Minds Are A-Changing.

Yesterday, Alexander Ovechkin wasn't going to be suspended for his hit on Chicago's Brian Campbell.

Today, he's got a hearing. Started at noon. Expect a suspension.

While certainly justifiable given the injury to Campbell, a broken collarbone, this will only add to the confusion across the NHL these days over what is a legal hit and what isn't, and what is suspendable and what isn't.

Having the league's leading scorer banned for a few games will certainly allow the league to say it isn't giving its stars special treatment.

Then again, Marc Savard might wonder where this new vigilance was last week.

It's all very strange, very unpredictable, and it's not hard to get the sense that forces outside league V.P. Colin Campbell are influencing the process.

Just guessing, but the phone bills from Chicago to New York over the past 24 hours have got to be huge by now.

The Hits Just Keep On Coming

Sheesh. You'd think Colin Campbell could get one day off.

But with the hockey world still in a state of alarm over the Matt Cooke-Marc Savard hit from last week, and with the Penguins and Bruins set to meet again this Thursday to possibly renew hostilities, Campbell had to shake his head Sunday when another tricky file landed on his desk.

This time, it featured the league's reigning Hart Trophy winner and current scoring leader Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. Ovechkin was given a major and game suspension 12 minutes into the first period yesterday of a much-anticipated game with the Chicago Blackhawks for boarding Hawks blueliner Brian Campbell.

This wasn't NHL grunt versus grunt. This was two of the highest paid players clashing, with Ovechkin rudely shoving Campbell from behind into the end boards after Campbell had hustled back for a loose puck and transferred it to a nearby teammate. As he rolled into the boards, Campbell's neck and right shoulder took the brunt of the impact, leaving him gasping for breath on the ice for several minutes.

Ovechkin knew immediately he'd done something wrong, and seemed to wave towards Campbell as if to apologize. After first going to the penalty box, Ovechkin absorbed some trash talk from Hawks forward Troy Brouwer en route to the Washington bench and, ultimately the dressing room.

NBC analyst Pierre Maguire suggested that a double minor would have been appropriate, unaware, apparently, that no such penalty is in the rule book for boarding. It's either a deuce or a major.

While Ovechkin was tossed and NHL officials quickly reviewed the incident, he won't be suspended. Otherwise, he might have been in even hotter water after already being suspended once this season for two games for kneeing Carolina's Tim Gleason Nov. 30.

In between, Ovechkin decked Jaromir Jagr during the Olympics with what was a shoulder to the jaw at mid-ice, leaving some to suggest it was a head shot. He wasn't penalized or suspended.

As it stands, there will be continued suggestions that Ovechkin has become increasingly reckless in his play this season. Reports out of Chicago Sunday night suggested Campbell could miss the rest of the regular season with injuries sustained in the hit.

Meanwhile, the NHL in general seems in a state of amber alert over head shots and bodychecking in general, with every tough hit drawing calls for penalties, suspension or revenge.

Rather than reduce the furor, the league's plan to legislate against head shots starting next fall seems to have increased the controversy and made it even more difficult for officials to differentiate between legal hits and illegal ones. In the Leafs-Islanders game, Dion Phaneuf was cracked from behind by Islander goon Matt Martin with a hit far more dangerous than Ovechkin's, yet received only a minor.

It's a guessing game.

Still, the big story from a Washington perspective yesterday was how Ovechkin was tossed, the Caps fell behind and yet still managed to fight their way back to win 4-3 in overtime on Nicklas Backstrom's spectacular unassisted goal. In so doing, the Caps passed the 100-point mark for the sixth time, but the earliest in club history, while the performance of Antti Niemi did nothing to quiet speculation that a strong Chicago team may not have the goaltending to go deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Friday Mail Bag

In 1989, the Maple Leafs had three first round draft picks and spent all three, curiously enough, on members of the OHL's Belleville Bulls.

It wasn't a particularly strong draft after Mats Sundin went first overall. Scott Thornton, at No. 3, went on to play 941 NHL games as a sturdy, useful if low-scoring centre. The 12th pick, winger Rob Pearson, scored 23 goals one season for the Leafs but flamed out after 269 games. With the final selection of the first round, the Leafs acquired defenceman Steve Bancroft at No. 21.

Bancroft played only six NHL games. That one hurt a bit more because with the very next pick, the Quebec Nordiques selected defenceman Adam Foote, who went on to play more than 1,000 NHL games.

And is still playing.

That was the most first rounders the Leafs ever had in a single year. The current administration, however, would argue that it harvested the equivalent of four first round picks from April to June last year.

Nazem Kadri, of course, was the seventh overall selection in the entry draft. Centre Tyler Bozak was signed as an NCAA free agent out of Denver University, and the Leafs have maintained that, while 23, he was essentially equal to what a team could expect to get with a first round pick between 10-20.

Winger Christian Hanson was another NCAA signee, and then the Leafs also inked Swedish free agent goalie Jonas Gustavsson. The belief in the Leaf camp was that in both cases, the club was acquiring the kind of talent usually available in the final 10 picks of the first round.

So to the Leafs, if not necessarily to the hockey world in general, the group of Kadri, Bozak, Hanson and Gustavsson essentially represented four first round picks, which was part of Brian Burke's rationale when he traded the club's 2010 and 2011 first rounders to Boston to land scoring winger Phil Kessel, now 22.

With Bozak and Hanson in the minors for much of the year, and with Gustavsson either struggling or dealing with health issues, the confidence that the Leafs had in fact found a short-cut to the entry draft seemed to have little foundation.

These days, there's definitely some bricks and mortar visible.

Gustavsson, 25, has won his last two starts and looked better in doing so. Working with J.S. Giguere seems to be a much better situation.

The 24-year-old Hanson is still discovering what kind of NHL player he can be and remains on the lookout for his first second NHL goal after 16 games. But glimpses of a rangy forward able to create off the forecheck and play a physical game, perhaps a poor man's Ryan Kesler, are there. It's going to take time.

Bozak, meanwhile, is soaring with the added responsibility assigned to him after the departure of veteran forwards like Matt Stajan, Nik Hagman, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Lee Stempniak in recent weeks.

In his last five games, Bozak is averaging more than 22 minutes per night and beginning to unveil a game that seems equal parts hustle and skillful playmaker. He's got two goals and two assists with a plus-two in those games, including a goal against Tampa on Thursday night and a pretty setup to Kessel on the winning goal in overtime.

To put Bozak in perspective, stack him up against the Nos. 10-20 picks from what would have been his draft year back in 2004. Of that group, the best would be Buffalo winger Drew Stafford, former Nashville winger Alexander Radulov and New Jersey centre Travis Zajac. Six others taken in that range haven't yet panned out at all, while Petteri Nokelainen, traded to Phoenix on draft deadline day last week, is a fringe player.

Right now, Bozak looks like he has the potential to be better than the busts and maybe even as useful an offensive player as Stafford, Radulov or Zajac. Zajac, probably the best comparison to Bozak in terms of overall style of game, is enjoying his best NHL season so far with 21 goals and 36 assists in 65 games.

If Bozak produces anything like that in the coming seasons, the Leafs will be thrilled. Most important, he comes with an unusually large cap number — $3.725 million — that would make him very difficult to carry at the NHL level if he were to be unable to produce in the big leagues.

His salary is $875,000, but he carries maximum bonuses of $2.85 million. He won't collect most of those, but the club still has to account for that on its payroll, which explains the much higher cap number. It's an element to his story that has gone largely unnoticed.

It'll be the same cap number that applies next season, as well. So in terms of cap logic, Bozak's ability to fill at least a second line centre's role next season becomes more important.

Now on to this week's mail bag:

Q: Tomas Kaberle is the top Leaf with 46 points — good for 66th place in the league's Top 100. When was the last time a defenceman led the team in scoring? Is this the position and the guy you want to build a team around? Thanks.

Joe Kuchta, Saskatoon

A: No defenceman has ever led the Leafs in scoring over the course of team history, so Kaberle will be the first if he hangs on to his lead over the final part of this season. You certainly can build a team around a star defenceman but is Kaberle the guy? At minus-15 this season, and at 32 years of age, I would suggest not.

Q: Do you see the Leafs going after Ilya Kovalchuk this summer? (Do you see Kovalchuk interested in the Leafs?) If not, how do you see the Leafs improving over the next couple of years, especially since (a) the chance of improving significantly through free agency is uncertain — most young, scoring forwards typically are re-signed before they become free agents — and (b) the Leafs have traded away their top two picks this year and next, leaving them little room to deal? Putting their faith in six unknowns (Kulemin, Bozak, Caputi, Hanson, Stalberg and Kadri) seems nothing more than wishful thinking.

John Hunt, Harvard, Mass.

A: My guess/understanding is that they'd have little or no interest in Kovalchuk, particularly in the kind of 10- or 12-year, $100-plus million contract he seems to be gunning for. To me, Kadri is the key, and Jonas Gustavsson secondarily so. If Kadri doesn't become a No. 1 NHL centre, the Leafs are going to have a very difficult time becoming a good NHL team. Gustavsson's development into a bona fide starter is similarly vital, although if he doesn't, there will likely be other options available. Otherwise, the fact that the Leafs were able to acquire two significant young players over the past seven months in Kessel and Dion Phaneuf suggests that the modern NHL environment — salary cap, free agency at 27 — may in fact mean players like that will become available in coming years in similar ways. It's just hard to guess right now who those players will be.

Q: With the NHL GM's meeting on headshots happening, why doesn't the NHL adopt Hockey Canada's rule on headshots for minor hockey or an adaptation of that rule. It has worked well for minor hockey up to AAA midget hockey and provincial junior/senior hockey so why not at least try it. Initial contact with the head and you get 2/10, 5/10 or match.

Jeremy Mercer, Bay Roberts, Nfld.

A: Well, I guess the simple answer is they don't like that rule, or believe it doesn't apply effectively to the best league in the world. We'll see how the new rule gets applied next season, but my guess is that it will — if not eliminate the kinds of head shots we've been seeing — at least punish those who deliver them in ways that aren't happening currently. Understand, the NHL GMs who came up with this rule aren't dopes. They're seasoned hockey men, some of whom played at the NHL level. It's a least worth considering the possibility they have some idea what they're talking about.

Q: On the subject of head shots, would the type of hit Brian Campbell laid on R.J. Umberger a few years back be eliminated from the game? I certainly hope not — that was one of the most epic plays in recent years.

Jacek Miskiewicz, Amsterdam

A: My recollection is that hit was straight on, with Umberger caught with his head down. If that's the case, such a hit would still be legal under the proposed NHL rule.

Q: Hey Damien,

Shouldn't the Leafs and Bruins have discussed a "trade back" at the deadline. Seriously, the Bruins need scoring (Kessel provides that), and the Leafs need prospects, the draft picks provide that...

It probably would have been the smart move for both teams...Thoughts?

Tanome Mchale, Toronto

A: Certainly it's a deal that may prove costly to both teams. The Bruins, as a team that had aspirations of being a Cup contender this year, have certainly missed Kessel's scoring punch. The Leafs, as a team trying to build back up into at least a playoff team, would certainly be happy at the moment if they were looking at a top three draft pick. The smart move? Maybe. But there's no way either Burke or Peter Chiarelli were going to backtrack at the deadline.

Q: Hi Damien,

Thanks for all the opinions over the years. Never let some of the more "extreme" fans give you a hard time about your columns. Objectivity is a good thing and generally a pleasant surprise when it comes to sports journalism.

Now for my question. What kind of control do the Leafs have on what their players do/do not do in the off-season to keep in shape? The reason I ask is with the recent play of Steven Stamkos, it would appear that he is really benefitting from training with Gary Roberts over the summer. With all the cash they make, couldn't the Leafs hire Roberts and create the best off-season training program? With so many young guys, just showing them the proper ways to train and get ready for the season would surely be beneficial.

Thanks,

Tyler Turner, Ottawa

A: The Leafs, like a lot of teams, put a great deal of effort into their off-season training programs. That said, much is still left to the individual player. I would suggest Stamkos' rapid improvement is as much due to his personal drive for excellence as it does with any particular trainer. He's just a special kid.

Q: Damien,

I grew up watching Gordie and Terrible Ted so I am no fan of soft Hockey. However, I have never seen so much cross-checking going on in my life! Someone gets cross checked to the ice about once a shift or several times in a row. Did the refs all get a 'don't call this' memo?

Bill Beaudoin, Detroit

A: Hmmm. Can't say I've really noticed that myself, Bill. I'll keep an eye out.

Q: Could you please tell me why we have to go to the U.S. for people to run the Maple Leafs, with all the good hockey people we have in this country?

As one season ticket holder told, the difference between Canadiens and the Leafs, Montreal has hockey people running the club and we have a bunch of Yanks running our team.

Thank you and keep up the excellent work.

Donald Dow, Brampton

A: Thanks, Donald. Well, Ron Wilson comes from a hockey rich family background, and Brian Burke owns a Stanley Cup ring and organized a silver medal winning performance for Team USA at the recent Olympics. These are hockey people. What passport they carry matters little, at least to me.

Q: Now that Jeff Jackson has left, it seem like the only other longtime manager/coach left with the team is Keith Acton. He seems to be well regarded in terms of fitness and conditioning, but doesn't he also handle the PP or PK (can't remember which) neither of which have been going very well for some time. Is it fair to look at his performance with regards to how the Leafs have been doing, or do Ass't Coaches generally just execute the plans of the head coach?

Mark Harwood, Los Angeles

A: It's certainly interesting that Acton has lasted through Pat Quinn and Paul Maurice, and is now in his second season under Wilson. Hockey people throughout the game seem to have a high regard for him. He's a hard-working fellow and was an industrious, gritty player when he played. Overall, the results haven't been there for the Wilson staff, however, and I would imagine all of them could be in trouble if next season doesn't see an improvement.

NHL to Crack Down on Head Shots

BOCA RATON, Fla.—It won't happen until next season, which is too bad.

The new rule on head shots approved today by the NHL's general managers won't kick in until the 2010-11 season, which means there could be another incident like Sunday's Matt Cooke-Marc Savard ugliness during this regular season or the playoffs with the league helpless to do much about it.

"It's impossible to say to the referees, this is a call you now have to make tonight," said NHL vice-president Colin Campbell today.

First, the players and referees have to be educated and trained on the new head shot rule. The the rule must also be approved by the NHL's competition committee and the board of governors, both of which will happen in June.

That said, if there's an incident tonight or next week that mirrors the Mike Richards hit on David Booth last fall, the hit that finally changed the thinking of most GMs, there's going to be an outcry.

"People are going to be asking why didn't we do anything," agreed Leafs GM Brian Burke.

As reported in The Star today, the new rule will have three components:

• a hit primarily to the head from the side or the back will be illegal. One from the front which sees the shoulder contact the head is still okay.

• a minor or major penalty will be assessed. It's also possible a game misconduct could be tacked on.

• serious offences will likely include supplementary discipline, with an emphasis on repeat offenders.

"We're taking what is now a completely legal hit in our rulebook and saying that in the future its illegal if it is to the head," said Campbell.

The vote by the GMs was unanimous. Campbell, meanwhile, said he still hasn't decided whether to take action on the Cooke incident. Speculation is that there will be a hearing and Cooke — already suspended twice previously this season — will be reprimanded, but there will be no suspension 

The league also approved a measure to fund the implementation of the four-man officiating system in the American Hockey League next season. The NHL will provide about $600,000 to the AHL, which will use the four-man system in about 40 per cent of the regular season next year and the playoffs.

A New Year, A New Rule

BOCA RATON, FLA.--Don't worry hockey fans. Stand down, Mike Milbury.

The NHL isn't ready to take the hitting out of hockey. Anybody who thinks probably dreams every day about the wonderful possibilities of going back to the old no-helmet days, horsehair goalie pads and tube skates.

What the NHL's general managers will do on Wednesday, it appears, is propose a new rule that will limit the ability of players to strike opponents in the head with shoulder hits.

That's really all we're talking about.

Scott Stevens, were he still playing, would still be able to lay out Eric Lindros, were he still playing, in the same way he did back in 2000. Straight on, elbow down, shoulder to jaw.

There's no appetite out there to take that type of hit out of the NHL game.

But what NHL players won't be able to do any more without penalty and possible suspension is crack another player in the head with a shoulder pad from the side or the back.

Is that going to irretrievably alter the sport? No, of course not.

The guiding philosophy behind the new rule will be to protect "vulnerable" players, or players who simply cannot see a dangerous hit coming and can't protect themselves. It was drawn up by a group of eight GMs today and will be presented to the all 30 execs today for final approval.

"We've all got to look at the bigger picture," said Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero, whose player, Matt Cooke, was the latest to deliver one of these controversial hits when he laid out Boston's Marc Savard on Sunday.

Savard may miss the rest of the season, according to Boston GM Peter Chiarelli. NHL vice-president Colin Campbell has not yet decided whether Cooke should face supplementary discipline.

The rule would be implemented for next season, but would have to be approved by the NHL competition committee - which includes five players - and the league's board of governors.

Captain in Waiting?

By the end of this season, barring injury, Dion Phaneuf will have 26 games as a Maple Leaf under his belt.

Whether that's a sufficient auction for Phaneuf to establish himself enough to become the club's next captain is up to Ron Wilson and Brian Burke.

It seems clear, however, that's what the Leaf braintrust are hoping for, that the 24-year-old Phaneuf is seizing the opportunity to quickly grab a leadership position within the dressing room to such an extent that Wilson and Burke would feel comfortable naming his as the club's first captain since Mats Sundin left at the conclusion of the 2007-08 season.

Wilson and Burke have repeatedly said there's no reason to name a new captain until there's a player worthy of the honor. Implicit in those comments was the suggestion that the players inherited by the two men when they arrived in Toronto six months apart were not worthy.

Well, most of those players are gone. In fact, only defenceman Tomas Kaberle remains from the pre-Wilson/Burke era — at least Kaberle's the only current member of the squad who had played NHL games for the Leafs before Wilson was hired in June, 2008.

The house-cleaning is essentially complete, although the futures of Kaberle (one year left on his contract), Nikolai Kulemin (a restricted free agent) and Mikhail Grabovski are uncertain, at best. Ditto for wildly overpaid rearguard Jeff Finger.

Clearly, the Leafs see Phaneuf as the logical candidate to give the team an official leader for the first time since Sundin left. He's been very solid since arriving nine games ago, and while the big blueliner is still looking for his first goal as a Leaf, he's made some big hits, been reliable defensively and shown an increasing willingness to jump into the rush.

How his personality will play out in the dressing room remains to be seen. Most describe him as gruff and blunt, and certainly vocal. After Nazem Kadri played a game recently for the Leafs as an emergency callup, the youngster was chatting with Wilson after the game when Phaneuf walked past, stopped, said something along the lines of "if you're going to be in camp next fall, you better show up in better shape" and marched on.

Talking that kind of talk could be a good thing for the Leafs and their captain-in-waiting as long as he can walk the walk on the ice and play the kind of hockey that allows others to follow.

If Phaneuf is introduced as the next captain of the team next fall — Sundin was 26 when he took the "C" for the 1997-98 season — he'll likely do so at the same time the club introduces a new set of uniforms.

The scuttlebutt in the industry is that the Leafs are seeking to alter their current home and away jerseys, adding a few more details, some piping and new personality to the uniforms that are among the dullest in the the league at the moment. The current uniforms were introduced after the lockout, while the club's best look remains it's third jersey, the predominantly white sweater with the vintage Leaf logo on the chest and blue shoulders.

Already Making A Case for '14

The good thing about winning is that it cuts down on the second guessing. Way down.

Such is surely the case for Team Canada 2010 after winning gold at the Olympics. Unlike '98, when Wayne Gretzky sat nailed to the bench during the shootout, or '06, when Todd Bertuzzi was selected to the team instead of Sidney Crosby, executive director Steve Yzerman doesn't have legions questioning why he did this or didn't do that.

If Canada hadn't won, regardless of whether defeat had occurred in the gold medal game or earlier, the critics would have come out of the woodwork with reasons why the team had been beaten. Some of the criticisms would have been about the performance of those who were there, and some would have concerned those not invited. That's just the way it works.

Which brings us to Steven Stamkos. Given that Patrice Bergeron, to name one member of Team Canada, didn't exactly flourish in Vancouver, you can imagine that the howling over the exclusion of Stamkos would have been deafening had Canada not won.

Especially with the way Stamkos is going these days.

The young Bolts sniper, clearly now the face of the Tampa franchise as it experiences yet another change in ownership, has hit the 40-goal mark after a two-goal effort against Atlanta Saturday night. Stamkos is riding a team record 16-game point streak and is now seventh in NHL scoring.

He's also now clearly in the running for the Rocket Richard Trophy, trailing only Sidney Crosby (44 goals) and Alex Ovechkin (42) in the goal-scoring race.

After a hot start that put him into the Olympics conversation in the first place, Stamkos appeared to hit the wall in his second NHL season, scoring three goals in 18 games at one point.

But he's revved it up again, particularly helpful with the Lightning desperately trying to get to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

If they were picking a Canadian Olympic team today, it would be nearly impossible to leave Stamkos off.

But they're not, so he has to wait until 2014, and hope that the NHL still wants to be part of the five-ring circus by then.

Post-Trade Deadline Mail Bag

So now we see what the Leafs will do next.

There's college free agents. There's the future of Tomas Kaberle. There's NHL free agency July 1st. There are possible trades. All of these could further alter the roster of a club that is currently the NHL's youngest.

Another season is gone, and all the Leafs can do is look at teams like Colorado and Phoenix and hope their turnaround from doormat to playoff contender can be achieved that quickly.

Clearly, two factors will determine that. One, this is a team that has to significantly improve its goaltending or there won't be much else to talk about. Perhaps the combination of J.S. Giguere and Jonas Gustavsson can do the job, but that's still an 'if' at this point.

Two, the development of London Knights junior Nazem Kadri now looms as central to the Leafs future hopes. If Kadri is the player the Leafs believe he is, a true No. 1 centre, then things look a little brighter. If he isn't, and without a first round pick the next two drafts, rebuilding is going to be a lot tougher.

Now on to this week's post-trade deadline mail bag:

Q: Damien, Two questions:

With the movement of so many draft picks this week, the state of the Leafs' draft picks this year is a bit unclear. No 1st or 2nd rounders, but how many - and from which teams - do they have picks in each of the later rounds?

Do you have a sense of Burke's targets from the US College ranks, and how they might fit into the Leaf puzzle?

Jeremy Huws, Ottawa

A: Here's what the Leafs have right now as far as picks for the June draft. In all, they have seven picks, none in the first two rounds. They have their own 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th, plus the 4th and 7th rounders of the Phoenix Coyotes and the 5th round selection of New Jersey's. It's not a great picture.

As far as the NCAA free agents, right now it doesn't appear to be as strong a market as it was a year ago when the Leafs were able to sign Tyler Bozak and Christian Hanson, and the Rangers inked defenceman Matt Gilroy.

The top college free agent available this spring may be 6-foot-5 University of Vermont defenceman Brayden Irwin, a 22-year-old from Toronto. There's also Cornell goalie Ben Scrivens from Spruce Grove, Alta. and Ray Kaunisto, a 6-foot-4 forward from Northern Michigan.

Other possibilities are some smaller forwards like Wisconsin's Mike Davies or Sean Backman from Yale, both 5-foot-8, along with 5-foot-10 Clarkson senior forward Matt Beca, who's from Mississauga.

Q: Two questions on the Ponikarovsky trade. First, why so little in return for him? I admit he's not an elite player, but isn't he worth more than a minor-leaguer and a 5th round pick? Was that really the best Burke could do, or was he just desperate to be rid of him? Secondly, would the Leafs be interested in signing him as a UFA in July, and might that have kept the return down?

Kevin D., Toronto

A: The Leafs wouldn't likely be interested in signing him as a UFA in July. They moved him because they knew he was going to command a salary in excess of $3 million per season and simply don't like his game enough to make that kind of multi-year commitment.

As far as his trade value, that's what you get for rentals. You'll notice no first rounders moved at the deadline this year. Whether Luca Caputi is anything more than a "minor leaguer", well, we'll see. He's a young player with a chance to play in the league, and the Leafs were looking for those as well as draft picks. In his Leaf debut last night in Boston, Caputi certainly looked as though he might have a chance to be an NHL regular at some point.

Q: Brad Boyes has been traded an awful lot for a young player with so many goals. Is there a problem that hasn't been made public?

Roger Fields, Toronto

A: Not that I'm aware of. I think he's viewed as a good offensive player, but somewhat one-dimensional. That said, I don't know if I'd agree he's been trade an awful lot. He's 27 years old. He was traded before he was an NHLer by the Leafs in the Owen Nolan deal, was moved to Boston after one season and then was traded to St. Louis straight-up for defenceman Dennis Wideman, a pretty good player. He's not having a great year this season, and with a cap number of $4 million and a salary next year of $4.5 million, he's probably not moving again anytime soon on the basis of the mediocre season he's having.

Q: Thanks for considering and hopefully responding to this question. Can you please clarify the Jeff Finger situation? He hasn't played in a couple of months, and there has been no mention, including on deadline day, of his potential trade status. Is he unable to play owing to injury? Would his salary adversely impact cap limits for other teams, let alone the Leafs? It seems that, were Finger's contract be marketed and he traded to another team, more money would be available to the Leafs to purchase higher valued free agents? Or have I got this all wrong?

Lorne Blatchford, Bath, Ont.

A: Well, I would say Finger's contract, with two more years remaining at $3.5 million, officially takes over from the departed Jason Blake's as the worst contract the Leafs own. It was a terrible free agent signing by Cliff Fletcher, and really, Finger is a very difficult contract to move. He played slightly less than 14 minutes last night against Boston and will probably play down the stretch. He's a fifth or sixth defenceman who has played quite poorly this season. Right now, he's the player the Leafs would dump to the minors if they decided they wanted to free up money to sign or trade for a player with a significant contract. If he stays, he'll get another chance to be a regular next fall and we'll see if he's up to the challenge.

Q: Do you see the Leafs trying to use Kaberle this summer in an effort to get back their 2011 first round pick from the Bruins? Do you think it likely that the 2011 pick turns out to be a top-2 pick like (presumably) this year's?

John Hunt, Harvard, Mass.

A: I think in June the Leafs will listen to any and all serious offers for Kaberle when his trade window opens up, and they'll be looking for either a good prospect or a first round pick. It doesn't have to be in 2011. They could move him before the draft for a first rounder this June. So we'll see.

Whether the second of the first rounders spent on Phil Kessel turns out to be a top two picks, well, who knows? I thought the Leafs would be a playoff team this year and I was dead wrong. Right now, they have the youngest team in the NHL, and that's going to take time to develop into a competitive squad. Let's see who they are able to sign through free agency before the possibilities of next season come into focus.

Q: Hi, why hasn't the option of offering Kaberle an extension, and building around him, instead of trading him ever been explored? He most certainly has 4-7 good yrs left, and he's one of the slickest puck distributors out there? Sign him for four, give him the "C", and let him finish as a Leaf.?

Joel Tarvudd, Sudbury

A: Well, there's no chance he gets the "C," so forget that. He's just not a leader type, never has been. Brian Burke said on Wednesday that he's interesting in talking about a contract extension for Kaberle. Both sides know having the veteran defenceman go into next season in the last year of his deal isn't going to be comfortable for anyone.

Q: Hi Damien, Any idea why Colorado gave up on Wojtek Wolski?

Kyle Kopanyshyn, Osaka, Japan

A: Can't say I'm aware of an insider dope on Wolski, but clearly his contractual situation drove this deal. He's 24 and in the final year of a contract that pays him $2.8 million per season. He's arbitration eligible and thus likely to get something this summer in the $4 million per season range. The Avalanche didn't like him at that number and moved him. It's similar to the decision the Leafs made with Matt Stajan and Ponikarovsky. It's no longer just about whether you like a player or whether he's better than what you've got. It's whether you can live with the impact he has on your payroll, particularly teams like Colorado who aren't maxed to the cap.

Q: Damien, Why did Burke trade two first round draft picks, a second and a third for Kessel when if he signed him to an offer sheet, he would of been forced to give up one first, one second and one third rounder. By going the trade route it cost the leafs and extra first rounder and Boston would of been hard pressed to match Kessel's offer sheet and if he did, oh well, on to the next player....what am I missing

Brian M, Barrie

A: Well, I think Burke's thinking was two-fold. He didn't want to go the free agent offer sheet without trying a trade first just because that's his preferred way of doing business. Second, the B's would have matched, so he wouldn't have got the player he coveted. So you offer a little more and you get the player. Pretty simple.

Q: It is a joke that Burke continues this "I would make the Kessel deal again today" stance.

It was a mistake when it was made and it remains a bigger mistake today.

There is no question that Kessel is a good hockey player but not a player to build a team around. He is an asset to the Leafs but he is not worthy of two first round picks.

One only need to look at a Stamkos or a Doughty to see what a real # one draft pick looks like and to see what they can do for a team.

Why does everyone pussyfoot around Burke? He blew it, call him on it.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel for this team?

John McAllister, Toronto

A: Well, I imagine that Burke continues to say that because he believes it to be true. You can disagree, but that doesn't make his stance a joke.

Look, we're going to have to see how this works out. Last year, Kessel scored 36 goals in 70 (pro-rated over 82 games, that would be 42 goals) and then added six more in 11 playoff games. This year, coming off serious shoulder surgery which people seem to forget, he's got 21 goals in 51 games, which is about a 33-goal pace. He's 22 years old, easily the Leafs' best offensive player and a former high first rounder, exactly the kind of player critics of the trade believe the Leafs have sacrificed to get him.

He's an Olympic-level player, and while he didn't have an impressive Olympics, he was one of the more dangerous U.S. shooters in the third period of the gold medal game. Basically, I think it's a little early yet to declare Kessel to be unworthy of what was given up to get him. If he pots 45 next season, will you still hate the deal?

That said, Burke never believed the Leafs would be this bad, and didn't believe he would be giving up a top 3 draft pick. So the deal has already proven to be more expensive than he believed it would. But that's what makes running an NHL team less than an exact science. Burke believes Kessel is a core player, and that assessment will either be credited to him or held against him over time. If the player Boston selects blossoms into a NHLer as good or better than Kessel, than the trade will have to be judged a mistake. You can make that judgment now, and over time you may prove to be right, but it's premature.

The Kaberle Question

There does seem to be some uncertainty surrounding the Leafs and defenceman Tomas Kaberle.

Kaberle seemed to indicate earlier today that he had an arrangement with GM Brian Burke that he would look at any trade offers that came the Leafs' way for his services.

But that, apparently, came as news to the Leafs, who have not asked Kaberle to waive his no-trade or been given a list of team to which he would accept a deal.

Kaberle probably won't move today. But it's hard to believe he'll be a Leaf beyond June.

Buffalo, by the way, has just acquired Raffi Torres from Columbus for a little extra sandpaper up front. That's 13 trades on the day.

The Calgary Leafs

Got to wonder what Darryl Sutter was watching this season when he watched the Maple Leafs.

First he trades to get Matt Stajan, Ian White, Nik Hagman and Jamal Mayers. Then, he makes a deal with Anaheim today to acquire Vesa Toskala, ostensibly to be Miikka Kiprusoff's backup.

That's a quarter of the Calgary roster now inhabited by players who didn't make the Leafs any better earlier in the year. Strange.

Otherwise, the numbers of deals are increasing, if not the quality of players involved. The most intriguing today is undoubtedly the one that went down between Phoenix and Colorado, with the Coyotes acquiring forward Wojtek Wolski for forwards Kevin Porter and Peter Mueller.

Wolski and Mueller, not that long ago, were youngsters seen as cornerstones for their respective franchises. Now they've been moved, just as Dion Phanef was moved this year by Calgary.

People get hung up on first round draft picks and good youngters, but there's never any guarantee that good, long-term professionals will emerge from either.