Off-Season Game Plan

The new style of the NHL seemed to catch the Toronto Maple Leafs off-guard last year and the result was no playoff hockey.
While the Toronto fans have a history of supporting the Leafs no matter what the level of success on the ice, there will be plenty of expectations for productive changes this off-season.
The first big change came behind the bench, where Pat Quinn was relieved of his duties. Though the Leafs didn't get over the hump with Quinn at the helm, his 300-196-78 regular season record was impressive.
The new guy, Paul Maurice, did earn lots of credibility with a run to the Cup finals in 2002 with Carolina, but he also missed the playoffs five times and lost in the first round twice in his other seven seasons with the 'Canes. After posting a 41-29-6-4 record with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL in 2005-2006, Maurice has had some success and is familiar with the young players in the organization.

Maurice promises that the Leafs will play a more up-tempo style, which likely means getting younger; an approach that is a year late, but still necessary.
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Quite possibily the first on-ice priority that the Leafs need to address is goaltending. Ed Belfour looked every bit like a 40 year-old with a bad back and it was up to Jean-Sebastien Aubin to give the Leafs a late lift between the pipes. Despite a tremendous finish (9-0-2, 2.22 goals against, .924 save percentage) Aubin is no more than a backup, at best, on a playoff team.
While the Leafs have a couple top goaltending prospect in Tuukka Rask and Justin Pogge, it is much too soon to heap NHL responsibility upon them. That leaves Mikael Tellqvist, who looked good early and then faded late. It would be a surprise if Tellqvist is the guy for 50-60 games in 2006-2007, which means that the Leafs are going to be in the market for a starter between the pipes.
On the free agent front, Martin Gerber or Manny Legace could be signed, but the Leafs might find more on the trade market. Crowded creases around the league could make the likes of Dan Cloutier, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Evgeni Nabokov, Andrew Raycroft, David Aebischer, Marc Denis and Martin Biron available.
Assuming the Leafs address the goaltending situation, there is still plenty of work to do in front of the tenders. On defence, the Leafs may not be willing to re-sign Bryan McCabe, who has been reported to be seeking a five-year deal worth at least $25-million and, perhaps more contentiously, a no-trade clause.
If the Leafs think they can get more bang for their buck with either a cheaper alternative (Pavel Kubina?) or by spending a little more (Wade Redden?, Ed Jovanovski?, Rob Blake?), McCabe's days in T.O. could be numbered. After putting up 68 points last year, McCabe will surely attract attention on the free agent market too, as there are plenty of teams with holes to fill on the blueline.

One of the most noticeable changes anticipated for the Leafs is that Mats Sundin might start to see more icetime. It wasn't until late in the season, when seemingly there was nothing to play for, that the Leafs started giving Sundin more ice and the captain responded with 20 points in the final ten games of the year.
Even at 35, the Leafs can count on Sundin to anchor the first line and it's about time that the Leafs brought in some wingers capable of supporting him. Patrik Elias, Brendan Shanahan, Sergei Samsonov and Anson Carter are among the scoring wingers available in unrestricted free agency (and playmaking centre Marc Savard probably holds some appeal for the Leafs too), but there will be plenty of demand for all of them and that could make it tough for a non-playoff team to lure them in, so the Leafs might have to look to trade for a top winger.
Taking a quick look around the league, some of the wingers that might be potential targets could include Todd Bertuzzi, Fredrik Modin and Glen Murray. Of course, to land goalscorers like this, the Leafs would have to be prepared to sacrifice quality in return and it's debatable just how much quality the Leafs would have to deal.
The end result is that Leafs will probably make a splash signing or two, but they need to infuse the lineup with young players that can skate -- it's been proven to be a rather successful strategy in this year's playoffs -- if there is going to be any chance of even getting back to the postseason next year.