While the lemmings of Leafs Nation are panicking and crying because they are being left out of the Free Agent Madness(tm), it's always nice to know that Hall of Fame writer George (Juraj) Gross can provide a reasonable voice to the people of that cursed city. This is required reading for any Leafs fan.

To the critics, Ferguson Jr. first failed to clear cap room by not buying out some of the major salaries on the team. The last time I checked, those salaries belonged to Mats Sundin, Ed Belfour and, to a lesser extent, Bryan McCabe. To my recollection, not one team bought out its leading scorer who, in this case, also happens to be the team's spiritual leader. So that eliminates Sundin.

Which brings us to Belfour. The critics wanted him bought out. Do those same critics think Mikael Tellqvist is ready to be an everyday starting goalie? Or do those same critics expect that Nikolai Khabibulin, the only star-quality goaltender on the market, would've jumped at the chance to come to Toronto? Even if he had, his salary would have cost $2 million more than Belfour's. I guess that strategy wouldn't have worked either.

I don't recall any team buying out its best defenceman in the prime of his career. While one might argue that perhaps McCabe is not the best defenceman the Leafs have had, he certainly is the best of those in the prime of their careers.

And that does not even address the probability that Ferguson Jr. didn't even have the power to buy out those contracts even if he wanted to! We all know how much Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan enjoy paying players not to play as they have done several times with the Raptors.

* Interesting Split of the Day: Paul Kariya might just benefit from not playing half of his games at a high altitude. Perhaps the successive concussions make it harder to him to play when the air pressure is so vastly different? Or maybe it's just small sample size that explains the reverse home/away splits.

03-04 Home 25GP 5-9-14 -4
03-04 Away 26GP 6-16-22 -1

* While members of the mainstream trip over each other to be the first to kiss Wayne Gretzky's pasty ass, I'll take the other route and say what they are afraid to say: Wayne Gretzky is going to be a spectacular failure as an NHL Head Coach.

Is there anything about Wayne Gretzky that really leads you to believe that he could succeed as an NHL Head Coach? His temperament and 'friendly' image with the players will make it hard to him to crack the whip and get the kind of fear and respect a head coach generally needs. I don't think he has the gumption to crack the whip and play Mr. Bad Cop when it's needed. Other player-friendly coaches such as Joel Quenneville and Pat Quinn have the ability to lay down the law when it's needed (Though Coach Q didn't do it well enough), and I don't see that in Wayne.

We know Wayne's off-ice endeavours almost always end up failing or treading water. Wayne might have been a brilliant offensive player, but he's never grown up or played in a very defined systematic style of play...and he has no head coaching experience whatsoever.

People will point to Larry Bird as the one example of a great player turned head coach, but fail to realize that Larry Bird has a far different personality than Wayne Gretzky. Bird was a real bad-ass and gritty SOB. Wayne had a +3 Protetection from Evil aura cast around him that somehow caused him never to suffer the punishment of actually being hit. If Wayne wanted to increase interest in Coyotes games, he should have hired one of the hungry and talented head coaches out there to help his team win games. People don't go to hockey games to watch the coaches.

Tom Benjamin over at Canucks Corner has a more reasonable assessment of the types of coaching attributes found in a bench boss and looks at whether The Great One can succeed.

I'd be surprised if Wayne lasts the entire season.