New Leafs coach Paul Maurice plans to give captain Mats Sundin more ice time this season. (Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
Backgrounder | 2006-07 NHL season
Toronto Maple Leafs
Last Updated Fri., Sept. 29, 2006
Doug Harrison, CBC Sports
Arrivals: G Andrew Raycroft, D Hal Gill, D Pavel Kubina, C Mike Peca.
Departures: G Ed Belfour, D Aki Berg, D Alexander Khavanov, D Luke Richardson, C Jason Allison, RW/LW Tie Domi, C/RW Eric Lindros, C/LW Clarke Wilm.
Offence: Another off-season came and went for long-suffering Leafs fans without management adding someone of significance to ride shotgun with No. 1 centre and leading scorer Mats Sundin (30 goals, 77 points in 81 games).
Toronto's captain was most productive in 2005-06 when flanked by Nik Antropov and an improving Alexei Ponikarovsky (21 goals in 81 games).
Newcomer Mike Peca will anchor the second scoring unit. Along with youngsters Matt Stajan, Alex Steen and Kyle Wellwood, the veteran two-way centre will be asked to offset the loss of much-maligned Jason Allison and oft-injured Eric Lindros.
Darcy Tucker and the underachieving Jeff O'Neill (19-19-38 in 74 games) are the go-to guys on the wings.
Defence: General manager John Ferguson dove into the free-agent pool on July 1 and came away with proven blue-liners Pavel Kubina and six-foot-seven Hal Gill.
They will form a solid top four with Bryan McCabe and Tomas Kaberle, who finished 1-2 in average ice time among league defencemen last season. Both also enjoyed career seasons offensively, with 68 points and 67 points, respectively.
Six youngsters with limited NHL experience will battle for the other two spots, including Brendan Bell, Carlo Colaiacovo, Jay Harrison, Staffan Kronwall, Ian White and Andy Wozniewski.
Kronwall and White wouldn't have to clear waivers to be sent to the minors.
Goaltending: After declining the option on Ed Belfour's contract, Ferguson traded prospect Tuukka Rask to Boston at the Entry Draft in June for 2004 NHL rookie of the year Andrew Raycroft.
The question is, which Raycroft will show up?
Last season, Raycroft endured hamstring and knee injuries in Boston and posted a record of 8-19-2 with a 3.71 goals-against average in 30 games for the Bruins. In 2003-04, the 26-year-old won 29 games with a 2.05 GAA.
Mikael Tellqvist and Jean-Sebastien Aubin, who went 9-0-2 with a 2.21 GAA in the final 12 games last season, will battle for playing time behind Raycroft.
Coaching: Goodbye Pat Quinn, hello Paul Maurice. Toronto promoted the former Carolina Hurricanes bench boss from its American Hockey League affiliate after Quinn failed to guide the Maple Leafs into the playoffs last season.
Maurice, who led Carolina to the Stanley Cup final in 2002 for the first time in its 23-year history, led the Marlies to a 41-29-6-4 record last season.
He was fired after eight-and-a-half seasons in Carolina after the team opened the 2002-03 campaign with just eight wins in the first 30 games.
Keith Acton returns as one of Maurice's three assistants. One-time Marlies assistant Dallas Eakins and Randy Ladouceur, who spent eight seasons with Maurice in Carolina, round out the staff.
Scott Morrison's take: No teams succeed in the NHL without good goaltending. That is a fact (and a cliche). But few teams have required good/great goaltending more than the Maple Leafs in recent years just to be average.
It figures that this season will be no different in that regard, with the Leafs needing Raycroft to not only rediscover his Calder-winning form, but to ramp it up several notches above that. The early returns have been positive, however.
One area in which the Leafs did improve, if they ever get fully healthy, is on the blue-line, which was an area Ferguson had targeted. They have a good front four in McCabe and Kaberle, Kubina and Gill. No one will be longing for the Aki Berg years, in other words.The Leafs need Andrew Raycroft to ramp up the level of his goaltending, says Morrison. (Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
So it figures they will be good enough at the back end. The front, however, is a mystery. Maurice, who will have the Leafs playing an up-tempo, aggressive checking style, has promised to increase Sundin's ice time, which is good. But the question remains: who is up to snuff to play alongside him? (My Gawd, he will be longing for the Jonas Hoglund years.)
Finding adequate wingers will be a chore and finding adequate offence at even strength might be a challenge as well, meaning the likes of Steen and Stajan have to take a big step forward. The power play should continue to be good and the addition of Peca helps in many areas.
But this team, which could be good down the road and has plenty of young talent, will be hard-pressed again to make the playoffs. It seems safe to assume the Stanley Cup drought will reach a traumatic 40 years.
