It's win at all costs

By ERIC FRANCIS -- Calgary Sun This summer, Harry Sinden and his Boston Bruins did what they could to help teams like the Calgary Flames survive.
Yesterday, Ken Dryden and his Toronto Maple Leafs did what they could to help kill them.
Sinden was the one who took a brave stand by refusing to agree to a $2.8-million US arbitration ruling on Dimitri Khristich's salary and cast him aside.
The Bruins' GM instantly became the owners' employee of the month for sending a thinly-veiled message it was time for the owners to practise a little collusion -- quietly, of course, since it's a legal minefield in the U.S. -- and get player salaries under control.
Apparently, the Leafs didn't get the memo.
After trading a draft pick for the Ukrainian's negotiating rights, the Leafs fired another bullet into the back of every small-market club yesterday by handing Khristich a deal that will likely amount to $10 million US over four years.
So much for the solidarity president Dryden preached at a recent summit where all six Canadian clubs discussed ways to save hockey north of the border.
Despite all of Dryden's tongue-wagging to the contrary, it's clear the Leafs could care less about the survival of Canadian hockey teams outside Hogtown.
But then again, why should they?
The Leafs have played in front of sold-out crowds long before Tim Horton's name conjured up images of crullers and coffee. Now the team has a new arena, a winning record, endless corporate support and a logo that sells more jerseys and hats than almost any club in pro sports.
Quite frankly, with the unconditional support his club's been given, Dryden owes the fans a winner.
That being said, of all the teams in the league, it speaks volumes of the state of today's game when a GM like Toronto's Pat Quinn is given the go-ahead by Dryden to break the owners' unspoken stance and sign the winger.
It's all fine and dandy to shun teams like the New York Rangers and say you're all for the reduction of salaries. But when you don't practise what you preach, you're part of the problem, not the solution.
On top of being an imprudent business move, the acquisition of Khristich will do little to help the Leafs dive into the Stanley Cup contender pool.
This is a player with a long history of making like Houdini in the playoffs.
Sure, he scored 29 goals each of the last two years. But a quick glance at last year's standings shows no other team filled the net more often than the Buds. Scoring isn't a problem. Defence and grit are.
Suffice it to say, the 30-year-old Khristich isn't the type of hard-nosed player that can be expected to make a difference when the playoff chips are down. That's a job better left to other free agents like Pat Verbeek or Jamie Macoun, who have won Stanley Cups and play with heart.
Yes, with one quick move, the Leafs joined an elite group of fiscally irresponsible teams.
Of course it's tough to blame a team for doing what it can to improve its product. Lord knows Calgarians wish Flames owners would buck up the same way.
However, the NHL has reached a point where player salaries threaten the financial viability of more than a third of its teams. On top of that, the signing of Khristich is no ordinary signing. It represents the fact the desire to win far exceeds the desire to keep the league as a whole healthy.
It's run -- as it should be -- on the age-old premise only the strong survive.
Unfortunately, that survival will ultimately come at the expense of the Leafs' Canadian neighbours.

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