Pittsburgh.

Anyway, just some thoughts from a frustrated Leafs fan. Feel free to rip me to shreds.

[Denial]

The tedious Sundin-saga is designed to be a distraction and is not about what most Leaf addicts (there are no fans left) believe. The Leafs didn't get anywhere with Sundin -- and forget about two utterly FAILED trips to the conference finals -- and so the "belief" that they will somehow get somewhere with him now is simply that: a belief. It does not stand up to even a child's scrutiny (which is still more than what Leaf addicts are capable of doing).

What's happening with Sundin is about two things: The Leaf Organizations longstanding evil when it comes to treating ex-players; a fact that qualitatively sets them apart from the real center of the hockey world, which is Montreal (and I hate the habs and their silly singing wannabe Eurotrash soccer fans, but a spade is a spade, as repulsive as that spade may be).

The other thing that this is about is reputation. Sundin wants to go out riding a white horse -- he wants to be a good guy. He wants (and sorry if this is exciting some of you massage parlor patrons) a HAPPY ENDING to his Leaf story. And that's why all of this ridiculous positioning is going on: because if the Leaf botch this and tick Sundin off, then the reputation of the Leafs as a preferred destination will fall even further (because Sundin and his agent will make sure all the other teams and players find out about it -- it will take hours, everyone has a crackberry right?).

Sundin didn't want to leave the Leafs last year at the trading deadline NOT because he cares to much about Toronto -- it's blatantly clear that this isn't true, because if it were he'd have signed a new contract long, long ago (isn't that what people do when they care so much about something? They...uh...DO THINGS that express that care? Hello? Is this thing on?).

Sundin didn't leave because -- as he told a friend (who may have been Salming or someone) -- that "he didn't want to fix John Ferguson's mistakes." Yeah, doesn't sound like a real superhero does he now, huh? Sundin has never fully cared about winning a championship. He has cared about COMPETING and being the best player that HE can be, but he doesn't have that maniacal passion to win a Stanley Cup, because to actually lead a team to win a Stanley Cup, you can't be Mr. Nice Guy -- you can't do what, say, Alfredson did (or rather, didn't do) to Emery. You can't be everyone's pal. There are times where you have to draw a line in the dressing room and tell MILLIONAIRES -- people who do not like to be told how to live and what to do -- to sacrafice something, such as getting 10 more goals that year and hitting a nice bonus in their contract -- so that the team might win 5 more games. Sundin doesn't want to do that and that's why he can't lead. He can COORDINATE, but not lead. He's like a Chairperson; not a CEO. He can communicate, but he can't direct. He doesn't want to. That's not his thing.

The Leafs needed Jeremy Roenick the year that the Flyers picked him up -- that, along with Rob Blake, and the re-signing of Curtis Joseph (which was a pre-cap NO BRAINER that I still don't grasp) would have taken the Leafs to the Stanley Cup. Instead, they will suck for the next 10 years. GO LEAFS GO!