Lost in the crowd

By MIKE ZEISBERGER -- Toronto Sun
As he watched the tears flow down Bill Muckalt's cheeks last week, Alyn McCauley could relate.

"I saw Muckalt crying at the airport after he had been dealt to the Islanders (by the Vancouver Canucks)," McCauley said yesterday. "I said to myself that if I got traded, that's the way I would be.

"I don't want to get traded."

While the Leafs do not appear to have any immediate plans to ship the 22-year-old centre out of town, McCauley can't help but ponder the possibility of being dealt. It is a prospect he would rather avoid.

Trouble is, there just doesn't seem to be any room in the Maple Leafs lineup for him right now.

Mats Sundin and Igor Korolev are entrenched at centre. Rookie Nik Antropov scored his first NHL hat trick last week against Florida and continues to impress. And recent callup Kevyn Adams brings a feisty game the club sorely lacks at times.

CROWD IN THE MIDDLE

Throw in the fact Yanic Perreault's broken left arm could be healed by the end of January, and it is obvious the Leafs have a stockpile of talent up the middle.

Through it all, McCauley continues to fight his way back from post-concussion syndrome dating back to March. He recently played four games in five nights for the Leafs' American Hockey League affiliate in St. John's before rejoining Toronto just before Christmas.

When he will return to the Toronto lineup remains to be seen. General manager/coach Pat Quinn doesn't want to do to much tinkering with a team that has won five consecutive games heading into play tonight against the New York Islanders at Nassau County Coliseum (7:30 p.m., CFTO/Talk 640).

"Have I thought that my place on the team is in jeopardy and that I might get traded?" McCauley asked. "That thought has crossed my mind even before I got hurt. If there is a deal that would help the team, you have to accept that it might be considered. After Wayne Gretzky was traded by Edmonton in the late 1980s, anyone can get traded.

"I don't dwell on it but I do think about it. The thing is, I really want to stay here and play my whole career here. I'm from this general area and my parents are close."

McCauley is a Brockville native.

"I'm still a little off," he said. "Pat and the entire Leafs organization have been very patient with me, and they seem to be willing to stick it out.

"I had hoped my game would come back a bit sooner, but that's not going to happen. It may take the entire season."

No one in the Leafs organization will be happier than McCauley to see 1999 come to an end.

He missed the first seven weeks of the year because of a knee injury. After returning Feb. 24, he lasted less than two weeks before suffering a concussion against the New Jersey Devils.

As if that wasn't bad enough, McCauley battled a virus for two weeks this month that left him dehydrated and with a high temperature.

"And now I have a bit of a cold," McCauley said after practice yesterday. "I had a bit of a problem breathing out there. I catch everything, don't I?

"I would not say 1999 has been very friendly to me. I injured the knee in '98, but it was just two days before '99 and I missed much of the first two months of this year because of it.

"Right now I'm on the fifth line. There aren't many more places I can be bumped to."

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