A crucial offseason, possibly the most significant in franchise history, is underway for the Minnesota Wild. Head coach Jacques Lemaire and general manager Doug Risebrough, the only people to ever hold those positions for the Wild, are both gone.
The process of finding a new general manager took precedent for owner Craig Leipold, and he made sure to take his time and get things right. After a series of interviews, and a list of candidates that included high-profile broadcaster Pierre McGuire, Leipold has settled on a front-office veteran with a track record of helping build winning teams.
When it comes to Brian Burke and the Toronto Maple Leafs, apparently it's all over but the shouting. Here's Damien Cox of the Toronto Star:
With only a few final details to be sorted out, none of which are viewed as deal-breakers, the deal is all but done.
The former Anaheim GM was forwarded a "term sheet" by the Leafs over the past 24 hours, which included acceptable clauses on the length of contract and compensation.
Burke's deal will include the rest of this season, then a five-year contract that kicks in next season. He made about $1.4 million managing the Ducks, and is expected to see his salary doubled in Toronto.
And so, one saga ends and another begins. But there's just one more detail that ought to be aired before Burke arrives in the first city of hockey. Back when the talk started about Burke coming to the Maple Leafs, it looked like the organization was more or less in complete disarray. When the elderly Cliff Fletcher was appointed to the post of interim GM, a lot of people laughed.
But as Al Strachan pointed out on Hockey Night in Canada a couple of weeks back and Steve Simmons reiterated over at the Toronto Sun last week, Fletcher did more than just keep the seat warm for Burke, he actually cleared out the dead wood and got the team well on the way to recovery. And while the current profile of the team -- lots of swift-skating Europeans with flashy skills -- doesn't exactly fit Burke's mold, it's a damn sight better than the team Fletcher inherited from John Ferguson, Jr.
The Toronto Maple Leafs gave up on a pair of former first-round picks today, as they sent disappointing forward Alexander Steen and defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo to St. Louis, in exchange for forward Lee Stempniak, as reported by TSN.
It very well could be the final trade in the Cliff Fletcher era, as Brian Burke could be showing up in Toronto, riding in on his white horse, any day now. Frankly, it might be the best trade Fletcher made in his recent tenure with the Leafs. While Steen and Colaiacovo are former first-round picks, they've both been rather large disappointments for one reason or another.
In Colaiacovo's case, it's been injury after injury. The talent has always been there, but he's never been able to stay on the ice. He's played in only ten games this season, picking up one assist.
For Steen, it's simply been a matter of not playing very well. After scoring 18 goals as a rookie, he picked up 15 in each of the previous two seasons, and has taken quite a step back this year registering only two goals (four points) in Toronto's first 19 games.
To me, it's a win for the Leafs simply because they're receiving the best player in the deal. Stempniak has 13 points in 14 games for the Blues this year, and is two years removed from a 27-goal campaign.
Granted, he struggled last year, but just about everyone not named Brad Boyes struggled in St. Louis a year ago. Stempniak is expected to play on Toronto's second line.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the most lucrative and highest revenue generating clubs in the NHL. One need only to try and get a ticket to a Leafs game to appreciate how hard and how expensive it is to see a game at the Air Canada Centre.
As bad as the Leafs are year after year, fans in Toronto never fail to pack the place.
NO WAI!!! This is almost like Texaco giving away a free fill of gas!
"The Leafs have the most loyal and passionate fans in the NHL," general manager Cliff Fletcher said in a statement. "Securing the additional preseason Leafs game and giving away tickets to the [exhibition] game is our way of thanking them for their on-going support."
Fans attending the announcement at Air Canada Centre received a pair of complimentary tickets to the game. The remaining tickets will be distributed free to fans through a series of promotions and contests.
Sure, it's only an exhibition game, but many fans in Toronto can not afford the expense to see the Leafs play live. If the Leafs want to keep their fans happy during some lean seasons, something like this will give them a lot of street cred.
Then again, as one commenter under the story noted, "A nice gesture? making a fan watch this team one additional time is cruel and unusual punishment. "
The Toronto Maple Leafs, under Interim/Semi-permanent GM Cliff Fletcher, have been busy this summer trimming the fat from the roster in anticipation of a new GM *cough*Brian Burke*cough* coming in to right the ship. Kyle Wellwood's fat ass, Darcy Tucker's temper, and Andrew Raycroft's five-hole have all been told to get the hell out, and Trader Cliff isn't done yet.
Cliff's next target seems to be Bryan McCabe, the highly-paid defenseman with the big shot and woeful defensive ability.
The problem? McCabe has a no-trade clause, a huge contract, and the Leafs are unwilling to pay to have the rest of his $10M contract bought out.
Sources tell TSN the Maple Leafs approached McCabe's agent, Ian Pulver before the NHL Entry Draft hoping to encourage the veteran defenceman to waive his no-movement clause to open the door for a trade.
However, this time, whether intended or not, Toronto turned up the heat and according to sources, hinted McCabe may be asked to stay home, rather than join his teammates for training camp if he wasn't willing to change his mind.
Of course, these 'sources' could easily be the janitor at the Air Canada Centre, or Cliff Fletcher's nephew's brother's friend. Take it all with a grain of salt.
All I can say is that IF the Leafs decided to play such games, they can ensure themselves that future free agents are going to stay the hell away from Leafland. What player is going to want to put up with that? It's not McCabe's fault the Leafs lavished him with one of the worst contracts this decade.
The Toronto Maple Leafs certainly aren't making any strides in shedding the label of being the worst managed team in the NHL.
Remember when ancient fossil/Hall of Famer Cliff Fletcher was hired to be just an 'Interim' General Manager? Remember when the Leafs said they'd hired a new GM before the draft? Remember when the Leafs claimed they fired Paul Maurice so that the new GM could handpick their own coach?
Richard Peddie snipped off Cliff Fletcher's interim general manager tag yesterday, saying the Toronto Maple Leafs were shifting their search for a new hockey boss to "the robust free-agent class" of executives in the summer of 2009.
Peddie, the president and chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., one half of the GM search committee with sports lawyer Gord Kirke, was asked if their task was now on the back burner, with Fletcher making every key decision pertaining to the 2008-09 NHL season during the next three weeks.
"Gord and I did the due diligence, did analysis, spoke to a number of people and a trend developed that the best people are already signed," Peddie said.
Of course, conspiracy theorists are quick to point out that Ron Wilson is Brian Burke's bosom buddy, and Burkie will join the Leafs after his contract with the Ducks expires next year. If not Burke, than one of the other talented GM's would just drop everything to be the puppet GM of the team at the Center of the Universe!
In the meantime, I can imagine Leafs fans are rather miffed that their franchise has basically been put into 'neutral' while MLSE wait for these so-called prized executives to come onto the imaginary GM free agent market. Instead of making any progress as a franchise in whatever direction the Leafs may wish they were going (in circles down the toilet?), they are going sit on their asses and just ... wait.
As an American observer of the NHL, it can be hard sometimes communicating just how important the Toronto Maple Leafs are to the league. What we're talking about is the league's top franchise in Canada's top media market. By all reliable measures, the Leafs are the most valuable franchise in all of hockey.
And given Canada's linguistic schism, for many years, the Leafs were simply the team of all of English Canada, permanently pitted against their greatest rival, the Montreal Canadiens. To this day, you have large pockets of Leafs fans all over Canada, one of the reasons why it's so important for teams out West to expand the intraconference schedule, and get the Leafs to make regular road swings to Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
Which is why the firing of Paul Maurice as Leafs head coach after just two seasons is really big news. Sure, for any other run of the mill team that had missed the playoffs three years in a row and hadn't won a championship in over 40 years, this sort of news is expected pretty regularly. But this is the Toronto Maple Leafs we're talking about, and the position of head coach is arguably one of the most stressful jobs in all of Canada outside of Prime Minister.
Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.
It's not often that the average hockey fan from a small prairie town gets a chance to make millions and shoot pucks on a NHL Ice Surface.
Well, Darwin Head of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan had that very chance during last night's Avs/Canucks tilt. Standing at center ice, with a stadium full of spectators and the legendary Bobby Orr watching, Head buried enough biscuits to win himself a cool seven figures.
Head scored 15 goals – the exact number needed – in 24 seconds into an open net from the far blue line at General Motors Place to win $1 million in a one-time payout.
"This is just unreal. I can't wait to have a huge party and celebrate with my family and friends back home in Prince Albert," said Head. "And it feels so great that my wife and I will be able to look after our kids' futures with this money."
I think Mr. Head could probably buy the entire town of Prince Albert and have enough change left over for a 2-4 of Molson Canadian.
After days, weeks, and months of speculation, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), the for-profit entity owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund (some damn rich teachers!),finally did the expected and gave GM John (JFJ) Ferguson Jr. the big bootski out the door. Cliff Fletcher, who has been around the block a few times, will be his mid-season replacement.
During his tenure, JFJ has been widely panned for being a puppet without a sense of direction, and not a very good GM in general. Claiming he wanted to 'rebuild' the franchise, the Leafs have simply gotten worse with each passing season, have a pretty barren farm system, and have made some head-scratching moves.
Trading away two first-round picks and star prospect Tuukka Rask, three second-round picks and three fourth-round picks, for what amounts to Vesa Toskala, Andrew Raycroft and drunk driver Mark Bell.
Giving Andrew Raycroft a big money contract, despite a lack of sustained success and the fact Raycroft was coming off of a horrible season. Talk about buying high and selling low.
Signing Hal Gill and Pavel Kubina to obscene contracts. Not that Gill and Kubina are horrible, but they are paid way too much for their talents, especially the slow-footed Gill.
Hiring coach Paul Maurice, who is clearly once of the worst head coaches in the NHL today.
It should be noted that MLSE's 'too many cooks' structure certainly didn't help JFJ do his job any better. When he wanted to fire coach Paul Maurice? He was blocked from doing so. MLSE has a simple 'make money' direction for its club, so anything JFJ did had to make the Leafs more profitable, rather than make the team a better on-ice product. As long as the fans keep coming in, the owners don't really seem too interested in making the best hockey decisions.
Hiring a veteran GM was what the team should have done from the start (as they acknowledged), but will it help the club if they continue to have cumbersome meddling from the many power-hungry execs within MLSE? Can Cliff Fletcher tell the likes of Richard Peddie to 'shut the hell up and let me do my job?' If not, then it'll be the same old crap in Hogtown.
When it comes to Brian Burke and the Toronto Maple Leafs, apparently it's all over but the shouting. Here's 
The Toronto Maple Leafs gave up on a pair of former first-round picks today, 
The Toronto Maple Leafs, under Interim/Semi-permanent GM Cliff Fletcher, have been busy this summer trimming the fat from the roster in anticipation of a new GM *cough*Brian Burke*cough* coming in to right the ship. 
The Toronto Maple Leafs certainly aren't making any strides in shedding the label of being the worst managed team in the NHL. 
As an American observer of the NHL, it can be hard sometimes communicating just how important the Toronto Maple Leafs are to the league. What we're talking about is the league's top franchise in Canada's top media market. By all reliable measures, the Leafs are the most valuable franchise in all of hockey. 
Every day from Monday to Saturday, 
After days, weeks, and months of speculation, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), the for-profit entity owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund (some damn rich teachers!), 
