The Possibilities

This cannot be argued. The Maple Leafs had few assets before Brian Burke took over. They have quite a few now.

Nothing, of course, that'll bring back that first round pick next June (Interesting how 2010 second overall Tyler Seguin has fewer points and fewer goals than undrafted Tyler Bozak). But tangible, solid pieces that other teams desire.

That's why he's getting offers on Kris Versteeg, a 24-year-old with a Stanley Cup ring. (worth noting Viktor Stalberg has six goals to Versteeg's 10, hasn't scored since Nov. 14 and is just back from his second concussion in two seasons). Just a guess, but I suspect it's the tightly packed Southeast Division teams that are most interested in Versteeg.

The youngster has just started to play well, including working the point on the Toronto power play. Do they really want to move him now?

Then there's Clarke MacArthur, 25, one of last summer's best unrestricted free agent signings by any team. All MacArthur's done is lead the team in scoring, shocking even the most optimistic members of the Leaf front office. The conundrum here is that MacArthur was only signed for one season ($1.1 million) and is a restricted FA next summer. Sign him now to a multi-year deal or swap him elsewhere before the deadline, figuring he's maxed out his value? Tough choice. 

(Before you mock MacArthur for being the best scorer on a bad team, it's worth nothing he'd also be the leading scorer for Boston, Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, New Jersey, New York Islanders, Ottawa, Phoenix and St. Louis.) 

Francois Beauchemin has lots of detractors, but more than a dozen NHL clubs would love to slot him into their blueline rotation. He was added as an unrestricted free agent, costing the Leafs only money. Ditto for Finnish goaltending prospect Jussi Rynnas, who is having a very strong year in the AHL and is drawing interest from other clubs.

So what should be the target if one or more of these assets are to be moved?

Clearly, a centre. One under the age of 30, preferably 26 or younger, that can grow with the young group of players the Leafs have assembled. No easy task to get such a player, for sure. An ideal target would be 27-year-old pivot Stephen Weiss in Florida, not too expensive at $3.1 million per with two more years on his deal. If GM Dale Tallon decides to continue to do with the Panthers what he did in Chicago, players like Tomas Vokoun, Bryan McCabe and possibly Weiss could move. Putting Steven Reinprecht through waivers is an indication Florida might be interested in cutting payroll. Staying in the Southeast, Tampa has some good young forwards in Richard Panik, Carter Ashton and Brett Connolly, but they're not centres. Washington has Marcus Johansson, big David Steckel and Mathieu Perreault. Atlanta has Patrice Cormier and Daultan Leveille.

But these are all names and idle speculation. For the Leafs, however, it's clear a more experienced centre would help Kessel and allow Bozak to play as a third-line centre, which would make so much more sense. 

But the point is that while detractors suggest the 28th place Leafs have nothing and that Burke's management has set the team back five years, that's nonsense. Right now, Versteeg and MacArthur would represent solid second tier scoring for a team with serious playoff aspirations. But they're also youngsters, part of the six-pack of Toronto players under the age of 26 with a chance to score 20 goals this season.

The next two months leading up to the Feb. 28th trade deadline could be fascinating for Leaf fans.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[neilt]

Of course another way to describe Clarke MacArthur is that he's scored 4 goals since Oct 26th.

Pleasant surprise, yes. "One of last summer's best unrestricted free agent signings by any team"? A bit of a stretch.

[Puckhead]

C'mon Damian - how dare you look at the big picture & offer rational perspective! We all know Burke is an idiot, knows nothing about hockey, & has set this team back another 40 years. Geez....what I wouldn't give for a return of JFJ!
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Seriously, it's refreshing to hear a hockey journalist step back, look at Burke's entire body of work (instead of dissecting one giveaway from last night's game & calling whoever a failure) & offer perspective. Nice write-up.

[Nathan]

Keep dreaming Cox, you can try to stick up for Burke as much as you want (probably because he answers your questions unlike Pat Quinn) but the bottom line is Burke has over estimated this team and now he is doomed.

[loouie]

I'd rather have Seguin than Bozak, but that's just me.

[Peter Lynn]

It's actually not that interesting that Bozak has more goals and points than Seguin. He's also six years older and six years further along in his development. Check back in another six years and see who the better player is.

[Jake]

Neilt.. what free agent signings were better?

[Conn Smythe]

Actually it sounds like you're the one who is 'dreaming' Nathan - Cox put up a good argument to support his position (not sure I necessarily agree, but..) and you have offered nothing tangible in response. Not surprising.

[CF]

I think you're right that Burke has done a good job of restocking a cupboard that was pretty bare and that there are more and better assets to actually move (though I think there are enough other sellers out there with better wares that it's hard to imagine who wants to flip so many young prospects for so-so vets on the Leafs). But I don't understand the need to continually downplay the importance of draft picks. They aren't the magic solution, but they are certainly a pretty big part of the most consistently successful teams. Even if they aren't the team's own draft picks, the reality is that a majority of the important players on most teams are high draft picks. The Bozaks and Alex Burrows are the exception. I'm a Canucks fan and when I look at my team, most of the best players are high draft picks, whether of the Canucks or someone else. Outside of Burrows, Hansen and the fourth liners, every one of the top six forwards, two of the 3rd liners, and most of the D are either first or second round picks. I know you're tired of the bellyaching over the Kessel deal but I don't think you need to continually talk about how haphazard drafting can be. Believe me, having lived through decades of atrocious Canucks drafting, I know all too well how demoralizing drafting the Libor Polaseks and Patrick Whites of the world can be. Whether Kessel is equal to Seguin and the other picks is not the point -- though I think it's more than a little unfair to compare a rookie with a five year veteran, and didn't Mark Messier only score 12 goals his rookie year? Maybe a little bit of patience for Seguin, as you're preaching with the Leafs?

[Brian Taylor]

What games have you been watching. Seguin has played much less ice time on a playoff contending team. Versteeg is a liability on the power play at the point. And Beuchemin has trouble clearing the puck. How dumb do you think the other GM's are in the league to give up what you say. Pretty well none. Yikes! Late round draft picks is about it. Are you just looking for attention? because you got it with this slanted article.

[Andy]

@Puckhead - Doomed? You must be drunk. Burke found prospects that cost us nothing. We may be underachieving this year, but Burke is far from doomed. The first thing he said when taking over is that this'll be extremely difficult since the buds had NOTHING.

So shut up before you hurt yourself. We're on track.
Good read Cox..

[Matt]

I don't think Burke is in the business of building the careers of players to go to other teams. Maybe that was last year. The leafs look good when they win, even sometimes when they lose, but clearly what they are missing is 1, maybe a few, clutch players. I don't think they are doomed, but it is tough not to have an excuse to lose faith.

[Pat Ribble]

I still think the Kessel deal was incredibly wrong-headed, but Coxie has it about right in this assessment. Burke would not have been my hire for GM, and I certainly don't agree with some of the moves he's made since taking over, but BB has done a fairly decent job overall. No payoff this year, unfortunately. And the water-torture picks-watch on behalf of the Bruins is excruciatingly painful for the long-suffering fans (especially the ones over the age of 35/40). This thing alone massively taints the halfway decent job Burke has done . . . and he should have realized that at the outset (after all, it ain't rocket science).

[Newton]

Damien, your recent posts have been fun to read and I wanted to comment on this one.

The fact several players under 26 have a "chance" to score 20 goals this season does not impress me in the least and here is why:

If the Marlies roster had played in each of the Leafs NHL games this season several players under 26 would have a "chance" to score 20 NHL goals this season none of whom would be likely to become top end NHLers.

Playing front line minutes and getting power play time in the NHL is akin to being a closer on a big league ball club, even a total scrub will nab 25-30 saves if they get consistent opportunities.

Accumulating overage college and european players is a fine strategy for adding quality depth, one the Leafs should continue to pursue, but such signings carry limited upside.

While the Leaf cupboard may not be bare there certainly isnt much to be found on the top shelf.

[Go Leafs Go]

Hey Damien, just because Burke is getting offers for Versteeg and Beauchemin doesn't mean those offers are any good, especially considering their performance this season. I highly doubt Burke will get back what he paid to get Versteeg (3 prospects, 2 of which are 1st rd selections and Stalberg who brings a very unique combination of size and speed). Only time will tell, but I have a feeling I will be right once that time comes. Good luck Burke, you're going to need it in order to correct this mess you made thinking you could re-invent the wheel.

[B Hunter]

The fact that 24 year old Tyler Bozak playing 1st line minutes has 2 more points than 18 year old Tyler Seguin playing 4th line minutes - interesting - hardly, irrelevant - yes!!

[Chris]

The point Cox was making about Bozak vs Seguin is that Seguin wouldn't help the team at all THIS year. The Kessel deal was an overpayment but when you read every article about the Leafs it's like the Leafs gave up Sidney Crosby in exchange for Jamal Mayers and that's the reason the Leafs can't get it together.

If Brian Burke didn't trade for Phil Kessel the Toronto Maple Leafs would still be a young, inexperienced team and Tyler Seguin would not help them one bit.

Few would argue that over time Tyler Seguin will emerge to be the better player but again that isn't Cox's point.

Burke has been through two drafts with the Leafs. In 2 drafts he's drafted 1 top 10 pick (Kadri) THREE second rounders (Ryan, Blacker, Ross) and THREE third rounders (Devane, McKegg, Olden).

Contrary to popular belief of the ignorant masses, players can not be developed in a year. It takes multiple seasons to develop most players and Bruke's drafting successes or failures won't be evident for a few years. Seguin would need to be develped too.

Lastly, this year's draft is supposed to be the weakest draft in 12 years. There are no Taylor Halls or Tyler Seguins in the 2011 NHL draft and I dare you to find any reputable source that would say otherwise.

[DEV]

Tyler Bozak is 26, plays 17-18 minutes a game and is 26.

Sequin plays 10-11 minutes agame and is plus 2 and is 19 or 20.

Nice comparison.

[DEV]

I forgot to mention Bozak also minus 8.

[Chris]

Some say the Leafs are a bunch of turkeys; I say there's a lot of truth to that analogy.

Think of an amazing Thanksgiving Turkey dinner that takes 10 hours to cook. No matter how good you know it's going to taste, no matter how good it starts to smell a few hours into that 10 hour cook time you know that you can't enjoy the meal yet. If you were to take the turkey out after 3 hours and judge the meal based on an uncooked turkey you probably wouldn't have anthing favourable to say about it.
The Leafs are that turkey and they've been in the oven for about 5 hours. If you judge Brian Burke and the Leafs on a roster with limited experience you are essentially judging a Turkey dinner on a half cooked turkey. No matter how much potential this roster shows or how many great games they put together, the only thing that will improve this team is experience and last time I checked experience can only be accumulated over time.
As for Versteeg, he's been very good this year for a guy who's barely played 200 NHL games. If they do trade him it better be for a blue chip prospect as I'm guessing the only interested teams are established teams who won't trade a top six forward because they are gunning for a cup. If not, keep him; he's only going to get better. By the way Versteeg is on pace to surpass his career highs.
As for MacArthur, the only reason he has scored less goals since October is because Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski have a combined 26 goals this year and most have come since mid October. I don't care that MacArthur hasn't scored a lot since October because he's been part of a line that scores almost every single night. Who cares if he's setting them up instead of putting them in? He's producing consistently and you have to admit that nearly everybody expected his production to tail off. Clearly in terms of point production he's going to have a career year. Nikolai Kulemin looks like he'll pot about 25 too which follows his trajectory towards estabishing himself as a legitimate top six power forward.
If Burke somehow finds a legitimate centre and winger to play with Kessel then the Leafs would have a legitimate first line which is what they are missing. The MacArthur/Grabovsk/Kulemin line is a teriffic second line on most NHL teams (all three will likely get 20 or more goals this year). The problem is that the Leafs need a 1st line. They have a 2nd line, a pretty good third line with Versteeg and Armstrong but lack a high end first line aside from Kessel. Defensively the Leafs are simply underperforming aside from Luke Schenn who is by far and away the Leafs best defenseman. Dion Phaneuf is getting a rougher ride than he deserves. He's been very good since he's been back. He hasn't turned the puck over and has been solid defenisvely.

[KD]

To "Go Leafs Go" - if Burke gets an offer for Beauchemin, it's guaranteed to be a good offer. Anything that would get Beauchemin away from the Leafs is a good offer. If it turns out to be another team's deadwood, he can always park it in the minors so there's no cap hit.

[KD]

As for the comment about MacArthur being the best scorer on several other teams, Boston and St. Louis are the only ones from that list that are currently in a playoff spot. St. Louis is barely there, and Boston is only in because they're leading a pathetically weak division. It is not impossible that the Northeast division winner this season will get not only a playoff spot but a top-three seed, while another Eastern Conference team with a better record will miss the playoffs completely. So, instead of saying MacArthur is the best scorer on a bad team, you could say he would be the best scorer on any of ten bad teams.

[tevin]

Seguin is 18 bud. Burke got hosed and I am glad that some fans are willing to accept it. Farewell

[Simon Halliday]

Cox..if you are going to do a true comparison to bozak and seguin then maybe check out their ice time. Bozak plays 7 minutes more a game and im sure more powerplay time. The fact that Bozak has a whole 2 extra points more than Seguin will not persuade anyone that the pick was not worth it.

[Adam]

Don't forget that it wasn't Kessel for Seguin straight up (that, I could live with..) it was Seguin, Jared Knight (2nd round pick) AND this year's (likely very early) first rounder. Clearly, I think Burke miscalculated how low the Leafs would finish in the standings and in hindsight overpaid for Kessel.

Don't forget as well that it wasn't Versteeg for Stalberg straight up, either - we gave up Chris DiDomico and Phillipe Paradis (who we have up Jiri Tlusty for..) as well. I'd have liked this deal much better if we'd have come to terms with Billy Sweatt.. as it is, we may be the long term losers of this one..

MacArthur obviously has been a great signing for the $$ we're paying him, but too bad it was only a 1 year deal. He'll probably command a healthy raise should the Leafs decide to re-sign..

[Puckhead]

@Andy - I think you have the wrong guy. You may be referring to Nathan re the doomed comment.