Why they're not the Raptors

Several times a week, John Derringer on Q107 has Bill Waters on his show to talk about various things, as they are both pretty well-rounded types and have a lot of strong opinions. However, since we're talking about the Bill Waters that you likely see on various hockey shows, the conversation tends to drift to the good ol' hockey game.....

Anyway, being who he is, Billy has a certain insider's edge to most talk about the Leafs, but in particular, to the inner workings of MLSE.

This morning he was making the point that it might not really be JFJ's fault that things are quite so fucked up in Leaf Land. Take the Toronto Raptors, as an illustration....

The Richard and Larry show at MLSE was treating the Raps as their own private toy, and managed to fuck them up so badly, it was laughable.... complete with the puppet regimes under the last couple of GMs that the Leafs are currently enjoying. Well, what happened that caused the Raps to go from doormat to (as of this writing) the 3rd seed in the East? Simple. They hired someone who knew his asshole from a hole in the ground (Bryan Colangelo) and when he told them to back the fuck off or he'd walk, they did.

Really, one could argue that the Raps didn't even have as many pieces in place as the Leafs do now. I'm not suggesting that they have the next incarnation of the Sabres, but maybe trying to get a hold of one of the architects of one of the "new NHL" powers, much like the Raps got Colangelo from the Phoenix Suns, where he had built a team that is currenly one of the favourites to win the NBA Championship, even a year after he left (seriously.. taking that team over had to be a joke... JUST DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING, DAMNIT!!), might not be a bad place to start, huh?

It's not like they don't have the makings... they have some young, mobile defencemen (White, Colaiacovo, Wozniewski)... some quick forwards with some touch around the net (Pohl, Stajan, Steen, Ponikarovsky, Wellwood).... a star goalie waiting in the wings (Pogge). It's just that they kinda have the Old Guard (Sundin and Tucker most notably) standing in their way. Personally, I think McCabe and Kaberle are a gray area, in that they are wildly overpaid, but still rather useful. Sundin is far more useful as a leader, but at half the price would be easier to swollow. The Raycroft/Aubin platoon is nothing more than a method for keeping the goalie position warm for young Pogge to mature into the first star goalie the Leafs have produced since Felix Potvin...

I have no idea about any other prospects, but the odds of there being any are slim, as seriously.... you'd think that with the odds of a blind pig finding a truffle, they'd have found something useful by now........

Okay. That's enough Leafs talk. We now return you to your regularly scheduled bitching and moaning....