Toronto Maple Leafs: Trade Bait and Expectations for the Future

With the success that Toronto GM Brian Burke and Coach Ron Wilson had with team USA at the Olympics, can Leafs Nation expect a roll-over effect with their beloved blue and white?

I think they can, though the U.S. fell in the end to a better Canadian squad, Wilson may have built some confidence in Toronto through his coaching style with the USA.

Toronto players may now believe and buy in to his system with a little more enthusiasm.

Hopefully, the buds can pull themselves out of the bottom of the league and finish the last quarter of the season on a positive note.

A run of above .500 in this final stretch would give Leafs Nation some form of assurance that Burke and Wilson are the right guys for their respective positions.

The questions of who will be moved in the next few days and who will be trade bait during the draft will be answered shortly as the deadline of March 3 is close at hand.

Tomas Kaberle and Alexei Ponikarovsky are the two biggest names in the Leafs' organization that have been mentioned in trade rumors all year and what Burke has cooking is anybody’s guess.

On the outside, guys like Mikhail Grabovski, John Mitchell, and even Lee Stempniak may draw some interest from teams looking to bolster their lineups for playoff drives.

Nikolai Kulemin, a favorite of Leaf legend Johnny Bower, is a young player that may draw a lot of questions from NHL GMs, but I would be surprised if he is going anywhere, as the Leafs are thin up front already, but I wouldn’t put anything past Burke.

Another player in a similar situation is Luke Schenn, the blue chip blue liner, but with the depth on the blue line and the amount of money tied up on the backend, he could have other GMs asking questions and sniffing around.

Once all of these questions are answered over the next few days, Toronto, who is never worried about filling seats, will look to end this shabby display of a season with a good run down the stretch.  

The Leafs will most likely look to split starts between newly acquired goalie J.S. Giguere and rookie Jonas Gustavsson, though I would expect Giguere to get a couple extra depending on Toronto’s situation in the standings.

We know Burke doesn’t want to make that first round pick he gave up for Phil Kessel a top two, and Leafs Nation most likely won’t mind if it ends up being the third overall, who should be defenseman Cam Fowler of the Windsor Spitfires.

Kessel, after a so-so showing at the Olympics for team USA, will be under the microscope and will be expected to bulge the twine more than he did prior to the Olympic break where he found himself in somewhat of a slump as teams were keying off and collapsing on him whenever he had the puck.

Wilson’s job will be to tweak the lines so Kessel can get some space and get another line going offensively to take the pressure off the top line.

The young guys including Tyler Bozak, Christian Hanson, Victor Stalberg, and Nicolai Kulemin should see an increased amount of ice time showcasing them and preparing them for a full NHL season next year.

On the backend, Dion Phaneuf should be asserting his dominance and installing toughness in young Luke Schenn and the rest of the defense core for the future.

All in all, I am excited by the product and possibilities of the Leafs and look forward to seeing Nazem Kadri and perhaps Jerry D’Amigo next year, along with a few of the other kids in the system.

This final stretch of the season will hopefully be the beginning of Leaf Nation’s hope of not only a playoff bound team, but a Stanley Cup contender for the near and immediate future.

Carolina visits the ACC and Toronto Tuesday, March 2 to begin this stretch run.