it's never too early to talk leafs hockey...
Besides the orange and brown- i also bleed leafs blue. Being a leaf fan was very disapointing this past year . too old too slow too late


nik antropov- trade him! get anything for him. too slow too stupid-

Allison, Jason -- this is tough- good setup man- but he is too old and way to slow

Aubin, Jean-Sebastien - i liked what he did at the end of the year- keep him

Belak, Wade -- keep him- he's a fighter and not too bad on D

Belfour, Ed - Ed i think your flight leaves tonight

Berg, Aki- D is few and far between-- he is 50/50

Colaiacovo, Carlo *- keep he is young

Domi, Tie - good locker room presence - still hustles

Kaberle, Tomas- keep him- but shoot the fucking puck!

Khavanov, Alexander- this guy blows

Kilger, Chad- most underrated player on the leafs right now- love him

Lindros, Eric-- ???-- if he can stay healthy...

McCabe, Bryan -- best D-man in the league-- must stay

O'Neill, Jeff -- jeff i know he was your brother and all - pull your head out of your ass.

Ponikarovsky, Alexei-- awsome at PK-- must keep- and he is young

Richardson, Luke-- why the fuck did we trade for him in the first place?

Stajan, Matt -- yes- enough said

Steen, Alexander *-- yes - yes - yes

Sundin, Mats-- he is the heart of this team- we would have to get alot in return for me to be happy about letting him go

Tucker, Darcy -- BEST ALL AROUND PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE

Wellwood, Kyle *- please do not get rid of him

Wilm, Clarke-- plays hard - he is a must

Tellquvist-- ???- i don;t know


What we need- and what we never should have gotten rid of..

we need a Steve sullivan-- hey that name sounds familiar.
we need another - sergei berezin- that fucker always shot it - always
we never should have gotten rid of gary roberts or ric jackman- stupid f'n trades..
we need CUJO back.


we need spped and a shooter. we need a reliable goalie- Aubin may be it - who knows?
with Maurice at the helm i think it's a good change - he knows what we need and he's been coaching our future, i like it .

You need a new coach. The Olympics proved that Pat Quinn is a fucking idiot. He had, arguably, the widest talent pool at his disposal, but he chose to double shift Joe Sakic and Iginla and FUCKING BERTUZZI, THE BIGGEST HACK IN THE LEAGUE, while quick young players like Heatly, Lecaviller, and Richards, sat on the bench for long stretches. Richards somehow STILL managed to score the most points for the team. But Quinn never paid attention to that, or to the fact that his lines didn't play together as a team very well (A problem easily fixed, at least for one line, by putting the three young guys who play on the same NHL team together).

Quinn has had a gross amount of talent in Toronto as well and squandered all of it. I can't remember if he was fired already or not. If not, he should be ASAP.

They have two great young goalies in the system, so they're fine in that spot.

Solid young defenseman, but no real standouts. Locking up Kaberle was huge as he's one of the more underrated defenseman in the league. I've heard the McCabe deal might fall through, and the contract that was rumored didn't sound too great, so that might be a good thing.

Steen is going to be a top line player, IMO, and Wellwood and Stajan should be good 2nd line players, but not sure after that.

They have a relatively high pick this year, so they'll get another good player in the draft.

I think they'll suck it up and take this year to retool and come back in a few years to make the playoffs. I don't expect them to be a bad team next year, but I also don't see them making the playoffs. Stocking up on young players and rebuilding is the smart thing to do, but who knows if there fans will want this.

They do have a new coach, Paul Maurice.

I hate Pat Quinn with every fiber of my being.

I disagree on some points.

Antropov - If he cuts down on the senseless penalties, he can be great. He did very well with Sundin and Ponikarovsky at the end of the year, so he deserves one last chance. Hopefully Maurice doesn't let him slack off like Quinn did.

Berg - As much as I despise him, he was only slightly below average as a defenceman after the Olympics. He's gone anyway... playing (or retiring, can't remember) in Finland this year.

Domi - Hustle can only get you so far. He may be a great locker room presence, but he used to be a presence on the ice too... he did very little in any way last year. I love the guy, but I was very disappointed.

McCabe/Tucker - Come on... these are the comments that make people hate Leafs' fans. McCabe is quite possibly the best offensive defenceman in the league and had he not been injured he would have fought for the Norris... but you're overstating that by quite a bit. And Tucker... that's one of the most laughable things I've ever read. He has VERY little talent... he hustles as much as any player in the league, he's got a good shot, but he's not a great skater and has hands of stone. I would never want them to get rid of him... but be realistic.

Wellwood, Steen and Stajan have the potential to create a solid core for the future, and Ben Ondrus really reminded me of a Tucker-type player when he played. Suglobov showed flashes of great talent last year, and he's only 24. Jeremy Williams (only 22) was great in the minors. The youth on defence (Colaiacovo, Bell, White, Harrison, Wozniewski, Kronwall) has the potential to be very good in the future, and at least solid right now. Throw in Pogge and Rask, and the Leafs appear to have a very positive future. I think they may have a great season this year, but I'm sure not many would agree.

at one of the toronto shows, ed says "you guys still have gilmour??" and you hear the crowd..then he goes "...thats your problem...."

I was there, night 1. It was hilarious.

oh man that is funny-- i gotta buy that boot just for that now . "the killer" was awesome man i miss him

Little known fact: the nickname "Killer" came about because a teammate thought Gilmour looked like Charles Manson.

I didn't know that, that's funny.

i wonder which one ?


anyway back too the leafs of today-

you really like antropov? it seems like we've had him for yrs. and in too many big points in games he pulls some stupid boarding penalty or elbowing- he looks around like like "what did i do"

but again- too many dumb trades- way to many-

what we need is another stevie thomas- infact every team could use a steve thomas

wish we still kept yanic perrault - i always liked him-

I don't necessarily like him, but I think most people are unfairly critical of him. YES - he takes FAR too many stupid penalties and shows an inconsistent effort from game to game. BUT, when he truly shows up and keeps his mind in the game, he can be physically dominant and a perfect fit with Sundin and Antropov. The problem is, he doesn't do that nearly enough. Quinn has given him far too many chances, and, like I said, hopefully Maurice doesn't let him get away with slacking off the way he has the past 5 years.

They need to blown off the face of the planet.

The leafs have quite a few good, young players that will finally see ice this season under Maurice.

Hopefully Pogge or Rask will impress at camp and stay, I'm not sold on either Aubin or Tellqvest.

I say keep Antropov, the talent is there and you won't get anything for him in a trade. Maurice will bench him if he acts like a bonehead, unlike Pat.

I'd love to see Stajan centering Steen and Wellwood as the second line next year.

and finally I'll predict a 4th place finish in the East next year.

i do have high hopes for Maurice , but i don;t thikn he'll put those three on one line together stajan steen wellwood. maybe in a preseaon game ? just to see how it works but wellwood tries to be to fancy sometimes - dickin around with the puck, i like him though he's quick and that's what this team needs.

i'd say 5th or 6th in the east . but 4th would be great ,- it's gonna be tough with teams like hotlanta and tampa....

ya know brad boyes would be a welcome back to our team another stupid trade

I was the only person I know that thought that at the time. I have never been an Owen Nolan fan.

owen who? yeah i know --

let's see here who else

oh fredrik modin for cory cross --- WTF were they thinking ?

There have been some good deals too

Karpovtsev for McCabe...

Doug Gilmour & Jamie Macoun for Gary Leeman & Jeff Reese...

Wendel Clark for Mats Sundin...