Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

5:05-5:30 Brian Burke IN STUDIO
6:05 Dan Shulman, ESPN
6:30 John Ferguson JR, Sharks Pro Scout on the Mats Sundin retirement
6:45 Iain Page, The Golf Channel…

On 640 with Brady and Watters:

- Jean Perron, former head coach of the Habs
- Rod Black of TSN
- Plenty of discussion about Mats Sundin’s retirement
- Hockey insider Scott Morrison at 6:10

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

McCowen hosts…

- Co-host is James Deacon and Gord Kirke on roundtable.

On 640 with Brady and Watters:

- John Ferguson Jr

- Replay of interview with Jeremy Roenick

There are always three sides to every story. Literally, there is one side, the other side and then the truth which usually lies somewhere in between the two. So when we read Craig Button’s account of life under John Ferguson Jr. we have to take it with grain of a salt, knowing that there has to be more to the story. I am not calling Button a liar, on the contrary, I am saying he is human, and he is good at telling a version of the story that best suits him.

Having said that, in reading a couple of excerpts of Leafs AbomiNation: The Dismayed Fan’s Handbook to Why the Leafs Stink and How They Can Rise Again, by Dave Feschuk and Michael Grange, I am intrigued enough to want to read the rest of the book. The Toronto Star ran a piece today, as did the Globe and Mail. It appears to be a book that most Leaf fans will want to read as it provides an inside look into what was happening on the inside of our team. None of the stories on their own surprise me. What does surprise me is just how bad things were. I mean, we as fans always heard tales. There have been rumblings about the ways of Richard Peddie, and the competency of John Ferguson Jr. but I don’t think that anyone every REALLY believed that either was as bad as the pundits made them out to be.

“A big reason I left is there’s got to be a fit. When you don’t feel you’re contributing, when you don’t feel anybody’s paying attention even, it’s difficult to stick around,” says Button. “I cannot begin to tell you how non-communicative John Ferguson and Mike Penny were. I’m talking, not even, `Good idea.’ “You’d send stuff to them – nothing. Somebody asked me once, `What’s John like in private?’ I said, `Exactly like he is in public.’ And I’m not trying to rip on John. I think he was overwhelmed. I think he was like a deer in the headlights and he didn’t know what to do.”

This type of story by Button is the exact thing I used to hear about JFJ all the time. He didn’t listen to anyone’s advise or counsel EVER. Despite the fact that he was a rookie GM, he always considered himself the smartest guy in the room. What’s surprising about this is not only that it comes from Button, but that stories were true. Button tries to salvage Ferguson’s reputation by blaming those who hired him. While I am the first to admit he was a brutal hire, not listening to those around you is a character flaw. It’s not the responsibility of Peddie or anyone else. Either Ferguson is smart or he isn’t. He either listened to advice or he didn’t. Being overwhelmed usually means you are smart enough to get help. Typically when someone is overwhelmed they don’t try to do everything themselves.

“”I think it’s the dumbest thing they ever could have done. Putting [prospects] under the scrutiny of Toronto? I can’t think of anything dumber. How do you live in a city like Toronto when you’re a young player making $50,000 a year? But that was a business-side decision. They thought they were going to make a ton of money off the Marlies. They thought they’d make something like $3 million or $4 million a year. And they’re losing $3 million or $4 million a year. So they were off by $6 or $8 million.”

It’s actually pretty funny. We on this site say it all the time. the Marlies are on of the poorest run organizations off the ice in sports we have ever seen. While I don’t like the fact that a smaller market lost their team, I think moving the team to Toronto was a good thing. It allows the kids to get lots of exposure, to be seen by scouts and it’s a great way for the Leafs brass to keep an eye on them. It cuts down on travel and makes moving players around a lot easier. MLSE had no clue how to run a minor league franchise, and as late as the playoffs last season it was apparent they still had lots to learn. Toronto remains an event driven market, and a Maple Leaf market. It is not a hockey city. The only way they are going to ever fill the building is if the find a way to penetrate the kids leagues and groups. They also have to find a way to make the games into an event. They have to sell more sizzle and less steak.

Button’s story about his recommendation to sign Fabian Brunnstrom is epic. Button recommended signing Brunnstrom while he was in Europe long before he was on anyone’s radar:

“”It was a no-brainer,” says Button, looking back. “I mean, here was a free agent you can sign for next to nothing? It’s a no-brainer.”

But when Bergman brought the plan to Ferguson and the GM’s lieutenant, Mike Penny, the no-brainer became a flat-out no.

“Mike Penny, with John Ferguson right there, said, `There’s no f–king way we’re f–king signing a guy and having him play in f–king Sweden. What the f–k is this bullshit?’” says Button. “I’m sitting there thinking, `Okay. Don’t listen to me. That’s okay. But you hired this guy, Thommie Bergman, and this is his job, to find talent in Europe, and this is how he gets treated?’ But that’s exactly what was said.”

Again, who knows how true any of this is. Either way it’s hilarious. It totally sounds like the Ferguson that the media portrayed him out to be. I can’t imagine that Button will be getting Christmas cards from MLSE anytime soon.

The book sounds like a great read. I have yet to see if it is available on my Amazon Kindle. When I read it I will try to post a full review. I would love to hear more from others who have read it or who have planed to read it.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

No real shocker here, as JFJ has been told he will not be interviewed for the vacant GM post with the Minnesota Wild.

“The short list includes Pittsburgh Penguins assistant GM Chuck Fletcher, TSN and NBC color analyst Pierre McGuire, longtime NHL GM and coach Pat Quinn, Nashville Predators assistant GM Paul Fenton and Wild acting GM Tom Lynn.”

That from one of my favorite hockey writers, Michael Russo. Fenton surprises me because when Craig Leopold bought the Wild, as part of his deal he was apparently prevented from hiring any Predator employee. Unless the Pred’s have given him permission to do so, then all bets are off. Chuck Fletcher was with Florida under all sorts of different regimes and is a great guy with respectful pedigree. Quinn, surprises me only in that I thought he really would want to only coach. I can’t speak to Lynn’s credentials at all. McGuire is the most intriguing name on the list. If you want to build a team from the draft up, I can’t think of anyone alive who knows more about junior aged players and up coming drafts then Pierre. How that translates into the ability to run a franchise is anyone’s guess. This will certainly be an interesting hire unfold.

Poor JFJ, still stuck as a scout. Question is can he confirm or deny that to be the case?

TSM

Russo is here

I find the topic of J.P. Ricciardi a very polarizing one. Some people are staunch supporters, while many want to burn him at the stake. I’m sort of in the middle, but one thing is for certain. Only a playoff spot for the 2009 Jays should save him his job, and they are not making the playoffs.
Given the Jays solid start, J.P. supporters might think I’m crazy, but hear me out.
My financial advisor was doing ok for me. He made some pretty good moves and some really bad ones. I told him, “Thanks for your time, but I’m going to move in another direction”. Mediocrity is not what I’m looking for. J.P. has made some good moves. He’s drafted players like Adam Lind, Aaron Hill and Jesse Litsch to name a few. He’s also made some horrible moves. Giving an aging Frank Thomas $10 million per was insane! Letting Reed Johnson go for squat to keep Shannon Stewart was ridiculous. I’m sure you can think of many more.
He has also alienated players and their agents. Remember what he said about Adam Dunn? Let me remind you. “He’s not a guy who like’s to play Baseball, or enjoys what he does.” FYI J.P., Adam Dunn has averaged 41 homers and 100 RBI’s the last five seasons. The last time I checked, no one on your roster has done anything close to that, including your $126 million dollar man, Vernon Wells.
Teams often make the mistake of keeping or resigning a GM just because of a hot start or better then expected performance. Remember the Leafs in 2006? They picked up the option on John Ferguson Jr’s contract because of a hot start to the season and we all know how that ended.
J.P. was signed in 2001. Of all the GM’s that are still with their team since that time, he is the only one who has not got his team into the playoffs. There are probably worse GM’s out there, but the Jays can definitely do better. So, unless they make the playoffs, thanks for your time J.P., but the Jays need to move in another direction.
Anthony

Not sure everyone out there is familiar with Twitter. Twitter is a tad bit like an instant messenger except that it has broadcast capabilities so instead of sending your chosen ones messages you can send out to the world. These message are also searchable, so that for example you can see what everyone on twitter is saying about a certain topic. For example if you went to search.twitter.com you could enter maple leafs and see everything within the twitter network about the maple leafs. Unlike an instant messenger you don’t have buddies, rather you “follow” people and you in turn have your own “followers”. Every time someone sends a message, a “tweet”, those who follow that person will see the message. Oh, and by the way, each message, or “tweet” is limited to 140 characters.

Ok… anyhow, there is no magic in signing up for an account. You go to twitter.com, you register for an account, call your self anything you want and provide a valid email address and off you go. It is not very hard to get a name, as long as if the one you choose isn’t taken, it will be yours. Torontosportsmedia was too long so I went with yyzsportsmedia (whereas yyz is the toronto airport code- pretty shifty eh?!) You can follow me by going to http://twitter.com/yyzsportsmedia

Chris Bosh, the Raptor player was featured in the Toronto Star last week for “twittering”. I found that interesting in that it confirmed that it was actually him. Lots of other “famous” folks allegedly have twitter accounts. In the NHL Alex Ovechkin is the top player that I know of who is twittering. Now there is some pretty funny shit out there on twitter. Just this minute as I am writing this I got an email that Alexander Semin is following me. There is a David Poile account and a Bob Gainey account too. Pierre McGuire is on twitter and a lot of teams have very active (including the league itself) twitter members. As a hockey fan who works in the tech industry I am blown away at just how tech savy the NHL and their respective teams are.

Anyways, there is a Brian Burke account on twitter. Here are a couple of gems from that account:

brianburke: Wade Redden looks disinterested, worn down and flat out terrible against the Leafs tonight. Or, as he calls it, “playoff form”.
brianburke: That Battle of Alberta game last night was great. I wish there was a second NHL team in Ontario for us to play against.
brianburke: Returns are tough. Sundin looks like he has butterflies in his stomach tonight. Wellwood just looks like he has butter in his stomach.
brianburke: They’re not booing. They’re saying “October through Juuuuuuuuuunnne”.
brianburke: Just ran into Kyle Wellwood arriving at the ACC. He seemed kind of depressed. Told him to keep his chins up.
brianburke: Just saw Sundin at the Toronto airport, waiting in line for the shuttle bus. Guess he doesn’t believe in rentals.

The fake garybettman evey got into the act:
garybettman: @brianburke That literally made me LOL. I love you Leafs. Now quite calling my office asking me to suspend Hollweg. Doesn’t he play for you?
brianburke: @BryanMurray: Next time you want to trade a first round pick for a bag of crap, give me a call. I have several bags available.
brianburke: Just saw who we’re playing next. Note to self: Stop by Home Depot, pick up torches, pitchforks.
brianburke: @BobGainey: I used to be a lawyer. Let me know how I can help.
brianburke: Can we just pull our goalie for an extra attacker during the shootout?

There is a fake Darrylsutter too:
DarrylSutter: @brianburke Looking to add a little veteran leadership for the Poffs. Are you guys gonna be choked if I Nieuwendyk/Gilmour it up?
and a Steve Tambellini:
SteveTambellini: @brianburke: How about Blake for Cole? Blake is pale enough to blend in around here.
brianburke: Really looking forward to the Blue Jackets coming to town. We can show Rick Nash where his locker will be in 2010.

and of course a JFJ:
johnfergusonjr: @brianburke Thanks for the kind words buddy but how come you snickered after you said it?

These two are my personal favorites:

brianburke: @JasonBlake: You know, there are some really nice tanning salons in Toronto. Even an hour or two a week can work wonders. Just saying.
brianburke: Thinking about following Gainey’s lead and telling the underachievers to just stay home. Would we be allowed to only dress Schenn next game?

Ok…enough you say, you get the picture…

Now, get a load of what is in the Globe and mail this eve/morning:

“The Internet world is giving the Toronto Maple Leafs more grief.

Leaf president and general manager Brian Burke is the wounded party this time, as someone has been impersonating him on Twitter, a social-networking and mini-blogging service. Twitter allows its users to send and read short posts, functioning as a message board for those who think, for some unfathomable reason, their random thoughts need to be inflicted on others.

Someone signed up with Twitter under Burke’s name and posted a number of remarks insulting to other people in the hockey world. Burke said in an e-mail message on Sunday night that he had nothing to do with the messages and the Leafs have issued a complaint to Twitter about the imposter.”

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??? INSULTING TO THOSE IN THE HOCKEY WORLD??!! IF THERE IS ANYONE WHO IS INSULTED BY ANY OF THAT, AND THEY THINK IT IS LEGIT, THEY ARE TOTAL MORONS! No one, and I mean no one think that is legit! This is funny, harmless shit. I can’t believe it is in the paper. I really can’t believe that there is a complaint. Give me a break. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me this isn’t true SERENITY NOW!

you can read burke on twitter here
you can follow me on twitter here
you can read Shoalts here…

So folks, let’s review what we have learned from Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke:

1. Antropov isn’t going to be offered an extension, time for a change of scenery…

So what are we to make from this bold statement? Well, there are a couple of things to consider. Burke could be trying to motivate his player. Irrespective of what the end result is, Burke simply could be trying to light a fire under Antropov’s A$$. It worked for Ron Wilson for Jason Blake and it worked for Matt Stajan. Maybe Burke wants to take some of the bad cop reputation away from his coach. Burke could also be speaking the truth. However, dumping on a guy isn’t going to increase his trade value as we head toward the deadline. So while I think there is absolute truth in Burke’s words I am convinced that this is an attempt to motivate the hell out Nik. If you want to stay here, show us you can play like the top forward Cliff said you are. Antropov is a UFA this off season. He needs to perform at a high level in order to get the contract his agent has likely been promising him is forthcoming. So Nik either picks up the pace and gets dealt to a contender or picks up the pace and earns big bucks. The alternative isn’t good for Antropov. The downside from Burke’s comments unlike what you may read here are pretty minimal..

2. All our waiver eligible guys in the minors will get called up

Although I never really believed it, there is a line of thought out there that players don’t want to play in Toronto. The reasoning is that despite the losing, the franchise has not been run in a manner in which players would aspire to be Maple Leafs. I think Burke is certainly trying to clean up that image. By doing right by deserving guys in the minor players won’t look at signing 2 way deals with the Leafs as a trip to minor hell. The lesson is, if you get sent to the Marlies and you work hard you will get a shot, either here or on waivers with someone else. I think that is terrific. It should strengthen the Marlies and the Leafs. If Mark Bell and others are working their butts off, why not reward them with either a sniff in the NHL or a shot at being claimed. It pushes players to work harder on the pharm and provides the necessary motivational carrot that we all need from time to time. It also pushes the guys currently on the roster. If you don’t play well a hungry guy from the minors is coming up..

3. Kubina and Kaberle won’t be forced to waive their NTC

This is a real beauty by Burke. He holds the hammer here. It’s classic. He encourages the players to submit a list of 10 teams they will accept a trade to so to create the appearance of a choice in where they may play next year. Burke hasn’t said I will trade that player to one of the teams on their respective list. All it means is that if Burke get’s an offer he likes from one of those teams he has an ok in hand that the player will go(unlike when Cliff allegedly dealt Kabs last year). If Burke doesn’t get an offer he likes he can deal with all the teams in the league at the draft for either or both of Kubina or Kaberle. While JFJ was a total clown, and I would so much rather not had had either guy have a NTC, at the very least he has this small window where the NTC disappears to hang his hat on….like i said, at least…. Lastly, the honoring of the NTC is just another attempt by Burke to change any negative perception of the Leafs organization around the league. Berger and others like to say all the time how forcing players to waive their NTC or putting them on waivers would have an everlasting negative effect on the ability to sign players into the future. Well, moves like this can only help improve the reputation. Add the handling of Cujo for the Buffalo game? I mean look, the team let a veteran player stay home and be with his kids, rather then go on the road for a game and sit on the bench as a backup. Who wouldn’t want to play for a team that does that??!! I don’t wish an injury on any one person. However a timely injury to a teams top defenceman would help us out BIG time.

4. It’s up to Vesa if he is the goalie of the future

Another great motivating tool by Burke. One game doesn’t make an example. So the fact that Vesa played well against the Habs isn’t the least bit meaningful unless it is the start of a series of great games. Remember the complaint isn’t that he can’t play well, it’s that he can’t put together a string of games like the one he played in Montreal (a string is more then 2 by the way). If he keeps pushing Vesa’s buttons and he gets really hot, he either has a hot goalie to trade or one to keep. On the flip side, Vesa snaps, mentally speaking, and can’t put together a string of one good period let alone 3 games. What’s the loss, he either waves him or gulp suffers with bad goaltending to the bottom of the standings I mean top of the draft.

5. Would like to extend Dominic Moore

Sales 101- talk up the assets you want to move. Count the guys Burke has praised since he took over. Forget Schenn, mostly because he is young. I can really only think of 2. Moore and Blake (of late). Now, Blake was in Wilson’s dog house and successfully worked his way out. I have to think that Burke would love to deal Blake and the more he and everyone else talk about how awesome he has been playing the more he hopes someone gets desperate and wants to pull the trigger on a deal for him. Besides the positive reinforcement on Blake can’t be bad either. Then there is Moore. The more Burke says he wants to sign/extend/reward Moore the more he hopes others are listening. Dreger has said he hears teams ask about him quite a bit. Well, the more Burke says we want to keep him, the higher it should drive the price up. Just like the Antropov dis drives down the price, the “I want to keep Moore comments should increase the value.” The only pitfall is with regards to money. If his agent gets a fat head and says hey, you told the world how great he is, you should pay him x…well then Burke made his own monster. It says here that won’t happen and even if it does it’s a risk worth taking. Dominic Moore as good as he has been is 29 years old. In 3 years when the Burke is going to want to contend is going to be 33. Not ancient, but something to consider. He would be a guy worth keeping in the short term because he plays Ron Wilson hockey. Worth keeping, but not essential….If someone is willing to over pay…..

As an aside… we bash him all the time(even above), but a hat tip to Howard Berger is deserved for his interview with Brad May that no one else had:

“After the game, however, May had a gleam in his eye when I approached him for a quick interview. He was being hurried along to the Leafs’ team bus for a trip to Pierre Trudeau Airport and a flight down to Fort Lauderdale. But, Brad wasn’t going to leave without getting something off his chest — taking dead-aim at Guy Carbonneau, the coach of the Canadiens.
“Carbonneau put Georges out there… sent Georges out there, and he actually thought we were going to back down,” May contended. “I know all about that guy, and I’m talking about their coach. You know what? It’s not going to happen. It’s been 19 years [in the NHL] Guy… keep sending them out.”
Asked why he felt so certain that Carbonneau had instructed Laraque to fight, May replied: “Guy just doesn’t have any idea what’s it’s like to be a tough guy. The toughest guy in his family is Brendan Morrow, his son-in-law, who’s an unbelievable player and very tough. Guy Carbonneau [used to be] incredibly tough blocking shots in the NHL, but never in a fighting role. He knows nothing about it. There’s respect to be shown in a situation like that, but he wanted to set the tone and I was happy to be a part of it.”

That is the type of work we used to get from Berger. It would be nice to see more of it. Good stuff Howie.

Pierre McGuire was on the Fan this am, the fan doesn’t post too many of their insiders clips on the net so it’s hard to get clips for you. However, I got a good chunk of it. McGuire was saying how far back the Muskoka Five set the Leafs franchise. “If they hadn’t refused to waive there no movement/no trade clauses the team wouldn’t be in this 3-5 year rebuilding program., I guarantee it.”

Well, a couple of things come to mind…

1. If the queen had balls, she would be king
2. the following scene from an absolute classic:
“Tommy: Let’s think about this for a sec, Ted, why do they put a guarantee on a box? Hmm, very interesting.
Ted: I’m listening.
Tommy: Here’s how I see it. A guy puts a guarantee on the box ’cause he wants you to fell all warm and toasty inside.
Ted: Yeah, makes a man feel good.
Tommy: ‘Course it does. Ya think if you leave that box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter.
Ted: What’s your point?
Tommy: The point is, how do you know the Guarantee Fairy isn’t a crazy glue sniffer? “Building model airplanes” says the little fairy, but we’re not buying it. Next thing you know, there’s money missing off the dresser and your daughter’s knocked up, I seen it a hundred times.
Ted: But why do they put a guarantee on the box then?
Tommy: Because they know all they solda ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That’s all it is. Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for right now, for your sake, for your daughter’s sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality item from me.
Ted: Hmm. Okay, I’ll buy from you.
Tommy: Well I… What?

So, the guarantee isn’t that important. We all know the truth. The question is what put us in the mess? If you listen to Wilbur, the pressure to succeed was so great on JFJ he couldn’t do the things he wanted to do. I scream bullshit. Look where failure got him. FIRED. I also don’t buy that he acted differently because he didn’t have job security. There are lots of GM’s out there on 1 year deals who don’t mortgage everything on nothing. This guy was a complete baphoon. He will never be a GM again in the NHL. As one exec told me, he will be a GM again, but only of a Walmart! These deals that he made were so brutal. Every single one of them. I don’t blame any of the players for not waiving their clauses. The jerk on the other side was willing to give it and hey they each earned it. Who was JFJ bidding against when he signed any of the guys he gave the NTC’s too? NO ONE. Did he have to up the anti on Tucker because someone else was going to go higher? NO. Did someone threaten to overpay McCabe? Nope…He was bidding against himself in almost every case. Oh no, he wouldn’t have gotten Kubina…alone, and no offense to Kubina, but what the hell was this one guy going to add to this franchise???

I just love the argument that ownership screwed this up. I don’t buy 1 cent of it. You don’t get to the GM level by being a yes man. All of the sudden you are an order taker? Give me a break. If that is true, then JFJ is more spineless then I originally thought. The guy was making big bucks. He knows only hockey. He had to know that his reputation was on the line with every move he made. The question is was he just to stubborn to listen to those around him? Did he really act totally alone on these moves? Forget the board. The board wasn’t telling him to go sign Pavel Kubina. Was the board out there trying to replace him? Sure, that may be the case. Was the board in disagreement over his status. Sure. Did that undermine him? Absolutely. Did that force him to make stupid moves? Hell no. I don’t buy it for one second. He was apparently turned down one time by the board, and that was to blow things up entirely. I know that may sound hypocritical. Wait though, before you pounce. Ask yourself this? Do you want that tool doing the rebuilding. We got nothing for Sundin. We got Van Ryn for McCabe. The damage Cliff did in blowing up was pretty minimal. The guys he got back have been OK. Not great. OK. They haven’t been complete disasters (save for the village idiot who for some reason Wilson seems to like). I didn’t want it then and I re-enforce it today, JFJ was not the man ever to do the re-tooling.

We see it in every day life all the time. People who excel in one area aspire to do something else. Not everyone is a good manager. That doesn’t mean they aren’t good at something. I have run into this countless times. Leading sales people aspire to be sales managers. When they become sales managers they hate it, they are miserable. Why? Simple, they aren’t selling anymore, they are bogged down in red tape and process. So they have the title and yet they are miserable. JFJ sounded like he was good at contracts (stop laughing). Maybe he was good at negotiating them when he was provided with limitations. I would like to say he was a good talent evaluator but we all know that just can’t be true. Who knows, I am sure he has a home in hockey. Right now he is a scout (stop laughing). I don’t think he has the makeup to be a GM in this league. It’s really quite simple. I get asked a lot, whether I think Burke was the right guy for the leafs. The answer is absolutely. Why, because he is the one guy who can handle the board and the media. As much as I love Doug Wilson and think he would have been a better GM choice, he would have gotten killed here. He is too quite, too thoughtful. If Richard Peddie walks in to Burke’s office and says ya know, this guy on Columbus looks pretty good, we all know where Burke is going to put Peddie. There will be no discussion, no second thought. If McCown wants to rip Burke on the air, Burke isn’t going to run from the Bobcat. That is the type of person the Buds need at this point.

So I agree with you Pierre. We may not agree on the why or the who is to blame but the Muskoka 5 really hurt this team. It says here the blame falls squarely on JFJ. He may not have started the country club atmosphere, he allowed it to remain, he installed the coach who did nothing about it. He signed the players, it all falls on him. When history looks back no one will say, oh yeah that guy from the Ontatio Teachers Pension fund really screwed the leafs up, they will say JFJ did.

He may be at the leafs/sharks game tonight, but a TSM spy (or as Hanky calls them “source”) has just sent me this most recent scouting report from JFJ. If you look close enough you will see him in the stands taking notes.. His recommendation is to trade this year’s number one and a top prospect for the goalie!

“With every transaction now, the disaster of the Millen era is fully revealed. Williams’ departure means every Lions first-round pick from 2002-05 — Joey Harrington, Charles Rogers, Williams, Kevin Jones, Mike Williams — is gone.”

In a league that is entirely built upon the draft, this quote says it all….