The signing of goaltender Trevor Kidd by the Toronto Maple Leafs on August 26th may have been the short-term answer for the parent club, but the goaltending glut in St. John’s for this season may be the biggest dilemma for Marc Crawford and the St. John’s Maple Leafs coaching staff as they enter the 2002-03 season.
Not including Ed Belfour and the newly acquired Kidd, five goaltenders are under contract with the Leafs. Top prospects Mikael Tellqvist and Sebastien Centomo look to battle for 1 and 2 spots, but don’t forget the Baby Leafs MVP two seasons ago Mike Minard is also there. Add J-F Racine and Jamie Hodson to the goaltending mix and it’s possible the Leafs could make some kind of move to shore up their forwards or defence for the upcoming season.
The real problem for the Leafs this year will be asking some of the younger players to take up the huge losses of leading scorer Donald MacLean (now with the Columbus organization),perennial Baby Leaf rearguard, Nathan Dempsey, who will handle a different wind in the Windy City and the Blackhawks this season rather than the cold October wind of St. John’s and fan favorite Jeff Farkas (traded to Vancouver for Josh Holden). Also gone are Francois Bouchard (Europe), Jacques Lariviere (trying out with Pittsburgh) and Andre Payette (free agent)
The Leafs did get some new faces over the off-season, signing WHL scoring champ Nathan Barrett, the aforementioned Holden, defencemen Richard Jackman and Ryan Bonni, but it will be asking more of the Leafs younger players to step up and take action. One of those forwards will be Luca Cereda. The Swiss forward had a horrible first 3/4 of his rookie season but to his credit played extremely well defensively in the latter part and during the Calder Cup playoffs. If he keeps it up, he can be a leader on this team. Meanwhile on the defensive side, I suspect Chris Chartier could be the offensive catalyst behind the blueline on the powerplay. Chartier impressed many during his rookie season and don’t be surprised if he makes some headway this year.
Returning forwards include the always offensively dangerous Bobby House and Bob Wren (who with Barrett could be the team’s scoring leaders), grinders Morgan Warren, Doug Doull and Craig Mills and the aforementioned Cereda. Defensively, expect Jay Harrison, Petr Svoboda, Regan Kelly, Allan Rourke, Bonni, Jackman and Chartier to patrol the Leafs blueline.
Then with every training camp, there are those players who could stick in Toronto or be sent back to St. John’s. These include Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky, top prospect Brad Boyes, Aaron Gavey, Paul Healey, and Josh Holden up front. As for rearguards, there’s Anders Eriksson and Karel Pilar. Pilar did play well with Toronto last season, but remember all that guaranteed money Eriksson is getting.
If you include injured defenceman Marc Moro (out til December with reconstructive knee surgery) and fringe players like Jonathan Gagnon and Robb Palahnuk, who could head to St. John’s or elsewhere and you have the makings of a somewhat competitive team, but you wonder if the kids will help the Leafs to the Calder Cup Playoffs again this year.
It makes for an interesting training camp.
