The 2008 Deadline Disaster Blame-o-Meter

Now that the Great Trade Deadline Disaster of '08 has come and gone with nothing meaningful to show for it, there's not much left for a Leaf fan to do except point fingers. And luckily, there's plenty of targets available. You know what that means: time to fire up the Blame-o-Meter™.

As always¹, we'll start at zero (no blame) and work out way up to ten (get the firing squad). Let's see where it all shakes out...

0 - The fans
Just putting this out there, since you know the Damien Cox's of the world will find a way to pin this on us. Remember folks, don't blame the victim.

1 - Cliff Fletcher
The Silver Fox did what he could, which turned out to be not much. Even though he was the guy running the show on Dud-line Day, he had little room to maneuver once the NTC 5 (a.k.a. the Loser Brigade) decided to stick around. Could he have salvaged the situation by playing hardball early on? Maybe, but at the time his nice guy routine seemed like the way to go.

2 - Tomas Kaberle
Out of all the NTC 5, Kaberle is the toughest to get worked up over. Unlike the rest of the group, he's actually being paid at or below market value, so it's tough to begrudge him his NTC. And he's played at an all-star level these past few years, unlike some other defencemen I could mention.

3 - Richard Peddie
Good old Ricky Lipsynch actually managed to stay out of the way at the deadline, probably because he was too busy screwing up the hiring of the next GM. But he's done his damage, and many of this week's problems can be traced to his moronic leadership.

4 - Paul Maurice
How can a coach be blamed for what goes down on Deadline Day? Maybe he can't, at least directly. But it's clear from the eagerness of the NTC 5 to stay in Toronto come hell or high water that the Leafs dressing room is a pretty comfortable place to be these days. The next star player Maurice benches, sends to the press box or publicly admonishes will be the first.

Yes, his dry wit and little boy smirk make him popular with the local press (who judge everyone based solely on their media availability). But if he'd bothered to ask for even a little bit of accountability from his listless veterans this year, would they have been so eager to stick around and ride out another last place finish?

5 - Darcy Tucker
Tucker has had a terrible year, and still insists on spouting meaningless platitudes about how good the team could be if they were only healthy. On the other hand, his contract isn't actually all that bad -- especially if he's been playing hurt. And he's the only one of the veterans who seems to genuinely love playing in Toronto, so his refusal to waive seems somewhat reasonable.

6 - Andrew Raycroft
He deserves some blame for this somehow. Give me time, I'll figure something out.

7 - Pavel Kubina
The other NTCers were being selfish -- Kubina was just plain dumb. He could have hand-picked a deal to a contender, but instead he'll wind up going wherever Fletcher decides to banish him. Kubina is actually a better player than many give him credit for. I hope he enjoys proving it in Edmonton next year.

8 - Mats Sundin
I've been harsh on the captain this week, arguing that Sundin is selfish and mocking his NTC stance. There's little doubt that 14 years of service has earned him the right to make his own decision -- even if that decision turn out to be disastrous for the franchise, which it will. But once he made that call, it was a given that the rest of the veterans would fall in line. With retirement looking more and more likely, it's sad to think that our final memory of Mats will be of him torpedoing a desperately needed rebuilding plan for the sake of his own personal comfort zone.

9 - Bryan McCabe
The poster child and unofficial spokesman of the NTC 5. Has the worst contract of the bunch. Toyed with Leaf fans by pretending he'd accept a deal, then joked about it afterwards. Doesn't seem to understand how ridiculous he sounds when he says the Leafs are a good team. Probably wanted to leave, but couldn't get a signed permission note from his wife. Makes me so angry I write in incomplete sentences.

10 - John Ferguson Jr.
Apparently those wild street celebrations on January 21 were premature. Thanks to his weak-kneed willingness to hand out no-trade clauses to anyone who batted their eyes at him, Ferguson's utter incompetence has derailed this franchise so badly that it could take years to fix.

The only positive aspect to this whole debacle was watching Fergie squirm his way through TSN's deadline coverage, standing meekly by while everyone else piled on. I may not know much about the machinations of NHL front office work, but I know this much: if Mike Milbury is scoring points off of criticizing your performance, you were a monumentally terrible GM.

¹Note how I cleverly make this look like a regular feature, instead of something I made up today.

Mats Sundin is right and you're wrong

Wow, big group here. I'd like to thank all of you for coming by on such short notice. It must be tough for so many of the NHL's most respected stars, past and present, to all get together in one room. It's really great to see all of you. How's it going Wayne? Why don't you grab a seat up here next to Ray Bourque and Marcel Dionne.

Anyways, I'm going to cut right to the chase. I have some bad news. I'm afraid that some new information has come to light that affects all of you.

You're all frauds. Mats Sundin says so.

You see, every legend in this room was traded at or near the deadline at least once. That means you were all rental players. And as we learned this week, that means Mats Sundin doesn't believe in you.

Now, settle down Chris Chelios and Larry Murphy. Wipe those tears away, Mike Gartner and Joe Nieuwendyk. Chin up, Alexander Mogilny and Pavel Bure. It's better that you hear this now than continue to live a lie.

Is Butch Goring here? Butch, I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to return that Stanley Cup ring from 1980. It doesn't count anymore. You what? You say you "earned" it. Well, yes, we thought so too, but apparently we were all wrong. Mats has set us straight. Stanley Cups don't count unless you were with the team for the entire season.

So Butch, if you could just line up over there near that big garbage can labelled "Unearned Stanley Cup Rings". Yes, that's right, over there behind Glenn Anderson, Mark Recchi and Ron Francis. Thanks.

Oh, hey, speaking of which. Mr. Francis, when you're done returning your 1991 Cup ring, I need you to come over here. Could you stand next to Brian Leetch and Doug Gilmour? I have some especially bad news for you three. You see, you guys have something in common. No, I mean besides that you'll all be in the Hall of Fame some day. You were all "rental players" acquired by the Maple Leafs during Sundin's captaincy. And I'm afraid I have some especially bad news for you.

Remember when you were acquired by the Leafs, and you walked into that dressing room? Remember how Sundin shook your hand and welcomed you, told you how glad he was to have you on the team? Well, it turns out he was lying. He thought you were doing things the wrong way, because you hadn't been on the team since October. Yes, I realize he sounded convincing. But it turns out he didn't even want you around. It would be hypocritical for him to feel any other way.

Now, is Brad Richards here? What about Brian Campbell and Marion Hossa? OK guys, I have some good news for you. You were dealt at the deadline this year, but you still have time to make it right. Listen carefully: do not report to your new teams. Tell them you'll see them in October, because you want to do things the right way. And for gosh sakes, next time remember to get a no-trade clause.

What's that Brad? You say you did have a no-trade clause, but you waived it. Why would you do something like that? Because you "want to win a Stanley Cup"? Oh dear. Brad, I'm going to need you to stay behind after the meeting. We're going to have to really have a talk about your poor attitude.

OK, did I see a hand raised somewhere? Is there a question? Hm, interesting, did everyone hear that? I'll repeat it for those in the back.

"If all these great players, with all their Stanley Cups and individual awards and first-team all-star selections, could accept being rental players... then why can't a guy like Mats Sundin, who has never accomplished any of that, do the same?"

Hmm. That's a good question. And I'm sure there's an excellent answer. But unfortunately, we're all out of time. Sorry everyone.

And again, thanks for taking the news so well.

What Fletcher should have said

So now we know.

Cliff Fletcher tried to play the nice guy. He tried to finesse it. He went for the carrot, not the stick. And he got burned.

It was clear from Tuesday's press conference that Cliff is ticked off, and rightly so. He never expected that every one of the NTC 5 would hold firm, he doesn't understand why they're so adamant about staying, and now he knows he's going to have to get his hands dirty in the off-season.

In hindsight, he should have taken a different approach. He needed to play it tough. No, not to a ridiculous extreme like Damien Cox and the Sportsnet panel suggest, sending guys to the minors just the embarass them. That's not how you do business, at least if you ever want to attract another free agent.

But now we know that Cliff needed to go in front of the cameras two weeks ago and said something like this:

It's time for the Toronto Maple Leafs to move in a new direction. We feel like we have a lot of talent on this roster, but the results haven't been there and it's time to make the necessary changes to help us compete in the future.

As part of that effort, we expect that we'll be approaching some of our veteran players about the possibility of a trade to a contending team. These players have spent years in Toronto, and have worked hard to bring a winning team to the city. Many have no-trade clauses, which they've earned and have every right to enforce if they choose.

However, as general manager it's my job to position this team for the future by whatever means are available to me, including trades, buyouts and other transactions. Accordingly, it's my plan to work with our veterans over the next few weeks to find a situation that works for both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the individual player.

The trade deadline will present us with a unique opportunity, one that doesn't exist at other times during the year. I expect that players will have personal preferences as far as which other opportunities they'd be interested in exploring, and we'll do everything we can to ensure we meet those desires. I believe that's the least we can do for these players.

Classy. Respectful. And not in the least bit subtle with the underlying message: "We can do it your way now, or my way in the summer."

Oh well. Chances are the Leafs will be in the exact same predicament next year. Maybe the new GM can use my script next time around.

Fletcher's press conference

This is fascinating television. Cliff is clearly doing his "I'm incredibly pissed at the NTC 5, but I'm going to bite my tongue and hope you can all read between the lines" routine.

He's promised twice that next year's opening night roster will be significantly different from the current one. Buyouts are "absolutely" an option. Meanwhile, when asked about McCabe he says there was "no interest". None of this was delivered with a hint of a smile.

Now we can all speculate as to which player had agreed to a deal yesterday and then changed his mind. Kubina is the most likely suspect. I'm betting Fletcher trades him to Edmonton at 12:01 on June 15, just out of spite.

In other news, Cliff all but confirmed that a Sundin trade would have brought in more than what the Thrashers got for Hossa. That hurts. I wonder if the Anaheim deal was ever actually on the table. Part of me doesn't even want to know.

Some good news: He just referred to his successor as GM as "the ultimate man". Sweet, I didn't even know Wendel was in the running.

Ah well. I'm past the depression/anger stage and into acceptance. The team we all love is full of complacent losers, and we're probably stuck with them for years to come.

Deadline day: Lunch time musings

• It was nice to see Damien Cox make a peace offering to Cliff Fletcher this morning. Damien is willing to forgive all of Cliff's past sins, real or imagined. He'll even stop with the constant "draft schmaft" references. All Cliff has to do is go out and get Edmonton's first round pick from the Ducks, and all is forgiven.
  
  Sure, given that everyone with any trade value has a NTC and can't be dealt, the idea of landing that pick is absolutely impossible to the point of being ridiculous. And yes, a cynic would say that Cox is setting the bar impossibly high jut so he can skewer any move Fletcher does make. But let's look at the bright side: this is probably the only kind of sort of semi-positive thing Cox has had to say about anything all year. So it's a start.
  
  
• I know these things are planned well in advance. But given how the Leafs are being looked at as a soft team with a country club atmosphere, is it really appropriate for them to be spending Deadline Day frolicking on a beach in Florida?
  
  
• If I was a GM of a team headed to the playoffs, I'd target Chad Kilger as a depth acquisition. He's big, can play a little, and he's cheap. Let's see what Cliff can get for him. Hey, anyone know if the Ducks are looking to move a first round pick?