Big Names, Intriguing Deals

If you'd speculated upon this Calgary deal 18 months ago, I and pretty much everyone else who observes the Maple Leafs from a position of neutrality would have laughed it off as one of those dreamer deals that only fans of Toronto's NHL franchise dream up.

You know. How about this fourth-liner and that backup goalie plus a second round pick for Sidney Crosby? Or Alex Ovechkin? Or Zach Parise?

Those kind of pie-in-the-sky swaps.

Well, if you'd said halfway last season that the Leafs were going to be able to structure a trade for Dion Phaneuf around Matt Stajan, Ian White and Niklas Hagman, people would have laughed.

But today it happened.

That it did tells you something about the way players are perceived and valued differently in different markets.

See, most people see Phaneuf and his enormous salary and Hollywood girlfriend and colorful on-ice persona and think superstar.

That White has more points than Phaneuf and a similar plus-minus on a much worse club would come as a surprise to many.

So would the fact that in deals with Calgary to get Phaneuf and with Anaheim to get goalie J.S. Giguere, the Leafs gave up 57 goals and received only 11 in return.

Still, both the deal with the Flames and the one with the Ducks share one component. The other club is taking most of the risk.

If Giguere can't play anymore - unlikely - the Leafs have added a big salary for next season, but dumping both Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake is a victory regardless of the return. At worst Giguere can mentor Jonas Gustavsson, a job Toskala didn't exactly embrace.

With the Phaneuf trade, Calgary added depth in the four Leafs acquired and may be a better team for the transaction.

But none of the four will ever be an NHL star.

Phaneuf might. In fact, he was, or at least a star-in-the-making, until he regressed last season and this season.

If he just turns out to be an erratic, overpaid player, the Leafs will be disappointed but not burned.

If he wins a Norris Trophy one day, the Flames are going to be awfully embarrassed.

Hard to say if the Leafs are better today, athough with Tomas Kaberle, Mike Komisarek (injured), Francois Beauchemin and Phaneuf they have a intriguing blueline, and Giguere has got to be better than Toskala.

But they are younger. Four players 30 years or older left town yesterday, and only one - Giguere - came back.

They are more North American and younger. Freddie Sjostrom is a fringe player but only 26, and defenceman Keith Aulie is at least a viable prospect.

These deals may or may not work out. But there is a big upside connected with Phaneuf, and little risk from a Leaf point-of-view.

The Spin will return

The Spin returns on Feb. 1.

Thursday Mail Bag

So Georges Laraque has been deemed of no value by the Montreal Canadiens.

That's got to be a hard one to take for those who believe the presence of an enforcer is integral to having success in the NHL. Like the Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings and a few other teams, the Canadiens will now proceed without muscle.

Meanwhile, the Leafs will have both Colton Orr and Jay Rosehill in the lineup tonight against Tampa.

Somebody's swimming against the current here. Now on to this week's mail bag.

Q: Hi, Damien. I read in the Star that Chris DiDomenico is skating with the Leafs, which is good news after his leg injury. Any word on his progress, where he fits in with the Leafs' plans and an evaluation of his potential?

Gary Pinder, Ottawa

A: Apparently he is working on building up his leg strength with Leaf trainers and skating coach, hope is that he might be able to rejoin Chicoutimi for final weeks of QMJHL season.

Q: Since the Leafs have no 1st round picks this year (so far anyway), I assume they will be active again with regards to US College Free Agents. I've haven't heard a thing about them this year, are there any good ones in play that rival Hanson, Bozak & Gilroy?

Shaun Guidolin, Cambridge

A: I'm told that at this point no big-name prospects equivalent to Hanson and Gilroy have yet emerged. Two names to watch for, however, might be University of Vermont defenceman Dan Lawson, a 6-foot-3, 246 pounder, and Cornell goaltender Ben Scrivens. But this market will become clearer in the next few months.

Q: Hi Damien,



What are your thoughts/reflections of the old dog Cujo upon his 
retiring? Hall worthy?

 Osgood has the numbers, but Cujo was a better "money goalie." Regarding
 being 

Cup-less, how many Cups did Bernie Federko/Dale Hawerchuk win?

Your 
thoughts?



Thanks.
Michael Nestlehut, Harper Woods,Michigan



A: Curtis Joseph will be right on the borderline as far as getting into the Hockey Hall of Fame. With the fourth most wins in NHL history, I figure he probably belongs. That said, Tom Barrasso's not in, and I would put Barrasso ahead of Joseph. Can't say I agree that Joseph was a better money goalie than Chris Osgood. Osgood's Cup rings sort of settle that argument, and the fact he was able to win in Detroit while Joseph, for a variety of reasons, could not. But the HHOF tends to be inclusive, rather than exclusive like Cooperstown, so I figure one day Joseph will get in.

Q: 

Hi Damien,



It seems that over the last few years the Flames have started strong and
 then faded in

 the last 1/3 of the season and into the playoffs finishing well below
most analysts 

expectations. Why do you believe they continue to struggle down the 
stretch? What do 

they need to do to become a Stanley Cup contender again?



Thanks,

 Christian De Cloet, Hamilton

A: Lack of finish and skill up front, I would imagine, plus a heavy workload borne by goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff that may leave him weary by the post-season. Adding Jay Bouwmeester in the off-season was a bid to have a strong youngster capable of playing major minutes by April. But this is a team that in my mind still lacks a No. 1 centre. 



Q: 
What are your thoughts on the simmering debate and competition between
 the NCAA and

Major Junior systems of hockey development?

 If I were a parent of a young hockey player, I think the NCAA route is a
 no-brainer.

The benefits of a US college education and a more safety-oriented 
development league

 are obvious to me. Though I enjoy the on-ice product, I find it
increasingly difficult

 to support Major Junior hockey for the brand of hockey it promotes and
the personal

 sacrifice required of the player. I expect I'm not the only one. 



Michael Paris, Toronto




A: A wise hockey man once explained to me that just as there are good major junior situations and bad major junior situations, there are good NCAA setups and bad ones. It depends on the kid in question and the program, whether its major junior or college. For me, if I ever had a child interested in playing at an elite level, I would push the college route if there was a school that I felt could offer a serious educational component. There are many scholastic success stories in major junior, to be sure, but I think you're asking an awful lot of a young person to carry that hockey workload and be successful with the books. And I'm not one who would ever urge a young person to forgo an education in favour of hockey.

That's not to dump on major junior, and I don't necessarily agree the NCAA is “more safety oriented” than the CHL. Both have advantages, but the advantage of including education makes one preferable to the other in my view.

Q: 



Hey Damien, love reading your articles!

My question is in regards to the leafs. For years the leafs never had an
 elite winger 

for Mats Sundin. He leaves and we now have Phil Kessel. I have been thinking since 
the start of

the season, why didnt the leafs try to get Sundin back for 1 year.
watching him play

in Vancouver i noticed his heart just wasn't all there. I think with him
 at center and

 Kessel on the wing the leafs could be in a playoff spot. Do you think if
 Burkie tried

to get Sundin back at the start of the season he would have laced them
 up for 1 more 

yr. and how do you think the leafs would do if sundin was playing with
 Kessel.



Thanks Damien, you rock! 



Daniel Stanghieri, Brampton

A; Thanks for the kinds works, Daniel. For starters, Sundin did play on teams that had first-rate wingers, including the likes of Gary Roberts and Alexander Mogilny, so I don't necessarily agree Sundin never had an elite winger beside him. I think if you felt his heart wasn't in it last year with the Canucks was because, well, he was done as an NHL player. Coming back to Toronto for one more season this year would have been an mistake for the player and the team. 



Q: 


Hey Damien,



First, let me say how much I enjoy reading your stuff and hearing you on
 the radio.

You are a strong leading voice in what is a very competitive media
 market. We are

 lucky to have you!! (you can use this part of the email for your next
round of salary

negotiations!!!)

Now two questions...

First, I watch the Leafs regularly and while I have no issue with Wilson
 calling out

players like Blake, Kessel and, most recently, Kaberle, for poor play, I
wonder why he 

is silent on others. My biggest frustration is Alexei Ponikarovsky...for
a big man

with speed and big shot, he is invisible more nights than not. What is
Wilson seeing

that I am not??

 Second, what are the odds of Kaberle finishing off the season with the
 Leafs. Lots of

 talk from Burke that he isn't going anywhere which makes me think that 
he actually

will be moved.



Thanks,



Stephen Forbes, Toronto

A: I hear you Stephen, and you're not wrong. But let's face it, Wilson doesn't have many options beyond Ponikarovsky, and he is tied for the team lead with 18 goals. His inconsistency is what drives the Leafs nuts, and I'm pretty certain he'll be moved by the March 3 trade deadline.

As far as Kaberle, Burke's words on this matter have been misinterpreted. He never said Kaberle would not be traded. He said he would not ask the veteran defenceman to waive his no-trade clause. Big difference. At some point, Kaberle's agent, Bobby Orr, may do what he did last year, and that's give Burke a list of team that Kaberle would be willing to be traded to. 




Q: Hi Damien.



A non-Leafs question for you. How can the Blues be so offensively 
challenged? 

Kariya, Tkachuk, Berglund, Oshie, Perron, Boyes, McDonald, Backes etc...
They should

 be able to score at will (or at least at a better clip than they have so
 far this

year). Seems like a good mix of vets and young players. Maybe the vets 
have all

 expired at the same time and the young players have all regressed. On
 paper, this

 team should be much better than what they've shown so far. Your
thoughts?



Matthew Barron, Toronto



A: The Blues have been a perplexing squad this year, and their pop-gun attack is a big reason why. When you look on their roster, you probably don't see the playmakers in the middle or a big-time wheelman on the blueline. They were clearly counting on Patrik Berglund to be a significant force at centre in his sophomore year, and that just hasn't been the case. It's a young team with more youngsters on the way (Alex Pietrangelo) that probably just isn't ready to win yet. 




Q: It seems to me that everyone in the media really wants Brian Burke to
 fire Ron Wilson

 or trade Kaberle or do something, but what will that do? It is always 
the questions

 after the game. I guess that is the question you must have when you are 
losing but it

 won't improve the team any right now. All along he said he has a plan 
and he is

 sticking to it. How is that wrong except that it is boring? Doesn't
 history show that

 stability in the coaching usually pays off down the road? I suppose 
trading the picks

 has a lot of people itching for progress now even though Burke has
 constantly said 

that this trade is designed to pay dividends down the road and not
today. I think that

 he should even try to resign Kaberle to an extension, It is not like he 
old. Your 

thoughts?



Victor Tanti, Ottawa




A: Well, to be fair, I'm not sure I'm aware of a single media person who has advocated the firing of Wilson. Certainly, his coaching has been questioned, as you'd expect with a losing team. I think Kaberle is viewed by many as a good player whose time has expired in Toronto, and that he would fetch a significant draft pick or prospect for the team if he were traded. At some point, you have to move on.

Q: 
Hey D.C.,



Every Leaf fan who's never played a game in the NHL can see the Leafs 
have little

 talent as individuals and as a team. You know pro hockey players and
 their egos: how

 honest are they, with you or with themselves, in assessing their talent?
 Do they know, 

like you and I and the fans, that they've risen to their level of
 incompetence and are

 lucky to have a career of any sort in the NHL? Or do these guys really
think they're 

the bee's knees, they just have to "work harder" and they'll start to
 win?
If it's the latter, does that level of delusion exist at the
coach-manager level?


Thanks,

Sal Scully, North Cobalt, Ont.


A: I think some know exactly how good they are, and some try to fool themselves and others. Take Laraque. I can certainly see how he'd be disappointed with the news today that the Habs have no use for him any longer. But c'mon, he has two shots on goal in 28 games. I know his role isn't to score goals, but his angry outburst, to me, shows he believes he's far more important to the overall operation than he is.

But I think it's a mistake to just assume every player, whether a Leaf or otherwise, is simply what he is at the moment and no better. Players improve. They gain experience. They find a better role. They find a linemate with whom they gel. Most, to my experience, are grateful for their NHL job, and understand they have to work awfully hard to keep it.

-----

Every Thursday, Damien Cox answers your questions in The Spin, only at thestar.com. Click here to submit a question. **Note: please follow the link above to send a question to Damien. Questions posted in the comments section may not make it to the mailbag. Thanks.**

Another Day, Another Head Shot

Fame and the limelight can do funny things to people. Exhibit A - Patrice Cormier.

Last year as a grinding, third- or fourth-line winger for Team Canada at the world junior hockey championships, Cormier was a hardhitting complement to the skill boasted up front by the likes of John Tavares and Cody Hodgson. Cormier, physically mature to the point he looked much older than his teammates, played well, staying out of the chippy trouble into which teammates like Stefan Della Rovere and Chris DiDomenico became immersed.

This year, as team captain, it was a totally different story.

Cormier was nasty and selfish from the beginning, with his first act a head shot on a Swedish opponent. During the tournament, he was occasionally dirty and always on the edge. One of his favourite manoeuvres - I witnessed it first-handed several times - was to punch opposing players in the stomach and groin area during scrums or battles along the boards. He was essentially to the 2010 team what Steve Downie was to the 2004 junior nats squad.

Word leaked out during the competition that he was going to be traded to Rouyn-Noranda, one of those appalling major junior deals in which teenagers are moved around in the middle of school years and seasons.

Canada struggled to keep its cool at various times during the tourney, with Cormier and Leaf prospect Nazem Kadri among the worst offenders. When head coach Willie Desjardins had to give the team a tonge-lashing after the second period of what ultimately became a semifinal victory over Switzerland for undisciplined penalties, Cormier was one of the objects of his ire.

In the end, Canada lost 6-5 in overtime of the gold medal game to the United States, and while Desjardins' coaching and Jake Allen's goaltending received the bulk of the critical reviews, Cormier's leadership of that team was one of the factors that went largely ignored.

He wasn't a great player for Canada. It's hard to say whether he was a good captain. 

But almost immediately upon returning to junior and joining his new team, Cormier has found himself in serious hot water over last weekend's head shot incident in which he came off the bench during a line change and cold-cocked Quebec defenceman Mikael Tam.

Tam has left hospital, and Cormier has been indefinitely suspended and may well be banned for the rest of this QMJHL season, which essentially would mean the remainder of his junior career.

Throughout hockey, head shots are now the No. 1 issue, intriguing given that the majority of hockey fans insist that fighting - repeatedly punching an opponent in the head - is an integral part of the sport.

It's become a gigantic problem in youth hockey, where boys and girls are having hockey careers ended at shockingly early ages by concussions. Junior hockey is trying to deal with the issue with long suspensions, while the NHL seems paralyzed, unable to enact even small changes that would limit the ability of players to smash opposing players in the head and cause concussions.

Earlier this season, Philly captain MIke Richards demolished Florida's David Booth with an unpenalized, blindside head shot, and Booth hasn't been the same since. Once a favourite to make the U.S Olympic team, in the end he wasn't chosen by GM Brian Burke.

The NHL says its studying the issue, but hasn't made a move yet.

So Cormier, a second-round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils, probably felt that decking Tam was, within his sphere of reference, not a terrible thing to do. He'll have to be a physical player to make in the NHL, and play on the edge.

Until all of hockey legislates against this stuff, decides collectively that hitting an enemy player in the head under any circumstances is over the edge, this will continue.

More brains will get scrambled. Sickening and sad.

Live hockey Q&A

Damien held a live Q&A today, fielding questions from readers about all things hockey:

Kids and Goals

Only in Toronto, it's fair to say, does a 23-year-old rookie's first NHL goal get so much ink, plus radio and television coverage.

Good for Tyler Bozak. It was sure a beauty, one to tell the grandkids about. Of course, Leaf fans being Leaf fans, the debate today will now be whether Bozak where ranks with Syl Apps, Ted Kennedy and Darryl Sittler among all-time Leaf centres.

And how long after he retires will they put him into the Hall of Fame.

Things just get so exaggerated in Leaf-land, and that's both good and bad.

In the case of the 4-0 triumph over the Flyers, meanwhile, Bozak's goal, to me, was only the second most important one of the night off the stick of a young Leaf player. The most important? Well, that had to be Luke Schenn's early in the third period, and for a few reasons.

First, it stretched a 2-0 lead to 3-0 lead. Pretty much game over at that point.

But after such a difficult season for the 20-year-old blueliner, one in which he has seemed so lost so often, and frequently curiously awkward, it had to be a shot in the arm for both Schenn and Leaf management.

It was an expression of the possibility that there is more to Schenn's potential, possibly an offensive upside. He joined the 3-on-1 rush with Matt Stajan and Jay Rosehill, then instead of trying to make a extra play because he didn't have the confidence to take a shoot, he buried his second goal of the season into the Philly net.

His smile alone was worth a million bucks. No one expects him to become a prolific blueliner like Mike Green or Sergei Gonchar, but you like to see a player develop different parts of his game.

Schenn, of course, was the victim of precisely the hyperbolic response to making it to the NHL as an 18-year-old last year as Bozak will now experience after his terrific goal against the Flyers. Schenn has paid dearly for that exaggerated response to his rookie season in this, his second campaign.

He could probably give some good advice to Bozak right now. Don't listen to it, pal. It can change fast, and we both have lots to learn about being consistent, productive NHLers.

Enjoy the moment. Then put your head down, don't read the clippings and work on your game.

Thursday Mail Bag

This, obviously, is where the Brian Burke influence is supposed to kick in.

The Maple Leafs are taking on the Philly Flyers tonight, and after last week's hockey game/WWF performance in a multi-fight contest in Philly, you might expect more of the same tonight. Certainly the Leafs are girding up for such a match, adding enforcer Jay Rosehill from the Marlies and sending Viktor Stalberg back from more schooling under Dallas Eakins.

More truculence, belligerence etc. is what Burke wanted, and at times this season, it has shown up. It's not my kind of hockey, but believe me, Burke believes that down this road lies ultimate success. And he's the boss, with a Stanley Cup ring to demonstrate he might know what he's talking about.

Muscles and fighting and such is all fine, but at some point, it has to deliver a result beyond winning the odd pugilistic encounter. Jamal Mayers, for instance, won two bouts last week, but his team got creamed. Moreover, it has to go beyond simply gaining revenge on the silly Dan Carcillo, whose act will eventually wear thin with the Flyers as such players always do.

Being tough and winning. It's the combination that matters.

Now on to this week's mail bag:

Q: Hi Damien, Now that the Team Canada selections have been made I have a scenario for you. It's Canada 3 Russia 2 with 2 minutes to go in the Gold Medal game. Who's on the ice for Canada?
Bob Smith, Mississauga

A: Now that's a humdinger to start with. Well, Martin Brodeur's in goal, and while I like the Chicago tandem of Dunca Keith and Brent Seabrook, I'm thinking Scott Niedermayer and Shea Weber on the blueline.

Up front. Well, two minutes left means more than one or two shifts. But if I'm Mike Babcock, I'm going to live and die with Sidney Crosby on the ice, and Jarome Iginla on the right. Where I might tinker is on the left side where Rick Nash might not be the perfect fit to defend a lead. So I'll sneak Mike Richards on there for an extra shift, with Brendan Morrow ready to go.

Sound good?

Q: Damien, Here's a fun hypohetical question for you. If Phil Kessel was a Canadian citizen, do you think he would have made our team?
Mark D, Toronto

A: Ah, the hypothetical. Given the fact he missed a chunk of the season, and then, after some success, settled into a slump, I would say no. But Zach Parise, Patrick Kane and Ryan Miller certainly would have.

Q: Damien, Luke Schenn apparently had a great game in Florida playing along side Kaberle as he did most of last year according to your colleague, Dave Perkins. Given how important Schenn seemed to be to the future of the club and given his difficulties this year, why would Wilson not have reunited this duo much earlier? It seems obvious that the performance of such a young player would be substantially influenced by his defence partner. Don't know why the two would do well together but if they did (and over the course of a year), why not run with it this year?
Anand Kumar, Winnipeg

A: I think Schenn did play well that game. But not so well alongside Kaberle against Carolina on Tuesday. Look, it's always going to help a young player to pair him with a veteran. But the absence of Kaberle is not the reason for Schenn's struggles, not is putting them together the total answer. Schenn is simply having a tough time consistently putting games together, mostly because his quickness and reaction time seems not to be there and because he's still learning to read plays and make good decisions. He's being viewed through an entirely different prism this year compared to last, and more nights than not, he's getting failing grades. Finally, you have to ask yourself; if you're playing Kaberle with Schenn, are you getting the most out of Kaberle and giving your team the best chance to win? I'd say no.

Q: In the WJC finals, Canada and the US went to a very entertaining 4-on-4, 20-minute sudden death overtime. I would be curious to hear your views on that format, especially if you thought that the changes in strategy necessitated by the longer period made it overall more entertaining than the 5-minute sudden death overtime used in the 12/31 game. Has there been any discussion by the NHL to adopt a a similar format (longer overtime period rather than the 5-minute overtime), and perhaps making it winner-take-all?
John Hunt, Harvard, Mass.

A: There's no appetite right now in the NHL for OT change. I'd be in favour of a longer session and winner-take-all format, although you'd still need the shootout if the game remained tied. What I'd really like to see is the NHL go to four-on-four for Stanley Cup playoff games. But some would see that as heresy.

Q: Damien, There is no question the Leafs are horrible and totally uninteresting to watch, at least under Ballard they were at least amusing and full of personality, and Wilson has done nothing to improve them as a group. More worrisome, to me at least, is that it seems not one player in the organization has improved under the new management team. Even Phil Kessel seems to have now regressed under the magic touch of the U.S Olympic coach (nice choice Brian now even if you want to get rid of him you have to wait until the Olympics are done). And imagine if the Americans are successful in Vancouver then the Leafs will be stuck with Wilson even longer. All this being said, is Wilson's job safe?
David Isaacs, Toronto

A: Hard to say. Burke is clearly reluctant to make a change, and so he should be to some extent. That said, there needs to be some kind of postive development over the final months of the season, I believe, to warrant bringing Wilson back. Right now, Nikolai Kulemin and Ian White are probably the only two players you can point to who have improved under Wilson. The likeliest scenario, assuming there isn't a big push to the playoffs in the Leafs, is that Wilson returns, but on a very short leash.

Q: What do you think of trading Karble for Jordan Staal? Would either team go for it? Staal could be a top centre to go with Kessel and provide two young top 6 forwards moving forward. Kaberle would provide the Pens with another puck-moving D to complement Gonchar and insurance should he go down. Look at their record without Gonchar and you realize how important he is. Your thoughts?
Rob Aspin, Stayner

A: Leafs would love it. Pens wouldn't dream of it, sorry.

Q: The Toronto media were always hard on Kubina. In my opinion he is and always was a top 4 Dman on any team in the league. Have you looked at his stats lately? Why is no one in the media pointing out what a brutal trade Kubina for Exelby was?
Gerry Franklin, North Bay

A: Kubina is not a top four D-man on any team. He is on midde-of-the-road teams and lousy squads. Go beyond the numbers. He's just not good enough defensively. Was it a bad trade? Well, it wasn't really Kubina for Exelby. It was a deal designed to open up salary space to sign Beauchemin and Komisarek. Frankly, I'd take either of those two over Kubina, but some will differ.

Q: Hey Damien, I'm wondering why the Leafs are wasting a talent like Stalberg by playing him on a line with Orr and Mayers. Wouldn't it be more beneficial to his development to play him with more talented players on the big club or at least send him to the Marlies where he can log more minutes in a bigger role. I think its counterproductive to his development and another case of the Leafs lack of ability to develop from within the system.
Chris B, Brampton

A: Obviously, Chris, you wrote this email before Stalberg was returned to the minors. To some extent, I agree. But I don't think Stalberg is necessarily viewed as a top six forward. I think he's seen as a big guy with speed who will make a good living in the NHL if he understands how to use those skills in a third line and/or checking role. The fall was an aberration. The strategy this season has been to give him little tastes of the NHL and then get him back to the Marlies to continue his apprenticeship, and that's solid thinking, in my opinion.

Q: Hi Damien ... long time reader, first time sender. Last Tuesday my wife and I watched the Leafs play against the Philadelphia Flyers. My wife asked a question... "how do you think the Toronto Maple Leafs team would do if they replaced all the players with players from the Marlies?" I said that they couldn't play much worse. Which got me to thinking ... how would the team do if all the Leafs players were sent to the Marlies? Where do you think the Leafs/Marlies team would be in the AHL standings?
Barry Chatland, Midland, Michigan

A: Don't fool yourself, Barry. As bad as the Leafs look, there's an enormous difference between an AHL level team and an NHL squad. It's popular these days to dump all over the Leafs and make fun of them, but reality would tell you that the gap is significant between the NHL and minor pro. In a one-game scenario, I suppose you never know. But over the long grind of a season the differences between seasoned NHL players and young AHLers would be obvious.

Q: Damien: Does the success of Team USA at the Olympics have any impact on Ron Wilson's future in Toronto? If the USA medal, with Wilson at the helm and Brian Burke as GM, will there be more of a view that Wilson just needs better players?
Viet Nguyen, Toronto

A: I suppose in some ways, yes. Then again, gold in Salt Lake didn't help Pat Quinn keep his job. There will be a breaking point at which Wilson, if he can't coax more wins out of the Leafs, will be gone. The Leafs just aren't at that point right now. But if Anaheim ever decides to cut Randy Carlyle loose, the Wilson watch will gain speed unless he gets this Leaf team rolling.

L'Affaire Burrows

Funny how people are so ready to believe Alex Burrows, and so ready to assume Stephane Auger essentially cheated the Vancouver Canucks.

Come to think of it, funny how it's always the Canucks screaming outrage about something. Unless, of course, its a Vancouver fan shining a laser into the face of an opposing goalie. Then, in the words of Alain Vigneault, they're just "great fans."

They sure get unhinged in a hurry over hockey in Vancouver. Geez, years later, you can still get folks all up in a lather over the Bertuzzi-Moore incident, claiming Steve Moore deserved what he got and how he faked his injuries, etc.

Never much moderation out of B.C. when it comes to these things.

Just last summer, Canucks GM Mike Gillis accused the Leafs not once but twice of illegally meddling in Vancouver team business. The NHL essentially laughed and went on to other business.

Now Burrows and his accusations against Auger, which have many in Vancouver screaming that justice must be done, how this proves referees carry grudges and how Auger should be thrown out of the sport.

For starters, how do we know Burrows is telling the truth?

There's absolutely no corroboration of his story. What we do know is that he's a known dive artist and agitator who is more than happy to fake an injury or a foul if it draws a penalty against an opponent. He believes referees are there to buy into his various cons and acting jobs.

He's a pretty good hockey player, too. It's just that the nonsense sometimes overshadows the ability, just like his teammate, Ryan Kesler.

Auger? Solid, not spectacular ref. Not one of the NHL's best, but solid. To be honest, most nights I couldn't tell you who the referees are any more. It's just not a big factor to me.

The willingness of so many to accept Burrows' story, however, is just an extension of the way in which many adults feel when they go to the neighborhood rink and watch their kids play. So many constantly harp on referees and accuse them of deliberately falsifying calls to benefit one team or the other.

Let's face it. As a nation, we're a bunch of crybabies and referee baiters.

To many (say, Leaf broadcasts) the game is nothing more than a constant discussion of officiating calls, how they got it right or wrong or why they missed this or that. Always, there's an underlying message — Pat Quinn is the best at this — suggesting the men in the striped jerseys are somehow dishonest, unmanly and not to be trusted.

Hockey Night in Canada fostered this mentality for years, although it has improved slightly in this regard in recent times.

There's still an attitude in this country that the best officiated game is one in which referees don't make any calls at all but simply give the advantage to the lesser skilled players and the lowest common denominator.

I always want to ask those people what they think the refs are out there for. To break up fights, I guess. But not too quickly.

I don't know what Auger said to Burrows. But I don't believe Burrows, either, and I don't believe the integrity of the sport has been terribly compromised.

I do believe the Canucks are making a mountain out of a molehill. But then, they always do.

You're Kidding, Right?

Any news involving Mike Danton usually has a jarring effect. Just the overall weirdness of it all.

Even when he sat down with former NHLer Nick Kypreos on Sportsnet to give his first post-prison interview a few weeks ago, his answers were strange and seemingly cooked up.

Now, St. Mary's University in Halifax has decided to join in the Danton weirdness party.

Right off the top, I have absolutely no problem with Danton attending university and attempting to get an education to improve his life. That's a good thing.

But the fact the Huskies are apparently going to let him play for the varsity hockey team is just so far out there in overall stupidity it, well, has a jarring effect.

The school claims it thought long and hard about this, and that Danton deserves a second chance.

A second chance at what, exactly? A second chance at an education? Sure. 

But a second chance at hockey? Sorry, gentlemen, he's on about his ninth chance. He's a PROFESSIONAL hockey player. Surely that should erase eligibility to play university hockey in Canada, shouldn't it? Excuse my ignorance, but doesn't 161 games of pro hockey somehow make a player still able to play in the CIS? Could Chris Chelios play for U of T if he so desired?

He's also 29 years old with a long rap sheet of misdemeanors and on-ice crimes. In junior hockey, he was a one-man wrecking crew, well, except for the times he was surrounded by the rest of David Frost's gang.

Again, let the man go to school. But let him play CIS hockey? What a dreadful decision. Is the school taking any steps to make sure Frost isn't around or involved? Are they making sure Frost can't attend St. Mary's games? Have they asked Danton, an ex-con, for a more thorough explanation of his past than was demanded on Sportsnet? Will he be carefully watched to make sure he's attending classes and actually working towards graduating?

This, of course, is also a comment on the dirty secret of Canadian university hockey. See, the one thing Danton won't feel in St. Mary's is old. The school carefully avoids listing the ages of its hockey players on its website — sensitive issue, you see — but the entire team is made up of second chances, guys who played in the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League but weren't good enough to go any further.

So now they've found a place to keep playing hockey — for another five years.

The oldest player on the team, Marc Rancourt, is 25. Most of the rest of the roster ranges between 22 and 24 years of age, most in second or third year. Every single one is an ex-major junior player, including former OHLers like Cory Tanaka, Tyler Cuthbert, Cody Thornton and Ryan Rorabeck.

This team isn't much younger than the AHL Toronto Marlies, for goodness sakes. It's a semi-pro team masquerading as a university hockey squad.

So the kid who graduates high school on time and would like to attend university at the age of 18 and perhaps play for his school?

No chance. He'd be competing against players five or six years his senior.

Or in Danton's case, seasoned pros a decade older.

To me, this has always been double-dipping of the worst kind. These young men made the choice to go major junior, played 3-5 years, and are now getting another chance to keep playing in university.

So they were better than the kids of their own group, which is fine, but now they're taking away a hockey opportunity from younger players as well.

Now this Danton story. People in Canada like to look down on some of the recruiting practices in NCAA sports, laugh at the notion of the American "student-athlete."

Well check out the St. Mary's hockey team and you tell me if this is what CIS sports is supposed to be all about.

Now, because Danton can help the Huskies win, he's getting a "second chance."

Sorry, that was about six or seven chances ago.

A student? Sure. But having Danton play CIS hockey is nothing short of embarrassing, both to the school and Canadian university sport.

Not In My Hall of Fame

Five years too late, 10 years too late, doesn't matter. That was hard.

That was hard for Mark McGwire to admit yesterday that his entire career was a lie, that the glorious summer of '98 when he rescued baseball with the power of his swing was a sham.

The man was an athlete and a proud one. A cheater, as bad or worse than Canada's own Ben Johnson, quite probably.

Still, that was hard.

He has come clean and apologized, and we, as a sporting culture, should accept that apology.

Not unconditionally, mind you. The apology should be accepted, but with the condition that McGwire, other than working in the game he loves, should receive nothing more from the game he harmed so badly.

Certainly not a Hall of Fame induction, and one can only hope McGwire doesn't believe he can get a pass into the hall by coming clean.

That ship has sailed. He was a borderline case anyway, and now that he's admitted to be a desperate cheater for years, the numbers he accumulated mean nothing.

If he had a record that could be stripped, it should be. If baseball wants to invalidate the home runs he hit, that's okay with me.

See, he led the way in the steroid era. He wasn't just part of it. He was the poster boy, and he even had the temerity, the appalling judgment, to include his son and the Maris family in the entire drama, all the while knowing he was lying and cheating and lying some more.

For that, he should have his name forever stricken from the record books.

But as a man, these past years must have been a terrible time, hiding from the public eye, facing himself in the mirror day after day after day.

Anybody who can't recognize that can't recognize their own humanity.

So if he wants to work in baseball now, fine. Be the living monument to the cost of cheating, although the tens of millions of dollars earned in salary by McGwire certainly taints the quality of that monument.

Maybe he could've been a great player. Instead, he wasn't. He was just a cheater. He couldn't do it without the benefit of drugs that if not illegal in baseball, were quite clearly viewed as forbidden.

If coming clean helps him be a better man tomorrow than he was last week, then baseball's the better for it.

So forgive the poor fool. He screwed up terribly, all to feed his ego and lust for attention.

Still, McGwire now has a chance to truly make a positive contribution to the game.

That's worth something.