Leafs summer review, season outlook
For the 3rd September in a row the Leafs are hopeful they can improve on the disappointments of last season. We showed some promise last year and stuck with the better teams in our conference. But a bad second half and terrible finish did us in, and we finished 20th overall in the league for the 2nd straight year.
Thus we began the summer knowing some changes needed to be made. But despite missing the playoffs most of our core players actually had solid years and were signed for this season. So the major turnover that may have been expected never came. The changes:
Out:
Milan Hejduk- 2nd on team in points - traded to NJ
Henrik Tallinder- top 4 dman was headed to UFA - traded to NYR
Dan Hinote- solid 3rd liner - traded to CAL
Sean Avery- major - traded to STL
John Grahame - traded to COL
Dallas Drake - not resigned
Ossi Vaananen - not resigned
So the big subtractions were Heduk and Tallinder. They were very good for us, but would have cost 13 million to keep. Hejduk landed us a couple of young players and not resigning Tallinder allowed us to grab Conroy and Recchi as free agents. And the spare cash was used to resign RFA’s.
We always liked Avery, and Hinote/Grahame were solid depth guys but younger/cheaper alternatives were available so they moved on.
In:
Phil Kessel- trade with STL
Josh Harding- trade with NJ
Chuck Kobasew- trade with NJ
Raffi Torres- dispersal draft
Craig Conroy- UFA
Mark Recchi- UFA
Martin Gelinas- UFA
Obviously nobody on this list is as good as Hejduk is right now. The Leafs will have to hope that the group as a whole helps the team more than Hejduk did.
But the good thing is Kessel and Harding have a lot more potential than anyone we lost. Kessel and Kobasew should play well on the 3rd line. Recchi and Conroy have the experience we’ve probably been lacking over the years. They’ll play 2nd or 3rd line and special teams.
Maybe the most important move was the firing of Tom Renney. He was in charge for 2 disappointing seasons in Toronto. Despite a decent defense and good goalies, the Leafs didn’t crack the top 10 in goals against in either season. On top of that, many in Toronto feel the Leafs collapse last season (3 wins in the last 16 games) was partly due to Renney’s lack of experience.
So the Leafs turn to Jacques Lemaire. He’s always been renowned as a great defensive coach and that should work with the players the Leafs have right now. He steered the Nords to a playoff birth and first round upset last season, which was impressive. And most importantly he has the experience that Tom Renney lacks.
The Leafs do have some moves to make between now and October. We need a #4 defenseman. And we have a lot of depth but not a lot of firepower up front. So 2 or 3 of our forwards are likely to start the season in a different uni.
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