[dennis_is_canadian]

Obviously I'm a Leafs fan but this season with the new CBA I hope the Leafs management finally get smart enough to begin the construction of a NEW and younger roster. This Friday is the dead line for teams to "buy out" contracts, meaning if you have a veteran player making 6 milion, you can buy out that contract to free up roster and salary cap space. There are 2 players currently under contract on the Leafs roster I WANT to see bought out. Owen Nolan and Ed Belfour. Firstly Nolan, has deteriorating cartilage in his knee and most likely won't even be able to play for most of this season. Why keep a aging guy with a bad injury on your roster and take up 5.6 million of your cap room? And second, Ed Belfour. We know his back is bad and he is only getting older. The Leafs need to buy out his contract to free up another 4.56 million on your salary cap limit.

The Leafs have to be smart this time and start a NEW team. Keep core players Like Sundin, McCabe, Tucker and that pitbull Domi. Sign a new goaltender, not one who is over 36, get a goalie who is under 34 and you have a goaltender for atleast 4-8 years. Tellqvist isn't NHL materital, back up yes but not a starter. And if they keep Belfour as the starter, we as Leafs fans are in for alot of losses. I know Belfour was the reason the Leafs won alot of games in previous seasons, but things have to change, the Leafs have to change.

As far as potential players to sign, here's a list of players I would like to see signed to the Leafs who are currently FREE AGENTS. I don't want to sign ALL these players, this is just a list of candidates.

Sergie Gonchar - D
Glen Murray - F
Scott Niedermyer - D (on TSN it says he is a free-agent, can't believe it.)
Adrian Aucoin - D
Nikolai Khabibulin - G
Sergie Zubov - G
Mike Modano - F
Curtis Joseph - G (Nice to see him back, doubtfull though)

There are many other players who are restricted free agents but I'm not going to touch up on that. It would be nice to see some of the players I listed on the Leafs this season, just hope the Leafs brass will make the smart choices. They will probably end up signing Pavel Bure, Mark Messier and Eric Lindros, lol.

[Mustang1]

Sign Niedermyer, Kariya, Lindros (offer him a paltry salary and make incentive laced) and O’Neil. Screw Joseph and possibly sign Belfour for one year, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for Khabibulun (although stranger things could happen) and it all depends on how much of salary cut (it’s not about if, it’s about the amount) players will sign. This week should be interesting to say the least.

[Tman1]

Mustang1 Mustang1:

Sign Niedermyer, Kariya, Lindros (offer him a paltry salary and make incentive laced) and O’Neil. Screw Joseph and possibly sign Belfour for one year, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for Khabibulun (although stranger things could happen) and it all depends on how much of salary cut (it’s not about if, it’s about the amount) players will sign. This week should be interesting to say the least.

Lindros? Kariya? Both have proven to be inconsistant with their goal scoring and make Alberta droughts look like crap. Joseph has proven he cannot handle the Playoffs time and again. Khabibulun had one great year but he is still a pretty solid Goalie.

[twister]

Hey got an Idea.. why don't you talk to Sittler and Macdonald.. get them to come out of retirement.. I hear Messier's looking for a place to play.. there you go.. Maybe Messier, Yzerman, Leetch, Belfour... maybe you should go after Leclair too.. Have the Majority of leafs 34 and older.. perfect idea.. At least that way they could get a seniors discount when they go to the Hall to see the CUP.. LOL Or maybe they could form a new division in hockey.. The seniors tour.. Masters Hockey... They could play for the Polident cup.....LOL

[Mustang1]

Tman1 Tman1:

Mustang1 Mustang1:

Sign Niedermyer, Kariya, Lindros (offer him a paltry salary and make incentive laced) and O’Neil. Screw Joseph and possibly sign Belfour for one year, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for Khabibulun (although stranger things could happen) and it all depends on how much of salary cut (it’s not about if, it’s about the amount) players will sign. This week should be interesting to say the least.

Lindros? Kariya? Both have proven to be inconsistant with their goal scoring and make Alberta droughts look like crap. Joseph has proven he cannot handle the Playoffs time and again. Khabibulun had one great year but he is still a pretty solid Goalie.

Yeah…but get them on the cheap and couple that with hopefully a more goal-productive environment (that is speculation) and you may have a decent bargain in the early days of the new NHL. It depends largely on salary, but I think you’ll see that those types won’t command their old salary demands and that might make them more attractive. Besides, if you could get a Kariya for $1.1 or 1.5 million/year, wouldn’t you pull the trigger?

[Mustang1]

Tman1 Tman1:

Mustang1 Mustang1:

Sign Niedermyer, Kariya, Lindros (offer him a paltry salary and make incentive laced) and O’Neil. Screw Joseph and possibly sign Belfour for one year, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for Khabibulun (although stranger things could happen) and it all depends on how much of salary cut (it’s not about if, it’s about the amount) players will sign. This week should be interesting to say the least.

Lindros? Kariya? Both have proven to be inconsistant with their goal scoring and make Alberta droughts look like crap. Joseph has proven he cannot handle the Playoffs time and again. Khabibulun had one great year but he is still a pretty solid Goalie.

Yeah…but get them on the cheap and couple that with hopefully a more goal-productive environment (that is speculation) and you may have a decent bargain in the early days of the new NHL. It depends largely on salary, but I think you’ll see that those types won’t command their old salary demands and that might make them more attractive. Besides, if you could get a Kariya for $1.1 or 1.5 million/year, wouldn’t you pull the trigger?

[Patrick_Ross]

The Leafs blew their chance before the cap was put in. Now, they're going to have a mini-fire-sale just in order to put a team on the ice. If they hadn't gotten stupid, here is the team they COULD have potentially iced this year:

Alexander Mogily/Mats Sundin/Nik Antropov
Owen Nolan/Eric Lindros/Paul Kariya
Gary Roberts/Joe Niewendyk/Jonus Hoglund
Shayne Corson/Darcy Tucker/Ty Domi

Dmitri Yushvevich/Tomas Kaberle
Brian McCabe/Brian Leetch
Bryan Marchment/Wade Belak

Curtis Joseph/Trevor Kidd

[Patrick_Ross]

Oh, sorry. One more thing: Glen Murray signed with Minnesota. Sorry.

[Ripcat]

Leafs face many obstacles in bid to land likes of Forsberg

[Tman1]

$1:

Curtis Joseph/Trevor Kidd

Any reason why you would put this ambiguously gay duo on the ice?

[twister]

Patrick_Ross Patrick_Ross:

Oh, sorry. One more thing: Glen Murray signed with Minnesota. Sorry.

of all the things possible.. that makes absolutely... no sense.....

[Magnum]

Whatever the lineup is, . . . I'm psyched!!!

[font=Comic Sans MS]GO LEAFS!!!!! [/font]

[twister]

Another 82 games of misery awaits... the leafs.... disappointment and heartache I fear......the future is cloudy.. but as every autumn.. the leafs will fall, be reborn in spring and get bounced in round 2......

[Magnum]

Forsberg would be a great catch. Although he's been injury prone lately, when he's healthy he's a beauty!!

[Tman1]

Lately? when has there been Hockey?