Tough choices for Quinn

By TIM WHARNSBY -- Toronto Sun Pat Quinn is up to his eyeballs in possibilities.
When Mats Sundin returns, will the Maple Leafs captain play centre or wing? Does Quinn break up the red-hot Dmitri Khristich-Nik Antropov-Mike Johnson line to give Khristich and Sundin a shot together?
What does Quinn do with centre Alyn McCauley, who is rapidly regaining form? He can't stay on the fourth line forever, can he?
"We have some flexibility now. One of the great things you can have on a team is internal competition," Quinn, the Leafs general manager/coach, said as his team prepared for its game against the expansion Atlanta Thrashers at the Air Canada Centre tonight.
Quinn, who finished his nine-year NHL career with the old Atlanta Flames in 1976-77, is considering a rotation in which one of his skilled players doesn't dress.
"Guys want to play," Quinn said. "There might might be some unhappiness when a guy sits out. But you need that understanding. Some might not go along with it, like young (Steve) Sullivan. He made our decision simple when it came time to put a guy on waivers (last week)."
Antropov's solid showing and McCauley's impressive comeback from post-concussion syndrome has complicated the situation for Quinn.
When Sundin went down with a fractured right ankle on Oct. 9, the issue was quite simple. If the Antropov experiment failed, the rookie would be returned to St. John's.
But the line of Antropov, Johnson and newcomer Khristich has flourished.
"(Khristich) has given me some suggestions to help me get better," Antropov said through his new interpreter, Leafs defenceman Dimitri Yushkevich. "I felt nervous. But now I'm more comfortable."
The junior-aged Antropov, who has three assists in six games, is still living his big-league dream "day by day."
"I hope to stay, but you never know," he said.
While Antropov was impressing his coach, Quinn turned his eyes to McCauley as possibly the player who would lose out when Sundin returns in a week or two.
However, McCauley has performed well in the past week, scoring twice and setting up another goal for a three-game point streak.
"His past two games, Alyn has made a good leap," Quinn said.
"Prior to that, the thinking was that when Mats comes back, (McCauley) might drop out."
The determined McCauley is hoping to continue his recovery and move up the pecking order.
"Hopefully, I will continue to get better and I will move up to the third or second line," he said. "We all want to move up a line or two. But accepting a role is not a problem. I did it for Canada at the (1995 and 1996) world junior tournament.
"The one good thing about this team is everybody has been productive when given the ice time. It makes you hungrier to produce when you get out.
"Right now, I don't mind playing the fourth line. But I would like to have that role I had last year of being counted on every game to produce."

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