Time to blow this thing up…?
One or two trades, or perhaps dropping Quinn and/or JFJ, isn’t going to do it. And yes, I was as happy as anyone three weeks ago when the Leafs were hot (I’m not one of those glass-half-empty kind of guys). After long and thoughtful consideration, here’s why we have to blow this baby up…1) Our highest-paid players (in order) are Sundin, Belfour, McCabe, Kaberle, and Ken Klee. Not a single one of these players will ever be any better than they are at this point in time. Sundin (bless the man) is still strong, but clearly on the way down. Eddie is X-ing out his calendar days until he calls his news conference. McCabe is having a career year, possibly warranting Norris consideration. He cannot improve on this; this is the best he will ever play. Kaberle only does as well as McCabe’s performance will allow; if Bryan can’t ever do any better, then by definition, neither can Tomas. The mere fact that Ken Klee is our fifth-highest paid player makes me sort of sad and nauseous all at the same time. I would take the fifth-highest player on any team in the league over Ken Klee (honestly, wouldn’t you?)
2) We’re old. Let me correct that. We’re OOOOLLLLDDD. Ancient. Creaky, dusty, and leading the league in Ben-Gay consumption. If/when we trade, it should be a rule that any player obtained is exactly half the age of the player shipped out. Take a page from the Ottawa book; they’re the second-youngest team in the league, and we all know how the Leafs vs Sens thing has turned out this year.
3) It is time to end the JFJ experiment. I wish him the best, and hope that he turns into a decent GM when he grows up. This time, Mr. Tanenbaum, when you hire a GM, be sure you check his Rolodex to make sure there’s actually a few phone numbers in there before you hand him the keys.
4) Every year at this time, we begin to hear the “reliable-sources-tell-me” stories about how Pat Quinn has lost the room, about how certain senior players are peeved and grumbling about being treated like kids. And every year, Mats does a great job telling the wags in the hallway that everything’s peachy, and that if everyone sticks together and follows the program, we’ll almost-win-the-whole-thing again this year. After five or six years of this, isn’t it a bit obvious that the Pat-vs-Players thing is really happening? How can you do this to a team every year and still keep things under control? YOU CAN’T. And it shows. Hard to motivate a team when every player on your team hates your guts.
4) The Leafs could lose every game next year, and sell out every single night. Leafs fans are a weird, masochistic lot, but (being one of them), I understand that we are also the most patient sports fans in the universe. If any of you suffered through the early 80’s and are still members of Leafs Nation, you know what I’m talking about. Where am I going with this? We are patient enough to be willing to blow up the current edition of the Leafs and REBUILD. We are perfectly willing to wait five (or more) years if we think we have a reasonable chance of competing for some hardware in a few years’ time. Intelligent Leafs fans, open your eyes, take off the rose-coloured glasses, and clearly and thoughtfully look at the roster & management – they will NEVER, EVER, EVER be good enough to get even to the conference final. It is time to make the hard decisions, and re-tool. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF BEING CALLED AN ALARMIST – YOU ARE NOT JUMPING OFF THE BANDWAGON! If you were, you simply wouldn’t care what the Leafs did.
I open the floor to your flames. And yes, Hockey News, I’d be happy to op-ed for you… 
Go Leafs / fitzcalvin