As another disappointing season ends for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and with their Stanley Cup drought now at 41 years and counting, interim general manager Cliff Fletcher claims that part of the club’s rebuilding plan will be to bolster its prospect depth.

It remains to be seen if the Leafs will actually follow through with that plan. This is a team that, under the previous CBA, preferred to spend its way out of trouble, often at the expense of its youth.

With the Leafs going into this summer’s UFA market with potentially $14 million in available cap space, potentially more if Pavel Kubina is traded and Andrew Raycroft bought out, the temptation to splurge on free agent talent could be too strong to overcome.

The Leafs get kicked around for not drafting well, particularly over the last ten years, but they have been capable of selecting some decent talent.

All-star defenseman Tomas Kaberle was selected 204th in the 1996 draft, hulking forward Nik Antropov went tenth overall in 1998 and two-time 20-goal scorer Alexei Ponikarovsky went 87th overall the same year. Brad Boyes went 24th overall in the 2000 entry draft but was dealt away in the ill-fated Owen Nolan deal. Alex Steen and Matt Stajan were both 2002 draft picks

The problem unfortunately is that the Leafs haven’t been able to draft well consistently over the last ten years.

Some of their current kids, like Jiri Tlusty and Anton Stralman, have shown some promise, and prospect goalie Justin Pogge has played well on their farm club this season. That bodes well for the team’s rebuilding process, but they’ll have to devote more time and attention to not only drafting well but developing their young talent well.

The Leafs could learn from the example set by their long-time rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, which has rebuilt itself into a powerhouse this season in the Eastern Conference primarily through drafting and development.

Sixteen members of the Canadiens current roster were drafted and developed by the team. Of those, Andrei Markov and Michael Ryder (1998), Mike Komisarek and Tomas Plekanec (2001), Chris Higgins (2002), Andrei Kostitsyn, Maxim Lapierre, Ryan O’Byrne and Jaroslav Halak (2003), Mikhail Grabovsky and Mark Streit (2004), and Carey Price, Guillaume Latendresse and Sergei Kostitsyn (2005) were all selected within the last ten years.

Other prospects seen as potential Habs include Kyle Chipchura (who played 36 games this season with the Canadiens) and Alexei Yemelin (2004), David Fischer and Ben Maxwell (2006) and Ryan McDonagh, P.K. Subban and Max Pacioretty (2007).

Little wonder the Canadiens prospects have the club regularly ranked among the top five NHL teams in that regard in recent years, and certainly accounts for the Habs stunning rise to prominence this season. That talent pool could keep the Canadiens among the league’s top teams for several years, possibly even putting them into Stanley Cup contention during that time.

Of course there are other means of rebuilding a club, via trades and free agency, but in a salary cap world drafting, developing and retaining young talent appears to be as valuable a building block as ever.one the Leafs ignore at their peril as they embark on a long-overdue rebuilding program.

The list of potential unrestricted free agents grew a little smaller over the past 24 hours with the announcement of three potential UFAs re-signing with their current teams.

The Minnesota Wild re-signed goaltender Niklas Backstrom to a two-year, $6.2 million contract, with a limited “no-trade” clause that prevents the Wild from trading him in the first season of the deal.

The Dallas Stars announced Thursday the re-signing of popular veteran forward Stu Barnes to a one-year, $900,000 contract, while the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday announced the re-signing of winger Nik Antropov to a two-year deal worth just over $4 million.

Minnesota’s retention of Backstrom came as no surprise, given his outstanding performance in the second half of the season and the playoffs filling in for the injured Manny Fernandez. Backstrom finished the season with the top save percentage (.922) and goals-against average (1.97) in the league, so there was no question of the Wild retaining him.

His re-signing does however raise the question of Fernandez’s future with the team. While management has suggested retaining the two, the fact is the Wild simply won’t be able to accomplish this if they’re to retain a tight budget as anticipated and still have available cap space to re-sign their key RFA players.

Fernandez has already made his unhappiness over the situation clear, and with Josh Harding having proven a capable backup for Backstrom, the question isn’t “if” Fernandez is dealt, but “when” and “where”?

My guess? Florida Panthers (they have the cap space and the promising young talent to offer), and during the June Entry Draft weekend, in two weeks time.

Barnes’ re-signing with Dallas was also anticipated, as his solid defensive play and affordability made his return a no-brainer.

Antropov’s re-signing however has received mixed reaction in “Leafs Nation”, with some believing him worth $2.05 million per season and others panning the deal as yet another example of Leafs management overpaying for mediocre talent.

Antropov has been a frustration for Leafs followers, as he’s teased with potential of being a possible 30-goal scoring “power forward” yet he’s been frequently injured and his inconsistency when healthy has led to previous calls for the team to shop him.

Last season was Antropov’s career best in terms of goals (18 in 54 games) and second best in points (33), most of those coming by playing on Mats Sundin’s line, where as his critics point out, his grandmother could’ve done as well.

His supporters are hoping that Antropov will finally have the big breakthrough season, but if he doesn’t, expect his contract to further stoke calls for Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr’s dismissal.