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. D - Jamie Macoun, Dimitri Yushkevich, Mathieu Schneider, Per Gustafsson, Jason Smith, Rob Zettler, Yannick Tremblay, Matt Martin. G - Felix Potvin, Glenn Healy.

injuries: 11/8 Rob Zettler, d (dislocated thumb, indefinite).

transactions: 11/11 recalled Matt Martin, d, from St. John's (AHL); 11/8 placed Rob Zettler, d, on IR; 11/7 sent Marcel Cousineau, g, to St. John's; 11/5 sent David Cooper, d, to St. John's; 11/3 recalled Yannick Tremblay, d, and Marcel Cousineau, g, from St. John's; 11/2 sent Kevyn Adams, c, to St. John's.

standings:

Western Conference - Central Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
St Louis     22  15   5   2    32   72   47
Detroit      22  13   5   4    30   73   52
Dallas       22  12   6   4    28   70   55
Phoenix      20  10   8   2    22   63   56
Chicago      21   7  12   2    16   40   55
Toronto      19   6  10   3    15   38   56

game results:

11/04 at San Jose  T 0-0 
11/05 at Calgary   W 4-3 
11/08 Phoenix      L 3-0  
11/11 Chicago      W 5-2  
11/13 at Chicago   W 2-1 
11/15 Pittsburgh   L 5-0 

team news:

by Jonah Sigel, Toronto Correspondent

Well My Bags Are Packed But...

Ken Dryden and the rest of the Leaf brass are desperately trying to convince their fellow Canadian clubs to allow the Leafs to move to the Eastern Conference starting next season and not as originally planned (2003). It appears that both Montreal and Ottawa are agreeable while the Western teams are not. As bad as the Leafs have been in recent years, they still are a big draw in Western Canada. Should the Leafs be allowed to move, Western teams will want to be assured of the same type of gate from the Leafs, Habs and the NHL. It appears that the Leafs have managed to get enough of the 2/3 required votes to assure the move as long as a creative schedule can be created that would still provide the Western Canadian teams with numerous home games against the Leafs and Habs.

Just when things were looking up, the Leafs came out flat again on a Saturday night. After back-to-back hard fought victories against the Blackhawks, the Leafs laid an egg versus the handicapped Pens. Neither Jaromir Jagr (trade demand or injury) nor Kevin Hatcher (injury) were in the lineup, yet the Leafs came up short.. .way short. As the Leafs approach the quarter pole, this much is certain, none of the off-season changes have helped. Mats Sundin is learning that being the lone talent on a team makes it very easy for other teams to shadow you, and unless you are able to really step up your game every night, you too will be invisible. The lone star has been the play of Alyn McCauley, who has looked very good on a very bad team.

As bad as the Leafs are, it seems that things are not going to change very quickly. In a recent Toronto Star interview, Ken Dryden reiterated his goal of making the playoffs this season and shot down the possibility of throwing the towel in to secure a higher draft choice next June. Dryden was quoted as saying that tanking the season was not in the cards for the Leafs, that they were trying to do everything to get to the playoffs. The media sharks swarmed on Dryden's words with memories of Cliff Fletcher's infamous Draft Schmaft claim of a year ago.

However, with a little thought it seems that Dryden said no more than he really could afford to do. The Leafs are an expensive product. Fans pack the Gardens nightly and pay top dollar for their tickets. Their sponsors pay serious money to be Leaf sponsors and both their radio and TV rights holder have both forked up serious change to carry the Leafs. How would it look, if on November 1st, the team GM is throwing in the towel on the season.

Dryden has a great deal of work to do. While it says here that he has already made a few mistakes, Rome too was not built in a day. He has the enormous task of undoing years of bad management by previous rein holders. The next couple of months will bring decisions of trades, coaches, scouts, buildings and realignment. We will soon get a better gauge of whether the Leafs are going forward or just spinning their wheels.

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