Longing For the Days of Yore

markjohnston writes "This used to be one of my favourite times of the year. Logging onto the net each day and checking the usual spots for any trade rumours about my favourite team.

I say “used to be”, because I happen to be in a very sucky position this year – I’m a Maple Leafs fan.

Back in the somewhat-good old days of the 90’s and the first half of the new millennium, being a Leafs fan was a lot of fun. Oh sure, the Leafs did just as poorly in Stanley Cup games then as they do now…which is to say, they never played any. But, things were at least interesting! The Buds were the most likely trade destination of any player in the top 30% of the league. Forsberg was coming here for Mogilny, Zetterberg was coming in a one-for-one deal for Antropov (now that was a great rumour!), Gretzky wanted one more year and was coming out of retirement, and Messier was coming for a bag of pucks.

Obviously, pretty much every rumour about Toronto was a load of you-know-what, but at least it was exciting to read the rumours and post your projected line-ups.

Gone are the days of

Jagr – Sundin – Nash
Kaberle-Orr
Roy

as the starting lineup for the Maple Leafs. Hell, the best we can do now is

Wellwood (who?) – Sundin (one for six!) – Steen (who?)
Gill – Pylon
Anyone

Now I get to read about how NASHVILLE (where?) might load up on the deadline. Ooo, I just get butterflies in my stomach when I think about what the MIGHTY DUCKS or BUFFALO are going to do….THE MIGHTY DUCKS?! My god, what has become of my sport?

The worst part is that Leafs fans not only miss out on the exciting insert-just-about-any-player-here TO Toronto rumours, we don’t even get the less exciting our-players TO someone else rumours. No, our incredible management and ownership would rather stand pat. Really, you want to stand pat with what has been (in my opinion) an over-achieving 10th place team? Well, for whatever reason, the brain trust at MLSE has made that decision, so Leafs fans get to spend another playoff season in limbo, wondering what sort of team will be tossed together next season.

What the leafs CLEARLY needed to do last season was blow the whole thing up. There is only one player on the team I wouldn’t trade with – that player is the rosy-cheeked Tomas Kaberle. Even at his salary, I think he is worth it. Here’s a guy who has proven he can QB a powerplay and still has many good years ahead of him. Other than that, everyone is expendable.

Obviously, I would most likely keep Wellwood, Steen, Stajan, Colaiacovo, White, and Poni, but I certainly would take calls on them, and would send any away in a heartbeat if the deal was right.

This team needs to dump Tucker, Sundin, McCabe (if he’ll let them), Kubina (if anyone will take him) and anyone else. Tucker and Sundin are obviously the two who will garner the most interest and bring the team the best in return.

This is the only option for the Leafs.

There is no question the salary cap has made the game more fair for fans around the league, but it has hit the Leaf fan hard. Even though the pickups of Nolan, Leetch, Wesley, Housley and Francis brought the Leafs a grand total of ZERO cups, at least it made the trade deadline an interesting time. I have a pretty good feeling I won’t be saying that this year…again."