Time To Make a Choice!
The Leafs have fallen to eleventh place in the Eastern conference and are 5 points out of the last and final playoff spot (note: I am writing this article the night of the loss to the Sabers). The Leafs haven’t won a cup since 1967, and at the rate their going it’ll remain that way for the next few decades.
The problem with the Leafs is that they are a team built to make the playoffs, not win the cup.
They have had a few good runs at the cup and have made it to the conference finals a few times
since ’67, but haven’t appeared in the Stanly cup finals in 40 years! Even the Blackhawks were
in the finals once or twice since they last won the cup 54 years ago!
I am a Leafs fans and I want to see the Leafs win a cup before I die. I believe that I am not
the only one who wants this (except for Senators fans). For the Leafs to win a cup they must
rebuild, from the ground-up. Look at the Hurricanes, Sabers, and Senators, until recently they weren’t very competitive. They took 2-3 years to rebuild and now look where they are! They
are all expected to win the cup!
All of these franchises chose one player to build around and they did so. The Canes built around
Staal, the Sens built around Alfredsson, and the Sabers built around Briere. Its time for the Leafs to choose a young player to build around instead of just assembling a few free agents and hoping they will become a team! The Leafs have three of the best junior goaltenders, a few of the best young defenseman, and some of the best young centers. The player they should build around is Alexander
Steen, as I said the Buds have their defense, goaltending and centers set for the future. They need to start drafting wingers to compliment the style of play of Alexander Steen.
I don’t want to mention any trades but here are players the Leafs need to get rid of: McCabe, Klee,
Khavanov, Berg, Tucker, Belak, Wilm, Sundin, Allison, Lindros, O’Neill, Antropov, Czerkawski,
Domi, and Belfour for draft picks and prospects.
After a few year of drafting the Leafs should have a few wingers to play with Steen. After this they can go out and get one or two high profile free-agents and make a few trades for all-star players. If the Leafs don’t trade away any of their youth, this is how their re-built roster may look in a few years:
????__Steen__Kilger
????__Stajan__Ponikarovsky
Earl__Wellwood__Ondrus
?????__Pohl__Leeb
Kukumberg
????__Kaberle
Kronvall__Coliacovo
Woznewski__Harrison
White
___Tellqvist___
___Pogge/Rask___
??????=free agent signings/draft picks
There that is what the Leafs should do!