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head coach: Mike Murphy

roster: C - Darby Hendrickson, Steve Sullivan, Alyn McCauley. LW - Fredrik Modin, Wendel Clark, Todd Warriner, Derek King, Kris King, Igor Korolev. RW - Mats Sundin, Sergei Berezin, Tie Domi, Mike Johnson, Martin Prochazka, Lonny Bohonos. D - Sylvain Cote, Dimitri Yushkevich, Mathieu Schneider, Jason Smith, Rob Zettler, Daniil Markov, David Cooper. G - Felix Potvin, Glenn Healy.

standings:

Western Conference - Central Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
p-Dallas     82  49  22  11   109  242  167  
x-Detroit    82  44  23  15   103  250  196  
x-St Louis   82  45  29   8    98  256  204  
x-Phoenix    82  35  35  12    82  224  227  
Chicago      82  30  39  13    73  192  199  
Toronto      82  30  43   9    69  194  237  

x - Clinched playoff spot
p - Clinched President's Trophy

team news:

by Jonah Sigel, Toronto Correspondent

Another Year of Disappointment...When Will It End?

It has become a very bad habit.

Maple Leaf seasons come and go and the team continues to struggle in all its old ways. Looking back over the last couple of years, with the exception of a few blips on the map, it has become much more of a rule than the exception that the Leafs plain stink.

Like any other commodity, be it a house, a car or a relationship, years of misuse, lack of proper attention, care and yes, even love, will eventually cost a heavy price.

For Leaf fans this means mediocrity. Actually, some would settle for such a classification. In the last couple of years the team has been downright awful and has shown very little improvement. The numbers don't lie. Over the course of the season the point increase is marginal at best, one point or two. Two successive years of not making the playoffs, an inability to put the puck in the net, to keep it out of their own net and, worst of all, the lack of respect for the uniform to compete on a nightly basis.

This season was supposed to be different. Money was spent last off-season on free agents, new players were brought in, young kids were more mature, they had a new president in Hall of Fame goaltender Ken Dryden, a new management team (a four-headed one in that) and for the most part all were busts. The players never produced like they were supposed to. The oddity was that all the players that were signed came from the past regime. The only casualty of the Cliff Fletcher era, besides Cliff was his secretary. Ah, yes she was responsible for all the blunders.

No, the same scouts and support staff were all left to do their jobs. And what a job they did. Not one of the players produced to the level they had hoped. A telling sign was late in the season when the playoffs were a few points out of reach in a game against Detroit. With a few minutes left in the game, none of the summer additions were on the ice. Not one.

Quite frankly, Ken Dryden's inability to hire a general manager last season cost the Leafs this season. He spent so much time trying to persuade others to come to Toronto, but nobody would listen. Then when no one was left, he named himself GM. By that time the summer was over and it was time for training camp.

The one caveat management had was that it made no promises of success prior to the season. There were no grand visions of the Stanley cup returning to the cash box on Carlton.

The coach, however, set three goals for himself: 1. To reduce the number of shots given up considerably; 2. Reduce number of goals allowed per game and 3. To make the playoffs. Coach Murphy failed on all three.

Right from the starting faceoff, pundits questioned the teams inability to score, yet not one roster move was made to aide the team. It was not until months down the line that the Leafs traded a draft pick for Jeff Brown, a deal that was discussed under the same parameters after training camp. Then at the deadline, the same Brown was shipped to Washington for Sylvain Cote and Jamie Macoun was dealt away to Detroit, where he would carry the Cup. As for Cote, apparently he was steamed from the moment he arrived in town. Nobody came to meet or great the new Leaf and word was abound that Toronto was quickly becoming the worst organization to play for in the league.

All the time the season was playing out, behind the scenes the ongoing saga regarding the Leafs, the Raptors and a new arena finally unfolded. The Leafs ended up with the Raptors and with the arena they vowed was too small and they would never play in.

One has to speculate that much like Dryden's preoccupation the past summer with hiring a GM cost the Leafs dearly, was Dryden so involved with these discussions that the team suffered again? If so, it appears that someone or someones have their priorities out of kilter. Dryden also was able to finish what Cliff Fletcher had started in an expedited fashion. He was able to convince or confuse the other NHL governors into allowing the Leafs to move into the Eastern Conference this season as opposed to some time in the future. If Dryden does not do one more thing for the Maple Leafs, than it will be this that he will be remembered for.

Once the season did end, Dryden promised an entire review of the whole organization, including the coaching staff. With rumors abound that Murphy was going to get gassed, Dryden was persistent that a decision had yet to be made and that one would be forthcoming prior to the Entry Draft.

At a press conference to announce the new ticket price structure at the new arena, Dryden was cornered by media who had apparently caught him in a lie. The previous day he had been asked whether he had interviewed other applicants for the coaching position, to which he replied that he had not. Yet a report broke that said he indeed had conversations with at least one other candidate, Terry Murray. Dryden tried to explain, without much success, that he misunderstood the question. He thought he asked if he had "negotiated" with other candidates, which he claimed he had not.

A few days later after Murray refused to come to Toronto, the Leafs fired Murphy. The decision was not a surprise. However, not naming a successor was. It had been thought that Dryden did not want to fire Murphy, a coach who did not cost Dryden a lot of money, until he knew he had the person he wanted lined up. That time came shortly after, two days later to be exact, when Pat Quinn was named the new head coach.

All in all it was a season with lots of twists and turns for the Leafs. Some on the ice, but most off it. In Dryden's speech at Murphy's dismissal, he noted that the reason for the firing was that the team failed to make the playoffs two years in a row. Should they fail to make the playoffs this season then it will be three years in a row, but, more importantly, two years under Dryden. While it appears that the Leafs don't care much for the attitudes or thoughts of the overly critical media, it should be interesting to see how they respond to a fan base, which is faced with higher ticket prices, going into a new building with a lousy product.

As the Murphy saga dragged on it became more and apparent that the Honeymoon for the current Leaf regime is over. If the Leafs fail to make considerable improvements both in the off-season and in the standings next year, heads should once again roll. The precedent has been set. Two successive years of failing to make the playoffs resulted in the firing of a coach. If it happens again, they won't fire Quinn, or at least they shouldn't.

Mats Sundin by Meredith Martini

TEAM MVP: Mats Sundin. He had another very good year considering that the opposition had only him to be concerned with. To put up the numbers he did with this group has to place him among the elite in the league. The knock on him continues to be the same. He is unable, or unwilling, to work hard for the entire season. In his defense, he has had a World Cup and an Olympics to play to add to the already too long NHL season.

SURPRISES: Rookie Mike Johnson played fairly well all season long. Kudos to Dryden for expediting the realignment process. The move to the arena, which was too small, that they'd never play in. And peace with the Raptors.

DISAPPOINTMENTS: Where to start? Dryden hiring Dryden as GM, Dryden hiring Smith as associate GM. Dryden sticking with the current personnel department and scouting department. Leaf management's abandonment of the team and unwillingness to make any moves to help. The Murphy Saga.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: Quinn is one. Expect Smith to be named GM, or at least in duties anyway. Wendel Clark most likely will not return. Rob Zettler was lost to expansion. The Leafs have some money to spend this summer, apparently. It will be interesting to see who they go after. It is unlikely they will go after any big name forwards, which they really need. Reinforcements up front will likely come from trades, however John MacLean and Steve Thomas have been rumored to be interested in coming to the Leafs. Apparently the team will pursue Uwe Krupp and or Jyrki Lumme.

It is a quick summer for the NHL season. Training camp is less than two months away. Let's hope it is a busy, productive off-season and that next year's year-in-review will be more upbeat.

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