Trade waters starting to stir

Guess Garth Snow didn't want the New Jersey Devils getting out of range.

Okay, that's mean. Presumably, the Islander GM simply saw a chance to get some value for a veteran defenceman, James Wisniewski, who will be unrestricted in July, and pulled the trigger, getting a second round pick and a fifth rounder from Montreal.

Good deal for the Habs, with Andrei Markov out, Josh Gorges ailing and P.K. Subban in some sort of strange purgatory, possibly headed back to the minors.

For the Isles, suddenly winners of four of their last five games, it was nonetheless a little peculiar to see the club move their top defenceman. Wisniewski was tied for the team lead in points and was playing more than 23 minutes a game, tops among Long Island defencemen. Perhaps the Isles have their eye on getting the No. 1 pick again this June, and with 30th place New Jersey going absolutely nowhere despite last week's coaching change, the Islanders don't want to get too far ahead.

The strange part was that Snow didn't shop Wisniewski, but simply cut a deal with Pierre Gauthier. These days, the market for capable defencemen is just starting to heat up and prices can only increase. Then again, moving him now saves more than half of his $3.25 million salary, and that matters on The Island, where the deal has the club barely above the NHL's $43.4 salary floor, and that's with buyout cap hits for Alexei Yashin and Brendan Witt.

The trade was the first concrete evidence that the trade market might be opening after the Christmas freeze. Jersey sent veteran Brian Rolston to the minors and then put him on re-entry waivers, which means he can now be had for half his $5.062 salary this season and next.

Jay Feaster, meanwhile, is now running the show in Calgary, likely with a mandate to clear up some of that team's cap clog, tricky with 11 players on the Flames holding some form of no-trade/no-movement clause in their contracts.

The Leafs would love to get in on this, and have pieces to move, including defenceman Francois Beauchemin, winger Clark MacArthur, centre Mikhail Grabovski and possibly defenceman Tomas Kaberle. Veteran goalie J.S. Giguere could move at some point depending on his health and whether he is willing to waive his no-trade. Youngster Nazem Kadri isn't going anywhere despite being returned to the minors. Teams are showing some interest in Marlie goalie Jussi Rynnas, who is having a sparkling season in the AHL, but the guessing is now that Rynnas and Jonas Gustavsson are slated to be the Leafs' tandem next season.

While many would love to see Leaf GM Brian Burke start dumping players for picks like Snow did with Wisniewski, that appears not to be Burke's priority at the moment. Instead, he'd like to find a way to get some help for his beleaguered coach by acquiring some talent from another club.

Of the teams scraping the bottom of the NHL right now - the Leafs, Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Islanders, Devils, Florida, Buffalo - it's an interesting debate as to which clubs are best positioned for success in the not-too-distant future. The Oilers have the best single prospect in Taylor Hall, although Long Island still believes John Tavares will be a star someday. The Panthers are building a future around Erik Gudbranson but have chronic money problems. The Sabres, who are likely to be sold in the coming months, have lots of young players and prospects, but like Toronto, lack that one superb, blue-chipper. Calgary and Jersey have big messes to clean up before they can start rebuilding, precisely the process the Leafs have already gone through over the past two years.

All of these clubs have something to sell over the next two months. Now we'll see who is buying. 

A Head Shot's A Head Shot

People need to understand. It's not 1995 anymore. In fact, when it comes to head shots, it's not even 2009 anymore.

All hockey organizations with their wits about them are clamping down to some degree on deliberate blows to the head. That's why head-hunting Zack Kassian of the Canadian national junior team got an extra game suspension - the New Year's Eve game against Sweden - for his shoulder blow to the head of the Czech Republic's Petr Senkerik. Kassian already was automatically banned for Wednesday's Norway game because of the major and game misconduct he received.

Replays were crystal clear Senkerik took Kassian's shoulder directly to his jaw, and those who keep insisting that's not the case are simply in some state of peculiar denial, possibly caused by looking at this through a red Hockey Canada filter. That said, the IIHF defines this type of foul as any "part of the body above the collarbone and shoulder pads (i.e., unprotected areas)." So even for those who want to insist there was no initial contact to the head, Kassian's hit was clearly too high for IIHF rules.

Some will try to say it's unfair to apply these rules to teenagers used to playing under other regulations. Well, understand that there is no country more prepared for this event than Canada, and if Kassian, in particular, didn't have the different IIHF rules carefully explained to him, then that was the shortcoming of the Canadian coaching staff. if he did and ignored them, well, that's the risk of having this type of player on your national team.

(Former NHL referee Dan Marouelli applied the supplementary discipline, so for all those folks who like to bleat incessantly about how the NHL shouldn't just let one man (Colin Campbell) mete out suspensions, here's your chance to apply the same standard of belly-aching to the IIHF.)

It doesn't matter that Kassian didn't jump or use his elbow, and it doesn't matter that he's a bigger player, and it doesn't matter that years ago Scott Stevens used to be able to make this kind of hit with inpunity. No longer can you drive you shoulder into the head of an opponent from either the blindside or even an east-west/lateral direction.

Hockey organizations, after seeing so many players lose their careers to concussions, are finally starting to understanding the head has to be protected to a point of zero tolerance. 

Really, Kassian's lucky. He could have received a longer suspension, but now will be able to play in the medal round. You might think the 20-gamer he got last season in the OHL might have taught him a lesson, but apparently not.

For those worried that the poor Canadians are being picked on, please note that Slovakia's Petr Hrasko was actually given one more game than Kassian for his head shot on Team USA's Jerry D'Amigo on Tuesday night. 

From a team point-of-view, Canadian head coach Dave Cameron needs to rein this stuff in, and now. Team Canada can circle the wagons all their want and have every player and coach parrot the media-speak "he was just finishing his check," but that's not going to make Kassian's hit a clean one.

Every other player on this team needs to have it drilled into their head that Kassian wasn't finishing his check. He was delivering a dangerous, illegal hit, the kind that could cost Canada dearly later in this tournament. 

Making it seem as though Kassian got a raw deal just gives his teammates licence to do the same thing, which is the last thing Cameron needs.

 

 

 

 

Imagine If They Had "Skill"

For a national junior team that isn't supposed to have a lot of skill, this year's Team Canada isn't having much trouble putting pucks in the net.

Try 13 in two games, much of it with a lethal power play. These weren't weaklings the Canadians were playing, but rather the Russians and the Czechs, both overwhelmed as Canada enjoys home-ice advantage on small ice for a third straight winter in what is purported to be a "world" tournament.

Brayden Schenn, a pro among boys, looks lethal, and one by one the Canadians are finding their roles, figuring where they fit in.

Then there's Zack Kassian.

There was always a risk putting Kassian on the team, always the chance that at some point he would disengage from the team concept and do something selfish and violent that would put his team at a disadvantage.

That happened Tuesday night in Buffalo when Kassian delivered a vicious blind-side hit to the head of Petr Senkerik of the Czech Republic, who was, it appeared, knocked cold, and then taken from the ice on a stretcher.

Some saw it as a shoulder to Senkerik's chest. Careful examination of the replays, however, showed that the cup of Kassian's left shoulder pad clearly made the initial impact with Senkerik's jaw, causing his head to snap back violently in a way it wouldn't if the initial impact was to the chest. It was a hit delivered from a lateral path, a classic violation of the NHL's new head shot rule.

But this isn't the NHL. So who knows what will happen?

Kassian will be suspended for at least Wednesday's game against Norway, that we know. If it were the NHL, it would be at least a three-game suspension. But what does that mean in an IIHF tournament?

Kassian is a repeat offender. He got 20-games for a truly dangerous hit of a similar fashion in the OHL last season.

So we'll see. To me, it's the kind of play that should see a player, any player, booted out of the tournament entirely, but I understand most hockey fans prefer lesser penalties, particularly when their team or their country is involved.

In a way, it's too bad for Kassian, who has cut back on his reckless play in the Ontario league this season. He's a big guy with good skill and a chance to be a significant NHL player.

But if you're Canadian coach Dave Cameron, how do you know when this young man is going to make that kind of decision again? What if it's in a semifinal or a final, a one-game do-or-die scenario? 

Kassian will almost certainly be back in this tournament. But even though the five-minute major he took for the Senkerik hit didn't hurt Canada - the Canadians actually scored shorthanded - he's clearly one of those players who is capable of doing something in the heat of the moment that could do severe damage to his team.

You can debate whether it was a head shot if you want. But nobody can debate that it was totally unnecessary.

 

 

Owning the Bear

Well of course Canada beat the Russians to open the world junior hockey championships.

It's been that way for a while now.

Not since the gold medal game in Halifax back in 2003 has Russia defeated Canada in this event, and after finishing sixth and losing a quarterfinal game to the Swiss last year in Saskatoon, it wasn't clear how good a team the Russians would bring this year.

Well, average, at best, it would appear.

They were 3-3 with Canada going into the third Sunday night and might have been ahead if not for some curious officiating - could Louis Leblanc have been more guilty of goalie interference on the opening Canadian goal? - and that chronic propensity to try and pass the puck into the net, something that never works well on North American ice surfaces.

But then the Canadians finished off their opponent strongly, putting three behind wobbly London Knights goalie Igor Bobkov, to start the 2011 tourney off in style with a 6-3 triumph. It was a spotty Canadian performance at times, not unexpected for a team still figuring out roles and getting comfortable with one another, a team that in in its opening game had to faced an opponent playing a very different style.

Which, as we've mentioned before, rarely works well on smaller North American ice. Once more, we plead with the IIHF that if this is going to be a tourney that is all about a maximum money grab, which will mean playing it in Canada or near the Canadian border most of the time, the least that must be done is to insist that the games be played on the larger European ice surface. That is the rink, after all, upon which the majority of the world's hockey playing countries play.

Otherwise, and particularly if this becomes a Canada-U.S. affair again this year, the world juniors is in danger of becoming a Jr. Canada Cup. Playing on small ice is a huge advantage for the North Americans, particularly in a short tournament.

For Canada, the good parts were an impressive power play, good physical play that wore the Russians down and effective balance among four forward lines. On the negative side, the blueline corps struggled at times and made some poor decisions, and it's not clear at all if Jared Cowan is up to the role he's been assigned, which is to be the shutdown ace of the Canadian defence. But he's got three more preliminary games to prove himself.

Speed and skill, as expected, were not major parts of the Canadian game. Then again, it's early, the kids were obviously nervous and Dave Cameron is still trying to find out which players work best together.

Discipline was fine, and goalie Olivier Roy was fine, not tested as much as Bobkov but still tested. If there is an identifiable strength to this Canadian team it is down the middle where Brayden Schenn, Ryan Johanssen, Sean Couturier and Casey Cizikas comprise a group that has size and lots of industriousness.

Three more games this week - first the Czechs, then Norway, then Sweden on New Year's Eve - will tell us more about them. And this very interesting team.

 

 

 

Thursday Mail Bag

Funny thing with sports. It never works that well the second time around.

Let alone the third.

Or fourth and fifth times, as Billy Martin proved. But Punch Imlach was a disaster in his second stint with the Leafs, and Cliff Fletcher didn't have much luck. As Jacques Lemaire returns for his third round of coaching the New Jersey Devils, it's worth noting he is the fourth man to coach the Devs at least twice.

That' an amazing stat. Incredible, when you consider it's all happened over only 27 years.

Along with Lemaire, the other three were Tommy McVie, Larry Robinson and, of course, Lou Lamoriello. But just as Lemaire only won a Stanley Cup the first time he coached Jersey, so to did Robinson win as Robbie Ftorek's replacement, but not the second time he took over.

Strange though. You might think somebody familiar with an organization and a city, and had won previously in that situation, would be more likely to have success upon their return.

But that generally hasn't been the case. It's the temptation to reach back for a blast from the past that drives these things. Heck, I still get emails from people who think Pat Quinn should replace Ron Wilson, and the late Pat Burns was the preferred choice of many after Paul Maurice was fired.

Maybe Lemaire will help rescue this horror show of a season in Jersey. But it's unlikely.

Now on to this week's mail bag:

 

Q: Hi Damien,

 

Can you ask someone at ACC if they plan to charge all people who throw items on the ice or only those who throw items during play? Or is it a waffle ban specifically?

 

Thanks.

 

Mike Ouellette, Burlington

 

A: I'd be more interested on how the ACC gendarmes will react the next time a Leaf scores a hat trick and dozens of hats hit the ice.

Then again, how likely is THAT to happen anytime soon, right?

 

Q: Wondering where the continued faith in John Mitchell comes from. He looks pretty ineffective to my eyes. Not a great checker, not enough finish to be a top 6 player. Euro-league all-star, maybe. Your thoughts?

 

Also: wondering if Colby Armstrong is the club's best trade bait. Not a prolific scorer, but at least you notice him out there. Can't help but think he'd look great in a contender's jersey. Would Burke part with him for a second round pick?

Peter Waal, Vancouver

 

A: I don't think there's a great deal of "faith," per se, in Mitchell. He's just a body, the best they've got at the moment. Prior to injuring his knee last season he was considered a decent to good prospect, but since then his status has plummeted. Can't imagine he'll be re-signed next summer.

Re Armstrong, I think he's the kind of player the Leafs want more of, not the kind of player they want to dump for picks.

 

Q: Hi, Damien

 

In your live chat on Tuesday you mentioned it's impossible that the Leafs would ever hire Ted Nolan. Why is there such a stigma around him? I realise both the Buffalo and Islander coaching jobs seemed to end badly, but he did get an awful lot out of his teams. Is he pretty much blackballed in the NHL? Will he never get an NHL job again, unless Balsillie hires him as a big 'F U' to the NHL establishment? What is it about him that makes him pretty much unhirable?

Robert Oulton, Dartmouth

 

A: Interesting question. Nolan is now vice-president of hockey operations of the Rochester Americans, who are now a Florida Panthers affiliate after years of being connected with the Buffalo Sabres. In his last NHL stint, Nolan was actually pretty successful in Long Island before being canned by GM Garth Snow, making the playoffs in his first year, but not in his second. Nolan and Snow clashed, just as Nolan had clashed with John Muckler and others eight years earlier during Nolan's time as head coach of the Sabres. He's just not viewed as a good "organization man," but rather a coach who does things his own way even if what he wants is diametrically opposed to what the GM and team wants. That said, he's been successful in the NHL and junior, and while he's now 52 and no spring chicken, you surely wonder if he'll get another shot. In Toronto? Unlikely. But he's one scenario. If the Leafs were to really hit the skids and GM Brian Burke had no choice to fire Ron Wilson in mid-season, with no other great choices until next summer, maybe Nolan would be worth a shot. That said, he'd be unlikely to be able to leave Rochester partway through a season.

 

Q: Hi Damien,

 

Super informative chat the other day, thanks so much for passing all that along.

 

One issue you raised is the possibility of Bruce Boudreau being let go in Washington after the season, and the same possibility for Ron Wilson.

 

Would Boudreau fit in with Burke/the Leafs, and do you think he would go move that quickly to another team?

 

Thanks!

Daniel D., Toronto

 

A: I'd love to see Boudreau, a wonderful character and a tremendous guy, get the chance to coach the Leafs some day, if only because he never really got the chance to play for the team over an extended period. He loves offence, but whether he and Burke would share the same philosophy, I'm not sure. That said, Burke's Vancouver teams were strong offensively. At any rate, it sure looks like the Caps have righted the ship and Boudreau will be staying, which is the way it should be.

 

Q: What's your thought on the elimination of the blue line altogether? I can list numerous pros, but, other than "tradition", I see no actual cons.

John Wellar, Midhurst

 

A: I wouldn't want to watch hockey without bluelines. My son has played roller hockey, which doesn't use bluelines, and it becomes a totally different sport. Really, I've never heard anyone call for the elimination of the bluelines, anyways.

 

Q: Hi Damien,

Don't you think that Brian Burke's self-imposed "early Christmas Trade Freeze" is a disservice to the team and it's fans? What if an opportunity to improve the team is missed because of it? Do you think it is due to remorse over his shabby treatment of Peter Zezel?

T Stewart, Toronto

 

A: I've never heard Burke's Christmas freeze associated with the controversial way he dealt with the late Peter Zezel. For those who forget, in 1999, Zezel asked for a trade from the Canucks back to an Eastern Conference team so he could be close to his terminally ill niece. Instead, Burke traded him to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, whereupon Zezel quit, ending his career. It was a controversial story, but I've never heard it linked to Burke's self-imposed Christmas freeze, which begins 10 days earlier than the NHL's freeze every year.

Is it a disservice to the team? Can't imagine that's the case. Trade opportunities there before the freeze aren't likely to disappear later. I suppose a player could get injured, but that's always a possibility at any time, as it often takes weeks over even months for deals to be consumated.

 

Q: Ron Wilson is taking more and more heat over the performance of the team, and it will only get worse unless they show noticeable improvement. My question is - shouldn't the Leafs be better than they are showing? Nobody expected them to be better than perhaps challenging for the 16th playoff position, but to be a bottom 3 team? I don't generally believe a mid-season coaching change accomplishes anything, but they do not seem to be playing up to even the thin level of talent they have.

Barry Porozni, Philadelphia

 

A: They're certainly not over-achieving. That said, they're a very young team, and they were able to beat Boston, Washington and Montreal in an eight-day period earlier this month. Are they getting the most possible from their talent level? I'd say no.

 

Q: With a weak draft; no first round picks; limited free agent market and recent failures of past College free agents and no real trade value where does Burke & co. turn in their efforts to fast track this team back in to market off playoff revenue???

Brian Campbell, Toronto

 

A: I'd say that's a loaded question. And if its such a weak draft, why would it be a problem not to have a first round pick. Failures of college free agent? Well, Tyler Bozak's in the NHL, and most would agree he's an NHL quality player. It's too early to make a final call on Christian Hanson, Simon Gysbers, Ben Scrivens and Brayden Irwin. I'd say they do have several players with solid trade value, including Francois Beauchemin, Mikhail Grabovski and Tomas Kaberle. Finally, you suggest the prime motivation is to "fast track this team back in (to the playoffs) to market off playoff revenue." I don't think that's what they're trying to do. You may disagree with the decisions, but I think Burke and Co. are trying to build a winning team as fast as possible.

So your loaded question? Sorry, we don't even agree on the premise.

 

Q: Hi Damien, always appreciate your insight. Two questions- Firstly why does Ron Wilson seem to insist on keeping Phil Kessel on Tyler Bozak's wing? The experiment is clearly not working. Bozak is having a difficult second season and seems to start playing well whenever he is put on the third line and removed from the pressure of playing with Kessel. Secondly what are your thoughts on the play of Francois Beauchemin? It seems to me that he is having an extremely difficult season (just like Gunnarson and Komisarek) yet Wilson keeps giving him top minutes on the back end. Is this simply because there's nobody else to give these minutes to or do the Leafs actually believe he is that good?

Kirby Clancy, Burlington

 

A: The Leafs have two centres capable of playing top six minutes, Bozak and Mikhail Grabovski. So Kessel has to play with one or the other, and he seems a poor fit with Grabovski, who is more shooter than playmaker. Unless you want to see Kessel with Tim Brent, I'm not sure what the options are.

On Beauchemin, I think I don't see the struggling player you do. I see a strong, capable veteran who, to my mind, has been the club's second best blueliner behind Luke Schenn.

 

Q: Hi Damien,

 

What are the chances that the leafs look into bringing Leo Komarov over from the KHL? He has been playing pretty well the last few seasons and from what I remember of him in the World Juniors, he was a little s... disturber. He would fit in great on a third or fourth line situation, as the leafs are in dire need of a player that actually hits people since Mike Brown went down and Sjostrom is only one man. Is Komarov a viable option until Brad Ross makes the NHL? Thanks.

Nick Heersink, Peterborough

 

A: I'm told Komarov, an Estonian, is still on the Leaf radar, although unsigned. He's not a big guy, but he's only 23 and is playing for a top team, Moscow Dynamo. Other than that, since he's never been to an NHL camp, it's hard to make much of an evaluation. There aren't a lot of Russians who have made a living in the NHL as checkers or pests.

 

Q: Hi Damien,

 

Why do many Leafs fans and media members seem to think that Nazem Kadri should be able to skip over the development process that many other players have gone through? The Crosbys and Ovechkins of the world are the exception, not the rule.

 

Other players drafted in the 6-10 spots as Kadri was get sent back to junior and spend time in the minors, and it's looked upon as a good thing. Would a player like Logan Couture have been branded a failure if he were a Toronto draft pick?

 

Couture was drafted 9th overall in 2007, then spent 2 seasons in junior and part of another in the AHL...Not unlike Kadri who was drafted 7th overall in '09. Now Couture has 26 goals in 73 career NHL games (including playoffs).

 

I don't understand why a group of fans and media who are supposed to be some of the most knowledgeable in hockey can jump to such conclusions as they did this fall when Kadri didn't make the Leafs roster. Now many are predicting he'll never amount to much. Patience does not seem to be a virtue most in "Leafs Nation" possess.

 

On a related note, do you think changing the NHL draft age to 19 (as the NBA has done) would be good for hockey?

 

Not a reason to change it, but raising the draft age would certainly add another dimension to the World Junior tournament, which I feel has gone stale...

 

Thanks

Thomas Goudge, London, Ontario

 

A: Any observer who says Kadri has already proven he won't amount to much as an NHL player is a fool. Period. That said, he should be in the minors working on his game.

Raising the draft age? Great idea. But it's not going to happen.

 

Merry Christmas to all!

 

Live: Hockey Q&A with Damien Cox

A New Mr. Unpopular?

Can't say it was a remarkable weekend in the hockey world, although there were plenty of tidbits.

Like how if you don't believe Craig Ramsay of the Atlanta Thrashers is the NHL's coach-of-the-year so far, you have to believe Colorado's Joe Sacco is. And if there's a better GM in the game right now than Paul Holmgreen of the Flyers, I don't know who that is. Finally, given that the Vancouver Canucks are looking like a bona fide Stanley Cup contender 11 years after the Sedins were drafted, perhaps it's time for folks 'round these part to understand it takes more than two years to turn a program around.

The national junior team, meanwhile, is playing three exhibition games this week starting tonight against Swiss in Oshawa, tomorrow against Team Sweden at the ACC and then Thursday against Finland in Kitchener. Over those games, a No. 1 goalie is sure to emerge - Olivier Roy? - as will line combinations and defence pairings. Brayden Schenn is going to be at the centre of everything this team tries to do offensively. Head coach Dave Cameron told TSN last week that the player he thinks will be intriguing to watch will be speedy Colorado College winger Jaden Schwartz, a St. Louis pick, but many eyes will naturally be drawn to 6-foot-3 New Brunswicker Sean Couturier, a possible No. 1 overall pick next June and the only player on Team Canada not yet drafted.

Which brings us to the official appointment of Donald Fehr as head of the NHL Players Association, a dry piece of news, but the biggest of the weekend.

It will be the Couturiers of the future who will grow up under Fehr's new regime, their careers, or at least the financial ends of them, defined by what Fehr can or can't wring out of NHL owners.

Before that happens, however, Fehr needs to deal with, in some real way, the ghosts of his past, or at least the NHLPA's past.

For starters, while Gary Bettman knows he can get booed in each and every Canadian rink, it's remarkable the blowback already out there that fairly or unfairly identifies Fehr as the demon of the 1994 baseball strike that may have been the beginning of the end for the Montreal Expos. Certainly Blue Jays attendance has never been the same, so there's a sense that Fehr may be behind the proverbial eight-ball within the Canadian sports community before his starts.

in his media conference call on Saturday - during which, by the way, one journalist after another tried to suck up to the new union boss by offering "congratulations" on his new job - Fehr shed a few crocodile tears over the fate of the Expos.

He should be aware many Canadians remember, and haven't forgiven him.

In baseball, Fehr was always able to portray the owners as a nasty, unprincipled lot. In hockey, all the animus is directed at Bettman personally, which the NHL owners love. The players, meanwhile, are always seen as greedy, ungrateful sorts, the bad guys every time around no matter what the issues have been.

Most of them are Canadian, and many Canadians believe they'd play the game for free if only given a chance, and by gum if they'd had the right coach or the right breaks, they'd be in the NHL today anyway.

So Fehr takes over with his own unpopularity in Canada coupled with the unpopularity hockey players generate whenever they get into a spat that might lead to a work stoppage. That said, Fehr's been through this before, as have the players. Those who suggest the NHL can't possibly survive a work stoppage in 2012 clearly haven't noticed that since the "Armaggedon" of the 2004-05 lockout that wiped out an entire season, the NHL is more popular and profitable than ever before.

Finally, the other part of the past Fehr must deal with is that which he seems most reluctant to engage, and that is the dark cloud that still sits over this union for the disgraceful firing of Paul Kelly. There was a coup here, a lot of lies and misinformation were spread, and many fine men, including Kelly, were rinsed out of the association.

Fehr apparently thinks everyone should just forget all that. He's probably familiar with Mark McGwire's "I'm not here to talk about the past" defence. But an investigation was done by the PA into Kelly's dismissal, and if the PA wants to ever be viewed as a noteworthy organization, those facts need to be publicly revealed.

Maybe Fehr wasn't in the background pulling levers and influencing events as many are convinced he was.

If that's the case, he has nothing to hide, and should make sure nothing is hidden.

 

Friday Mail Bag

Well, the wheels came off that blue-and-white bus in a hurry.

A total collapse for 57 seconds by the Maple Leafs on Thursday night in Calgary left them at 1-1 for their current western Canadian road trip. Must be time to fire the GM, head coach and captain again.

Just kidding. Really, other than that lapse, in which they coughed up three goals, the Leafs were essentially the equal of the Flames, but the home side sensed weakness for those brief moments in the second period to record a victory that was enormously important for them.

With pretty much all the hockey world having decided the Flames got the worst of the Dion Phaneuf deal, there was some symbolic importance for Calgary to get this win, if only to make some kind of a statement that despite their status as one of the older teams in the league, they have potential to make a second half run for a playoff berth.

At 1-1, the Leafs had lots of chances to score but Miikka Kiprusoff kept them at bay. J.S. Giguere did the same for the visitors and made a couple of ten-bellers, but then gave up short-side scores to Olli Jokinen and Rene Bourque that let the game get out of hand.

Vancouver will be an interesting test for the Leafs Saturday. The 'Nucks are one of the hotter teams in the league, having lost only two of their last 10 in regulation.

When you look at the what-might-have-beens, you can ponder how the hockey world might have been different if Brian Burke had been successful on his clandestine mission in the early hours of July, 2009, to fly to Sweden and convince the Sedin twins to sign with the Leafs.

As it was, by the time Burke landed in Stockholm, Vancouver GM Mike Gillis had beaten him to the punch and signed Daniel and Henrik to new long-term deals. If the Leafs had landed the Sedins, well, no Phil Kessel trade, plus a bona fide No. 1 centre who won the Hart Trophy last season and a clear first line.

So much for maybes.

By the way, folks, we'll have a live question and answer session Tuesday at noon on thestar.com to wrap up the pre-Christmas portion of the NHL season and look ahead to the world juniors and the rest of the Leaf campaign. Please check out details on our web site and join me with your pre-Christmas questions, ideas and comments.

Now on to this week's mail bag:

Q: Hi Damien, I really enjoyed your blog, 'Leafs can't win for winning'. It brought this question to mind.

Glenn Healy made a big gaff while commenting during the Leafs/Habs game. He had a chart on the TV screen showing how Edmonton has the most turnovers in the league and Toronto was second. He said, "you can understand Edmonton having those turnovers, their a young team".

What, did I hear that right ? With Aulie in the lineup and Lebda out the Leafs are the youngest in the league.

My question is, why is there a perception out there that because Edmonton has chosen to build through the draft that it is a better way or the 'right' way and what Burke is doing(building through trades, signings and the draft) is wrong ?

John Fava, North Bay

A: Well, to a lot of people, I would suggest the less imaginative ones, that's exactly true. They believe that in the post-lockout, salary cap world, the Cup wins of the Pens and Hawks in recents years prove that you must be terrible for a few years, draft high, and then convert that into a championship. They neglect to mention the Wings winning it all, and not by doing it that way, and they neglect to mention that the Isles, Panthers, Blue Jackets, Thrashers and others have been trying that formula for years without any success. The truth is, there are many different ways to win. The Leafs took a more aggressive avenue that may or may not pay off. But its true that to some, the Oilers are "good" young, and the Leafs are "bad" young.

Q: Damien,

The Maple Leafs are the most expensive team to see in the NHL. A decent seat is well over $100, but I hear you can go to a game in Tampa for $8. My friend actually priced out going to see the Leafs when the played in Florida recently. The whole trip for two games was less than a pair of Platinums at the ACC. How can this be? Are we subsidizing these teams through equalization payments? Are Leaf fans the biggest suckers in the world?

Greg Woods, Ajax

A: Well, don't know about the suckers part. The customer is never wrong, and people don't seem to mind paying even though the Leafs are not a winning team, and haven't been a championship squad for more than four decades. And yes, of course, the Leafs are subsidizing the have-nots of the NHL to the tune of $10 million a season. The NHL instituted revenue sharing after the lockout, and a dozen or more teams benefit to varying amounts every year. Even a "successful" team like the Capitals dips in to the tun of more than $10 million a year. The strong teams subsidize the weak.

Q: Hey Damien,

Really enjoyed your blog on the youth hockey charity you covered. Have a website or link that I could donate to over the holidays?

On to my hockey related question, I know his contract is ugly, but would the Leafs have any interest in going after Vinny Lecavalier? Experienced centreman who could provide some stability and leadership up front for the young players.

Frank Elia, Mississauga

A: If you want to support the Hockey Academy you can contact Kent Yee, the principal at Wedgewood Junior Middle School in Etobicoke, or the convenor Bob Poldon at bpoldon@rogers.com.

Re Lecavalier, the Leafs would like the player, but neither they nor anyone else in hockey wants the contract. The best the Bolts can hope for is that the next collective bargaining agreement somehow reduces the burden of Lecavalier's deal or allows teams to assume part of a contract when a player is traded. Otherwise, at some point, they may have to look at a buyout to lessen the weight of that contract on the payroll of a team that is losing upwards of $20 million a season.

Q: Damien, Love the blog and your insights. One area that has caught my eye in the past number of Leaf games, is the number of goals scored by all the teams using a wrist shot vrs the slap shot. So far my count is 34 wrist vrs 7 slap. It is obvious that the control of the accuracy is far greater with a wrist shot but I don't know how much power is lost. It seems some players ( especally Kaberle ) would not get their shots blocked so often if they snapped off a quick wrist shot rather than telegraph a slow wind up to a slap shot. Your thoughts??

Bob Mayhew, Lindsay

A: That's absolutely the case. But the love of the big slapper starts when kids are 10 - or younger - and never abates. Watching Dion Phaneuf pound slap shot after slap shot at the Calgary net last night without much positive effect sure made you wonder if a wrister might work better from time to time.

Q: Hi Damien, firstly I love to read your blogs and your topics are very interesting. I saw The Reporters on TSN this sunday and it looked like you are most probably going to vote for Sidney Crosby for Lou Marsh Award this year. But don't you think this year winner should be an Olympic athlete like Christine Nesbitt? As Steve Simmons said she has dominated her sport for 2010. For Crosby 2010 was good only when it came to Olympics not for NHL although he has been good this year in NHL but he still has 52 games left to prove his point! Plus he won the award last year so I would really like to see somebody other than him win it. I would also like to point out Meagan Agosta as other nominee as women's hockey is rarely recognized in Canada which I find very surprising. One more olympian would be Jon Montgomery as this year has been pretty fantastic for him as well. After pointing out these facts would you still choose Crosby as your vote. One more question what is your favourite NHL team?

Nidhi Patel, Toronto

A: I voted for Crosby, or at least had him first on my ballot, with Nesbitt second. Baseball star Joey Votto carried the day, however, and I can tell you it was a spirited debate. To me, Crosby's year was brilliant. He tied for the most goals last season then has run away from the pack this fall. He scored the OT winner at the Olympics, but also had a key shootout winner earlier. But Votto was excellent, and as far as the Olympians went, I think had there been one without more than one gold the debate would have been even more heated.

My favourite NHL team? Sorry, don't have one. The only NHL jersey I own is that of the Minnesota Wild, a gift in their inaugural season. You can't do this job and cheer for a team, in my opinion.

Q: Hi, Damien:

I have a couple questions. First, Carl Gunnarsson seems to be struggling this year (his second pro season) just like Luke Schenn was struggling last season (his second pro season). I also note that Gunnarsson this year is getting about the same amount of icetime that Schenn got last year. Do you think Gunnarsson has gradually been improving and do you see him eventually breaking out of his struggles as Schenn did by the end of last season?

Second, this past August, Burke said that he had four plus "legitimate" offers (whatever that means) for Kaberle, but in the end decided to keep him. Do you think the offers were not "legitimate," the offers never existed, or that Kaberle agreed to a limited waiver of his no trade clause to keep from being traded to a team where he did not want to play? I am having a hard time believing that Burke would resign him, but I am also having a hard time believing that he would let him go at the end of this season for nothing, even if means the Leafs get to hoard more cap space.

John Hunt, Harvard, Massachusetts

A: I don't see much improvement at all in Gunnarsson. Same puck errors, same inability to defend physically. Too many had him as a Leaf regular this season when he had much to prove. That said, I certainly wouldn't write him off. He just needs to learn, as do all the young Leaf blueliners.

I think there were absolutely offers for Kaberle, of what quality I don't know. Clearly, Burke isn't afraid to let him walk in June for nothing or he would have taken one of those offers.

Q: Hey Damien,

I'm wondering why Burke hasn't gone out and got a 4th line center man that is a defensive specialist. I think the last attempt was JFJ picking up Jamal Mayers and that experiment didn't turn out so well, but since the leafs are horrible on taking draws and even Brent isn't that great defensively and doesn't put himself in the way of the shot often. I know Ryan Johnson's out there but I suspect he is pretty beat up after last year. Can't hurt the penalty kill and it helps to have that faceoff man in the dying minutes of a lead (if the leafs ever can get one).

Also wondering about Clarke MacArthur. He is scoring and adds some grit, but can be questionable defensively. He's worth 1.1 million, but is he worth the 3-4 million he will be asking at the end of the season considering he doesn't exactly play inspired hockey? I'd love to keep him and trade Grabo, but I don't see anyone picking up his salary and someone has to be moved if we ever get that big top 6 forward.

Andrew Pawlowski, Toronto

A: Ok, bunch of stuff here. JFJ didn't sign Mayers - Cliff Fletcher did - and Mayers is a winger, not a centre. But yes, they'd love to get a Todd Marchant type if they could.

Re MacArthur versus Grabovski, you're not going to get a top 6 forward with either of those guys. MacArthur is earning himself a contract, but I would doubt greatly the Leafs would go beyond $2 million. Grabovski's contract calls for one more year at a cap hit of $2.9 million. Given that the Leafs are $4 million below the cap already, I don't see that contract as a big problem.

Q: Hi Damien,

First off I just wanted to mention that I enjoy the mailbag each week and to keep up the great work. My issue surrounds the play of Leaf rookie Nazem Kadri since his call-up from the Marlies a number of weeks back. My understanding at the time was that this was done out of necessity due to injuries on the big club and not necessarily due to his stellar play or progress in the minors. I have really tried to watch Kadri specifically when the Leafs are on TV and I have to admit that what I see on the ice leads me to believe he needs more time in the minors for a number of reasons. He is still quite weak defensively in his own zone, most notably when they play him at centre. He also seems to coast a lot on his back checks especially towards the end of a shift (I know he isn't the only one but as a rookie you'd think the effort would be there 100% of the time). But the biggest reason I feel he needs to go back down to the AHL is that he is far too easy to knock off the puck. Countless times each game he has the puck in the corners or crossing the blue line, and defenders simply challenge him and physically remove him from the play almost effortlessly. Some more time in the minors and another off-season dedicated to getting stronger is required in order for him to be any sort of consistent threat at the NHL level. I know there are much smaller players that have had solid careers but they usually are very strong in their legs and difficult to knock off the puck (ie: Martin St Louis), both are attributes that Kadri seems to be lacking at this point in his career. I'd like to get your take on this and how you think the rest of this year will go for him.

Cheers, Matt Kalagian, St Catharines

A: I agree with your assessment completely. The question is, I suppose, is Kadri better learning in the NHL or the AHL, the age old argument. I have suggested he needs to go back to the AHL and then be promoted again for a second look, but the Leafs seem to believe they are so offensively challenged they need him around. Right now, the club is playing fairly well, as are the Marlies, so right now I think he'll stick around until Burke can come up with a better answer.

 

My Christmas Present

It couldn't have been a lot worse. Hitting a cement pole in wintry conditions isn't something you want to try. Fortunately, I was lucky to emerge relatively unscathed yesterday, for which I and my family are thankful.

The car? Not so much. But these are not stories to be made light of.

Couple of quick points. The paramedics who helped me out, Emmanuel Monssen and Joseph Bofolo, were terrific. if I had suffered a serious injury, the care I received at St. Mike's would have saved me, I feel certain. Those people know their stuff.

The accident happened on those tricky snowy conditions at about 2:55 yesterday as I was going westbound on Lakeshore just west of the Exhibition grounds and ended up bumped head on into a cement pole. Two young men were quickly on the scene and stayed with me until police and paramedics arrived. They didn't have to do that, but they did, which makes me think the old name "Toronto The Good" still has real meaning these days.

Anyways, I didn't get their names. One fellow said he was walking his dogs, saw the accident, popped his dogs in his car and came running over. Not everybody would do that.

I'd like to find these two gentlemen and thank them personally. If this story sounds familiar to you or one of your buddies tells you about it, please get them in contact with me at dcox@thestar.ca.

Thanks for reading, and everybody try to stay happy and healthy over the upcoming holiday season.

 

New Deals on the Horizon

The good news for the Maple Leafs is that the ill-conceived decision to make Luke Schenn an NHL player at 18 apparently won't prevent him from becoming a quality NHL player. He has improved dramatically this season, and its not inconceivable that when the time comes to start looking at names for the 2014 Canadian Olympic team, he'll have wedged his way into the conversation.

But that's a long, long way off. Schenn's pedigree suggests he'll be among the better defensive blueliners in the league by then and his development curve is upwards after a mediocre sophomore year, but that doesn't guarantee a thing.

The downside to making Schenn an NHLer so early that can't be changed, of course, is that the bill comes due earlier. His entry level deal will expire at the end of this season, one of 11 expiring contracts the Leafs, but probably the only one that could conceivably cause Brian Burke to lose any sleep. Sure, there's Tomas Kaberle and J.S. Giguere, but those are contracts the Leafs may be just as happy to wipe off the books, and right now it looks like they could have upwards of $24 million (depending on the cap figure next season) to spend next summer.

But back to Schenn. He's a restricted free agent in June, and eligible to be unrestricted at 25 after his seventh NHL season. By comparison, the player taken before him in the draft by St. Louis, blueliner Alex Pietrangelo, just started his entry level deal and won't even be restricted for another two years after this season. Last year's Calder Trophy winner, Tyler Myers, was drafted in the same year but held back for an extra year of junior, so his entry level deal won't expire until after next season.

To recap, the '08 draft started with Steven Stamkos first overall and then included the big four blueliners. Drew Doughty went second overall, Zach Bogosian third, Pietrangelo fourth and Schenn fifth after the Leafs traded their first, second and third round picks to move up two slots. Schenn was the highest Leaf draft in 19 years.

Like Schenn, Doughty and Bogosian are on contracts that expire next summer. Doughty has had some injuries this season and has amassed only seven points, but he's still playing 25 minutes a game and is a plus-6. Bogosian is more like Schenn, low-scoring, physical and defence-first, while Pietrangelo is blossoming with the Blues and has 15 points this season while playing almost 23 minutes a night.

All four look like they're going to be good players for a long-time. Doughty might have a Norris Trophy in his future. But what do you pay them? And how do the Leafs structure a deal for Schenn, with just four years left before his UFA year?

Doughty, a Norris finalist last year, will probably end up with something along the lines of what Mike Green and Duncan Keith make, somewhere between $5-6 million per season.

For Bogosian and Schenn, however, it's a little trickier, if only for the lack of clear comparables. You can't look to the '07 draft for any help, as the top defenceman picked that year, Thomas Hickey, has yet to play an NHL game for the L.A. Kings (yep, those high picks are always locks to be stars, right?). Karl Alzner went fifth overall, and only now is he working himself into the Caps lineup as a regular.

In '06, Erik Johnson was the first pick overall, but he missed the entire '08-09 season with a knee injury, which altered his status. Last summer, he signed a two-year deal worth $2.6 million per season, a shorter contract that will allow the Blues to better assess his development and value before locking in long-term.

Johnson is a big, stay-at-home blueliner like Bogosian and Schenn, but probably with more offensive upside. Another comparable would be Chicago's Nik Hjalmarsson, who is in the first year of a four-year contract that pays him $3.5 million annually. Hjalmarsson is 23, a former fourth round pick and a similar player to Schenn and Bogosian, albeit less physical than either.

But his contract was the result of an offer sheet tendered by San Jose last summer that the Hawks matched. Schenn could get an offer sheet next summer, but it seems unlikely, and the Leafs would match.

There are no negotiations on a new deal yet for Schenn. Something like Johnson's two-year deal would make sense for both sides. The Leafs won't want a four-year deal that would simply take the young defenceman to UFA status, and going five years or longer while Schenn is still establishing himself doesn't make sense.

In an ideal world, the Leafs wouldn't be facing this decision so soon. In another year, they'll have a much better idea how good this youngster is going to be.

That's how these decisions made on 18-year-olds can come back to bite you.