ESPN Maple Leafs Preview

By Scott Burnside

OK, so the rebuilding program is officially out the window, what with GM John Ferguson mortgaging the future in the form of three draft picks, including the 13th overall selection in June's draft, to acquire netminder Vesa Toskala and troubled forward Mark Bell. Now, both acquisitions may yet turn out to be winners. Toskala may yet be the next Miikka Kiprusoff, a Finnish netminder who comes out of nowhere to be a world-beater. Bell could chip in 20-30 goals while roughhousing opponents once he returns from his 15-game suspension stemming from his drunken-driving conviction. The bottom line: The Maple Leafs once again have revealed themselves as a team devoid of a genuine plan for the future. One day, it's build from within; the next (or in this case after two straight playoff misses), it's win today. Still, the Leafs finished just one skinny point out of the playoffs, so they aren't that far off from a trip given that the East again figures to be achingly close.

OFFENSE
The Leafs were no slouches with the puck with the eighth-best offense in the league. They should improve with the addition of Jason Blake, who scored a career-best 40 goals with the Islanders last season. The assumption was Blake would be a good fit with captain Mats Sundin, who signed a one-year deal in the offseason. Coach Paul Maurice told reporters he thought of a Blake-Kyle Wellwood combination, with gifted Wellwood moving back to his natural position as a center. But Wellwood recently underwent sports hernia surgery and will miss at least three weeks. There's been a lot of talk that center Jiri Tlusty, the 13th overall pick in 2006, could crack the NHL roster out of training camp. The Leafs didn't return veteran forwards Jeff O'Neill, Yanic Perreault and Michael Peca, and the team was hoping Bell would fill some of that physical/offensive void. He will be going to jail for six months at the end of the season and will miss the first 15 games to suspension, so one wonders how much that will affect his focus at the center of the hockey universe.

DEFENSE
For years, Toronto's Achilles' heel was always its spotty blue line. But the Leafs now boast an impressive group of up-and-coming blueliners that includes Carlo Colaiacovo, who appears to have put an early spate of injuries behind him; Jay Harrison; Staffan Kronwall; and Andy Wozniewski. These youngsters will complement a group of veterans that includes Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe, Hal Gill and much-maligned Pavel Kubina. It might be true the Leafs wildly overspent on Kubina (four years, $20 million) last summer, but he wasn't as bad as many fans believed. By the end of the season, he was among their best blueliners (as he should have been). McCabe will always be high risk/ high reward, and Kaberle continues to be one of the best blue-line bargains in the business. Throw it all together, and the back end is suddenly one of the team's strong suits and should continue to be going forward.

GOALTENDING
If there ever is a case when the statistics lie, it's in Andrew Raycroft's 37 wins last season. The mark tied a franchise record, yet the first thing Ferguson did this summer was bring in a goaltender he thinks is better. Trust us, with last season's 24th-ranked goaltending tandem, the rest of the lineup thinks the same thing. Raycroft, a former rookie of the year, simply could not provide enough consistency to get the Leafs into the playoffs. In five of his last six appearances, he gave up at least three goals, so the word "clutch" doesn't exactly apply. Will it apply to Toskala? It had better if Ferguson wants to keep his job. The problem with Toskala is there isn't a great body of work to contemplate. In two seasons sharing top billing in San Jose with Evgeni Nabokov, Toskala went 49-17-5. Those are pretty darned good numbers. He didn't get a sniff in the playoffs this past spring but was the man between the pipes when the Sharks blew a 2-0 series lead against Edmonton in 2006. If the Leafs get that far in 2007-08, it won't matter if Toskala shows up wearing a Spider-Man outfit while pulling a wagon full of chickens because the experiment will be deemed a success.

COACHING
In Maurice's first season as Leafs coach, the team missed the playoffs by one point, which is one point closer than Toronto got the year before under former coach Pat Quinn. Closer to what, however, is the big question. It's hard to imagine Maurice would survive another non-playoff season, but that doesn't seem to bother the erudite bench boss. The Leafs play up-tempo and try to use a bruising forecheck to create offense. Maurice isn't likely to change his style, and provided his lineup stays a little healthier, he shouldn't be too worried about job security.

Scott Burnside is the NHL writer for ESPN.com.

Don't Expect To Carlo This Week

From TheStar.com...

Kevin McGran
SPORTS REPORTER

Maple Leafs defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo may not play another pre-season game as coach Paul Maurice intends go easy on his oft-injured defenceman, giving him time to let his sore right knee heal.

Colaiacovo has played in two of Toronto's five exhibition games so far but his knee – which underwent surgery in the spring – has been acting up.

"We're trying to strengthen this leg as hard as we can," Maurice said Tuesday. "I think he's fine. We could play him. But we don't really need to see him in an exhibition game.

"If he can go in there (the workout room) and make the leg really hard and make it stronger, then that's what we're going to do," Maurice said, adding it was "normal" for Colaiacovo to experience knee pain.

"We're just trying to keep him on his light program for as long as we can before we turn him loose and say now you really got to play," said Maurice.

The Leafs have three pre-season games left, including Wednesday night at home to Buffalo. The regular season opens next week.

Colaiacovo's setback is the second significant blow to the Leafs with Kyle Wellwood already sidelined a month after groin surgery.

Forward Boyd Devereaux was back on the ice Tuesday, his foot infection having healed.

There is no shortage of defencemen available to play in Colaiacovo's place. Staffan Kronwall and Anton Stralman, both of Sweden, top a lengthy list of young blueliners on the cusp of becoming NHL regulars.

Both are expected in the lineup Wednesday night against Buffalo. Vesa Toskala is expected to start in net.

Was Wellwood Properly Treated?

The ever controversial Steve Simmons writes in today's Toronto Sun about the possible lack of treatment/attention given to Wellwood with respect to his sports hernia...

(Steve Simmons, TORONTO) -

The lower abdomen injury that has placed Kyle Wellwood's progress on hold is the latest in a series of medical mysteries that have plagued John Ferguson's time as general manager of the Maple Leafs.

This one may be no one's fault. This one may be someone's fault. Right now, with Wellwood out for a month and his case certainly not being considered normal for this kind of injury, it's impossible to know.

What we do know is this: The most promising of all Toronto's young forwards underwent surgery last season, which was conducted by a world-class specialist in the area of sports hernias. And last Saturday, Wellwood again underwent surgery, which was conducted by a different world-class specialist in the area of lower stomach injuries.

Normally, one operation does not beget another.

Normally -- if a sports hernia can be considered normal -- the success rate for the kind of surgery Wellwood underwent last season is very high.

Only he required surgery a second time. And no one can answer for certain as to why.

"He was in regular contact with our trainers, our doctors, our strength and conditioning coach throughout the summer," said Jeff Jackson, the Leafs' assistant general manager. "Everything seemed to be going fine. We had a protocol for him and he followed it."

The team says he followed it. Wellwood's father, in an interview with the National Post, said his son took it easy all summer and didn't really work out.

As usual, the truth may be somewhere in between.

In his four years as general manager of the Leafs, Ferguson has torn up his medical blueprint more than once. He has been impatient with his staff, changing team doctors, trainers, dentists, equipment men, hired a strength and conditioning coach, and altered the team's medical protocols.

And over those years he has had no shortage of medical difficulties with high-profile players.

Winger Owen Nolan ended up with a large medical settlement after leaving the Leafs. Winger Alexander Mogilny was paid while injured in the lockout year. Goalie Ed Belfour was signed to a contract before the Leafs discovered he required back surgery. Centre Eric Lindros lost most of his season with the Leafs on what he believes was an improper diagnosis of his injured wrist.

Now comes the Wellwood situation and you wonder, even in this case, if there is nothing to wonder about. You have to wonder because of the history, because of the problems, because of the medical uncertainties of the past.

On a Maple Leafs team with some youth but not a lot of youth with any kind of upside, Wellwood is different. He was to start the season as the No. 2 centre, partially because he deserves that and partially because there is no one else. The fact the Leafs are toying with Chad Kilger as his replacement at centre is indication enough of that.

Wellwood is one of those special kind of players who always has contributed offence. The question in the NHL always was about his skating and his strength.

Now, with his lower stomach muscles not holding up, it's not hard to wonder about his skating and his strength.

"If you look around the league, there's a lot of groin injuries, a lot of hip flexor injuries," Jackson said. "I don't know if it's the new skates guys are wearing, I don't know what's causing it. I just know it's happening a lot."

At least, the Leafs and Ferguson learned from the Lindros disaster.

They weren't about to wait around and hope for the best. They had their doctors consult with the leading surgeons on the matters and everyone agreed that doing revisional surgery was the only course of action.

The lineup Ferguson pencilled in before the season had Wellwood as his No. 2 centre and Mark Bell as the No. 3 centre. Now Bell is suspended for the first 15 games of the season and Wellwood is certain to miss the first month of the season.

And now they wait, however nervously, hoping the Wellwood they hoped for is the Wellwood they see next month.

Back At It For The 2007/2008 Season

I just wanted to formally welcome you all back for the new Leafs season. Let's get on with some news...

Lance Hornby writes about the make-up of the 2007/2008 Leafs and the chances of John Pohl making this squad.

The Star gives a recap of last night's loss to the Ottawa Senators in overtime.

And David Shoalts of the Globe gives a good picture of how healthy the Leafs need to be to compete for a playoff spot.

Leafs Give Pony Three More Rides

(May 10, 2007) - John Ferguson, vice-president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced Thursday that the club has signed forward Alexei Ponikarovski to a three-year contract extension. In keeping with club policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Ponikarovsky, 27, played 71 games for Toronto collecting 45 points (21 goals, 24 assists) with 63 penalty minutes and a (+8) plus/minus rating. This past season he set a career-high in goals (tie), assists, points, powerplay goals (6) and shots on goal (198).

Ponikarovsky has played in 268 career games for Toronto, collecting 120 points (54 goals, 66 assists) with 200 penalty minutes. Over six seasons with the Maple Leafs he has accumulated a (+42) plus/minus rating. In 2002 he was selected to represent Team Ukraine at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Kiev, Ukraine native was originally Toronto’s fourth choice, 87th overall, in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.

JFJ Receives a Passing Grade

From David Shoalts at the Globe and Mail:

Any doubt about John Ferguson's immediate future as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs ended Wednesday when the board of directors of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment approved his plans for the team for next season.

Ferguson and Leafs head coach Paul Maurice made a presentation Wednesday afternoon to the board, although MLSE president Richard Peddie declined to give any details. All he would say is that the directors approved their plans and that Ferguson will be around for the final year of his contract.

"[Ferguson] and Paul Maurice came in and presented to the board what they wanted to do over the next year," Peddie said. "John's contract did not come up. He is under contract for another year. He is not going any where."

Speculation had been rampant in recent weeks that Ferguson had to impress the board, as there was talk MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum and a couple of other directors were unhappy enough with the Leafs' second consecutive finish out of the National Hockey League playoffs that they were talking to potential replacements for Ferguson.

Peddie said that all the board was interested in at Wednesday's meeting was Ferguson's plan for developing talent and acquiring new players through trades and free agency.

"It was a private meeting, so it really makes no sense to say any more than that," Peddie said.

Ferguson was not immediately available for comment.

Rumours Surround JFJ's Future

TIM WHARNSBY

Globe and Mail Update

TORONTO — When Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Ferguson presents his plan for the future to the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment board of directors Wednesday, his future with the struggling National Hockey League club could hang in the balance.

Even though MLSE chief operating officer Richard Peddie said Ferguson will continue running the club next season because his option year was picked up for 2007-08, a league source indicated that if Ferguson doesn't wow the eight-member board with his presentation, his days with the organization could be numbered.

Among other sports properties, MLSE owns the Maple Leafs, basketball's Toronto Raptors and the Air Canada Centre.

"John should treat this meeting very seriously," the source said. "There are people on the board who want him out. He doesn't have everyone's support, by any means."

Multiple sources insist that while Ferguson has the support of Peddie and the board members who represent the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (Robert Bertram, James Leech and Dean Metcalf), MLSE board chairman Larry Tanenbaum and lawyer Dale Lastman would like to see a change. It is unknown, however, which side of the issue Ivan Fecan of CTVglobemedia, which owns The Globe and Mail, and TD Capital Group's Robert MacLellan stand.

Peddie was asked Tuesday whether Wednesday's meeting could result in Ferguson being let go.

"No, John has a contract through next year, and we're constantly looking at ways to improve and get better, but he has a contract and that's where we're at," Peddie said.

"This is simply a meeting that was planned a year in advance. We're meeting with all the GMs of our four teams [Raptors, Leafs, Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League and soccer's Toronto FC]. We'll hear what plans they have to get us closer to their respective [championships], if not win their championships."

But whispers persist throughout the NHL that Tanenbaum has spoken with potential contenders to replace Ferguson.

Besides outlining his plan for the NHL entry draft next month, his strategy for the summer-time free agency period, players in the system and the coaching staff, Ferguson will have to explain why the Leafs missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

No doubt the future of Leafs captain Mats Sundin also will be discussed at length. Sundin, 36, is expected to be examined by a hip specialist in Sweden today to determine whether he will undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum that was discovered after the regular season ended.

Under Ferguson, the Leafs have had long-term injury problems with players such as Owen Nolan, Ed Belfour and Alexander Mogilny.

Another pressure point for Ferguson is the quick success of his Raptors counterpart, Bryan Colangelo. Under a different salary-cap system and smaller roster size, Colangelo rapidly rebuilt the Raptors into a divisional champion.

The 39-year-old Ferguson finished his fourth year at the helm of the Leafs and had his option season for 2007-08 — believed to be worth about $850,000 (U.S.) — picked up last November.

The Leafs' budget will not be an issue in 2007-08. Peddie said yesterday the club will spend right up to the salary cap next season, which is expected to be raised to at least $47-million (U.S.).

"We will spend to the max," Peddie said. "Whatever the NHL says we can spend, that's what we'll spend."

Ferguson has recently been a consultant for Steve Yzerman, who put together the Canadian team that is entering the medal round at the world championship in Russia undefeated.

Ferguson returned last Sunday from the world championship and plans to return to Russia Wednesday for the final four days of the tournament.