Oh, the soap opera that is, the Toronto Maple Leafs... b.t.w., for those who don't know it yet, they actually managed to win last night (maybe the planets were aligned in some particular order, who knows?)...

Now, to the topic of this post. It appears that the Toronto Maple Leafs will try and sign John Tavares to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL (the Leafs' farm team), and in a nutshell, circumvent the NHL draft in 2009. This could clear the way for him to play for Toronto in 2009.

... at least that's how it would play out in some fantasy world somewhere.

There are a million things wrong with this picture, the biggest which is, the fact it would set a dangerous precedent for other teams to do the same thing with young and upcoming stars. It was something done in the past, but this is now. There are rules in place.

If the Leafs really want to get better, dump the dead weight, starting at the top of the food chain. I think the coaching staff is fine, it's those above that are the problem.

Of course, that will never happen, since the top of the food chain is the owner/owners. Their only interest is the amount of money the team pulls in, rather than how many championships they win. The real unfortunate thing is, the "Leaf Nation" would still fill the seats at the Air Canada Centre, no matter how poorly the team does. No matter how much the fan base yells and screams for them to do something, the only thing they do, is thumb their noses at us, while they continue to rake in the coin at the gate.

Let me say this loud and clear, so everyone can hear: THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS ARE WORSE THAN CRACK.  Leaf fans just don't realize it.

John Tavares: Don't go to Toronto. It's suicide.