Habster:
Let’s be realistic here for a moment, Holland and Rutherford are locked into new long term contracts with solid organizations while Brian Burke will be signing a new extension soon with a very good young (defending Stanley Cup champion good!!!) team. He has a great relationship with team owner Henry Samueli and would be crazy to go to Toronto with Richard “it’s my team” Peddie breathing down his back.
Ah yes…….Richard Peddie and the MLSE board, the biggest stumbling block to finding a good general manager/president for the Leafs. Peddie states that the Leafs GM position is one of the most coverted positions in hockey but I beg to differ. Richard Peddie and MLSE need to keep their noses out of the hockey operations aspect of the Toronto Maple Leafs with the new GM/President having complete control of the team’s day to day operations similar to what Raptors GM/President Bryan Colangelo has on the basketball side of MLSE.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not insinuating that JFJ made bad hockey decisions based solely on MLSE interference but their insistence that he do everything in his power to win now was the main reason Ferguson felt pressure to make bad signings and trade away draft picks. If the new GM doesn’t insist on complete control of hockey operations then the Leafs will be doomed to fail again.