As most of you have heard by now the Maple Leafs have fired General Manager Dave Nonis and coach, Peter Horachek. That’s not all that was removed from the Leafs organization in this putrid season; which was the worst in almost 20 seasons. To me, it was the worst after how things started…so much promise, with such a horrendous finish.
Shanahan truly gutted the organizations coaching staff letting go assistant coach Steve Spott, goalie coach Rick St. Croix, video coach Chris Dennis, director of player development Jim Hughes and chief pro scout Steve Kasper. Other part-time scouts were also let go as Shanahan had the doors wide spread and wasn’t kidding around with this house cleaning. Many of the staff that have been let go were brought in before his time, some from the Burke era, and others before.
Is this a sign of what’s to come in the off season? An absolute fire sale of players out the door for picks and prospects…? I think so.
There have been so many moves in the past by Nonis that were questionable. Looking back to when he took over the team from Brian Burke; I would have to say the team would have been better off with Burke and his egotistical ways. Nonis seemed like he was in over his head from the get go. The way things went down in his time in Toronto; I think he banked too much into what players Randy Carlyle wanted for ‘his team’ instead of doing a better job as the General Manager picking the players the team needed going forward.
Carlyle got some players he wanted for his style of game and it just didn’t work; and the worst part…he never adapted his coaching style what so ever. Continuing to grind in what he thought was what the team needed to win and working on their weak parts of the game instead of focusing on their strong qualities. The Leafs roster over the years was heavily into a forward mentality giving up lots of shots, but yet scoring enough goals to win the game. Randy pushed and pushed for a defensive style of game, which obviously didn’t work, not even close to it. Nonis was too busy trying to save his bacon, and kept Carlyle much too long…He should have been fired after the game 7 meltdown. No coach should keep their job after a meltdown like that, especially one where he doesn’t call a timeout in a game 7. Unbelievable…
Shanahan undoubtedly has some ideas and people to fill the voids going ahead. Who, I don’t know…But what I do know is that Brendan Shanahan is going to turn this thing around. He has to…it’s time for the Leafs to get their organization back on track. Gutting some major pieces in the organization is a start, now selling off big names like Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel, Joffrey Lupul, Tyler Bozak and possibly others. I wonder myself if JVR, Kadri and Gardiner will be moved… I have my doubt about them moving Bernier or Reimer in the off season, but the way I see it, the only safe Leafs player from this season is Morgan Rielly.
This Saturday is the lottery draft; the Leafs will know where they will be drafting in the top 5. We can only hope that the lottery goes our way and we end up with Connor McDavid. If not; the likes of Strome, Marner or highly ranked defenseman Noah Hanifin will be targeted with the fourth or fifth overall pick.
After a year of assessing; Shanahan is putting his stamp on this team. The future is uncertain, it’s not bright or dark, but it’s surely a mystery at this point. It could be three years, it could be six, or it could be a decade before the Leafs are yet again in the mix for a Stanley Cup. With this stacked draft year, the ‘scorched earth’ rebuild couldn’t begin at a better time. All we can do at this point is hope. Hope that the organization finally does it right, builds through the draft and develops their own core of highly skilled players and succeeds.
Who do you think the next Maple Leafs General Manager will be?
Who do you think the next Maple Leafs head coach will be?
Who do you think the Leafs should draft this off season if we end up fourth or fifth?
Playoffs begin on Wednesday night; prepare for some exciting hockey ahead!
Thanks for reading.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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