03-04 Leafs vs. 13-14 Leafs

[Stephen]

Its shocking to see how different the league was in terms of not having a salary cap and how teams treated prospect development.

Think about this trade at the deadline:

To San Jose:
F Alyn McCauley (25 years old)
F Brad Boyes (21 years old)
1st round pick (16th overall)

To Toronto:
F Owen Nolan (31 years old)

At the time, McCauley was one of those tweener guys that hadn't shown his full potential yet and Brad Boyes a 1st round pick who at the time was highly thought of. And the Leafs get 31 year old Owen Nolan who was often injured and showed nothing in Toronto.

I know that the Leafs thought that they were closer to winning than not, but how much scrutiny would Nonis get if he traded Biggs, Gauthier & a 1st rounder for someone at the deadline. (just an example)

Actually, it really depends on the deal.

In 2003, Owen Nolan was 31, and a product of the 1990 NHL draft.

Shift that forward to 2013, that deal isn't too dissimilar to Columbus trading John Moore (22), Derrick Brassard (26) and Dorsett to the Rangers for Marian Gaborik (31), which is a pretty even deal.

At the end of the day, that trade hurt the Leafs from a depth point of view, but McCauley wasn't that great, Boyes was mostly okay and the eventual pick Mark Stuart was below average. (Though we could have possibly hit a home run with so many great players in the 2003 draft).

 

[Toad]

How can one possibly pass on a lineup with Belfour, Francis, Leetch, Nieuwendyk, and Sundin (five hall-of-famers), not to mention Roberts and Mogilny? But let's not kid ourselves - most of them were well past their best by that time.

But really, just take a look at the centres for each one:

03-04: Sundin - Nieuwendyk - Francis - Reichel - Stajan
13-14: Bozak - Kadri - Bolland - McClement - Colborne

Roberts had to be my favourite free-agent signing the Leafs ever made. He was a wrecking ball and almost single-handedly willed them to the conference finals two years earlier.

03-04 was the last hurrah for Belfour as he was never the same after the lockout.

Francis = only fourth all-time in scoring haha. Maybe one of the most underrated players ever.
Nieuwendyk = Cups with three different teams in three different decades, Conn Smythe winner

I remember Mogilny as very hit and miss when he was with the Leafs = completely invisible some games, yet came up huge in others.

The weakness back then was certainly on the blue line and I don't think now is much different (but some good prospects are coming soon, so things are a bit more promising at this point).

Too many similarities between McCabe and Phaneuf to ignore. Both I think were/are playing above their means and both had their infamous playoff gaffes. It was rather unfortunate that my last Leafs playoff memory before the Bruins series was McCabe giveaway day in Game 5 against PHI (missed Game 6 because of work).

But who could forget those comeback games in Buffalo and Ottawa that year...I think there was some added humour with the Sabres game since Bowen was really losing it towards the end even though it was essentially a meaningless regular season game at that point in the season. So he made it sound a bit more dramatic than it really was. Though they just barely edged out OTT for home-ice advantage so maybe it did make a difference.

Ah, good times. Definitely wasn't as concerned with the draft back then

But there's no question the future is definitely brighter now; was looking incredibly bleak when Roenick ended the Leafs season. Things were never going to be the same after that season, in more ways than one.

 

[cujoflutie]

How can one possibly pass on a lineup with Belfour, Francis, Leetch, Nieuwendyk, and Sundin (five hall-of-famers), not to mention Roberts and Mogilny? But let's not kid ourselves - most of them were well past their best by that time.

But really, just take a look at the centres for each one:

03-04: Sundin - Nieuwendyk - Francis - Reichel - Stajan
13-14: Bozak - Kadri - Bolland - McClement - Colborne

Roberts had to be my favourite free-agent signing the Leafs ever made. He was a wrecking ball and almost single-handedly willed them to the conference finals two years earlier.

03-04 was the last hurrah for Belfour as he was never the same after the lockout.

Francis = only fourth all-time in scoring haha. Maybe one of the most underrated players ever.
Nieuwendyk = Cups with three different teams in three different decades, Conn Smythe winner

I remember Mogilny as very hit and miss when he was with the Leafs = completely invisible some games, yet came up huge in others.

The weakness back then was certainly on the blue line and I don't think now is much different (but some good prospects are coming soon, so things are a bit more promising at this point).

Too many similarities between McCabe and Phaneuf to ignore. Both I think were/are playing above their means and both had their infamous playoff gaffes. It was rather unfortunate that my last Leafs playoff memory before the Bruins series was McCabe giveaway day in Game 5 against PHI (missed Game 6 because of work).

But who could forget those comeback games in Buffalo and Ottawa that year...I think there was some added humour with the Sabres game since Bowen was really losing it towards the end even though it was essentially a meaningless regular season game at that point in the season. So he made it sound a bit more dramatic than it really was. Though they just barely edged out OTT for home-ice advantage so maybe it did make a difference.

Ah, good times. Definitely wasn't as concerned with the draft back then

But there's no question the future is definitely in brighter now; was looking incredibly bleak when Roenick ended the Leafs season. Things were never going to be the same after that season, in more ways than one.

I often wonder how the 2004/05 season would have gone for the leafs had it happened?

We would have had Brian Leetch and Mogilny still. Francis likely would have left.

The big question would have been Belfour; his play dropped off significantly from 03/04 to 05/06 but perhaps it was the rust from the year off? I know he missed the world cup so he may have missed time that year. Definitely with a defense that solid we would have been a playoff team.

Interesting that like Phaneuf, after his horrendous playoff gaffe, Mccabe rebounded to have a solid game for us. You're definitely right that they play similar styles. And I bet most fans have the same opinion on both be it positive or negative; there's a select bunch that hate both but around 70% of leaf fans correctly identify that when you play 30 minutes a night against the other teams top units, you will get exposed once in a while.

 

[Stephen]

How can one possibly pass on a lineup with Belfour, Francis, Leetch, Nieuwendyk, and Sundin (five hall-of-famers), not to mention Roberts and Mogilny? But let's not kid ourselves - most of them were well past their best by that time.

But really, just take a look at the centres for each one:

03-04: Sundin - Nieuwendyk - Francis - Reichel - Stajan
13-14: Bozak - Kadri - Bolland - McClement - Colborne

Roberts had to be my favourite free-agent signing the Leafs ever made. He was a wrecking ball and almost single-handedly willed them to the conference finals two years earlier.

03-04 was the last hurrah for Belfour as he was never the same after the lockout.

Francis = only fourth all-time in scoring haha. Maybe one of the most underrated players ever.
Nieuwendyk = Cups with three different teams in three different decades, Conn Smythe winner

I remember Mogilny as very hit and miss when he was with the Leafs = completely invisible some games, yet came up huge in others.

The weakness back then was certainly on the blue line and I don't think now is much different (but some good prospects are coming soon, so things are a bit more promising at this point).

Too many similarities between McCabe and Phaneuf to ignore. Both I think were/are playing above their means and both had their infamous playoff gaffes. It was rather unfortunate that my last Leafs playoff memory before the Bruins series was McCabe giveaway day in Game 5 against PHI (missed Game 6 because of work).

But who could forget those comeback games in Buffalo and Ottawa that year...I think there was some added humour with the Sabres game since Bowen was really losing it towards the end even though it was essentially a meaningless regular season game at that point in the season. So he made it sound a bit more dramatic than it really was. Though they just barely edged out OTT for home-ice advantage so maybe it did make a difference.

Ah, good times. Definitely wasn't as concerned with the draft back then

But there's no question the future is definitely brighter now; was looking incredibly bleak when Roenick ended the Leafs season. Things were never going to be the same after that season, in more ways than one.

That team was gassed by the second round. We were cheering for the greatest hits form someone else's back catalogue, whereas you get the feeling that this current group of Leafs will be making their name as Leafs.

 

[LeafsNation75]

That attitude (and it wasnt the wrong one at the time) is the reason we started behind the 8 ball after the previous lockout. It took a LLOOOOOONNNGGG time to recover from that.

With the benefit of hindsight and knowing what we do today I say if the 1st round of the 2003 Draft wasn't as great as it turned out to be, maybe this trade doesn't look that bad.

In the years since this trade McCauley had to retire due to injury and had that 1 great year in San Jose when he got nominated for the Selke Trophy during the 03-04 season.

As for Brad Boyes after he was property of the Sharks he then played for the Bruins, Blues, Sabres, Islanders, and today is on a tryout with the Panthers. So I wonder why has he been with so many teams after the Leafs traded him.

 

[Primary Assist]

I didn't include Francis or Leetch since they were deadline acquisitions, and we're still not sure how this year's roster will look by the end of the season. If we can finally sign Franson that will certainly make us better, and with all the impending UFA's we have that are about to hit the market you have to assume Nonis will be trying to work out a deal.

Regardless, I still think the '03 Leafs have to take this one.

 

[KuleminFan41]

I'd take this year's defense over that year's defense corps by a comfortable margin. Pretty much from top to bottom. The only matchup I take from that year's defense is the Kaberle-Gardiner matchup, though I think Gardiner is very capable of pulling a Kaberle this year.

I'd even take this year's goaltending over that year's goaltending. Belfour was awesome, but he was very old and had a bad back. Reimer's actually matched Belfour's performance for the most part, and is just a baby. And any difference in the starters is made up by the massive difference in backups - Kidd was a pathetic excuse for a goalie, while Bernier is quite good..

2003-2004's defence and goaltending would not have collapsed the way Reimer and the Leafs D did vs Boston. Leafs today have more "flair" but the old team had more grit, determination and a"harder working" team. They'd win 9/10 because of the hard workers they have. At least in my opinion anyways

 

[Mr Scarface*]

Not even close. 2003-2004 Maple Leafs are the ones I will always remember and those games too. Incredible amount of character in that team. Loved watching all those great games... that was a really hard team.

I'm glad our stamp and identity is back now and we'll be hard and tough again. It's all about entertainment still in sports. Great memories.