A guest blogger

My dad saw that I haven't been able to post on this blog for awhile, so he kindly offered to write a post for me. In the next few days I should be able to have some more time to dedicate to posting regularly here and will be back on track with my Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule.


FLASH! Leaf fans not as smart as they think!

Here are some facts so that Leaf fans can legitimately restore their high opinions of themselves:

1. 1983 was the last draft year that 100% of the players drafted in the first round actually made it to the NHL. In fact, only four times before that (post-expansion), namely 1973, 1977, 1978 and 1979 did 100% of the first-round selections make the NHL.

2. In 1967 (when Canadian-born players prevailed), only 3 out of a total of 18 first rounders made the NHL. These were Serge Bernier (selected 3rd); Battleship Bob Kelly (selected 16th) and Al Karlander (selected 17th). Consider that the league doubled in size within months after this 1967 draft! Yet only these 3 made it!

3. Alexander Steen was picked by the Leafs in the first round. Last year, he had a 40 game scoreless streak. This year, he will, again, not score even 20 goals in the season.

Conclusion: Having first round draft choices does not assure success for NHL teams. It's a crap shoot. So dumping Mats Sundin for a first round draft choice and one or two 2nd stringers would have been stupid.

Conclusion: Sundin saved the Leafs from such a foolish trade - if it could even have been made - given current revulsion of GM's to rent-a-players. Leaf fans should not hang Sundin in effigy. They should show some appreciation for him (not just because he is probably the greatest player in franchise history). Particularly stupid are those who claim that Sundin should have waived the no-trade clause out of loyalty to the team. They subscribe to the Titus Oates mentality that you can save the team by abandoning it. How stupid!

Conclusion: Those idiots who say that the Leafs should deliberately tank it so that they can participate in the 5-team lottery for the top draft choice are particularly dull-witted. They are also dishonest. Firstly, the Leafs can enhance the value of their entire team by making the playoffs. Cliff Fletcher will have a hard time making successful trades if he is seen as offering a bunch of losers (who couldn't make the playoffs and who tanked it). Secondly, apart from enhancing the market-value of players who make the playoffs, the young players on the Leafs will gain valuable experience by playing in the playoffs. That kind of exciting, desperate hockey is not matched by any playoff in any sport. It is irreplaceable. Thirdly, if the Leafs tank it, they still might not win the lottery for the first draft choice.

Finally, shame on Stormin' Norman Rumack and Mike Milbury. They have encouraged frustrated Leaf fans to vent their deficient analyses of the situation. Are they idiots too? Or are they cynical members of the media who are fanning the flames for ratings? Either way, shame on them!