Are the Toronto Maple Leafs and Brian Burke Ready for Training Camp?

With the dilemma of Tomas Kaberle and his no-trade clause now seemingly long gone, are we now seeing the team that will arrive at training camp with just a little more than seven weeks to the start of the 2010/2011 regular season?

The consensus however is that they are not.

The opinion of people outside the team, and admittedly, non professionals like myself and Howard Berger is that there are potentially two big holes in the Toronto Maple Leafs line up going into next season.

The bigger issue of the two in my opinion is the left wing position.

Raffi Torres

Overall Torres has been a relative disappointment. After being drafted 5th overall in the 200 draft by the Islanders he has bounced around between the Islanders, Oilers Blue Jackets and Sabres.

The year after the lock out (2005-06) was a career year for Torres as he went on to score 27 goals and made it all the way to game seven of the Stanley Cup Final with Edmonton against Carolina.

My take on Torres is that if the Leafs could get him for under two million he would be a good third line winger that will get you anywhere between 12 and 22 goals, and be able to make the jump to the second line if need be to cover for an injury.

Paul Kariya

35 year old Paul Kariya has been a major threat to score over the course of most of his career. Although he has never enjoyed the quite the same success as he did in Anaheim, he remains a point a game player for his career with 989 points in 989 NHL games.

My Take on Kariya. A very adept puck handler, this Canadian left winger can also fill in at center when need be and would be a fit on the Leafs second or third line for another couple of years. The only real issue I could for see is his money.

While Kariya is certainly no longer the six million dollar player he used to be, he would likely command still between 3.5 and 4 million and that may put him out of the Leafs price range.

Steve Begin 

Steve Begin, much like Torres is a journey man winger who despite being picked relatively high in the draft (40th overall) never really amounted to much in the NHL.

My take on Begin is that he is a worker and though not quite a prototypical Burke player he has some grit and isn't afraid to go into the corners.

At well under a million a season Begin may well be the best fit over all for the Toronto Maple Leafs for the next two to three years on a third or fourth line.

Ilya Kovalchuk

What can you say about Ilya Kovalchuk? The leagues leading scorer since the lock out, he would make an instant and long lasting impact on the Maple Leafs roster.

The biggest issue of course would be his contract.

My take on Kovi is that he is the best pure offensive player in the league today, and is capable of playing with a bit of an edge when he wants to. He would be an incredible player to see in a blue and white jersey if it was remotely possible, I just don't see it being so.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will head into camp soon enough and will likely do so without signing another player. One of the luxuries that Brian Burke has afforded himself by signing Jerry D'Amigo is time.

The Leafs can afford to wait until training camp is in full swing and evaluate the young wingers chances of making the team before Burke has to decide, so until then we are probably looking at the starting line up give or take a defense man.

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