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FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — No one, from head coach Paul Maurice to the five Toronto Maple Leafs players with no-trade clauses to the janitors, should be breathing any sighs of relief now that the 2008 NHL trade deadline is history.
That was made abundantly clear yesterday by Leafs interim general manager Cliff Fletcher, who was frustrated by defenceman Pavel Kubina in his only chance to deal one of the No-Trade 5 — Kubina, Darcy Tucker, Bryan McCabe, Mats Sundin and Tomas Kaberle — after Sundin refused to waive his stay-at-home clause.
He may have been held to three relatively minor deals, but Trader Cliff promised that the team that hits the ice next season will be vastly different from the one that will face two former teammates, Chad Kilger and Wade Belak, and the Florida Panthers tonight.
"I can assure you that come October, the face of this team will be different than it is now," Fletcher said after the league's wheeling and dealing was finished. "We have to change this team to move forward, and, believe me, we will move forward."
Still, Fletcher did not do too badly, considering the no-trade handcuffs left on him by his predecessor, John Ferguson.
Fletcher reduced next season's payroll by $3-million (U.S.), to $40.3-million (Gill and Kilger each had one year left at salary cap numbers of $2.075-million and $900,000, respectively). He also added four extra draft picks to the sparse Leafs kitty.
Aside from a couple of the No-Trade 5, who Fletcher indicated might be bought out of their contracts, Maurice is likely the fellow who should be the most worried. There will be a new GM in the fall (and new GMs almost always bring in a new head coach), and Maurice can expect to collect the final year of his contract as a former Leafs head coach.
What Maurice thinks of all this wasn't known, since he did not make himself available to the media yesterday.
After studying the team for the past month, Fletcher says that for the past three years the Leafs played their best hockey late in the season when they were effectively out of the playoff race and there was little pressure. That does not speak well for the coach.
Neither does the fact the Leafs play poorly in the first and third periods. They either fall behind early and cannot catch up or blow leads late in the game.
Special teams, another area where coaching plays an important role, have always been weak in Maurice's two seasons at the helm in Toronto. The Leafs are notorious for making the same on-ice mistakes over and over again.
This is about where the critics hit Maurice over the head with his preseason boast that this year's edition of the Leafs is the most talented he ever coached. Well, you can't blame a coach for trying to rally his troops heading into the season. And considering some of those Carolina Hurricanes teams Maurice led, he probably was not far off the mark.
Maurice's problem is not overweening expectations. It is results. He will miss the playoffs for the second time in as many years as the Leafs' coach.
He may be only 41, but he is in his 11th season as an NHL coach. The only time Maurice has won a playoff series was in 2002, when the Cinderella Hurricanes somehow made it to the Stanley Cup final, where they were spanked by the Detroit Red Wings.
One can't help but think Pat Quinn, fired by Ferguson so he could move in Maurice, would have done better with the same group. No one could quibble with his results in Toronto: six playoff appearances in seven seasons, including two conference finals.
(To be fair, Maurice can argue he never had Curtis Joseph and Ed Belfour playing goal for him.)
In the meantime, Fletcher is clearly a frustrated man, especially when he saw the boatload of prospects and draft picks the Atlanta Thrashers got for Marian Hossa, who is every bit the rental player Sundin would have been.
"I think Mats had better market value than Hossa and look what they got for him," Fletcher said.
If Kubina had not held on to his no-trade clause, it is thought Fletcher could have shipped him and his $5-million salary to the San Jose Sharks for defenceman Kyle McLaren.
So, Kubina may still be a Leaf today along with the rest of the no-trade gang, but nobody should breathe easy.
