Oh look! Another OTL!

[viktor_haag]

These are sad, sad days for fans of the blue and white. Yet another dropped game in overtime. The real tragedy behind all these fake ties is that by continuing to rack up these boner single points, the Leafs are maintaining the illusion that they are a ".500" hockey team, when, in reality, they are no such thing and are just a few centimetres shy of licking the bottom of the league barrel while all the other teams are pressing bums onto their heads. This false hope, combined with the "just make a profit for us" attitude of the current ownership group, will probably prevent the team, yet again, from dealing away talent who will never be worth more than they are right now (*cough* Sundin *cough*), in order to being the long slow process of rebuilding this once proud franchise.

Things could change, but history is just not on our side. The blue and white have been rebuilding since the Ballard years and the glory days of the late sixties.

This team is going nowhere and at an accelerating rate. Bah.

Comments

[vdal1812.livejournal.com]

I think Sundin as a tradable commodity has passed. The last time the blue and white even had a sniff of being proud was with Cliff Fletcher as GM and Quinn as the coach. Other than that the only thing they've accomplished is padding my wifes pension plan and their pockets.

Vidal

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

I think you should look again at Sundin's numbers this year, man. Isn't he having a career year? He's making a very strong argument for the trade deadline mega-deal, actually. It's not out of the realm of possibility that a Carolina, Vancouver, or San Jose could give us some youngsters and/or draft picks for a proven centre who's having a strong year. But in today's cap-strapped league, you'd think it'd be harder to pull off these kinds of deals.

[vdal1812.livejournal.com]

The cap is exactly what I'm talking about. The Leafs will not get what Sundin is worth and at his age there are no guarantees that he will repeat his performance of this season or even how many good to great seasons he has left.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

I think his value is higher this year than last, and I rather doubt it will ever be higher in the future. There isn't a long term contract to absorb (Sundin is a free agent at the end of the year, is he not?) so I assume that a trade would be for a time looking for that veteran piece to push them through the playoffs. In return, you'd expect the Leafs to get a draft pick or two and maybe a roleplayer prospect. This at least would be more than the Leafs will get out of Sundin's contribution otherwise. Based on their play so far this year, there's no real reason to keep Sundin (or Raycroft, McCabe, or Tucker) around other than sentiment.