The Toronto Maple Leafs are a fantasy dream. Well, that’s if you have Leafs on your team or your fantasy players are the opponents. If you have their goaltending, they are a nightmare. The Leafs have played ten games thus far and there have been 78 goals scored in total by both teams. By comparison, the top team in the league the Minnesota Wild, have had 31 goals scored by both teams in their eight contests.

Bryan McCabe is getting blasted in the Toronto press for his lack of defensive prowess. I was talking about this with my brother Larry and we decided that McCabe possesses a great shot, is a very good skater and little else. He is a fantasy dream as he garners a lot of points and penalty minutes, but as far as defensemen go, he leaves a lot to be desired. McCabe is poor defensively and can’t lead the rush as he is not a good passer. So the Leafs have to find a defensive defenseman who can make the first pass out. There is no one like that available, so the Leafs have to give up on the defensive part of the game when they partner McCabe with Ian White, who at least is able to make the all-important first pass to start the Leafs on the offensive.

I can’t understand how Leaf management decides who to go after as a free agent. Instead of giving McCabe, Pavel Kubina and Todd Gill all the money (over $12 million this season) they would have been much better off going after Zdeno Chara last season or Wade Redden. Not that either would have necessarily signed with the Leafs, but if they had, the Leafs would be far superior this season and would have made the playoffs last year. I know Redden was injured for most of last season, but the team would have been able to spend more money elsewhere and who says that Redden would have suffered the injuries had he been in a Toronto uniform.

Another objection I have is how the team rates NHL goaltenders. To give up a goaltender like Tuuku Rask for Andrew Raycroft is mind boggling. Rask has a chance to be a great NHL goaltender while Raycroft has a chance to be a backup goaltender next season in the NHL. I can’t blame them for trading for Vesa Toskala as he should be a good enough starting goaltender for Toronto, until Justin Pogge is ready, but the people in the front office who evaluate the talent are not the best in the NHL.

The Leafs are the top money-making team in the NHL. Since there is a salary cap, the only place that they can spend extra money is in their scouting and upper management. It would be a good idea if they used some of their strong Canadian dollar to do so.