Excuse me but maybe I misunderstood. When Cliff Fletcher suggested that the Leafs would be rebuilding with youth, I thought that meant the likes of Justin Pogge, Robbie Earl, Jeremy Williams, Brent Aubin, John Mitchell, Dale Mitchell, Darryl Boyce, Ben Ondrus, Kris Newbury, Alex Foster and Jay Harrison would have a good shot at seeing if they could develop into NHLers. Instead Fletcher has been picking up players from other teams' rosters - mostly 3rd or 4th liners. Add in the expensive free agents signed and the kids have no where to play. The only rookies for this coming season appear to be Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski and neither played for the Marlies this past season.
Many people thought it was odd to see the Leafs trade a 5th draft pick to grab Ryan Hollweg from the Rangers. A 5th round draft pick is a long shot to make the NHL but what is disturbing for me is that fact that the Leafs history is filled with traded picks for marginal players. Hollweg is strictly a 4th line enforcer. But Kris Newbury had a 101 penalty minutes in 54 games with the Marlies and seemed capable of filling the enforcer role without the loss of a draft pick.
The impression I am getting is that the Marlies do not have any talent that can help the Leafs. In other words, the Marlies are stocked mostly with career minor leaguers and not NHL prospects. So where are the Leafs of the future to come from as Fletcher continues to deal away draft picks? The Leafs traded away four 2nd and 3rd round picks in 2008, 2009 and 2010 in addition to two 5th round picks. Meanwhile the Leafs have not picked up a single draft pick in an exchange and have about 10 players best suited for 3rd or 4th line duty.
12 years ago
