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Leiweke to step down Jun 30 2015

Volcanologist

Volcanologist

Well-known member
according to TSN radio, was announced by Larry Tannenbaum this morning. press-release to be posted later.

well...that didn't last long. working with the MLSE board must be a truly uplifting experience.
 
The Rogers and Bell co-ownership of the Leafs isn't turning out to be a happy marriage?

Who'd a thunk it? This doesn't bode well for us fans though.
 
Could this be more of a family matter than an internal management struggle?

Hard to stay with a company when you're wife is not happy with its location.
 
Artnes said:
Could this be more of a family matter than an internal management struggle?

Hard to stay with a company when you're wife is not happy with its location.
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A lot of media reports, and a bunch are from pretty reputable sources, indicate that there is some serious infighting going on at the MLSE board and it's only intensified since Rogers scooped the NHL rights from TSN/Bell. Apparently some of the ownership group thinks Leiweke is great, and others want him gone.

I don't think it's hard to guess who probably wants him gone either. Apparently in one of his first meetings with the MLSE board, they asked Leiweke who his choice for Leaf GM would be, and Leiweke responded "Brian Burke". I'm sure George Cope, who was the architect of Burke's departure, wasn't amused.
 
Its too bad. He hasn't had enough time here for the results to translate to the ice, but you have to like the people he put in place to run all of the teams. Just hope the new guy doesn't **** it up and sticks with developing property.
 
That sucks.

Is this 100% official? And why would they announce it now? The media will destroy him with questions now.
 
Leafin' said:
That sucks.

Is this 100% official? And why would they announce it now? The media will destroy him with questions now.
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Because news leaked that he was leaving...so the questions would have come anyway.
 
LeafGm said:
A lot of media reports, and a bunch are from pretty reputable sources, indicate that there is some serious infighting going on at the MLSE board and it's only intensified since Rogers scooped the NHL rights from TSN/Bell. Apparently some of the ownership group thinks Leiweke is great, and others want him gone.

I don't think it's hard to guess who probably wants him gone either. Apparently in one of his first meetings with the MLSE board, they asked Leiweke who his choice for Leaf GM would be, and Leiweke responded "Brian Burke". I'm sure George Cope, who was the architect of Burke's departure, wasn't amused.
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In fairness though, a lot of media reports also have his wife being extremely unhappy in cold Canadian winters. Might be a little from column a and b.

But who ever thought Bell and Rogers working together on anything would be a good idea?
 
leafman101 said:
Its too bad. He hasn't had enough time here for the results to translate to the ice, but you have to like the people he put in place to run all of the teams. Just hope the new guy doesn't **** it up and sticks with developing property.
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That's the biggest concern. Once again, MLSE will be doing things ass-backwards.

Hire Pat Quinn as coach without a GM in place.
Hire John Ferguson Jr. as GM with Pat Quinn already in place as coach.
Hire Ron Wilson without a GM in place
Hire Randy Carlyle as head coach, then almost immediately fire the GM that hired him

...and now, whoever comes in to replace Leiweke as the President of MLSE will already have a full slate of Leiweke's hires already in place in key positions: Shanahan as Leaf President/quasi-GM, Masai Ujiri as Raptors GM, Tim Bezbatchenko as TFC GM.

Just stupid.
 
hockeylover said:
In fairness though, a lot of media reports also have his wife being extremely unhappy in cold Canadian winters. Might be a little from column a and b.

But who ever thought Bell and Rogers working together on anything would be a good idea?
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Yep, true enough. I can sort of understand, too. The Leiweke's sure picked the wrong year to live through their first Toronto winter.

Too bad they didn't come here a couple of years ago, when we pretty much went the entire winter without any snow on the ground in Toronto.
 
Leweike's a blowhard but this kind of turnover is never good.

At least there's two strong recent hires leading the two flagships in Shanahan and Ujiri. Hopefully they don't get messed around with.
 
Some other possibilities...

-NFL team was the real mandate, now that that has failed it's time to move on
-his non-competition with California teams will have expired by next June, allowing him to go work with another such team
-like Burke there are parts of the board that dislike his loud/brash personality, big media shows, and way of doing things

Unless I have merely been taken by Leiweke's blarney all this time, it didn't sound by the grand planning he did in front of the media that this would amount to a 2 year job. Was this the plan all along or not? There's an argument to be made either way, as Leiweke has indicated before it wasn't going to be a long term thing and there have been rumours about his departure that started seemingly just after his arrival.
 
Or... the management of MLSE really does not care to win, as they are criticized for constantly. Perhaps it's time to face the reality that as long as the cash cow exists in Leaf Nation, no effort will be made to improve things.
 
You know what's better than lots of money? Even more money.

The Leafs haven't been successful because they've been incompetent, not for lack of trying.
 
Not for lack of trying? Yeah.... lots of great efforts. I'm sure they can get Carlyle to change his style... just like Anaheim did...
 
blacksheep said:
Not for lack of trying? Yeah.... lots of great efforts. I'm sure they can get Carlyle to change his style... just like Anaheim did...
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... what in the world does that have to do with ownership and the money they make though?

Ownership picked a guy and that guy picked Shanahan. And Shanahan decided to keep Carlyle. I disagree but what the hell does that have to do with ownership deciding they don't need to win?

What would an ownership that cared about winning do differently exactly?
 
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