In the Box with John Kreiser

In the Box with John Kreiser
Leafs Need a New Tree
By John Kreiser, Featured Columnist

The Toronto Maple Leafs are back to square one.
Thirty years after their last Stanley Cup, the Leafs are at the bottom of the hockey world. It's time for another reorganization, with owner Steve Stavro admitting that "I think we're all to blame."
Of course, Stavro wasn't about to fire himself, so he did the next best thing -- he got rid of Cliff Fletcher, who traded the team into contention in the early '90s, then undid his handiwork over the past couple of years. Fletcher was offered the chance to stay on as president, but opted for a contract settlement when Stavro wanted to take away the titles of general manager and chief operating officer of the Leafs -- something he's really wanted to do since gaining control in 1991. Fletcher, after all, wasn't Stavro's hire. "If they had offered me only the general manager's job," says Fletcher, who reportedly got about $2.5 million to go away, "I might very well have stayed."
The Leafs have hit lows that have even their most fervent supporters getting despondent. After two straight trips to the semifinals (1993 and 1994), they've fallen apart -- again. Bad trades, bad drafts and bad decisions on dumping veterans in an effort to cut costs have left them in a mess -- a lottery team with little young talent and no draft picks until the third round.
Fletcher was hailed as a savior when he came to Toronto in 1991 and promptly fleeced his old team, the Calgary Flames, in a 10-player deal that brought in Doug Gilmour and Jamie Macoun, among others. With Gilmour playing the type of two-way hockey not seen from a Leaf center since Dave Keon was in his prime, the Leafs were minutes away from the 1993 finals before Wayne Gretzky refused to let the Los Angeles Kings lose. Fletcher was named executive of the year and all was optimism at the Gardens.
The Leafs got to the semis again in 1994 before Vancouver bounced them in five games. But from that time, when the decision was made to try to get the team to the next level, the Leafs have been blowing aimlessly in the breeze.
Fletcher's modus operandi was simple: spend. That worked well in the build-up phase, when there were high-priced veterans that other teams were willing to unload rather than pay the going rate for their talent. But when the decision was made to push for the title, Fletcher had lost his touch. He succeeded only in landing high-priced underachievers (Kirk Muller, Don Beaupre), old favorites who weren't what they used to be (Wendel Clark) and stars nearing the end of their careers (Larry Murphy). With Stavro and Co. now running the business end, Fletcher didn't have a totally free hand and opted to dump high-salaried but productive vets like Dave Andreychuk, Mike Gartner and Dave Gagner -- while also dealing away young talent like Kenny Jonsson and this year's first- and second-round draft picks.
The Leafs' problems cost coach Pat Burns his job last year. This time, Fletcher took the hit. But the bigger question for the Leafs is simple: Where do they go from here?
Aside from Mats Sundin, the Leafs have no offensive stars. Goaltender Felix Potvin was among the NHL's elite a few years ago, but as defenses tightened and goals-against averages have fallen, Potvin's average has gone up. He was shaky until February, then was sharp down the stretch -- when the Leafs were playing only to avoid finishing last overall. The defense has a solid veteran leader if Mathieu Schneider is recovered from the groin problems that made this season nearly total loss, but the rest of the cast is generally unproven or getting on in years. There's little young talent on the way, with the possible exception of Alyn McCauley, the OHL Player of the Year, who came from New Jersey in the Gilmour deal and is already signed for next season.
John Muckler, fired this month as Buffalo's GM, is said to be a prime candidate to succeed Fletcher. But he's 63, two years older than Fletcher. Some of the New York media is saying that Rangers' GM Neil Smith, a Toronto native, wants the job. But while that would make Smith's mother ecstatic, it's a tough scenario to envision: Smith has a long-term deal with the Rangers, and if the sometimes thin-skinned GM thinks the pressure to win in New York is tough, imagine the onus to win in a city where hockey is the No. 1 sport. Only the fact that Madison Square Garden is going through another ownership change, with the possibility that Smith's ally, MSG president Dave Checketts, could wind up leaving makes Smith's departure remotely possible.
"We need a hockey man and a building man and I won't be either of them," Stavro said of his quest for Fletcher's successor -- who will have to deal not only with rebuilding a franchise gone fallow but also with the building of a new arena, which Stavro wants to have completed by the turn of the century.
Fletcher's successor faces a Herculean task -- one not unlike the one that Fletcher confronted six years ago. Leaf fans can thank Fletcher for the best patch of success the team has enjoyed over the past three decades. Now all the Leafs have to do is find the next Cliff Fletcher -- and hope that he can get the Leafs to the top of the mountain -- something the original Fletcher couldn't quite do.
HEADS HIGH: This time, no one can accuse the New York Rangers of leaving anything on the ice.
Unlike last season, when the Rangers disintegrated in their second-round loss to Pittsburgh, they acquitted themselves nobly despite losing the Eastern Conference finals to Philadelphia in five games. By the time Sunday's final game was over, the Rangers were running on little more than heart, with four regulars long gone with injuries, Wayne Gretzky and Brian Leetch basically playing with one arm apiece, Adam Graves' back and groin turning him into a shadow of his true self and a worn-out Mark Messier looking like he's 36 going on 63.
Messier, who becomes a free agent this summer, is the biggest question mark facing team management. The Rangers want him and he wants them, but will the price be right? With another new ownership team coming in, GM Neil Smith may not have as much latitude with salaries as he's had in the past. Messier, the team captain for six seasons (longer than anyone since Bob Nevin in the '60s and early '70s) will also have to face the question of how much he wants to stay in New York. Is it worth it for him to take less money to stay in The Big Apple? That's a decision only Messier can make -- and he hasn't said anything yet.
Unlike his long-time friend, Gretzky's game got better in the playoffs. He still sees the ice better than anyone in hockey, and given wingers who can finish plays (a prime goal for Smith in the off-season), he could lead the league in scoring next season. There's no question he can play another year or two ... or more. But if his buddy is gone, how long will The Great One, with one year left on his own contract, want to hang around Broadway?
Other changes are coming. Backup goalie Glenn Healy, a $900,000 luxury, is likely to go. Patrick Flatley could also be gone. Smith likes Esa Tikkanen at playoff time, but Tikkanen spent most of the season in Vancouver with a bad knee and a bad attitude because he wanted $2 million or so a year. Alexei Kovalev, their best under-25 player, is a free agent coming off knee surgery. Russ Courtnall is old (32 next week), fast and expensive; it's hard to believe the Rangers couldn't find someone younger, fast, and cheaper who might get more involved on a nightly basis.
The Rangers still have a solid core. Though Mike Richter was decidedly mortal against the Flyers, he's still an "A" goaltender. Leetch is the NHL's best defenseman. Gretzky is still a star and Messier, if he's back, is the heart and soul of the team. Smith's task is to fill in the rest of the blanks while preparing for that not-too-distant day when Messier and Gretzky skate off the ice for the last time.
DUCK SOUP: Ron Wilson must be thrilled to know that even winning the Stanley Cup wouldn't have helped him keep his job with Anaheim.
Though GM Jack Ferreira and team president Tony Tavares wouldn't say why Wilson didn't have his contract renewed, they were adamant that the decision had to be made. Tavares compared it to a marriage gone bad -- refusing to badmouth Wilson but saying he was no longer the right man to run the Mighty Ducks.
Part of the reason is rumored to be financial. Wilson certainly had to feel he was in line for a raise after the best season in team history -- and that he should get at least as much as Larry Robinson, coach of the rival L.A. Kings. That figure is said to be about $700,000 -- an awful lot of money for the parsimonious Disney folks. There's also speculation that Wilson was too high-profile for an organization that's very low-key
Wilson won't be out of work long. His success in helping build the Mighty Ducks, plus his effort in coaching the United States to the World Cup title, will have suitors lined up whenever he's ready to talk. The pressure is on Ferreira and Tavares to find someone who can take what Wilson has done and build on it. If they don't, the next necks on the chopping block could be theirs.
But coaching problems could be the least of the Ducks' worries this summer. Paul Kariya, one of the two pillars on which the team is built, is a free agent. He's 22, with an unlimited future ahead of him. A big-bucks contract plus a compensation price of five first-round draft picks might not be too stiff for a team to risk in order to get a player who's going to be one of the NHL's half-dozen top stars for the next decade. Don't be surprised if someone takes a run at Kariya, forcing the Ducks to decide whether they want to pay the price to join the NHL's top-flight teams.
STAT SHOTS: The Red Wings are 7-1 at home in the playoffs for one reason: They've allowed just 10 goals in those eight games, with no more than two in any one game. ...
The loss by the New York Rangers was Wayne Gretzky's first ever in a conference final round. He had been 6-0. Mark Messier was 7-1. ...
The worst break the Rangers got was having Ron Hextall replace Garth Snow in goal in the middle of Game 2. As a Flyer, Hextall is 11-2 against the Rangers in the playoffs, including nine straight victories. His last loss to the Rangers in Stanley Cup play was Game 4 of the 1987 Patrick Division semifinals.