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When you consistently trade away your first round picks and prospects for immediate help sooner or later it will come back to haunt you. Despite that trend over the last decade, the Leafs have managed to develop a few players that have gone on to a reasonable NHL careers. The times and philosophy must change quickly for the Buds if they wish to compete consistently for the playoffs in the next decade. Fortunately for Leaf fans, Cliff Fletcher helped guide the Phoenix Coyotes in getting their farm system turned around so he should be able to do the same for Toronto. A higher priority and effort has been taken in prospect development by the Leafs organization as both Asst. General Manager Jeff Jackson and Director of Player Development Dallas Eakins are keeping a watchful eye.

Now they do have a few potential NHL players in the mix, but the overall depth and offensive talent is not considered elite up front or on defence. Only Jiri Tlusty, Nikolai Kulemin and maybe newly drafted Jimmy Hayes are projected as a top nine forwards at their peak and the remaining group of Dale Mitchell, Chad Rau, Ben Winnett, Matt Frattin, Chris DiDomenico are projected to be anywhere from third liners to journeymen AHL/ECHL players. It is now or never for Robbie Earl and he has found himself in the same situation as John Mitchell was last year - prove you can play or move aside. An advantage for the Leafs has been that many of their picks have played away from the media spotlight of Toronto in the NCAA or Europe.

The Maple Leafs tried to remain patient with their young defencemen over the last six seasons and some dividends began to show. The 2001 and 2002 drafts were looked upon to help turn around the franchise on defence but not as many blueliners had developed as they projected. They were hoping that two out of this group of Brendan Bell, Karl Pilar, Jay Harrison, Maxim Kondratiev and Staffan Kronvall would have made the jump to the NHL permanently. At least two of the defencemen from those drafts - Carlo Colaiacovo and Ian White - have graduated to the NHL and proven they can play some reasonable minutes, but they need to be replaced on the farm.

The jewel of the blueline now is Luke Schenn, who is still on the prospects list since he has not played enough NHL games as of yet to be removed. Other that Schenn, they only have second year pro Phil Oreskovic is on the list, so the Buds could use more depth. Anton Stralman - who has already played over 200 games as pro between Europe, AHL and the NHL - has been taken off the prospect list. It looks as though Stralman could develop into a solid NHL defenceman if he dedicates himself to his craft and the Leafs are patient.

The Buds do have good potential in goal with Justin Pogge and he could be a backup as early as next season under Toskala with a strong training camp and preseason. The other netminder in the system is ex-Red Deer Rebel James Reimer, who will need at least a of couple years in the pros before the truly know what they have. Losing Tuukka Rask in the Andrew Raycroft deal could come back and haunt the Leafs. It never hurts to have multiple goaltenders in the system and that will be something they should address over the next couple drafts.


SHANE MALLOY, PROSPECT INSIDER
TSN