Gabriel Landeskog has topped off his Calder winning season with another accolade: He's now the youngest captain in the history of the NHL.

In most cases I'm all for conservatively bringing along young players in the NHL, not giving them too much responsibility before they are ready, and putting them in the best possible position to succeed. Draft picks are too valuable to just throw an 18-year-old to the wolves and hope he can figure it out for himself.

That's why you might think I would be against Colorado's decision to name Landeskog their new captain, what with the added pressure and responsibility that comes with the title. But for certain special players, the choice is obvious. No one batted an eye when Jonathan Toews was named captain after his rookie season because he was such an obvious choice, he just oozed leadership (pesky teenage hormones). Landeskog is from a similar mould and as history has shown, young leaders work.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have spent over $66.5 million on unrestricted free agents since Brian Burke took over in 2008. Of that, only $12.5 million, divvied up between Francois Beauchemin and Clarke MacArthur, was spent wisely.

The rest of the money has gone to Colby Armstrong, Mike Komisarek, Tim Connolly, Brett Lebda, Colton Orr, and other even less notable names.

Burke once promised that “July 1 would be our draft”, but the list of names that have arrived in Toronto has made Leafs fans wish Burke traded his “picks”.

So far this off-season Burke has resisted overpaying any of the underwhelming free agents. Aside from Jay McClement, who inked a reasonable two-year deal worth $1.5 million a season, the Leafs have watched other teams feast on the UFA buffet. Brandon Prust did not become Colby Armstrong 2.0 and Bryce Salvador did not get the Mike Komisarek treatment.

Barring a miraculous signing of Ryan Suter or Zach Parise (which isn’t happening, sorry), the Leafs' best chance is to wait for the market to cool and take a flier on a player later in the summer. Burke did the same with MacArthur in 2009, waiting until late August to sign what would be a 60-point scorer for only $1.1 million.

The player the Leafs could take a chance on this year is former eighth overall pick Peter Mueller after the Colorado Avalanche failed to offer Mueller arbitration, thus making him an unrestricted free agent at the age of 24.