Toronto Maple Leafs Rebuilding Process: Where are we Now?

With the incipient rebuilding of the Toronto Maple Leafs already under way, a couple of big questions need to be generally raised:

What is the strategy for rebuilding? And how long might this process take?

The strategy has become quite obvious since the beginning of free agency on July 1. Fletcher is building this team to be balanced and responsible in their own end, starting from the goaltender and working out.

Since John Ferguson Jr. locked in solid goaltending for years to come (after several tries, mind you) by acquiring Toskala and drafting Justin Pogge, Fletcher has been solidifying the defense.

On defense, we have seen three new players added—Luke Schenn, Jeff Finger, and Jonas Frogren (he's not signed yet. but they will work this out). Luke Schenn, I don't I need to say anything about, except that he was picked fifth overall and is going to be a premier shut-down defenseman in this league.

Jeff Finger came at a hefty price, $3.5 million a season after playing only 90 games, but he is a solid defensive specialist (the type of player we needed).

Finally, Frogren will be another defensive specialist to complement our line-up over the next few years, if not longer.

With these players being added to the youth currently developing on the blue line, I am beginning to feel fairly confident in the Leafs' future at this position. We still have Ian White, Carlo Coliacovo (if he can stay healthy), and Anton Stralman—who are respectively 23, 24, and 21 years old.  

I must also mention Dimitri Vorobiev, who has been putting up some solid numbers in Russia and is already 210 pounds. His potential ranges from being a solid number three or four, to just becoming a depth guy. He has no real noticeable weaknesses, but his strengths are hard to pick out as well.

Vorobiev could become a solid top four if we can get him to North America to begin adjusting to the game over here as soon as possible.

The "old veterans"—Bryan McCabe, Pavel Kubina, and Tomas Kaberle—are aged are 33, 31, and 30, respectively, while Finger and Frogren are 28. This all adds up to a defensive corps made up of a mix of solid veterans and young players coming into the peak of their careers—hopefully peaking at the time the Leafs have developed a solid offense.

I think the team needs to look at McCabe and Kubina as assets to be traded to help rebuild the offense, and not as a part of the Maple Leafs future.

What we could be looking at on defesne in three to four years from now—if the status quo remains, the McCabe situation is dealt with, and Kubina is traded while he still has some value—are a couple of defensive specialists in their early- to mid-thirties (Finger, Frogren), a veteran All-Star, puck-moving defenseman (Kaberle), and a range of offensive- and defensive-oriented defensemen coming into their prime in their mid-to-late twenties.

This is the kind of mix teams want on the back end—youthful with a few veterans, and a balanced mix of offensive puck-moving defensemen and solid checking, shut-down guys.

Now that Toronto has a solid and balanced defensive corps, any future issues that may come up can potentially be solved through free agency. The Leafs should turn toward developing their offense.

Luckily for us (and everybody else, really), there are some gems coming up in the next couple of drafts.

Obviously, Tavares would be great to land, but this may not be feasible. There is also a fantastic Swedish player coming up in the 2010 draft—but Toronto can't place all of their hopes on finishing last and picking up one of those guys.

Of course, the Leafs need to land a couple of great offensive players, but they should also be focusing on developing both primary and secondary scoring.

Right now, the Leafs have the following forwards with the big club: Nik Antropov (28), the Leafs' top player, who will be a veteran by the time we develop and build a new offense; Alex Steen (24), who hopefully will raise the bar over the next few years,; Matt Sajan (25), who can be a solid defensive center on the third line and might score twenty goals every odd season; Alexei Ponikarovsky (28), who can add size, speed, and some veteran experience on the third line; and Mikhail Grabovsky (24), who may hover in the second- and third-line area.

Developing in the farm system are a couple of strong offensive players—Jiri Tlusty, (19) scored 10 goals in 58 games in his rookie season, and we can assume will develop into a strong forward, able to play on either the top or second line. Meanwhile, Nik Kulemin has also shown that he can become an elite forward in the NHL with the numbers he has been putting up in the Russian league the last two years.

We also have a couple of players who could surprise. Robbie Earl certainly has some good offensive potential, if he can live up to it. Chris Didomenico finished third in the QMJHL last year as an 18-year old, leading his team to the semifinals in the first time they ever made the playoffs). If he can gain some muscle and improve his speed, he could surprise and become a solid NHL player.

What is needed to make this team a future contender are a couple of good forwards in the next two drafts, a couple of solid trades (potentially using McCabe and Kubina if possible) to acquire future assets, and maybe a good free agent signing or tw.

The time frame for this rebuilding process should last between two to four years (depending on how well this team is managed), and then we will begin to see improvements in the standings. Don't set your hopes on doing what Philadelphia did, we do not have the prospect depth at the forward position that they did.

First, we need to solidify a couple of good young forwards and develop a core group of effective offensive players. Then, it is just a matter of allowing them to reach their potential and then tweaking the roster.

The Leafs must to be smart and need to be thinking about sustainability when rebuilding this team. I think the steps made thus far have generally been in the right direction.