Yeah, i wish we would hire like the 2026 version of a cup winning consiglieri in an AGM, director of player personnel or some other support role. I guess there’s recent grads like Darche. Who would be the next guy. Also what’s Lecavalier been doing in Montreal? Would he be young GM candidate later, would he be credited with Montreal’s rise etc.Seems like a good start is to tap into the consiglieri of a recent Stanley Cup champion, and not necessarily the front man. Aka not Ken Holland but Jim Nill kind of thing, using a dated example. Get the up and coming brains behind the operation. Then I think it comes down to having a good trusting relationship between ownership and that new guy and have a long runway. Trust the vision/process( no Sixers/hinkie here lol) and don’t get bogged down in the weeds of corporate meddling and uninformed mandates. Thats why I am not against Sonny Mehta from the panthers.
Basically run it like a good hobby train set with love and care and not on the basis of X playoff home days over Y years. Long term planning to build a organization with standards and culture of excellence instead of usine short term shortcuts to just make the playoffs for the sake of it. The Leafs need to cultivate an identity and stick to it. And finally have the Best scouting( amateur and professional) in the nhl. No more shortcuts, cutting corners and taking things for granted. In the Cliff Fletcher/pat Quinn years, we relied on block buster trades and unlimited financial resources to ice competitive teams (especially in the late 90s/early 2000s just before the 2004/05 lockout) now with a hard salary cap system since 2005, the Leafs still havent adapted to the new rules. After all these years. Time for a change.
When was the Last Time the Leafs franchise/team/ org had a distinct, proper and recognizeable identity?
Maybe under punch imlach- « if you cant beat them in the alley, you wont beat them on the ice »
Personally i think Chicago should offer all the money to Tuch so Bedard has a competant friend, but i suspect better teams will offer him similar.Tuch is a nerdies stud, Raddysh is nerdies good but a nerdies stud this year. There would be worse players to take a swing on when you have cap space and desperation in nearly equal supply.
Flyers, Red wings, Devils, sabres of that era Also played in the sand the same way so the Leafs under pat Quinn didnt stand out much from The rest of the League. And the Leafs were a soft team who relied more on speed and skill( and very good goaltending from cujo) during the first full two seasons of the Quinn era. And Even then, he still got rid of softer players like Johnson and modin and brought Tucker in. But in the Summer of 2000 after a tough/ humiliation defeat to the devils in round 2, in which the Leafs got shutdown defensively and bullied physically, Quinn decided to go the gritty/tough route and signed Dave Manson, Shayne corson and Gary Roberts then traded disgruntled Alexander karpovtsev to Chicago for Bryan mcabe 3 months later. The Leafs then became a physical/gritty team until the lockout season.Eh? The Quinn teams had that.
When was the Last Time the Leafs franchise/team/ org had a distinct, proper and recognizeable identity?
I have not a lot of doubt that a good GM could find a lot of useful applications of AI tbh.
Personally i think Chicago should offer all the money to Tuch so Bedard has a competant friend, but i suspect better teams will offer him similar.