Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 2.4

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Coming into training camp it seemed the biggest question mark surrounded the Leafs offensive threat. Having played six of eight preseason games, there are still several players expected to be key contributors who have yet to find their game.

Nik Antropov has loafed through camp the way he has loafed through much of his Maple Leaf career. But hey, I’m at the point now where I’m happy when he remains standing for an entire shift.

Jeff O’Neill’s on again off again interest is getting trying not only for Leaf fans but also for Paul Maurice. If O’Neill does make the team, because that certainly is not assured at this point, hopefully is interest will be on again for the duration of the season.

Perhaps most concerning has been the play of Alex Steen. He continues to get very high praise and yes, he may (and hopefully he does) develop into a strong offensive player but I honestly did not find his rookie season to be overwhelming. This preseason however, he seems to have taken a step back, having showed very little of anything. I dare say if Steen had played this way last preseason, Steve Thomas would have been afforded a swan song season as a Leaf.

Matt Stajan has had a solid camp but still does not get looked at as a serious offensive threat. Since he has been in the league, he has received very little opportunity to show what he is capable of doing offensively. Under Pat Quinn, Stajan was used primarily in a checking and penalty killing role often played on the 4th line with line mates like the offensive wizards of Clarke Wilm and Tie Domi among others. Used sparingly, often between only 5-10 minutes a game, Stajan still managed to score 14 and 15 goals in his first two full NHL campaigns, a respectable output given the circumstances he was played under.

Whether it’s Stajan, Steen, O’Neill or Antropov, the Leafs will need to be pleasantly surprised by someone’s output along with the expected production from the big guns to receive the scoring they will need this season. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 2.3

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The writing was on the wall when the Toronto Maple Leafs bought out Tie Domi last summer. At 35 years of age, coming off a season that showed the game had long since past him by, it was clear Domi’s days as an NHLer were numbered. As the summer went on, little was heard about Domi’s future plans until this past Tuesday when he finally announced he had decided to retire. After 1020 games over 16 seasons and 270 fights in the NHL, Domi walked away from the game in grandiose fashion with a large scale press conference that attracted almost one reporter for every goal he scored. Certainly it was the largest gathering for the retirement of a player who only three times cracked the 10 goal mark over his career.

To say Domi parlayed his physical prowess into a solid NHL career would be an understatement. Domi took what very marginal ability he had and somehow found a way to last over 1000 games, a mark few players reach, and place himself among the most popular Leafs of all time. Over his career, he did work hard and put good effort into most games he played, but honestly does he really deserve the pedestal he seems to be placed on in the city of Toronto. Perhaps it’s just the fact that everything to do with hockey is done bigger in Toronto but I have to question whether Mats Sundin would receive the same kind of treatment should he decide to retire as a Maple Leaf.

Tom Fitzgerald, a player with modestly better stats than Domi, retired earlier in the month. I don’t think he got a side column in the newspaper. Though Domi was a fan favourite, let’s try to remember that was really just a fourth line winger, easily replaced if need be. The Leafs will not miss Domi as a player on the ice; Ben Ondrus, John Pohl, Kris Newbury or Jeremy Williams will fill his roster spot and will flourish. The dressing room will have a different flavour to it; somebody else will have to step up as a vocal leader. Don’t worry Leaf fans, they will survive, believe or not without Tie Domi. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 2.2

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What can you say about the New York Islanders? For years, people said the best move former GM Mike Millbury could make to help his team would be to lock himself in a small room without a phone, a fax machine or a computer preventing him from continuing to make misguided moves. See Luongo and Jokinen to Florida as prime example number 1. Though since Millbury’s departure at the end of last season, things have only got stranger on Long Island.

Earlier this spring when Ted Nolan and Neil Smith were hired to take over as head coach and general manager respectively, it seemed that finally the Islanders were starting to make some good decisions. Nolan, a great coach who had been out of hockey for nearly eight years, richly deserved an opportunity and Smith was already a legend in another part of New York for playing an instrumental part in assembling the team that broke the Rangers long Cup drought in 1994.

But that’s wear the smart moves stopped. Shockingly, six weeks into his tenure, Smith was fired for his philosophical opposition to our business model according to owner Charles Wang. Yes, Smith had a bad habit of wanting to run a hockey team properly and that just can’t be tolerated on Long Island. Instead, Wang saw fit to replace him with last season’s bad up goalie, Garth Snow. This lunacy resulted in the resignation of another smart hockey man in Pat Lafontaine.

When Rick Dipietro signed a 15 year deal earlier this week, everything started to make a little more sense. Wang, who seems to have a soft spot for Dipietro, had discussed a deal of this length last off season. It’s possible that when Wang asked Smith to revisit that type of deal, Smith suggested he might as well try to convince Bryan Trottier to come out of retirement. At that point Wang likely decided he didn’t need a GM but a puppet instead to run the team the way he wanted. No experience needed; hellllllooooo Garth Snow. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 2.1

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After going down with an eye injury during the opening game of the Leafs 2005-2006 campaign and returning a month later only to put up very mediocre production, many people were wondering whether the 18 month layoff had taken the final spring out of the step of Mats Sundin. Then came the 2006 Winter Olympics that saw Sundin rediscover his dominant form as he led Team Sweden to the gold medal in Turin. Upon returning to the Maple Leafs, Sundin went on a tear registering 37 points in the Leafs final 25 games of the season, much of that time spent on a line with Alexei Ponikarovsky and Nik Antropov.

Now that everybody knew he could still play at a high level, it resurrected the favorite question among Leaf fans: Who should play on Sundin’s line next year?

Not having been able to augment this part of their lineup through free agency, the Leafs will have to look to fill these two spots from within their own organization.

Considering his great success in the final portion of last season, there is a strong possibility he will start the year with the same linemates as he finished with last season. However it’s difficult to imagine any team that considers themselves a contender having Antropov or for that matter Ponikarovsky as first line wingers.

Alex Steen has said that he would like a shot to be Sundin’s wingman and judging by what he showed last season, I think he deserves a look. He’s young, fast and not afraid to go into the corners, something Antropov is often reluctant to do.

Jeff O’Neill has said he is ready to rediscover his form of 2003 when he led the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup Final. Despite a horrible season last year, putting him with Sundin would give the Leafs a chance to see if he ever will get his old form back. If he doesn’t put up, time to ship him about. If he can’t play on Sundin’s line, he’ll never be the player he was before.

Darcy Tucker may get a look as well, however he may be better used on a line with the newly acquired Mike Peca as part of an offensive grind line. Time will tell what Paul Maurice decides, but hey, all that was just rigamarole.