Quadraton

Ha! I don't think that's going to happen. Right now, JFJ has 6 UFA's to deal with (currently totaling just over $5.5 million), 5 RFA's (currently totaling around $2.5 million), he's already dumped $5.5 million on Sundin, and he still has to eat $7.2 million on a panty-waist like Bryan McCabe. He spends way too much money on players who give very little in return (McCabe, Kubina, Peca, Kaberle).

No, the solution to Toronto's problems aren't going to be found in the UFA market, and they aren't going to be fixed in a year. This isn't the era where the Leafs can just spend $60+ million on their roster, and buy their way out of a problem. If the Leafs ever want to be competitive again, they're going to have to come up with a better plan to grow from within. In this day and age, the most competitive teams are the ones who have the best young talent, at the cheapest prices.

Look at the final four teams in this year's Stanley Cup playoff (Ottawa, Buffalo, Detroit and Anaheim). All of them relied heavily on their own homegrown talent, with a light sprinkling of UFA's. And to go even further, neither team that made it into the Stanley Cup Finals made any huge deals on the trade deadline. Everyone else was willing to trade away their futures except those two teams, and look where it got them.

Toronto has a long way to go before they ever become a truly competitive team, but then again, they've had 40 years to do that. As long as the MSLE owns the Maple Leafs, it's going to be same old until the planet is too warm to support hockey arenas.

Edit: Made a mistake when I mentioned the cap hits. Took those parts out, because really, I was just talking out of my ass.

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"A witty saying proves nothing"
- Voltaire