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Today Alexander Ovechkin signed a 13 year contract extension worth $124 million US, making it the richest contract in the history of professional hockey. The money isn’t the scary thing though, it’s the length. When Alexi Yashin signed on for 10 years with the Isles, people’s jaws dropped. When the same team signed goalie Rick DiPietro to an NHL reccord 15 year deal, people thought Isles owner Charles Wang had lost his mind, but at least it was a practice contained to the Island. Then earlier this season Mike Richards signed on with Philly for 12 years. Hmmm. Now, with Ovechkin signing on for over a decade, it seems the practice is spreading. It seems other teams may be opening up to the idea of signing their stars to deals that could last their entire career. The danger is that if this trend continues to spread, players might start to look at 5 year contracts as short term, pushing for similar deals that will ensure them a comfy spot and salary for a long time to come. If this happens, it can only mean further heartache for the Leafs.

Imagine if in the summer of 2006 the Leafs had’ve signed (more…)

There are two things the Toronto Maple Leafs do that never surprise me. The first is to take seemingly high quality prospects and turn them into mediocrity or worse. The second is signing or trading for old men nearing the ends of their careers (often times ones who were previously on the team!)

Oh and losing. So three things I guess.

Let’s examine the first two though. How is it that the Leafs can take talented young players and turn them into garbage so rotten and slimey that it seeps out the corners of the bag? It’s really amazing. Matt Stajan scored 85 and 94 point in his last two years in the OHL. He initially looked very promising with the Leafs, but somehow they managed to break him down. Don’t forget his two friends on the “future hopes” list, Alex Steen and Kyle Wellwood. Another two guys who showed possibilities of stardom, but eventually sucumbed to the Leafs thirst for draining talent. How about Nik Antropov. Can you believe it! This is his big breakout year! How sad.

That’s just the current team too! Let’s not forget such names as Mike Johnson, Alyn McCauley, Jason Smith, Fredrik Modin and more who just a decade or less ago had their talent forcably taken from them by the merciless Leafs. The only saving grace is that these players all went on to be solid contributors to other teams. So while no one ever recovers completely, players can recover, if only partially, when moved to other teams.

Maybe it’s not that the Leafs destroy young talent, but that they’re just so (more…)