You said the leafs need to hire somebody like Stevens or Messier as a GM? They have NO experience what so ever in managing a hockey team. Now that there in the era of salery caps then yes you do need a business man as a GM. And why are you knocking the guy? What has he ever done wrong? I don’t see him trading away any young players. He brought in Brian Leetch which at the time was a genious move. Got Chad Kilger for nothing and he’s playing pretty well this year. If anybody goes it has to be Quinn. Been here this long and still no Stanley cup appearences!!! Its time for some new blood behind the bench. Bring Paul Maurice up from the Marlies to coach.

And yea i’l agree with you our drafting hasnt been that great in past years but just look at some of our later round steals. Kaberle in the 7th round. Justin Pogge in teh 3rd. Kyle Wellwood. Matt Stajan. Mikael Tellqvist. Its stupid to look at a draft and critisizng taking one player over another when you can never tell who’s going to pan out to be a star.

“Quinn said Berg, who did not make the Leafs’ three-game road trip that ends tonight in Washington, is still in a significant amount of discomfort and will likely have to get an MRI to determine the extent of the damage. [...] Quinn said. “He’s still having considerable pain in the rib area. Something is going on there.”

“Alexander Khavanov, who took a shot in the left foot during Monday night’s win over the Florida Panthers, has been diagnosed with a hairline fracture and will likely be out of the Toronto lineup until after the Olympics.”

“As for Carlo Colaiacovo, the concussed defenceman hasn’t even been cleared to begin off-ice workouts yet and considering that he must be symptom-free for at least a week before he’ll be able to play again, he appears to be out of the lineup on a long-term basis as well.”

“All of which means that the three rookie defencemen, Jay Harrison, Staffan Kronwall and Andy Wozniewski, will have plenty of time to show what they can do at the NHL level, barring a deal for a defenceman by Leafs GM John Ferguson.”

Campbell goes on to suggest Brendan Witt but again, this would be a short-term fix that may or may not get the leafs into the playoffs, and it would take up another spot on the roster from the young D-guys who need to prove themselves. like the other rookies, if the leafs can get these guys seeing some ice time in the NHL it would be beneficial for their development and next year’s edition of the leafs.

i am not saying that the three rookie D-guys are going to be mistake-free but they are rookies and its a bit more acceptable than guys like Khavanov and Berg making mistakes. its too bad that Carlo is out as i’d rather see him play than Woz or Kronvall but they are all solid young D-guys. this could be the best thing to happen to the Leafs because it has FORCED JFJ and Quinn to FINALLY Play these kids – which they should have done from the start of the season (instead of signing and re-sigining Khavanov and Berg).

I think Khavanov will be out until March – probably back before the deadline, Coliacovo looks like he is out for a long time – possibly for the rest of the regular season, and Berg’s ailment seems to be getting worse rather than better and it could mean that he’ll be out until March as well. too bad the leafs don’t play a lot of games between now and the deadline.

as for White. I agree with you – he’s an amazing D-guy. small but that’s no biggie in the new nhl – which is a good thing. but as ‘depthless’ as the leafs are right now on D, in terms of young D-guys, there’s a lot of them – Woz, Kronvall, Harrison, Coliacovo. Even if the leafs said goodbye to Khavanov and Berg (which they should) and trade Klee, White would still be in competition with Woz for the 6th and final spot on defense.

McCabe______Kaberle
Coliacovo_____Harrison
Kronvall______White or Woz.

that is also assuming that the Leafs don’t pick up a defenceman at the deadline or in the offseason (if they do, it better be a younger D-guy like Leopold).

It is believed that – depending on what happens in Florida this off-season – the leafs are going to try to gun for Luongo but that is a very very long shot – many other teams are going to be after him and he probably won’t even be on the market. any trade for Luongo would be way too expensive and it just makes no sense getting a goalie who is still young and has yet to enter his prime considering that the leafs have Racine, Pogge, and Rask waiting in the wings. Signing or trading for a ‘good young goalie’ is a lot more difficult and expensive than you can ever imagine.

the MAIN problem with the leafs is and always has been the defence. with the injuries to Berg and Khavanov the leafs are finding out just how solid their young D-guys are. too bad Coliacovo is out too and that i cannot join the likes of Woz, Kronvall, and – my favourite – Jay Harrison. this is the Leafs’ future D. I would like to see a trade to replace the slower Ken Klee (who has performed well for toronto but is too slow now – how soon everyone forgets that he has been our best D-guy in toronto for the past couple of years) with a younger guy like Leopold. your (very fickle and sudden) love of Khavanov should be disregarded. Khavanov just plain old sucks but he will be with toronto for another year thanks to his ‘relationship’ with JFJ (just like Berg’s ‘relationship’ with Quinn).

I agree that the leafs need to keep the kids and resign McCabe and Kaberle – but say goodbye to Berg and Khavanov and Klee and sign another solid top-4 D-guy and the leafs D situation is solved for years to come (since the young guys can only get better as they continue to develop). The Leafs are not going to get Jovo, Redden, Chara.

Totally agree with you about the situation with Sundin and no wingers and i’ve also suggested Elias (and i would take him and Gaborik over Murray but i don’t think Gaborik is going anywhere either). But yes, landing a free-agent winger is crucial for the leafs. with the nucleus of young guys (Wellwood, Stajan, Steen, Pohl, Ponikorovsky) and grinders (Tucker, Kilger, Wilm, Battalgia) the leafs don’t need much more on their forward lines. obviously one of Lindros and Allison must be resigned and something – anything – has to be done about the dead wood: O’Neill, Domi, Czerkawski, Belak. As for Antropov, he’s young but he might as well be 40 when it comes to the state of his knees. i like his play this year but that is as good as he’ll get and he won’t last much longer in the NHL with his knees.

although i am equally frustrated with JFJ, he isn’t going anywhere because he hasn’t been on the job long enough to prove himself. usually young GMs like he and JP Ricchardi usually are given 3-5 seasons to draft, develop, and build their team. JFJ is not known to be a ‘businessman’ – his expertise was supposed to be drafting and developing within the St.Louis organization. the leafs HAVE completely revamped their scouting staff over the past 2 years (Button, etc.) along with hiring new, top-notch personnel (Maurice, etc.). give these guys some time because you are already calling for their heads and they’ve been around for like 1 or 2 years.

I have no clue of why you like Czerkawski and Khavanov and think Wilm should go. I would prefer them to resign Allison over Lindros but if Allison can bring in a good D-guy then so be it. Brown, Aubin are taking up space in the AHL (not providing much ‘experience’ to the young guys either with their inconsistent play). Tie Domi and O’Neill are probably stuck with the leafs for another year because they were signed for 2 years for some reason. they should both be waived or retire next year.

… hmm, has this guy been reading my posts on HTR as of late??? LOL.

You still want Khavanov on the team? Are you crazy?????? Klee, Berg, Khavanov, Belak must all go.

just a questioin