Draft gives Fletcher chance to revamp Leafs

For the Maple Leaf general manager - let's drop the interim tag, shall we? - to demonstrate he has a true sense of vision beyond finding a way just to get the club back into the playoffs, he needs to do something other than contradicting himself and hiring old friends.

So how about coming away from this weekend's draft in Ottawa with not one, but two quality first-round picks?

This isn't to suggest the club should chase down Tampa GM Jay Feaster and twist his arm into giving up the first pick overall so the Leafs could draft Steve Stamkos.

Geez, that kind of aggressive imagination from the Leafs would give the Leaf Nation a collective heart attack.

The Leafs have the No.7 pick, which probably gives them a 50-50 shot at landing an athlete who can play 15 years in the NHL. They need to improve those odds, and one way to do it is by getting another top 10 pick.

Vancouver GM Mike Gillis already says he willing to trade the No.10 pick for a "top six" forward. Columbus, which failed in its attempt to get early negotiation rights for Pittsburgh's Ryan Malone, could be looking at moving the No.6 pick or the No.19 selection as that franchise tries to make the post-season for the first time ever.

Imagine if the Leafs could draft twice in the top 10?

Instead of Luke Schenn, maybe they could end up with Schenn and his Kelowna defence partner, Tyler Myers.

There's your Twin Towers defence of the future.

Or maybe the Leafs could take a gamble with Russian forward Nikita Filatov, then go for something more dependable like Boston University centre Colin Wilson.

The point is, names aside, this would send a strong message to the club's fan base that there is a real intent here to rebuild in a gradual, intelligent way.

But is it do-able? Do the Leafs have the wherewithal to land the sixth pick, or even the 10th?
That's the tricky part.

Nik Antropov, coming off his best NHL season, is the best chip the Leafs have to play. The Muskoka Five - or is it really now just four, with Mats Sundin in a new category? - remain untouchable for now.

After that, they're into the likes of Alex Steen, Matt Stajan, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Jason Blake. None of those players are likely to fetch a top 10 pick, and Steen and Stajan are young players who appear to be part of Toronto's future.

So it's Antropov. At 28 years of age, coming off a career-high 26-goal season, the argument has been made here before that this is the time to move the towering Kazakh. He's every bit as good a player as Malone (28 years old, coming off a career-best 27 goal season), and the soon-to-be-ex-Penguin is a hot commodity.

Even better, Antropov is scheduled to earn only $2.15 million next season, while Malone is looking for upwards of $5 million as a free agent. Yes, you can get Malone without trading players or prospects, but the salary cap hit will be big.

Fletcher, however, didn't want to move Antropov at the trade deadline - Montreal was interested - and it's not clear he'd be willing to make that kind of bold move now.

After all, trading Antropov won't make it easier to lure Sundin back, and the Leafs seem oddly motivated to do whatever it takes to make that happen. As well, the new coach, Ron Wilson, has already said he thinks the team can be "knocking on the door in two years," and if that's the goal, Antropov is more likely to help than two kids who might not even be in the league by then.

But if Fletcher really wants to show he's serious about shedding his "draft schmaft" rep and proving this won't be a Phoenix-like, quickie patch job, landing another top 10 pick this weekend is the way to go.

These, quite clearly, are the kinds of moves you have to make to build a club capable of doing more than offering the occasional spurt of competitiveness before sinking once more into mediocrity.