Dropping in on some recent ex-Leafs who are involved in the NHL playoffs: do you want any of them back?

Since we can’t cheer for the blue and white this spring, it’s nonetheless always interesting to check on how some recent ex-Maple Leafs are doing in their quest for playoff success.  We could go through this exercise with just about any NHL team in this day and age, not just the Maple Leafs.  Significant roster turnover is not uncommon in the cap era, especially with the annual summer free-agent frenzy seeing more (and younger) players available than when UFA opportunities first were negotiated in the CBA.

That said, since our focus here is on the Leafs, let’s have a quick look at what some ex-locals are doing this spring:  (I may be missing some guys, so let me know...)

New York Rangers

The Leaf influence here is pretty modest, though John Mitchell is a fourth-liner and Anton Stralman is getting minutes on the Ranger blueline.

Mitchell was, not surprisingly, moved for a 7^th round draft choice a while back.  He is only averaging 5 minutes a night in these playoffs so far, but he's playing on a very good team's fourth line.  The 25 year-old Stralman (a Ferguson draft pick in 2005) was moved to the Blue Jackets by Burke for a third-rounder in 2009.  He has scored twice in the series, is a plus 2 so far in the playoffs, playing a little over 16 minutes a night on the Ranger blue line.

St. Louis

The Blues of course have Alex Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo, both significant contributors (despite an injury to Steen that took him out of the line-up for an extended period of time) to an outstanding season under Ken Hitchcock in St. Louis.

Both young Leafs were traded by Cliff Fletcher (at the behest of Ron Wilson?), ostensibly because they were not working hard enough, weren’t in shape or were part of the entitlement era here.  Not sure exactly what really led to that move. I remember writing a post here a long time ago entitled “Does anyone miss Alexander Steen”.  At that time, no one seemed to.  But we may, now.

Steen missed a good chunk of this season with a concussion but was outstanding when healthy.  He is producing and playing big minutes for Hitchcock in the playoffs.  Colaiacovo had a big night offensively in Game 3, with 3 assists for the Blues.

San Jose

Every spring, I see Dominic Moore playing hockey in the playoffs for somebody.  That’s partly because Moore is a solid contributor on good teams, and partly because he often gets traded to such teams  at the deadline.  He always seems to be a sought-after commodity.

In any event, his current perch is in San Jose, helping the Sharks in their quest to finally advance deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs.  Moore was offered a very nice contract (with term as I recall) by Burke, but shunned the offer for a shot at free agency and was, understandably, traded by Burke at the deadline to the Sabres.  I’m pretty sure he’s never made the kind of money he would have in Toronto, but he continues to be a nice addition to most any team at this time of year.

He is currently playing 15 minutes a night for the Sharks in their series against St. Louis.

Nasvhille

Hal Gill was a Leaf not that long ago in the Paul Maurice coaching era, but like others before and after him, was a defenseman with size who just wasn’t really appreciated in Toronto.  (We do have a tendency to focus on what our defensemen are not good at, as opposed to the things that they do well…). 

Gill (injured last I checked, but hoping to return in the series against Detroit at some point...) has played for a lot of teams over the years, but has generally been a pretty dependable defenseman.  He was traded by Fletcher and was a very capable piece of the Pens puzzle when they won their Cup.

Detroit

I’ve often said here that the only guy I’ve missed from the trade that brought Aulie and Phaneuf to Toronto was Ian White.  That seemed like a not very insightful assessment when White kept being bounced around from town to town- Calgary, Carolina, San Jose and now, of course, the Red Wings.

I think a lot of us liked his willingness to battle for pucks and though not a tall defenseman, he certainly played tough and we all know he has offensive skills, too.  While some of his success can be linked to playing a lot with Lidstrom (and I’m not sure I’d ever want to give a player like White a long-term contract), he has certainly been a solid player for the Red Wings this season.

The Wings are currently in tough against a very strong Nashville squad.  Through the first four games, White's ice team is down quite a bit from the regular season, and he is a minus 2.  (He was a plus 3 in 17 playoff games with the Sharks last season.)

It’s not unreasonable to ask where the 28 year-old would fit on the Leafs right now—as a 4^th defenseman…or even higher?

Boston

I only include Tyler Seguin because he could (would?) have been a Maple Leaf.  I know a lot of Leaf fans,  perhaps especially those who support Burke’s move to bring Kessel here, don’t like to discuss the “trade”, but the fact is when you make huge deals, they will—and should be—assessed and discussed over time.

In Toronto, Seguin wouldn’t have a Cup, but at 20, he already has nice experience playing in the springtime. I’m not looking to ignite the trade debate again, simply suggesting that there’s no point in ignoring what’s right in front of us—an elite young star who is even further away from his prime than Kessel is.

Is it fair to say Seguin would fit in more from a “timing” perspective (i.e. he will be in his prime when the Leafs are actually good and in a position to contend) than Kessel?

In the playoffs thus far, he hasn't got his name on the stat sheet, but is almost doubling his playoff ice time from a year ago, an indication Claude Julien has a lot of faith in him.

New Jersey

I doubt many Leaf fans miss Alex Ponikorovsky, but we should include him in any report along these lines.  The long-frustrating Leaf winger is contributing, however, to the surprisingly (at least to me, who did not expect them to be this competitive this season) successful Devils as they wind their way through the first round of the playoffs.   From what I've seen, he is playing hard in fairly modest (about 13 minutes a night) ice time with the Devils against the Panthers.

Florida

Kris Versteeg didn’t seem to make many friends among Leaf fans during his short stay in Toronto.  But as I’ve said here quite a lot since he left, he just seems to be one of the types of (high-end third-line??) players that should have been be a fit here, at least on paper.  That fact that he wasn’t remains a mild mystery to me.

In any event, it's still early on in the playoffs, but he is playing almost 19 minutes a night.  He had a pretty solid regular season with Florida.  After a very fast start, his plus/minus dropped off later in the season, but he is still contributing to the team's surprising surge.

Philadelphia

I’m not even sure, off the top of my head, if I can remember everywhere Pavel Kubina has been since leaving Toronto.  But I know this—like Hal Gill, he has a Cup on his resume, and yet he was another defenseman who just didn’t quite seem to fit here in Toronto.  (He was moved by Burke to the Thrashers.)  But he’s good enough to still be playing with a very good team, providing a nice veteran presence to a young Flyers squad that is doing better (the Game 4 implosion against Pittsburgh aside) than OK despite the absence of their captain, Pronger.

In the three games he has been in so far in the playoffs, he is averaging about 13-14 minutes a night for the Flyers.

Chicago

In the many assessments one sees about deals that Burke has made, we almost never hear a reference to things like giving away Jiri Tlusty to Carolina (a very productive player for the ‘Canes this past season).  And we rarely hear a word mentioned about sending Stalberg to Chicago.  Not that Stalberg has become a star, but he has certainly provided more than many expected after his relatively brief and un-distinguished time with the blue and white.  His minutes are up a lot from last year's playoffs in the Hawks match-up with the Coyotes.

Also, Jamal Mayers is playing as a fourth-liner with the Hawks in these playoffs, averaging about 9 minutes a game.

We could go back more than a decade and raise a name like Steve Sullivan, now with the Penguins, but I’ve mostly been focused on more recent ex-Leafs.  Would you like to see any of these guys back here?

In any event, if you have any thoughts to share on any of the above, as always, send your comments along.