Do the Leafs know something the other owners don't?
From another Star column - by Damien Cox - talking about the Leafs continuing to build their payroll:
But the bigger issue that Cox ignores is that if you really do care about the Leafs, do you want your $60 million dollar payroll to have the same players as last year? With the same coach?
Sure they can beat the Sens in the playoffs... (as a Sens fan I'm going to start saying this -->) Sure they can beat Lalime in the playoffs but they aren't going to win 4 rounds with creaky back Nieuwendyk, bum shoulders Roberts, crazy 40 year-old Eddie, and more importantly, with McCable and Leetch playing over 30 minutes a game, every game, in the first and second round.
If the Leafs had wanted to help Bettman and the league, they could have gone to arbitration with McCabe and then, in the wake of a rich reward, they would have walked away from the 29-year-old defenceman.Ferguson isn't told what to do by an owner that talks to Bettman - he gets his budget from the board of directors of MLG - controlled by the teachers pension fund.
Imagine the reverberations that would have produced in the hockey world.
Imagine the political impact on the union.
Again, you can only really find fault with the Leafs if you believe the NHL is in dire financial straits and needs a salary cap to relieve the pressure.
If you don't believe those things, and if you only care about the Leafs, and if you forecast that ultimately the owners will lose this fight and lose big, then you have to be very happy indeed with Ferguson's summer activities.
But the bigger issue that Cox ignores is that if you really do care about the Leafs, do you want your $60 million dollar payroll to have the same players as last year? With the same coach?
Sure they can beat the Sens in the playoffs... (as a Sens fan I'm going to start saying this -->) Sure they can beat Lalime in the playoffs but they aren't going to win 4 rounds with creaky back Nieuwendyk, bum shoulders Roberts, crazy 40 year-old Eddie, and more importantly, with McCable and Leetch playing over 30 minutes a game, every game, in the first and second round.
