Buying out Tucker is the right move, but I don't have to like it

Somebody asked me once why I'm so hard on Bryan McCabe, but rarely say much about Darcy Tucker. They're both overpaid underachievers, they both had the dreaded no-movement clause, they both refused to waive... what's the difference?

There were three:

• Unlike McCabe, Tucker took a discount to get his no-trade. After the year he had in 2006-7, he could have made more than $3M a year on the open market.
  
• Tucker's lousy year was at least partially due to injury. And while staying healthy is part of being a top player, I'm going to cut a guy some slack when his body breaks down because he played bigger than he was
  
• I can't claim to read minds, but for some reason it always seemed like Tucker genuinely loved being a Maple Leaf, while McCabe loves being in Toronto. There's a difference. A big one.
  

All that said, I think Fletcher made the right move here. Darcy Tucker has been in Toronto for so long that he's become a symbol of the team. He was a symbol of the plucky underdogs of 1999, he was a symbol of the borderline psycho death squad of 2003, and he was (unfortunately) a symbol of the whiny losers that the team morphed into during the Ferguson era.

Does he deserve to go? No. But the team needs a fresh start, and you can't get on if you keep the core in place. Sometimes you really do need change for the sake of change.

And yes, McCabe would have been a better choice to throw overboard, for a long list of reasons. But he won't go, and he's too expensive to buyout. So Tucker had to take the bullet for him. Another reason to give Bryan a warm welcome in the fall.

* * *

So let's all dry our eyes and look back on the good times. Here's a fond trip down memory lane:



Hey listen, it's objective and professional non-homer Dean Brown calling the game! Let's see if he can cover the entire checklist of things he's required to mention every time there's a fight in a Senators game:

• Claim that Ottawa player is wining fight despite no visual evidence
  
• Call for suspension
  
• Use of term "gong show"

Yep, sounds like he got them all!

This was back at the height of the "the Leafs are out-of-control" phase that culminated in SI doing a hatchet job on the team. As part of that, the media decided that since the Leafs were evil, the Senators had to be good and pure and classy. Good times. But notice how Hnidy jumps Tucker after he fights Neil. Can you imagine if the roles had been reversed, and a Senator fought Domi only to have Belak immediately grab him for round two? They would have had to sedate Dean Brown to keep him from attacking Joe Bowen.

This was also the same game that saw Domi's gentle glove-on punch to Magnus Arvedson, who faked a broken nose so that Domi would be suspended. Also, Daniel Alfredsson tried to two-hand Domi with his stick, Hossa-style. Pure class as always. OK, I'm angry now. Time to go for a walk and do some breathing exercises.

OK, I'm back.

Hey, while we're at it, who is the guy in the Senators gameday operations booth who sees a wild brawl break out and thinks "Man, this is crazy, what should I do? I know, I think I'll play some classical music!" (Edit: I may not be giving enough credit on this one. See the comments section.)

* * *

Finally, to all those who are hanging their heads today, here's a prediction: you haven't seen the last of Tucker in Toronto. The Leafs love to bring their warriors back for one more round (right Gary?). In a few years when the team is ready to make a serious playoff push again and needs some veteran sandpaper, look for #16 to make his return.

It's going to happen. And when it does, look out, because I think he's going to be cranky.

The Leafs and RFAs

From today's Lance Hornby column.

The Leafs also can get bold and sign a restricted free agent, as long as it's between $1.3 million and $2.6 million a year, costing only a second-rounder.

Really?

I don't think the Leafs can bid on any RFAs in this range, because:

• Teams must use their own draft picks for RFA compensation, and the picks have to be in the following year's draft
  
• The Leafs don't own a second-round pick next year thanks to the Schenn trade
  

Please tell me I've got this wrong, because the alternative is that random bloggers like me know the CBA better than one of Toronto's top hockey writers.

Eklund's Hockeybuzz Blogger contest: The winner is...

As some of you know, this blog was part of Eklund's "Next Great Blogger Contest" over at hockeybuzz. This was a very exciting opportunity for me, because normally my only chance to write for a site full of made-up nonsense is to comment on eyebeleaf's Mats Sundin posts.

The contest got off to a rough start when it became clear that Eklund wasn't actually going to link to any of the blogs. This was a strange decision, since Eklund gets a billion hits a day and could afford to send some traffic to struggling no-names. On the other hand, it was an understandable decision because it was always possible that some immature malcontent could use the links to send subtle passive-aggressive messages, and that would be an unfair to a well-respected sports journalist like Eklund.

The first few matchups seemed to go well, with decent participation from users and some strong entries from aspiring writers. Unfortunately the updates stopped without explanation, marking only the second time in history that something being driven by an Eklund came to a screeching halt¹.

As of today, the contest has been dormant for over a month and things don't look good. I don't want to say that this contest is destined to drag on forever without a satisfactory conclusion, but Eklund recently appointed Gordon Kirke to head it up.

Anyways, a top secret source tells me that the contest is done (e4)². And that's a shame. The hockey community deserves better. So in an effort to find a resolution that will please everyone, I've decided to declare a winner myself.

Here's the methodology:

• Eklund says he had over 400 entries that he had to narrow down to a field of 64. So obviously, any of the 340 or so bloggers who didn't make the initial cut are eliminated. Sorry, losers.
  
  
• Of the 32 first round matchups, only 15 were ever completed. Those 15 matchup losers are out, so we're down to 49.
  
  
• Clearly you can't win the contest without even winning a single matchup. That would be ridiculous. So everyone who's matchup never got off the ground is out too. We're down to 15.
  
  
• There's really no fair way to narrow the field down to a final two, so we'll just have to go with first-come-first-served. Our Eklund Next Great Blogger Contest Final Two will be whichever bloggers happened to win the first two matchups. That ends up being a blogger named Kelly Faith and... whoa, hey, that would be me! Funny how that worked out.
  
  
• So we're down to a final two: Kelly vs. Down Goes Brown. How to determine a winner? Out of respect for his site, I think its only fair to do this the way Eklund would want it done. So, I kidnapped his dog and threw ping pong balls at it until it chose a winner. And he chose me!
  
  (Some of you probably think this method isn't fair to Kelly. You're probably right, but from what I can tell she's a Sabres fan so she's used to getting screwed over in the finals. I'm sure she wouldn't have it any other way.)

So... congratulations to Down Goes Brown, the 2008 Eklund Next Great Blogger Contest winner!

The Down Goes Brown staff celebrate their victory.
(Not pictured: Voodoo doll wearing #13 Leafs jersey)

As part of my prize package, I will receive a homemade mix CD of folk rock classics and unlimited use of Howard Berger's fictional limo driver.

Also, I'm going to keep Eklund's dog. He whines a lot and poops whenever somebody big comes near him, so I've named him McCabe.

¹Too soon?

²For those who don't know, Eklund's rumor rating scale is as follows:

e1 - Made up
e2 - Made up
e3 - Made up
e4 - Made up
e5 - Reported on ESPN ticker half an hour ago

Draft weekend wrapup

Some closing thoughts on what was, all things considered, a pretty positive weekend...

---

Mats Sundin is an ex-Leaf. It's all but official now. Even if he doesn't wind up with the Habs, it's clear that Fletcher has figured out that Mats isn't coming back.

At this point Mats Sundin is the unhappy girlfriend who, rather than just break up with you, decides to give you the silent treamtent. So she pouts about how you don't respect her and stops returning your calls, all the while hoping you'll break up with her so that she can cry to her friends about how badly she was treated.

Well, Cliff has been around long enough to know the game, and he's not having it. The question now isn't whether Mats comes back -- we know he isn't. It's whether Cliff can manage to get something worthwhile for him.

If Fletcher manages to extract a first round pick for Sundin, or anything of significant value, I'll be doing cartwheels. The rebuilding Leafs will be better off without Sundin at this point, so anything Cliff can get is gravy.

---

At first, I wasn't sure about the Luke Schenn pick. The price to move up was high (thanks, Paul Maurice), and I get nervous about using the #5 overall pick on a guy who's considered only fourth best at his position.

Then I heard Pierre McGuire call him an "eraser" and a "one man wrecking crew", and I was excited. And then, as the first round went on, I heard McGuire get equally excited about every single other player who was picked. He loved every single player for three straight hours.

I guess he's only critical when he's bashing about the Leafs on Ottawa radio to make the morning show crew giggle.

---

Jimmy Hayes is an interesting choice. Hayes was considered a top-ten pick heading into the season so he could be decent value in the late second, and he's got plenty of size. But scouts soured on him because he doesn't play hard and often looks like he does't care.

You know what that means: he's ahead of the game! It usually takes a Leafs prospect years to learn the dressing room culture. Once McCabe teaches him how to blame injuries and use the phrase "we've got a great group", this kid could be captain material.

---

Mikhail Stefanovich seems like a great value at #98. Unlike Hayes, Stefanovich was well-regarded through most of the year. The Hockey News had him going in the top 20 of most of their lists throughout the year and he went #25 in the most recent mock draft, so he was certainly worth a shot in the late third.

If you missed it, here's a funny pre-draft take on Stefanovich from AOL Fanhouse.

---

How long did the last six rounds take? An hour? I heard on the radio that teams had 30 seconds to make a pick after the first round. How is that possible? I can't even get the guys in my fantasy football league to make a late-round pick in less than ten minutes.

---

Finally, you know the Leafs must have done something right this weekend because even Damien Cox can't find anything to criticize. It's true - here's Damien's Sunday column.

Yes, you can always tell when Cox thinks the Leafs have done something right, because he finds something completely different to write about for a few days.

Seriously, the Leafs draft a franchise blueliner, load up on size, and part with Mats Sundin all in one weekend... and Toronto's top hockey columnist files a glorified fluff piece on the new Lightning owners for his Sunday piece? This is the best we can expect?

You stay classy

Remember when Mark Bell laid out Daniel Alfredsson, and Sens fans went on and on and on and on and on for days about how Leaf fans were "classless" for cheering?

Apparently, we now have a rule of thumb:

• Cheering when a player on the other team receives a clean body check: classless
  
  
• Booing an 18-year-old kid on his draft day because you don't like his new team: pure class

Glad we cleared that up.