Toronto Maple Leafs: A Look Ahead to the 2010 Season

With any hope of making the playoffs this year fading faster than a three-goal lead, let's take a look ahead at what could be on the horizon for our beloved Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Leafs have some "cornerstones" in place with Phil Kessel locked up for the foreseeable future, along with Nazim Kadri, Viktor Stalberg, Jiri Tlusty, and Nikolai Kulemin. The next couple of years could see remarkable changes in Leaf Land.

Overall, the game is moving both backward and forward at the same time. With the elimination of clutching and grabbing and more open ice, small "power" forwards, will once again be the mainstay of most teams.

With that being said, we should also see the re-emergence of the "stay at home" type of defenseman to a degree. With the speed and quickness of opposing forwards, the Leafs, as it stands right now, are ill equipped.

The Leafs' future on defense doesn't hold as much potential as the forward core. With the emergence of Luke Schenn and Carl Gunnarsson on the horizon, as well as stalwarts like Tomas Kaberle, Ian White, and Mike Van Ryn, the Leafs' defense will have a good solid base.

The biggest question mark for the team going forward is still goal tending. Jonas Gustavsson may well be the long-term solution, but Vesa Toskala cannot guide him there. The Leafs have got to sign a top tier goaltender and there is simply no other way around it.

I have said this before, and I will say it again: A young team building towards the future cannot develop without the ability to have confidence in the fact that they have someone behind them that can bail them out on occasion.

Toskala is most certainly not that person, but Gustavsson may well be two to four years down the road.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will have to address a group of 13 or 14 free agents at various stages at the end of this season and while I don't see many of them returning, only time will tell.

In the meantime, keep in mind that the future Toronto Maple Leafs will in no way resemble the same team we are watching this year, so take some solace in that.