Could The Leafs Be Next?

Its been an interesting six months or so in the Toronto sports scene, the city appears to be in the middle of a shift if you will towards something other than hockey.  There is no chance that the Leafs will lose their grip on the city anytime in the near future but they must at least be aware of what has been happening around them and the effect it may have on business.

While in full NHL lockout mode there was an opportunity for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors to become the talk of the town in the early fall.  They did make headlines, but for all the wrong reasons (getting off to one of the worst starts in franchise history).  Blue Jays general Manager Alex Anthopoulos was in the midst of a roster overhaul that would be tough enough for a fantasy team owner to accomplish let alone an MLB boss, so the Jays grabbed the spotlight.

Baseball talk into December hasn’t been heard in these parts for a long while but this off-season was full of Jays discussion.  The club took full advantage of the hockey-less months and the basketball teams struggles dragging out new player introductions for weeks to keep the buzz surrounding the team going.

Now with the NHL back, spring training only a couple of weeks away the oft-forgotten Raptors had some work to do, and GM Brian Colangelo appears to have the answer.  The big trade to acquire Rudy Gay (probably the best pure talent the team has had since the departure of Vince Carter) bolstered the Raps to the front pages of the sports section again, and it appears in the short-term anyway to have breathed new life into a floundering club.

Dave Nonis has quite an act to follow.  The Leafs will for the forseeable future be the biggest show in town regardless of wins and loses but the landscape may just be starting to change.  The plan for the Leafs to become competitive again is up for debate and Nonis’s stance wont be clear for at least a few weeks yet.  If there is a trade for, say the heavily rumored Roberto Luongo the plan will be clear, more building on the fly.  Leafs fans for the first time in memory though appear to be willing to accept a longer process, an attempt to rebuild from the ground up.  Signs are pointing in both possible directions as to Nonis’s plan for the club. The problem being with out the next big trade in Toronto involving the Leafs we will just have to keep waiting for an answer to what the future may hold.  Its a good thing Leafs fans have gotten rather good at waiting the past half century or so.