Maple Leafs Lose Thanks To Ferguson

Amidst all the reports from various media outlets, the Toronto Maple Leafs could have been a younger, better team after the trade deadline passed.

The Leafs captain Mats Sundin, would have been traded for a boat load of talent , and draft picks, one rumour, had Mats going to the Montreal Canadiens for Chris Higgins, and the Habs no.1,2, and three draft picks this year, that would have definitely made the Leafs younger, and with all those draft picks, it would have gotten back some of what was lost recently thanks to Jon Ferguson jr, not to mention that Higgins so far is a consistent 20 goal scorer. Unfortunately Sundin refused to waive his no trade clause.

Some other reports suggest that another no trade Leafs player would have been traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for Jeff Carter, and possibly a draft pick as well, again this would have made the Leafs younger, and added more draft picks, which were lost by Ferguson, so without anymore than those two rampant rumours, the Leafs would have been better.

Another rumour which is floating around on many radio stations, is that Chris Pronger could have been a Maple Leaf, and the trade would have involved Tomas Kaberle, but he has a no trade clause, the problem is his no trade would have only kicked in a month after the trade would have occurred, but Ferguson caved under Kaberle’s agent who apparently said his client had a no trade and regardless of when it takes effect, Ferguson had to honour that. Wow, nice cowering man he is, Ferguson was lucky to have his job as long as he did. Imagine Leaf fans, that you had Chris Pronger, the Leafs would have definitely been better this year.

Ferguson is the one who allotted those no trade contracts, he really has made Cliff Fletchers’ job more difficult as new interim General manager for the Leafs, Fletcher could have made his team better, but in the end because of Ferguson’s handling, was basically handcuffed at the deadline, he managed to trade away dead weight, one of those being Chad Kilger, who hasn’t reported to the Florida Panthers, and has been taken off their roster for now.

One view about no trade contracts is, if a player is given one, is the player to blame for refusing to waive it, like Mats Sundin, or Wade Redden of the Ottawa Senators who has refused to waive his no trade for the past two years. Or is the player who refuses to waive his no trade being selfish, and is basically refusing to help the team in a bad situation. Unfortunately for Mats Sundin, his wanting to stay with a sinking ship as the Captain for fear of being ridiculed as yellow and scared of not making the play-offs, has put him in a bind, next season he either has to retire, or resign with the team for less, if he wants to keep the notion of going down with the ship, or else he runs the risk of being hated by the Leaf fans for sabotaging the future of the Leafs.

Only one thing is for certain, if gm’s are willing to implement no trade clauses, players will almost always accept them. No more no trade clauses, as it punishes the team in the long run, or, the player has to submit a list of at least 10-15 teams which if the possibility arose, they could be traded to.