The Phoenix Maple Leafs? Or is it the Phoenix Lightning?

The team of Fletcher and Gretzky, fondly (or maybe not so fondly) dubbed Fletzky by the locals, has slashed more than $15 million from the Phoenix Coyotes payroll in the past few weeks, adding a crop of prospects and players culled mostly from the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning, both teams that Cliff Fletcher has been previously associated with.

Not only has the payroll been cut by "Fletzky," but the Coyotes have also parted with more than 1500 goals and 4,000 points. In return, we have received 13 new faces but only 338 goals and 792. A fair trade?

"Bring us your young, your cheap, your potentially decent and we will hand over our established star."

Yes, it might have been written recently in reference to the Edmonton Oilers and the loss of Doug Weight, but it could apply as well to our new Phoenix Coyotes.

Daymond Langkow, our most recent pick-up is a former Tampa player -- young and cheap, and plays very hard every night. Todd Warriner seems to be a big favorite of Cliff Fletcher's, and will hopefully unlock all that talent he's been said to have but has been hidden away. Ladislav Nagy, obtained in the deal for Keith Tkachuk, seemed to have an unhappy start in Phoenix at the end of last season, and wasn't given much ice time, so it will be a coin toss to see what line he ends up on. Danny Markov is a big defenseman who will be able to play alongside Ossi Vaananen, but isn't a big goal scorer. Sergi Berezin is a player with some of the skills that Jeremy Roenick was repeatedly chastised for -- taking the puck end to end, being a "puck hog" and having a tendency to disappear. We'll see how soon Yotes fans have forgotten one scape goat to embrace another.

Is this line-up going to make anyone shake in their skates? Where are the Yotes going to get a power play unit from? Who is going to score the goals? Can this team of youngsters which Cliff Fletcher denies is in re-building mode make the play-offs the first year? Or am I just too cynical to believe the "Fletzky" press releases and too bitter about the treatment of Roenick to give them a fair chance?

Only time will tell if we are indeed rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. And I'm not promising not to say I TOLD YOU SO.

Roenick Report After signing a $37.5 million dollar deal with the Philadelphia Flyers, Roenick expressed his delight in being on a team with a good chance at the Stanley Cup. He did, however, point out how badly he had wanted to stay in Phoenix, and how much he would miss the Phoenix fans. We wish him the best of luck, and while we are unhappy to see him go (that would be the understatement of the year), Jeremy is a good fit in Philly, and his free-wheeling style will be embraced and appreciated. Besides, the only look that Phoenix fans will get at a Stanley Cup in the next five years will be when Roenick brings it back for a visit.

From the desk of the Roenick Chick http://www.jeremy-roenick.com