More Skill, More Thrills: Leafs Shifting Gears

TORONTO - Since the bomb went off in the offices of the ACC, the Maple Leafs have had an agenda: Ship out the veterans and start to stock up young talent.  Surely fan favourites have left in the past half-season, names like Michael Frolik, Francois Beauchemin and Marian Hossa.  The Leafs, having being suprisingly competitive the past couple seasons, stripped away the majority of what kept them successful, citing an underachieving roster as well as a potential trouble come Free Agent time.

"We have an aging roster who has had success in the past, but for some reason, it wasn't clicking this year."  GM Ron Dubin said at a press conference months ago. "I felt the team was at a crossroads, either I trade the future to fix the present, or trade the past to develop the future.  I chose the latter and I'm excited to see what this team will look like in a couple years."

Among the rubble has emerged a new core led by Andrew Ladd, Travis Hamonic and Corey Crawford.  But that core is now being augmented by some of the best young players in the game.  Dylan Larkin, Thatcher Demko, Sonny Milano and Anthony Mantha are just a few of the notable names in the Leaf's system.  Superstars aside, the Leafs have remarkable depth at all positions, as well as several young players playing in the AHL right now.

"(Mark) Pysyk and (Brian) Dumoulin are primed to make the jump to the big team next year" Dubin said, "Jordan Martinook has made leaps and bounds in his development and will fight for a spot in the bottom six next year."

So as the smoke settles, the Leafs have put their faith in young hands, hoping that the youth can rebuild and pass the achievements of the past two years.