Naming Names

Ideally, the Maple Leafs would have the pick of the litter, the very best hockey minds in the world clamouring to work for them.

But that's just not the way it is.

Moreover, to get one of the really big names - Brian Burke, Lou Lamoriello - they'd have to wait until June or July, and this thing's going downhill faster than that.

There are quality hockey people out there, available today. Even Pat Quinn, as utterly laughable as that may sound. Then again, this is an organization that brought back Punch Imlach, Carl Brewer, Mike Pelyk, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour for second go-rounds, so it's not like the stupidity of bringing back Quinn would be out of the MLSE strike zone.

So who would you get? As a new GM, or president, or coach?

Here's a list of some hockey people to ponder:

FORMER PLAYERS: Steve Yzerman, Ron Francis, Mark Messier, Al MacInnis, Doug Gilmour, Glenn Healy, Tom Kurvers, Steve Larmer, Kris King.

AGENTS: Don Meehan, Brian Lawton, Mike Liut.

COACHES: Randy Cunneyworth, Greg Gilbert, Bob Hartley, Mike Kitchen, Don Lever, Barry Melrose, Pat Burns, Pierre Maguire, Brian Sutter, Craig Hartsburg.

EXECUTIVES: Neil Smith, Mike Murphy, Colin Campbell, John Muckler, Scotty Bowman, Mike Milbury, Bob Murray, Mike Barnett, Doug Armstrong, Jim Nill.

So who do you like? Or is a quality name missing?

Here's the sad part. The Leafs had a glorious opportunity to bring in one of the NHL's best managers, Bob Gainey, back in 2002. Ken Dryden tried to squeeze Gainey into the job, but Quinn, with his own political agenda to advance, blocked it, and the rest is history.

And not very pleasant history.

Comments

[Paul]

The five W's need to be answered with this current leaf management:

Who is in charge ?
Why are they in charge?
When will they be removed?
What are they doing about this dysfunctional management?
Where will they find someone to do better?

Whomever answers these questions gets the job....Mickey you go first, then your second Goofy..

[Shaun]

Ironically I said to myself watching Saturday's debacle .. man even Pat Quinn is better than this mess. Boy you can really come to appreciate him as a coach and a GM after the JFJ years. While at the time he wasn't viewed as that great, he made the playoffs every year and during his time, no time played as many playoff rounds.

I think the Leafs need a mix of people that have some experience, some fire and can connect with each other.

How's this:
Neil Smith, President.
Healy - GM,
Gilmour - Ast GM or Ast Coach and
Messier as the Coach.

It's the Rangers North. Yzerman is a guy I'd love, but as a lifer in the Red Wing organization, I don't see him moving anywhere.

[James]

I would hire Scotty Bowman and allow him to clean house as he sees fit. I would simply say that no one is safe and leave it up to Scotty to shake things up to allow the team to get back on the right track!!

[Ken]

While I am loathe to recommend another newby to the top executive position in hockey, I think Detroit Assistant GM Jim Nill should be at the top of any list.

[Ian D]

Dave Taylor... everyone seems to have forgotten about him bu the guy ran the LA Kings for years and years before being unceremoniously dumped by a bit of a mental-case owner.

He is responsible for a lot of the quality young players on the Kings... ie: Frolov, Visnovsky (not young, but a pick of his in 2000), Mike Cammalleri, Dustin Brown, Kopitar, etc. etc. and LA probably had one of the better up and coming teams before he got canned and Lombardi came in to make a mess of a decent future.

As far as I'm aware, Taylor would have the presence and moxie to deal with that board and maybe in the Prez/GM role would then hire one of the Messier/Francis/Yzerman/Gilmour guys to be the heir apparent.

He has the most experience of pretty much all the candidates.

[Gareth]

Leafs fans should be pleased with the course this season is taking. The worst thing that could happen now is that the Leafs get on a serious roll and make the playoffs. This is the first time in a while that things have gotten bad enough for a real shakeup to occur.

I'm not sure who the answer is in terms of a GM...but I like the idea of bringing in a seasoned exec like Bowman, and bringing in someone a bit younger to be properly groomed, rather than thrust into the role in a city like Toronto.

The most important thing is that the Leafs need to get JFJ out of the GM's office before he squanders the upcoming lottery pick the Leafs are in line for.

[Don]

One thing is certain, it is time to clean house. I have been watching and waiting for this team to do something since I was eleven years old, 4 decades of broken promises and lies. The GM and coach need to go. It is very evident that this team has tuned out the message that management is sending. Hire someone like Scotty Bowman as the man to fix it and give him complete control. Then hire a Colin Campbell as General Manager and lets say Glenn Healey as Assistant General Manager. As coach maybe Yzerman or someone that would command and demand that kind of respect from his players that only an Yzerman could. Lastly, not a player on this team should be untouchable.

[baac]

My vote's for Bowman/Messier, grooming Messier for the big job in three years.

A mix of good sense and guts. Neither of which this team has now.

[Winston Bharat]

I've seen some reports that Bowman didn't turn away form the idea initially, but was worried about the lack of control he would have. Bring the man in as President and GM of the hockey side of MLSE, along with Yzerman as assistant-GM. Move Stevie up after a few years of mentorship.

[Colin]

Damien, the Leafs have always overlooked London (Ontario generally) when scouting! How about Mark and Dale Hunter? They have done a terrific, creative job here with the Knights! They might be able to get Mark to come on board now as GM (and President??) and get Dale as coach at the end of the season - after the Knights win the Mem Cup! They both played in the NHL, they are "names", they are winners and they are from Ontario. We would hate to lose them here in London but it's bound to happen one day and they might as well re-build the Leafs!
Colin, Knights Fan and Fed-up Leafs Fan

[RM]

Scotty Bowman.

Pay him any amount of money to come in and be president.

Start at the top with quality, and watch it flow down.

Glen Healey? Are you kidding me? He makes some wierd comments about 'the code and honour' and such on TSN, but does he really know what it means to run an organization?

The only guy that will get the freedom to do what is necessary is Scotty Bowman.

If I read your group of 'peers' of Scotty above, I can't pick a single one that compares.

[Justin Marangoni]

Hey Damien

Three names that I would inquire about are Mark Messier, John Muckler and/or Glenn Healy

Messier, because the man demands respect and he reeks of intimidation. The man has a trophy named after him for his leadership qualities on the ice, and he knows what it takes to win. So he would be splendid to lead us in the front office.

Muckler, because the team that's smoking the league right now, the Ottawa Senators, was built by HIM. He believes in drafting, has had a hugely successful draft record (Alfredsson, Fisher, Meszaros, Hossa, etc) and would love nothing more than to probably turn around the Leafs organization and overtake the hated Sens in the Battle of Ontario once again.

Healy, because through all the sports broadcasting he's done, he's shown such an aggressive mentality towards winning and doing it right, that he's really impressed me with his hockey knowledge. He's not afraid to declare certain players to be unable to help the team, and he's been following the Leafs probably longer than the other two candidates combined. He knows how to win, and would do whatever it takes to do it, but his inexperience in the front office could be his downfall.

There are plenty of great choices, but those are my three picks. Thanks Damien, keep up the great work!

-Justin

[Brian Marto]

For me idea of Mark Messier would be a great choice he would bring instant credibilty to the team, and with 6 Stanley Cup rings I think he would know how to build a team , coach Brian Sutter , he would cut the slackers on that team and would be great for the young players ,
exective: Neil Smith

[Scott]

Bowman, Bowman, Bowman and Bowman...

[Aubrey]

Bob Nicholson?

[Remi]

I have been saying this for more than once that Toronto should never have hired Ferguson to be their general manager.He is the worst manager than Toronto ever had.They have to get a new manager right now.I don't agree with you Cox that the Maple Leafs should trade Mats Sundin or Antropov.They definitly need a good goalie.Raycroft and Toskala are not very good goaltenders.They should have never traded Raska[Hope I got his name right].Paul Maurice should let Belak play.They need him to protect the Leaf players.It's too bad that other Leaf players don't play like Darcy Tucker.Tucker is not a very big player but he is not afraid to fight.He drops his gloves when he has too.It would be nice if the other Leaf players would do the same as Tucker.I would be very happy if Toronto would get a new manager right now.Why they hired Ferguson is very hard to understand.He just about ruined the Maple Leaf team.

[Frank]

How about as President: Scotty Bowman, General Manager: Steve Yzerman, Coach: Patrick Roy?

[Aubrey]

Bob Nicholson, Dave Taylor, Pierre Lacroix?

[AC]

Good lord...don't tell me that even Damien Cox, the usual voice of unbiased reason is now going off the deep end too! Yes, it is time to fire Peddie, JFJ, and Maurice, but do we really go out and get Healy and Messier, two former players with 0 executive experience? That's ridiculous! Let's bring in somebody at the top who will introduce a new culture and be given carte blanche to turn this franchise on its ear. I say you go out and give Scotty Bowman whatever he wants to become the hockey godfather. There is nobody out there who has more experience with winning and first-class organisations. He then can do WHATEVER HE WANTS with JFJ, Maurice, and more importantly the scouting department. There is no point bringing in inexperienced people, people who will not have ultimate say over hockey matters, or to start dismantling the team by trading any current assets in hopes of getting numerous draft picks. There is no evidence that the current scouting department could pick anything worthwhile, particularly since Craig Button is now gone.
I mean common man, you should know that there needs to be a gutting from the very top. The entire hockey structure is diseased in this town. Bring in Bowman and tell him he has whatever he needs at his disposal and he has ultimate say over all hockey matters. Don't start suggesting you know what's best for this team (isn't that what Peddie and the Board keep doing).

[Ralph Knapp]

JFJ should be gone today. Not tomorrow, not the day after that, but, today!!!
Quite frankly just about anybody on that list would be better than JFJ.
Colin Campbell would be my first choice. Although, I'm kind of intrigued by the thoughts of a combination of Glenn Healy and Doug Gilmour.
Most importantly, JFJ should be gone today!!!!

[Marshall Auerback]

You utterly lack consistency. After months of defending Ferguson, you now say he should be canned (which is the correct move), but suggest we should have yet another untried, untested hockey executive? Yes, Mark Messier and Steve Yzerman are Hall of Famers and would certainly change the public perception of the franchise, but THEY HAVE NO MANAGERIAL EXPERIENCE!!! What's the guarantee that they'll know what to do?
No more experiments and no shallow PR moves. Get a guy like Scotty Bowman who has experience coming out of his ears, is available now and make him President of the hockey operations. Let him hire a guy like Jimmy Nill or Ron Francis, or Messier, Glenn Healy or Yzerman to work under him, but for goodness sake, get someone who has experience. And hire Pat Burns as coach. He has handled the pressure of working here and in Montreal and is the last coach to get the team to play defensively accountable hockey.

-Marshall

[Roger]

Damien – I agree on the fixing and not blowing up of the Leafs. The Flyers were able to turn around a crappy team from a year ago into to a contender this year. Too many people want to blow the whole thing up and take 3-5 years to rebuild.

One person who hasn’t been mentioned as a possible GM but should be is Neil Smith. He lost out to JFJ in ’03 but should have got the job. He would bring experience and a Stanley Cup to the Leafs.

[Patrick Gardiner]

My choice would be to hire David Polie, if he were able to be lured away, as GM. He's done extremely well at player development with far fewer resources in Nashville, as well as hiring and sticking with a first rate coach. Of course, this would be predicated upon a Leafs' ownership to either fundamentally change from its current structure, or to finally stop meddling and tinkering and let hcokey experts manage the team.

[LeftyCanuck]

I like the established executive route, with a name player or players in the assistant and/player personnel roles. They should go with Neil Smith or Colin Campbell. Although, Don Meehan certainly offers an intriguing option.

[denial]

Any attempt to apply the "Collangelo Formula" to the Leafs will not only result swiftly in utter failure, but it will also force the sports world to wonder if someone who was REALLY THAT SMART would walk, in the very firstly place, into MLSE and Leaf Management. So there's your paradox: the Leafs need a Collangelo, but nobody even 1/2 as intelligent as Collangelo would come within reach of MLSE because it is a career and reputation destroying monolith.

The thing is, the Collangelo forumla worked (so far...) for the Raptors because there are so many variables unique to both the Raptors and to the NBA market; these DON'T APPLY to the Leafs and the NHL.

I've been ranting about this for years and while I'll GLADLY (take my word for it) change my views if someone can please convince me otherwise, until that happens, I'm stuck with this. Here goes:

MLSE is not stupid and the people who work there aren't stupid. They may be jerks. But they aren't stupid. They're accomplished, professional and extremely well-educated. So to imagine that they live inside some retarted bubble and play ping-pong all day while the Leafs slip to 27th (and falling) in the standings is a meaningless and groundless view. Like I said, you may not want to invite any of these people over for dinner (at least I wouldn't), but they aren't stupid. At all.

They aren't stupid because they KNOW something -- we'll call it the truth. And it's one of those weird truths that ANYONE can access if they just look and see. It's not hidden or suppressed. But to accept it as a truth is so...suicidal to the fragile emotional structures of "Leaf Nation," and all of its parasitical feeder-industries, that every public attempt is made to reject it. Kind of like when you tell an addict they have a problem. Leaf addicts are like this.

So what's the truth? The truth is that the 'thing' that is connecting the team called the Toronto Maple Leafs to the fans in Toronto and around the country is NOT BASED ON THE TEAM ITSELF. It is based on a myth; it is based on the PAST. It's very British in this way -- clinging desperately, pathetically, to some time "long ago" when (in memory, at least) things were great. This clinging IS NOT REAL. It is not actual reality. It is a fiction; a cultural myth.

The people who run MLSE realize, deeply, that the threads that hold the team to the fans -- and all of that merchadising and TV revenue -- is terrifyingly thin. It's not a strong bond at all. It's like how we all thought communism was such a thick, unbreachable 'force' -- then when the cracks started to open up, we looked at each other on confusion and realized that it was mostly just propaganda, smoke, mirrors and OUR OWN NEED TO SEE THINGS THAT WAY IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND OUR POSITION.

Read those capitalized words again. This is where Leaf "fans" are right now. That fan-dom is NOT about the team itself. If the Leafs were a government, it would have been decimated in the polls; it likely wouldn't even receive official party recognition.

That fan-dom is about an idea -- an identity of something called "leaf fan." And the people who run the team are excrutiatingly aware that if that idea crumbles -- as false ideas tend to do after a long time -- then there is nothing behind it.

If you simply LOOK at this team -- look at how it treats YOU, arrogantly, obnoxiously, like the idiot, pavolovian dog that it thinks that you are -- you will be forced to snap out of your self-induced haze. You'll simply break the bond.

This happened to many people during the baseball strike in 1994. Yes, baseball is "back" -- and the game is arguably better than before. So why are so many fans still so uninterested? Because that bond was broken; and once it's broken, unless there is something REAL to remake it, it just stays that way. You don't then become anti-baseball. You just become apathetic. You don't care that much. You don't go out of your way to watch games, to read box scores, to see what's going on. You fade away, lose interest, and find something else to do.

This is what can so EASILY happen to the Leafs. And the people who run MLSE know it -- they know it better than anyone. 80ish years of Leaf hockey history can WIPE OUT in a matter of 2 or 3 years. That is what MLSE is terrified of happening, and why they won't "blow up the team" -- because it's NOT ABOUT THE TEAM. It's about the myth. And their full-time job is MYTH MANAGEMENT.

Do you people GET it or are you still asleep?