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.

It took weeks for the Toronto Maple Leafs ownership to finally fire general manager John Ferguson Jr but they finally took that step on January 22, 2008.

There’s no need to go over Ferguson’s record as the Leafs GM, as the Toronto media has that more than covered. What’s more important here is where the Leafs go from here.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are the NHL’s richest franchise, worth more than even the New York Rangers, yet since the lockout they’ve been one of the NHL’s weakest teams.

Of course the Leafs don’t have to worry about losing fan support in Toronto, southern Ontario and throughout Canada.

Whenever the “r” word – rebuilding – has been mentioned with the Leafs it’s been suggested their fans won’t wait for a winner, but that’s foolishness, given the club hasn’t won a Stanley Cup – hasn’t even been in a Cup final – since 1967.

No, Leafs fans are used to waiting, and they’ll wait again while the new full time general manager takes over and hopefully begins the “r” word process.

For now Cliff Fletcher, who was GM of the Leafs from 1991 to 1997, takes over on an interim basis. By the sound of things at the press conference announcing his hiring he’ll be making the big decisions at this year’s trade deadline, entry draft and the club’s potential pursuit of unrestricted free agents.

Whoever takes over the role full-time will have their hands full.

For starters, the Leafs have committed over $42 million committed to 19 players for next season. With the salary cap expected to rise to around $54 million for next season, that only leaves $10 million (assuming they leave themselves a $2 million cap cushion), which isn’t really much room.

The only expensive free agent the Leafs might re-sign is Sundin regardless of whether or not he waives his NTC, but re-signing him could cost almost as much as the $5.75 million he earned this season, perhaps more.

The only other free agents of note are UFA enforcer Wade Belak and restricted free agents Alexander Steen, Matt Stajan and Kyle Wellwood, but given the slow development of the latter three it’s doubtful any of them will get offers worth more than $2 million per, if that.

But if Sundin is re-signed, or if another big name UFA is signed, that won’t leave much space to re-sign those youngsters.

Cap space could be made available by trading some players, but unfortunately many of those eating up considerable cap space on the Leafs roster (Sundin, Tucker, McCabe, Kaberle and Kubina) have “no-trade” clauses and little willingness to waive them.

Kaberle’s clause has a loophole whereby the club can trade him this summer without his consent if the Leafs fail to make the playoffs, while Kubina has one that limits the Leafs by only allowing them to trade him to pre-specified teams.

Even if the Leafs could convince those players to waive their clauses, their expensive, long-term contracts make them almost impossible to move during the season.

It’s only a little less difficult to shop during the off-season, when they’d only have a window of a few weeks in July when teams have more available cap space.

Perhaps one of those players will be moved between now and the start of next season, but given the aforementioned factors Leafs fans shouldn’t hold their breath. Most if not all (except perhaps Sundin) could be back next season.

Jason Blake has popped up in trade rumors, but he’s got another four years remaining at $4 million per, is having his worst season in six years and is battling leukemia. Those factors don’t  make Blake enticing to rival GMs.

Forget the talk of trading Andrew Raycroft; nobody wants a $2 million goalie whose confidence is shot, not even in a backup capacity.

Buyouts are a possibility, but those are at two-thirds the remaining value spread over twice the original tenure of the contract. That’s why you don’t see too many of those nowadays.

Even if a salary dumping trade or two were possible, it’s the return of young players, prospects and/or draft picks that’ll be most important and what the new Leafs GM does with them.

The Leafs are a team that haven’t drafted very well over the last dozen years or so, and those few blue-chippers they do draft often ended up traded away for veterans in quick-fix deals. Ferguson wasn’t the only one to blame for that, as his predecessors – including Fletcher – were also guilty of shortsightedness.

Fletcher said the Leafs had to improve its drafting and development if the club has any hope of making significant improvement in the future. Easy to say but hard to do, and it requires a seasoned hand to carry that off.

It appears the Leafs hierarchy will be looking for someone with NHL experience (and preferably a Stanley Cup on their resume) to become the eventual full-time general manager, which see,s essential for this club if it is to improve its draft record.

But who could take over? The names of Anaheim’s Brian Burke, Detroit’s Ken Holland, Carolina’s Jim Rutherford, New Jersey’s Lou Lamoriello and Montreal’s Bob Gainey have been floated as potential candidates by the Toronto media, but hiring any of those guys could be wishful thinking.

Most are currently on contracts with their respective teams that stretch into next season and some beyond that. Besides, Holland is a Red Wing for life, Lamoreillo isn’t leaving the Devils, Gainey appears determined to rebuild the Canadiens, Burke just won a Stanley Cup in Anaheim and appears happy there, and Rutherford refuses to discuss leaving the Hurricanes.

As for Scotty Bowman, the Leafs ownership had their chance to hire him as team president last summer but blew it when they wouldn’t allow him autonomy to run the club his way.

Current head coach Paul Maurice will finish the season but it’s doubtful he’ll be returning next year. The new GM will have to find a head coach that can work well both with veterans and young players alike, which can be no easy feat in today’s NHL, even tougher in one of hockey’s most demanding markets.

Finally, whoever becomes the new Leafs GM has to be able to handle the heat of the spotlight of working in one of the NHL’s most demanding markets. Fans and media heavily scrutinize every word and action and are quick to find fault if things don’t work out quickly.

In the end, Leafs fans shouldn’t fool themselves into thinking that firing Ferguson and hiring Fletcher will magically turn everything around. This is merely one step in a long journey that could take years.

But of course, Leafs fans have been waiting for over four decades for a Stanley Cup champion, so waiting a few more years shouldn’t be that tough.

A lot of attention has been focussed on the hit New Jersey Devils enforcer Cam Janssen laid on Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle on Friday night.

Janssen leveled Kaberle with a blind side hit, resulting in Kaberle’s head striking both the boards and then the ice, leaving him in a crumpled heap. He left the ice on a stretcher and spent the night in hospital, where as of this writing it’s yet to be determined the seriousness of his injuries.

There’s a considerable debate going on as to whether or not it was a clean hit by Janssen. Those supportive of the Devils forward compared it to former Devils great Scott Stevens’ bone-crushing hits on Eric Lindros, Ron Francis and Paul Kariya.

Some remind Leafs fans angry over Janssen’s action that former Leafs goon Tie Domi leveled former Devils defenseman Scott Niedermayer with a cheap shot in the 2000 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Follow this link for a video of the hit on Youtube, complete with a slow-motion replay.

First of all, Janssen hit Kaberle well after the Leafs blueliner had passed away the puck. Janssen, instead of peeling off as the play moved up ice, skated directly for Kaberle as the Leafs d-man was skating backwards, watching the play move up ice while in the process of turning up ice.

Kaberle wasn’t admiring his pretty pass or looking down. He was following the play, with his head up, but Janssen was on Kaberle’s blind side. Janssen could’ve peeled away as the play was no longer at that end of the ice and Kaberle was no longer part of the play. At the very least, he could’ve eased off.

Instead, Janssen angled himself toward Kaberle and nailed him with his left shoulder into the side of Kaberle’s head. Moreover, the slo-mo replay clearly shows that Janssen left his feet to deliver the blow. It wasn't a shoulder on shoulder check he was going for. Janssen saw he had Kaberle in a vulnerable position, and went for the head-shot.

Before I proceed, let me state that I’m not a Leafs fan or Kaberle fan, I actually admire the New Jersey Devils franchise and I’m no bleeding heart who wants the league to ban bodychecking.

This was a dirty hit, a cheapshot, plain and simple.

There’s been a growing lack of respect between NHL players in recent years. We’ve seen an increase in head trauma injuries, partially to do with equipment, but mostly due to deliberate attempts to injure.

It’s one thing to deliver a clean, hard bodycheck. It’s another to go headhunting, and as evidenced in the video replays, that’s what Janssen did.

He claims he was “finishing his check”, but that’s a lame, BS excuse. There was no check to finish, because the play had already turned well up ice when Janssen angled toward Kaberle.

Had Kaberle still been in possession of the puck, or had just passed it away when Janssen lined up Kaberle, that would’ve been “finishing his check”. If he’d kept his skates on the ice and hit Kaberle shoulder to shoulder, or in the chest, that would’ve made it a clean hit.

If he’d lined up Kaberle and the latter lowered his head at the last moment, Janssen would’ve been absolved of blame.

None of those things happened. Janssen picked his spot and went for it. It wasn’t a clean hit. It was a brutal cheapshot.

I realize hockey’s a rough game. I never played it professionally but played enough of it to understand it’s a rough game and carry the permanent reminders on my body.

Bodychecking always has a place in hockey, and sometimes injuries can be an unfortunate consequence. Everyone who plays the game at any level understands it and has no problem with it.

Cheapshots,however, have no place in the game, and neither do players like Janssen who deliberately attempt to hurt an opponent.