THE CANADIAN PRESS Almost nobody is giving the Toronto Maple Leafs a chance this season and that's just fine with the guys who play for the team. They don't mind that interim GM Cliff Fletcher thinks rocky days lie ahead. They have no problem with being labelled a bunch of castaways and unproven talents. There's no issue with pundits predicting a last-place finish. Yes, you can officially start calling this year's version of the Maple Leafs a willing underdog, but know that it comes with an important caveat – they'll only play the part to a point. "Our whole dressing room believes we can do a lot better than people are giving us credit for," said forward Matt Stajan. ``That's fine. We'll play that role. "It's a little different than people having high expectations. We have nothing to lose, we're going to go out there and play as hard as we can and hopefully prove everybody wrong." The Maple Leafs reported to training camp Friday morning and were put through a series of medical exams and fitness tests. Players both old and new are well aware of the low expectations that have been placed on the rebuilding team after a busy off-season. It's the first time in 14 years that Mats Sundin wasn't around for the start of camp and mainstays like Darcy Tucker and Bryan McCabe weren't anywhere to be found either. In their place were guys like Jamal Mayers, Ryan Hollweg, Mike Van Ryn and Jeff Finger – all potentially useful players, but not a star in the bunch. Even Stajan enters training camp as something of an underdog. He won't turn 25 until December but suddenly finds himself as one of the longest-serving players on the team – and one unsure of his exact role. It had to have stung a little when Fletcher said that the Leafs will enter the season with Nik Antropov as their only true top-six forward. Stajan believes he can capably fill one of those spots and thinks others on the team can, too. "We're going to have to play as a team to win hockey games, we know that," he said. "We don't have a top-flight guy like Mats Sundin. We have a lot of good players that can score goals and we're going to have to play a good system. "I think everybody's excited for the challenge." They'll certainly get that from new head coach Ron Wilson. The Star
