Ferguson carefully weighs options

What a difference a year makes.

Last year as the NHL headed into the trade deadline period – it's no longer a few days, but a few weeks now – the Maple Leafs were coming off a horrible January en route to missing the playoffs and were essentially a non-player.

This year, much has changed.

A strong January and impressive work by a variety of players has put GM John Ferguson in the position of not only trying to add talent by next Tuesday's deadline, but of protecting the players the club already owns from enemy GMs looking for quality players.

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