Cliff Fletcher : "Leafs In For Long Season"

Cliff Fletcher; the man given the role of rebuilding the Leafs has made plenty of moves since being named "interim" General Manager of the Leafs last year.

Fletcher has thrown aside the "interim" tag for now and seems to be in full control for now until a suitable replacement (sorry JFJ, they won't be inviting you back) is named. Last season at this time Paul Marice the then head coach of the Leafs said "We'll compete for the cup". Now Fletcher has this to say about the upcoming season "You don't have to be a Rhodes Scholar to know there's going to be rocky days head, tough games, maybe tough stretches". What to set us straight eh Cliff?

So obviously the expectations are low, but should he be saying it like that considering he's the one who put this team together? Well yes, the team is a re-building one and much shouldn't be expected of them.

Since coming back to manage the team Fletcher has done all he can to improve this team. Last year at the deadline he dealt Kilger, Gill and Belak away for picks. He tried moving those with big deals but they had no movement clauses and they refused to waive them. Some deals rumored to be in the mix were Kaberle to the Flyers for Carter and a second round pick, and Sundin to Montreal for Higgins, a first rounder and second rounder. What kind of team would we be looking at now had that been the case?

This year he managed to get rid of veterans and under performing youngsters, included in this mix were Tucker, RayCroft, McCabe and Wellwood. They were replaced with Joseph, Hagman, Finger, and Van Ryn. Also added to the team replacing Maurice behind the bench is Ron Wilson, a coach with a defensive mindset something the Maple Leafs needed desperately. Doesn't seem to bad to me, let's ask Fletcher what he thinks again..

His belief that the Leafs have only one top six forward – Nik Antropov. He said Alexei Ponikarovsky and newcomer Niklas Hagman "are on the fringe of that." There was no mention of Matt Stajan or Alex Steen.

Top pick, defenceman Luke Schenn, will have to "blow us away" at training camp, he said, in order to stick with the team.

"If he deserves to be here, he'll be here. But we're not going to put him on the team because he's our first pick. They've had some not very good experiences in bygone years with the Maple Leafs over young defence-men coming in prematurely. It's a little different if you have a forward. At forward, you can cover up his mistakes; being a D-man, it's more difficult."

"(Pogge) obviously needs a lot of work on mechanics. He has tremendous athleticism. Hopefully by the end of the year ... he's the one that makes us feel comfortable about his future. This is a critical year for him. But we're going to give him the help."

"Whoever gets the first pick next year is not getting a Crosby or an Ovechkin or a Malkin or even a Staal. You're not getting that. You're going to get a good player but you're not getting a franchise player next year.

"Outside of Mats (Sundin), Pavel Kubina is probably the most influential player in our dressing room. Pavel cares. He's won a Stanley Cup and he really cares. He wants to win. He's a good player to keep here."

Hmm? So there doesn't seem to be much incentive for the Leafs in terms of the draft if they do perform poorly and he doesn't consider Steen or Stajan cornerstones in their offense. It's going to be a long ride for sure this season, one that's going to be interesting to watch.

"Hopefully, this time next year, we'll be a much, much better team going into the season."