When Ron Wilson signed with Toronto to become the new head coach in town, he said that sometimes you have to take a step bac to go forward. Right now, it looks like that is exactly what his Maple Leafs are doing.

The only question is which step back did the take? Did they step back far enough to blow up the season in December so they can get John Tavares or Victor Headman, or did they just step back just enough to get that decent fifth-10th pick, bring in the human eraser Luke Schenn, get Brian Burke, sign some good free agents, and see what happens from there?

Right now, it looks like they took the second route. Get Burke, bring in Schenn, sign some good free agents, and then try to make the playoffs. The reason I say that is because, well, look at the changes they made.

The brought in Ron Wilson, Niklas Hagman, and Mikhail Grabovski, along with some other players. Check this out. They improved by dropping Tucker and bringing in Hagman. They improved by dropping Wellwood and bringing in Grabovski. And the might have gotten better with Ron Wilson.

With those changes, it should be enough to contend for the eighth spot in the East. Even if they do have a losing season, I will still support it, because I realize that they might be trying to get better this year, then next year possibly taking the Tampa Bay route.

That route includes bringing in a new, perminent GM (fingers crossed for Burke), then signing a ton of decent free agents. If they can do all of this, they should be good for the playoffs in the 2010-11 season.

Thoughts?