Why JFJ Should Stay

This blog focuses on the career of John Feguson Jr., and I will touch on some of the more questionable moves, the moves that have given John Ferguson the undeserving title as a horrible GM by the media and the general public.In light of the Cliff Fletcher saga, JFJ should not be fired; he must be given credit for what he has done for the Leafs in the present, and in going forward. The many acquisitions have been a major factor in giving the team a shot at a competitive playoff run, while at the same time setting up the future with a young solid core. After considering the type of player needed, and the players JFJ has acquired, it is hard to argue that he in not an outstanding GM, not even mentioning having to deal with shenanigans of Richard Peddie and the MLSE board.


Sustainable Development

Leafs Draft picks kept by the Ferguson Regime that sustain this team now and into the future.

Tomas Kaberle
Nik Antropov
Alex Ponikarosky
Matt Stajan
Alexander Steen
Carlo Colaiacovo
Kyle Wellwood
Staffan Kronwall
Jeremy Williams
Jay Harrison
Kris Newbury
Ian White


The Draft

After doubling his scouting staff, JFJ jas done great things with the picks he has had. He has keep virtually all his youth moving forward, and added some great talent via the draft. I am talking great talent, stay tuned for blog on Anton Stralman, but others like Kulimen and Tlusty are nothing to shrug at. Considerable mention must be given to the job JFJ has done with the Marlies, adding talents like Brent Aubin, and Darryl Boyce will only serve this and hopefully the big club in the future.

Draft Picks – Justin Pogge
Draft Picks – Robbie Earl
Draft Picks – Anton Stralman
Draft Picks - Juri Tlusty
Draft Picks – Nik Kulemin
Draft Picks - Tyler Ruegsegger
Draft Picks—Christopher DiDomenico


Free Agents

Each player that he has brought here freely via Free Agency has been pure quality, at the time of each move, JFJ was addressing an important missing piece of the puzzle, and in some cases had missed the boat on top guys (ie Chara) due to their desire to not play in Toronto and demand of max dollars. Although some players have yet to hit their stride, they all have the potential to do so, and have proven themselves in the past. With exception to Allison and Khavanov, I was extremely happy with each and every move JFJ has done via free agency. Although this season I would have liked him to go after Danny Markov, but the behind the scene of that player is uncertain for me to comment.

Free Agent – Joe Nieuwendyk – 2003
Free Agent – Ken Klee – 2003
Free Agent – Chad Kilger – 2004
Free Agent – Andy Wozniewski – 2004
Free Agent – Jason Allison – 2005
Free Agent – Eric Lindros – 2005
Free Agent – Alexander Khavanov – 2005
Free Agent – Hal Gill – 2006
Free Agent – Pavel Kubina – 2006
Free Agent – Mike Peca – 2006
Free Agent – Boyd Devereaux – 2006
Free Agent – Jason Blake – 2007


Contracts/Trades

If there is a facet in which I believe JFJ has stumbled a bit, I would have to say that his dispersal of a couple first rounder’s is an area after he promised to not trade picks, that and on some questionable contracts. In both cases, these decisions could have been better made, however, as it was reported today, the MLSE board squashed his original rebuilding plans 2 years ago, due to their desire to make the playoffs and score revenues from playoff games.All dollars, cents, and terms of contracts can be questioned, but as a fan, the most important part should be the quality of player being added to your teams roster, and not at the expense of another player. With exception to Belfour and McCabe, all contracts can be stricken from the cap via demotion to the minors, so no dollar amount acquisition should be questioned, unless of coarse you feel another player would be better suited, feel free to bring up any scenario you wish.

Questionable Contracts

As the goalie marketplaces shrunk do to high demand, the Leafs found themselves without a starting keeper and were forced to push ahead. Retaining Ed Belfour before the lockout turned out to be a very disappointing move, a move that Leafs are paying for, literally. The eventual buyout of this contract still haunts the Leafs cap space to this day at a tune of roughly $0.7 million. At the time of this contract, Belfour was one of the highest paid keepers in the league despite his injury issues and age. Pre lockout it wasn’t that big a risk, but as the salary cap world began, it was bigger problem then anyone had perceived. That said, the post lockout structure was uncertain, so blame on JFJ must be absolved to a point.Bryan McCabe, the rumours persist, that JFJ could have got a deal done during the same time Kaberle was signed, and for close to the same money. For whatever reason, the matter was not addressed till the summer that year. Kaberles ticket of $4.25 million was a steal in comparison to McCabes eventual $5.75 million. It is understandable that a top 3 Dman in points for the past 4 seasons would receive more money, where Ferguson lost was in rewarding McCabe with a no movement clause. If infact he was not playing up to his contractual standard, the NMC left his team and coach with no coarse of action to reprimand McCabe or his contract to the minors or another team via trade,. This scenario fuelled my desire to see McCabe moved to W during his defensive struggles, as a means to jolt and regenerate his confidence.

Questionable Trade

Andrew Raycroft traded for Tuukka Rask – June 24, 2006.

From where we sit now, even with Rask only playing a pair of NHL games, this trade looks to be completely one sided. However, it is important to consider the circumstances that the team was in before negatively judging Ferguson. After drafting Rask, the Leafs held on to the two most prominent young keepers in the World. Both Rask and Pogge led their respective teams in the World Junior Tournament, Pogge a goad medal, while Rask was awarded goalie of the tournament. As the chronic back problems continued to flare up for Belfour, the Leafs knew they were in desperate need of a starting goalie, as did the rest of the league. Due to extreme difficultly of raising two number one goalie prospects, it was clear that Rask was going to be used as a bargaining chip. At that time, Raycroft was coming of a shaky season in which Joe Thornten was eventually traded from the Bruins, a change of scenery looked to be the tonic to attempt to restore Raycrofts Calder performance of a year prior. Raycrofts junior credentials were just as lofty as Rask when he was a teenager, plus, when the move was made, Raycroft was still fairly young with an long future ahead of him.

Unfortunately for everyone, coach Maurice forced Raycroft into the starting role too quickly, disrespecting J.S. Aubin who in his first 11 games as a Toronto Maple Leaf, led the team to a great, 9-0-2 undefeated in regulation run at the end of the 05/06 season, getting them a point from the playoffs. 06/07 Raycroft played in all but 2 games the first month of the season for the Leafs, while Aubin lost interest and respect for the coach from the bench. The rocky relationship between Aubin and Maurice forced Raycroft to play 72 games for a team that had zero defensive responsibly, this never allowed Raycroft to rebound from his rough season in Boston, and his overuse never allowed him to get of grip of his game that was so effective in 03/04, it has plagued him to this day.

I am still upset about loosing Brenden Bell, but rumour has it he did not want to stay.

All JFJ Trades;

Trade – Acquires Drake Berehowsky from Pittsburgh for Ric Jackman – February 11 Trade – Acquires Bryan Leetch from New York in exchange for Maxim Kondratiev, Jarkko Immonen, a 1st Round Pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft (Kris Chucko) and a 2nd Round Pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft (Michael Sauer) – March 3

Trade – Acquires Ron Francis from Carolina in exchange for a 4th Round Pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft (Jared Boll) – March 9

Trade – Acquires Jeff O’Neill from Carolina in exchange for a conditional 4th Round Pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft (Reto Berra) – July 30 Trade – Acquires John Pohl from St. Louis for future considerations – August 24

Trade – Acquires Andrew Raycroft in exchange for Tuukka Rask – June 24, 2006

Trade – Acquires Yanic Perrault and a 5th Round Pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft from Phoenix in exchange for Brendan Bell and a 2nd Round Pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft – February 27

Trade – Acquires Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell from San Jose in exchange for a 1st Round Pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft (Lars Eller), a 2nd Round Pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft (Aaron Palushaj) and a 4th Round Pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft – June 22

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE)

While I promised myself I would never delve into the depths of the Billion Dollar Leafs management structure on my blogs, the events that transpired over the weekend will force me to look beyond the boards of the rink, and into the boards of the penthouse.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the power structure of MLSE, here it is.
EDIT - Since I first published this blog, after about two weeks the OTPP web site changed the links on its home page to no loger be able to access the original fact sheet, the factsheet was then changed to the link above.

58% - Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (CEO Richard Peddie)
15% - CTVglobemedia
14% - TD Bank Financial Group, through TD Capital Group
13% - Kilmer Sports Inc. (Owned by Larry Tanenbaum)

The site also states that;
"The board of MLSE does not micro-manage the acquisition of players, trades or salaries. Player personnel decisions are the responsibility of each team’s respective management.”

EDIT-The factsheet no longer has this quote, but it was cut and paste directly from the original sheet.

This is an interesting statement, despite taking a step back when it comes to player personal, there is nothing preventing MLSE from mirco-managing the coaching staff, a responsibility which has traditionally been the role of a teams General Manager. Peddie was quoted Saturday in California, basically stating his GM does not have the power to relieve the coach, which is proof from the horses mouth that JFJ didn’t have any power in the firing of Pat Quinn. The moronic release of Quinn, and the premature promotion of Maurice, was the sole responsibility of the MLSE brass, more specifically, the representative of the majority stakeholder of MLSE. Rabid speculation continues to mount as to what other influence Richard Peddie has placed upon this team through his coach and general manager.

After the loss in San Jose, watching the Paul Maurice press conference of was tough, to see him that disappointed and discouraged really made feel for the man, but not the coach. Through all this chaos, it is still his team, and he seemingly has control of the coaching responsibilities that have unfortunately been mismanaged due to some poor decisions. Coaching is a tough world, and a lot is expected from a coach at this level, maybe too much considering the influence of Richard Peddie rushing Maurice into a job he was not yet ready to have.

That said, my blogs focus on the game of hockey, and the issues relating to the on ice sport, therefore, the spotlight is rightfully shown on the coach. In this case, Maurice cannot be held solely responsible for his inability to effectively coach this team, being forced into this role far to early then anyone expected by Peddie, has had a greater role in Maurice’s demise as coach then one would think.

When reading my scathing coaching reviews, the MLSE influence should weigh in on everyones opinion of the coach, not to mention what people think of JFJ. That said, I stand by my proclamation that Maurice is not the current man for the job and Pat Quinn should be returned to his rightful place as coach. That, and Peddie should relinquish his role as president of the club and leave authority to his General Manager or assign a President.

Ian White

This is a perfect example of how Paul Maurice is not living up to his preseason expectations of vowing that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be a playoff team that will compete for the Stanley Cup. If you want to win now, there is no place on a team for an inexperienced defenseman, unless of coarse he is a prodigy. Ian White is no prodigy, to an extent maybe offensively, but with a team loaded with offensive, puck moving defensemen already taking up 15milion of the cap, White should not have a spot of this team, let alone be filling in a defensive defensemen role.

While this team struggles keeping the puck out of their net, Maurice has failed to see the insufficiencies that encompasses Ian White’s game. For whatever reason, the Leafs coach is willing to stick it out with this player, even at the expense of his team and maybe the player. Confidence is like is like a friend who borrows your stuff, once its gone, it takes awhile to get it back, and right now getting burned night in night out, costing his team points of the defensive end , is killing that confidence. Forcing a player to play a role he is not yet comfortable with or skilled enough to play, does not tell his fans or his team that he is willing or knows what it takes to win now.

Ian White is a young talent, no doubt about it. He has a great offensive mind and aptitude to be a force on that side of the puck. His deficiencies lie within his defensive game. Experience plays a major factor in this reality as bigger defensemen even struggle with their defensive game, adjusting to the speed and size of NHL players, not to mention advanced scouting that reveals flaws to the rest of the league. For a young, smaller Dman, experience and being able to learn the nuances of a professional game takes that much longer because of a lack size, strength and knowledge of how to effectively use their size and speed in both an offensive and defensive manner, and time to acquire strength that will service them down low and also make them even faster.

Two players can best reveal my theory.

Ian White 5’10”, 185lbs.

Dan Boyle, 5’11”, 184lbs.

Boyle hadn’t seen a regular shift or full NHL season till his 6th season, it wasn’t until his this 6th year of pro hockey that he was finally able to play his game effectively and competitively at both ends of the ice. Those six years were spent in and out of the minors, and while he was in up, it was on a Florida team that was far less talented the current Leafs squad. Throughout this journey, perfecting his game at both ends was paramount, he learned what he needed to do in order to be a quality NHLer.

Bryan Rafalski, 5’10”, 191lbs.

Rafalski spent 4 years in college and another 4 in Europe to perfect his game. It wasn’t until he was 27 that he was able to crack an NHL roster. He jumped on the Devils and was an immediate impact at both ends of the ice. His struggles were no different then that of White or Boyle, but like Boyle was given the time to learn them in the minors, and do what was needed to adapt his size to the NHL defensive position.


Andy Wozniesky’s and his +3 actually gives this Leaf team more if what they need then Ian White and his -5. In a nutshell White’s consistant knock has come with an inability to step up and protect the defensive blueline, defensive zone coverage when hemmened in, pinning an oppenent in the corner, protecting the front of the net, and the inability to move the puck safely in the face of a strong pressured forcheck. His overall defensive positioning and inabilty to seperate the man from the puck is costing this team points.

That said, Kronwall should have stayed, White should be on the farm, and BELAK should be given a shot at Woz’s role, due to the penilty issues Woz has had to this point.

What this team needs, is to look down its bench and see another solid defensive defensemen that can seperate the man from the puck with decent hands to move to puck out to help protect leads, casue the way these forwards are playing now healthy, along with Sundin they are as good as any team, and are currently are leading the league in 5on5 scoring. Whether that be Kronwall remains to be seen, but he along with Belak deserves a shot.

MID TERM REPORT

For my midseason review, I will be looking at the Maple Leafs post lockout era, I have come to one simple conclusion, they have steadily gotten worse with each passing year. This makes little sense seeing as how younger players have gotten older, more experienced, and ultimately better through this 3 year period, there have been many talented assets added to the team no longer hindered by a cap. However, with the enhanced capacity of players, the overall team has not been evidence for that same growth. Ultimately, 2005 should have been the worst of the past 3 seasons due to the player personal and inexperience. That argument does not hold water because of how competitive that 05 team was in comparison to the rest of the league, and how little improvements have been made in the following seasons. My readers know where I am going with this, we all love the person, but as a coach of this particular team;

Paul Maurice has got to go.

For a year to year comparison, these blowouts are a good way to gage a teams confidence, chemistry, cohesiveness, character, culture of loosing, effort level, and of coarse a comparison to top teams.


2005

The Leafs found themselves in a bind trying to adapt to the new rules of a salary cap, as well as a working in a rookie GM. Players like Jason Alison, Eric Lindros, were additions to help deal with the lack of cap room, and need for quality players. The only time this team really played their best hockey was when these players were out of the lineup at the end of the season. That said, an injured Belfour could do little to stop the bleeding when they were in the lineup. Overall, for what they had, Pat Quinn was able to rally the youngsters, give them quality roles and they flourished to gain much needed experience. This injury riddled team made it a point from the playoffs, and through that season only had 7 blowouts, the 8th game was meaningless because the Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs at that point.

Sat Oct 29, 2005 Senators vs Maple Leafs 8 – 0
Sat Dec 17, 2005 Maple Leafs vs Senators 2 – 8
Sat Jan 21, 2006 Maple Leafs vs Senators 0 – 7
Thu Jan 26, 2006 Sabres vs Maple Leafs 8 – 4
Fri Mar 3, 2006 Maple Leafs vs Sabres 2 – 6
Thu Mar 23, 2006 Maple Leafs vs Canadiens 1 – 5
Sat Mar 25, 2006 Maple Leafs vs Canadiens 2 – 6
Sun Apr 16, 2006 Maple Leafs vs Sabres 0 – 6


2006

Enter Paul Maurice, with a fresh start and a better team on paper then last season, things looked promising. A healthy goalie was brought in with a Calder Trophy on his resume. Size, strength and experience on the Blue line with Gill and Kubina, as well as another year of experience for the young players that had stayed. Like in 2005, this season was again riddled with injury, but, unfortunately, overall, this team had regressed in many team categories; PK, PP, to name a few. Improving on nothing but trading PP offence for 5on5, but the greater team depth and experience likely improved their 5on5 play. While goal scoring was up by only a handful of goals, almost every other team stat was down. As far as blowouts went, there were plenty, 14 to be exact. Although they were again a point from a playoff, these results speak for themselves.

Thu Oct 5, 2006 Maple Leafs vs Senators 6 – 0
Tue Oct 24, 2006 Senators vs Maple Leafs6 – 2
Thu Oct 26, 2006 Maple Leafs vs Senators 2 – 7
Wed Nov 22, 2006 Maple Leafs vs Sabres4 – 7
Thu Nov 30, 2006 Maple Leafs vs Thrashers0 – 5
Sat Dec 9, 2006 Maple Leafs vs Red Wings 1 – 5
Tue Dec 19, 2006 Panthers vs Maple Leafs 7 – 3
Sat Jan 13, 2007 Canucks vs Maple Leafs 6 – 1
Sat Jan 20, 2007 Maple Leafs vs Penguins 2 – 8
Tue Feb 27, 2007 Sabres vs Maple Leafs6 – 1
Thu Mar 8, 2007 Maple Leafs vs Senators 1 – 5
Fri Mar 16, 2007 Maple Leafs vs Capitals 1 – 5
Sun Apr 1, 2007 Maple Leafs vs Rangers2 – 7
Thu Apr 5, 2007 Maple Leafs vs Islanders 2 – 5


2007

Finally this season, it has got progressively worse then even last seasons debacle. Much attention was put on team speed with the addition of a Jason Blake, Goaltending got even more help then last year with Toskala. More size and talent added in Mark Bell. Youngsters stepping up big time, Antropov, Stajan, Steen have been playing their best hockey to date. Injuries have again been a factor, but no where near the man games lost in the past two seasons. The major problems that HAD to be addressed were PP, PK, and GOALS AGAINTS. Team defence was a clear cut problem from day 1, and at the start of the season Maurice proclaimed that it will be addressed. As we stand here midway through the season, all three categories that the “TEAM” was too improve on, rank among the leagues worst. So we have all this regressions with a better, more experienced, healthier, faster, team of bigger players, and better goaltending. Blowouts to date, 6, on pace for 12

Tue Oct 9, 2007 Hurricanes vs Maple Leafs 7 – 1
Mon Oct 29, 2007 Capitals vs Maple Leafs 7 – 1
Tue Nov 6, 2007 Maple Leafs vs Senators 1 – 5
Sat Nov 24, 2007 Maple Leafs vs Coyotes 1 – 5
Sat Dec 29, 2007 Rangers vs Maple Leafs 6 – 1
Thu Jan 3, 2008 Maple Leafs vs Penguins 2 – 6


All this while not including mental breakdowns in the waning moments of a game resulting in points lost, Leafers know that there are plenty of those in the last two seasons.



Check out the Leafs Team Stats/Rank from the past 3 seasons

2005
POINTS
90 18th
W%
.549 18th
GPG
3.1 9th
GA
3.21 21st
PP%
21.4 2nd
PK
%80 24th

2006
POINTS
91 18th
W%
.555 18th
GPG
3.1 8th
GA
3.2 25th
PP%
17.7 16th
PK%
78.4 27th

2007 (On pace)
POINTS
80 26th
W%
.488 26th
GPG
2.85 11th
GA
3.2 26th
PP%
14.2 26th
PK%
80.3 24th