Here it it by request.

Your chance to play President/Owner.
Who would you hire to be the next GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs.





Go Leafs !
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Go Argos !
How about them Cowboys !

WEXDOG is a Cowboys Fan
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Brian Burke !!!! has yet to sign an extention has he.

and he would be my choice for GM, RBC. He's that someone else in Wex's survey to me.

Wayjoy

Burke is one of the better hockey minds currently influencing the game today and also one of the smartest GM's out there. This is precisely why he won't go near Toronto any time soon. He has a very good gig in California where hockey is quite low on the sport radar screen, he is the GM of the defending Cup Champions, he already has a budget most GM's dream of so why come to Toronto?

The city is fanatic about the Leafs, they will demand quick results, the team has too many players with no trade clauses, their farm system is in disarray thanks to inept drafting over the past 5 years and there is more snow than in Anaheim.

The Maple Leafs need a guy who will embark upon a 5 year rebuilding plan. He will need to convince the owners and the fans that everyone needs to be patient while this process unfolds and that the days of instant success are over now that the salary cap and revenue sharing are at the forefront.

Who that guy is I don't know.

as i mentioned here before on sat nite gilmore and fletcher were watching the game together, they are budds

given the history of this team i could see fletcher naming himself president and gilmore as GM

I also would like to see Brian Burke but i can not see MLSE giving him the control he would demand

Hope I am wrong

Time will tell

I listened to Burke on the Fan 590 a week say he would be interested in looking at the Toronto job. It all was contingent on an extention with the Ducks. He would be the perfect fit for the Toronto job, problem I would see is the same as if they brought in Bowman. Neither would put up with the interference from MLSE.
No offence to Gilmour, but if he is the next GM then MLSE will never be taken seriously again. I'm sure Gilmour will be fine at sometime but he has to be at least willing to follow the Yzerman blueprint and get some experience away from the NHL.

Did I miss something? Burke has a budget most GMs would dream of? I thought there was a salary cap in place to limit that.

Me? I'd take Burke if the Board of Directors and Peddie would piss off and leave it all in his hands. Failing that, I'd take Rutherford. He's rebuilt the Canes a few times and made the Cup Finals twice in the last few years, winning once. Not bad at all.

Experience like how he has been part of Canada at the Spengler Cup and how he's the player development advisor for the Leafs?

The salary cap is an upper limit. There is no lower limit. Anaheim can spend to the max as opposed to other teams that won't. Burke also has complete hockey authority with the Ducks.

Dougie has much to offer any hockey team and his work to date has been very beneficial to both the Spengler cup team and the Leafs. He does not however have enough experience as a GM to step into that role (right now). In five years time if he is given a broader role with the team in the mean time he could be ready.

The "new" reality of the NHL is that the GM position is one that combines many different factors from hockey knowledge to business sense, to negotiating experience not to mention steel gonads when dealing with the media and in the Leaf's case, the teachers pension fund. Doug has the the latter for sure.

Bring back Harold Ballard. Atleast he would have identified the Marlies as the better team and called them all up at this point. :-D

Toronto Maple Leafs= Ford Motor Company

Duker, your talking about a player development position is in Toronto right ??? and as for the Spengler Cup, he coached did he not?? Doug Gilmour fits in Toronto, NOT AS A GM! he himself hasn't even decided the road that he wants to go down yet. The Spengler Cup did one thing for him, it tweaked an interest in coaching.

I'd imagine you'll have the likes of Neil Smith and John Muckler in the mix when all is said and done. Maybe Craig Patrick.

Scotty Bowman has Coached or GM'd in the hottest of hockey hotbeds and come out a winner. Bringing someone in that hasn't has his metal tested is like throwing fat on the fire in the pressure cooker/over-analyzed Toronto Hockey Market.

You bring in Bowman and you scare off the media for a while, giving him the chance to work.

Players who would certainly want to come to a potential winner now look at TML as a possibility with a proven winner at the helm.

Until they name a permenant GM only rookies will look at the TML's, veterans will wait and see before they make the jump.

"You bring in Bowman and you scare off the media for a while, giving him the chance to work."

Scare off the Toronto hockey media? If anything, the new GM will have to have excellent communication skills to deal with the Toronto media hordes of the Leafs.

Scaring them off will be more difficult than ridding the family dog of fleas in the fall.


Wayjoy