So the Buds take on Darcy Tucker and his Avalanche. Everyone is talking to Darcy and Raycroft, trying to get a meaningful quote. So far the masses have been unsuccessful. Darcy hasn’t taken the bait, at least not as of yet. There really is no pressure to, the game is out west, not here in Toronto. However, one would think that certain things would start to get to #16. Jeff Blair hits the nail right on the head with this assessment:

“And that was it. No invective. No apparent bitterness. Nada. It seems to bother Tucker naught that, more than lack of performance, he was turfed out of town because of a realization the Leafs could not change the culture of their dressing room without getting rid of a guy whose whiny, yappy, on-ice demeanour worked when the club was having success but had become a carnival sideshow as the team’s fortunes plummeted. So it’s likely that Smyth wasn’t lying when he lauded Tucker as a player who “has brought energy to our lineup” and who “says something when it needs to be said.”

The question is, why were things so toxic in the Leafs locker-room? Why did the likes of McCabe, Tucker, Raycroft and Sundin(maybe) have to go to change the atmosphere? What the hell was going on. Once again we have to look between the answers to see the truth. It is not what is being said, it is what is not being said. Brady asked Tucker for a comment on the name Muskoka Five. Tucker’s only comment was that he knew who created that name. The undertone there is that the name should be taken with a grain of salt because of who created the name. The who, in this case is as interesting as the name itself. Sources have told TSM for a long time that the person who first used the term to describe those maple leafs who were refusing to waive their no trade clauses was none other then ex-maple leaf Tie Domi. How strange. How intriguing. Another fan favorite allegedly coins a pretty damn derogatory term to a bunch of guys who used to be his teammates. Why, would Domi do that to Tucker, McCabe, Sundin, Kaberle and Kubina?????? What was going on back in the day?

The tone in Tucker’s voice with respect to the “creator” of the term was so negative, you could feel the hatred. Wilbur was laughing uncontrollably when Darcy said it. The old boys network at play again..The evidence in this case is so clear, the question is why, as in why did this happen and why didn’t management put an end to it years ago? The stories around about the divided room years ago, the toxic state of it, with Corson, Roberts, Domi, Travis Green, Tucker all taking sides in the factions. What was Quinn doing? What started it? The rumored stories of the hatred between Tucker and Domi are the stuff of legends. It’s too bad Domi isn’t on TSN anymore. It’s too bad the game isn’t in Toronto. I would love to hear what Tie would have to say about Darcy’s return. It seems to me that the dressing room back in the day was about as mature as my 4 year old daughter’s kindergarten room. The good news for Joe Public is that as time goes on, more people talk and more stories get told. From what is swirling now, it would be legendary to see the likes of Domi and Tucker under the same roof.

You would think that with the hockey world watching and likely loving the mess that is/was the Maple Leafs, teams would be using John Ferguson Jr.’s model for building a team as the defacto how not to build a team. I mean, when you look at the aptly named Muskoka 6, you would think that only in extreme cases would a GM dole out a no trade clause. One would also think that a seasoned GM would be much smarter then the relatively new ex GM JFJ.

Having said that, did I miss the press release where the New York Rangers hired JFJ? Larry Brooks in his weekly Rangers/NHL article points out that the Rangers have gone against team policy and doled out a couple of them:

“Somehow, $8M over two years wasn’t enough to get Markus Naslund to agree to come to New York, so what did Sather do? The GM gave Naslund, who will be 35 at the end of the month and is coming off two consecutive disappointing seasons in Vancouver, a full no-move clause.

Brutal.”

Brooks is bang on. If JFJ taught us on thing it’s that NTC/NMC are the death of a franchise. They should only be given out in extremely rare circumstances. We have seen through the collective bargaining process that the teams and GM’s need protection from themselves, perhaps the number of NT/NM clauses should be collectively bargained down to 1 per team (with current ones obviously grandfathered.)

So here we are in July 2008 and one would think that ordering merchandise over the internet would be pretty easy. I know here in Canada things are a tad more difficult then in the US of A, but still…… I have to share my two most recent shopping examples. We are moving offices at work and I had to purchase some furniture and a couple of pieces of electronics. Should be simple enough to order from two national retailers, IKEA (sweedish for common sense!) and Future Shop/Best Buy right? No such luck.

The IKEA story. I went to the IKEA website and suffered through the impossible task of actually putting together an order. Imagine my reaction when the nifty computer said I have completed my order without paying for my items. A tiny little note on my receipt informed me that they do not accept payment for internet orders that someone would be calling me within 48 hours to complete my transaction. How bizarre i thought…. Of course 48 hours passed and no call came. So I called the 888 number provided on my receipt and the story got worse. I was told I could pay for my order (how nice!) but, shipment would take 6-8 weeks. When I asked how that was possible, I was told that all shipments come from the Quebec office! When I asked if they could trasnfer the order to one of their several stores in the GTA, I was told simply “no”. So in the end I had to endure a morning at IKEA and do everything on site.

The footnote to the story was that same day delivery cost $55 but next day delivery was $65. When I told them I wanted same day delivery they told me that the delivery would come between 4 and 10pm! What a great shopping experience…Thanks IKEA.

Now my friends at Future Shop/Bestbuy. Same story, I wanted to buy a TV online and have it delivered. This time I called the store. Confirmed that I can’t do what I want to online but that I could do so online. I went to the store, picked out the TV and then was told that they can’t deliver the TV I wanted because the central warehouse is sold out of the model I want!

Amazing stuff from 2 relatively large Canadian retailers…. Its time for e-commerce to really get easy. We have a long way to go.