Just some random thoughts on the Leafs with a lockout looming.
- While Leaf fans are sure to be upset if there is a lockout this year, at least they won't have to deal with all that making the playoffs nonsense. Being a die hard Leaf fan since I could walk, people asking whether I think the Leafs will make the playoffs is one of my biggest pet peeves. Especially from non-Leaf fans. You already have your own conclusion so do you really care what I think? Probably not.
- You know you live in a hockey-mad city when a wedding engagement of the home team captain makes the news. A main headline on the Toronto Star's main web page read that Leaf captain Dion Phaneuf and actress girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert were engaged over the weekend. While it is big news for Phaneuf, Cuthbert and their respective families, should the rest of us care? I know I don't. But congratulations nonetheless.
- I was watching some classic Leafs hockey over the weekend, particularly the pre-2004 lockout era. Names like Alexander Mogilny, Gary Roberts, Darcy Tucker, Mats Sundin and Tomas Kaberle had Leaf fans a lot to be excited about. The one player Leafs nation probably misses the most is Sundin. Sure he was a great captain and is one of the greatest players to ever wear a Leaf jersey, but I want to make a case that fans should miss Kaberle just as much, if not more. The smooth-skating Czech always made the right breakout pass out of the defensive zone and while fans wanted him to shoot more, he was masterful as the power play quarterback. While the team and its fans hope youngster Jake Gardiner can be that and more, he does have a long way to go to kill Kaberle's shoes.
- With a potential Roberto Luongo trade to Toronto a distinct possibility, I started thinking about what has been the worst Leafs trade in the last 20 years. Anything former general manager John Ferguson Jr. did seemed to be a disaster, but the one that sticks out in my mind is the Tuukka Rask for Andrew Raycroft deal. At the time, Toronto had two blue chip goaltending prospects: Rask and Justin Pogge. The Leafs decided to go with Pogge and deal away Rask for an emerging Raycroft. Well, we all know how that panned out. Raycroft was a bust, Pogge is nowhere to be found and Rask will be the starting goalie for the Boston Bruins.
What do you think has been the worst trade in the last 20 years?
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