Who would you like as the next GM?
- Thread starter Fogelhund
- Start date
-
Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
As we talk about all this let’s not forget the clock is ticking on Shanny now. It’s crazy how depressed I am with this team. It seems like the collapse of this era/core is inevitable. Brad won’t be coming in with the status quo. They are picking him for what he did in his last off season in Calgary. He did as well as you could possibly do with players asking out. And what is this organization looking for? Change. Brad or whoever it is will be here to usher in a new era
Would not be shocked at all if both Mitch and Willy are traded and then after that what would the point of keeping Rielly and Matthews? Blow up time
Would not be shocked at all if both Mitch and Willy are traded and then after that what would the point of keeping Rielly and Matthews? Blow up time
Dragao6
Registered User
He was bad with the leafs already putting us back 10 years and
He lost everywhere else he went?
Why?
Brandon Pridham as Leafs GM? Let's read into Brendan Shanahan's comments
Shanahan seemed to point toward Pridham, Toronto's assistant GM, as Kyle Dubas' interim replacement, but what about the permanent job?
theathletic.com
Brandon Pridham joined the Leafs as special assistant to the GM in 2014 before being promoted to assistant GM in 2018. He is known throughout the organization (and throughout the league, for that matter) as an impressive and thorough capologist who can maneuver through an oft-complicated NHL salary cap. Before joining the Leafs, Pridham spent 15 years at NHL central scouting and central registry. And when you’re dealing with a roster that — at least as it stands now — is constructed with a few highly-paid stars up top and not a ton of cash always left over to fill out the majority of the roster, having someone of Pridham’s pedigree is vital.
We’re parsing meaning from a relatively short press conference, yes, which can only lead to questions. But Pridham being one of very few people lauded by Shanahan throughout his relatively brief comments might suggest that the man currently listed second beneath Shanahan on the team’s current management chart must be in contention for the open position, right?
Hiring Pridham would certainly appease a portion of the fan base that is upset to see Dubas go but would see Pridham, who often took his seat in the Leafs’ management box during games directly beside Dubas, as a natural and trusted replacement.
“I’m not ruling anybody out at this point,” Shanahan said when asked specifically about Pridham being a candidate. “I think we’ll have all those conversations.”
Pridham is valued throughout the league. The reported interest he is garnering from the Calgary Flames, who also have a GM vacancy, suggests as much.
So, before Friday’s announcement of Dubas’s departure and Shanahan’s ensuing press conference, how could you not believe that Pridham would be a strong candidate for the Leafs GM job?
This is where it’s time to pump the brakes, and where the future of the Leafs GM position doesn’t become any clearer.
Because as respected as Pridham is throughout the Leafs organization and as much as he can dangle in the tight phone booth that is the NHL’s salary cap, he doesn’t have one of the things Shanahan said on Friday that he covets: experience as an NHL GM.
“Certainly, having an experienced general manager could be an attractive quality,” Shanahan said, and that ended up being one of the more revealing statements he made about who will take over for Dubas long-term.
So, does that actually rule out Pridham?
One way to read this statement is to infer that Shanahan will want a GM with plenty of time spent in the big chair. Does that mean Brad Treliving, the recently ousted Calgary Flames GM who held the position since 2014, will vault toward the top of his list of candidates? Would Shanahan value someone with the experience of Marc Bergevin, who was the Montreal Canadiens’ GM from 2012-21?
When considering Pridham as a candidate, what we’re dancing around here are some of the most pressing questions coming out of Friday: Will Shanahan’s need for change mean the pendulum will swing farther away from Dubas and the identity he built for this team? Will he want more of an old-school type to take this Leafs franchise forward?
Shanahan seemed to leave the door open for multiple types of GMs to take the job.
“I’m going to be open-minded to who (the next Leafs GM) can be. I want to be open minded,” he said.
Pridham might not have experience as a GM, but he is available for the job right now, presuming he wants it, of course. The news of former Leafs special assistant to the GM Jason Spezza resigning Friday morning makes you wonder: Will other people close to Dubas in the organization also walk away? If Pridham does stay, he could, theoretically, step in without a hasty transition.
Will that be enough?
Dragao6
Registered User
Don’t think any of them get traded this year
New gm will want a chance with an elite team no matter how much we want that
Things will only happen when tavares comes off the books
Maybe short deals till tavares expires to then cash in and not hurt the team
Basically WHY we needed a diff GM
baton elevated
One Man Gang
- Jun 4, 2009
- 1,379
- 857
He was in tough, MT was leaving anyway and Hubue was coming off a monster year. Value was there. Hubie was constricted in Sutter's system he needs freewheeling. He will be better in a different system
Menzinger
Kessel4LadyByng
He could have traded MT for anything and his choices was what he got. Hoping he'll be better seems like wishful thinking.....
PROUD PAPA
Registered User
- Sep 20, 2021
- 3,039
- 3,476
He’s signed for 3 more years. There better be a long list of priorities to act on in the meantime.
Menzinger
Kessel4LadyByng
It'll be really interesting if Pridham, someone who Shanny is really leaning on jumps ship asap. I hope it doesn't happen
baton elevated
One Man Gang
- Jun 4, 2009
- 1,379
- 857
Thing is after the playoffs Nylander had I don’t think his value has ever been higher same with Marner who is up for an award. We’ll see… I haven’t been this uncertain about this team’s direction in a long time. Seems everything is up in the air
He sure left the next GM to look like a failure. How do they fix this?
4 top six forwards, trade one....how do you add 3 top six forwards for 11 million?
It’s going to be tough.
Murray on the Books?
If they stick with the core 4 and lose? Dubas walked into a GM's dream and left a nightmare for the next poor fellow
4 top six forwards, trade one....how do you add 3 top six forwards for 11 million?
It’s going to be tough.
Murray on the Books?
If they stick with the core 4 and lose? Dubas walked into a GM's dream and left a nightmare for the next poor fellow
baton elevated
One Man Gang
- Jun 4, 2009
- 1,379
- 857
Quennville might become available after his June meeting with Bettman. He'd be the best....a winner.
How the Kyle Dubas talks fell apart, and why both sides will regret it - Northstar Bets
Truth be told, it’s an outcome both sides will almost certainly come to regret with the passing of time.
For the Leafs, there’s no possible way to stem the flow of Dubas loyalists now fleeing for the exits – an exodus that began with special assistant to the GM Jason Spezza tendering his resignation on Friday afternoon and will almost certainly continue with other staff and players.
As for Dubas, how and where will you ever recreate something like this?
The 37-year-old was instrumental in building almost every facet of what the Leafs are today from the ground up. His fingerprints were all over the roster, the farm system and the entire off-ice operation of an organization trying to bury the failures of multiple generations that came before.
They had a chance to get it done. No more.
Dubas clearly stretched his leverage to the limit during a brief round of negotiations, with his agent Chris Armstrong returning with a counter-proposal as recently as Thursday afternoon according to Shanahan, but who can blame him?
There is no external candidate who is unquestionably sharper or more qualified.
Let it be said here that Brad Treliving is now the favourite to replace him as Leafs GM because there are so few obvious options who meet Shanahan’s requirement that “having an experienced general manager would be an attractive quality.”
The others that fall into that category are Marc Bergevin, Peter Chiarelli, Chuck Fletcher, Ray Shero, Ron Hextall, Jim Benning and Dave Nonis.
The Leafs had a pretty damn good thing in Dubas, and he held one of hockey’s most attractive jobs thanks to them.
There was a good reason why Shanahan called him up to his Scotiabank Arena office last Sunday to formally present a contract offer. It wasn’t even 48 hours after the Florida Panthers shockingly eliminated the Leafs from a second-round series in five games, but the president didn’t want any potential doubts to take hold.
Dubas was working through his own process.
Ultimately, he got done in by the decision to speak publicly during the team’s end-of-season availability on Monday – “I had expressed to him that it was not my intention to talk to the media until I had something settled with him,” said Shanahan. “I expressed that I thought it was a good idea that maybe he didn’t either” – because it was there where Dubas first said he wasn’t sure about returning after learning how taxing things had been on his family.
That set off alarm bells for Shanahan.
“There was a shift in my thinking at that moment,” said Shanahan. “A dramatic shift in my thinking.”
Still, they texted throughout Tuesday and met face-to-face for multiple hours on Wednesday. There was a chance to save the relationship. They could have used a marriage counsellor.
Distrust had crept into the equation, which explains why they couldn’t piece it all back together even when Dubas formally told his boss that it was his intention to stay roughly 17 hours before he was sent packing.
Truth be told, it’s an outcome both sides will almost certainly come to regret with the passing of time.
For the Leafs, there’s no possible way to stem the flow of Dubas loyalists now fleeing for the exits – an exodus that began with special assistant to the GM Jason Spezza tendering his resignation on Friday afternoon and will almost certainly continue with other staff and players.
As for Dubas, how and where will you ever recreate something like this?
The 37-year-old was instrumental in building almost every facet of what the Leafs are today from the ground up. His fingerprints were all over the roster, the farm system and the entire off-ice operation of an organization trying to bury the failures of multiple generations that came before.
They had a chance to get it done. No more.
Dubas clearly stretched his leverage to the limit during a brief round of negotiations, with his agent Chris Armstrong returning with a counter-proposal as recently as Thursday afternoon according to Shanahan, but who can blame him?
There is no external candidate who is unquestionably sharper or more qualified.
Let it be said here that Brad Treliving is now the favourite to replace him as Leafs GM because there are so few obvious options who meet Shanahan’s requirement that “having an experienced general manager would be an attractive quality.”
The others that fall into that category are Marc Bergevin, Peter Chiarelli, Chuck Fletcher, Ray Shero, Ron Hextall, Jim Benning and Dave Nonis.
The Leafs had a pretty damn good thing in Dubas, and he held one of hockey’s most attractive jobs thanks to them.
There was a good reason why Shanahan called him up to his Scotiabank Arena office last Sunday to formally present a contract offer. It wasn’t even 48 hours after the Florida Panthers shockingly eliminated the Leafs from a second-round series in five games, but the president didn’t want any potential doubts to take hold.
Dubas was working through his own process.
Ultimately, he got done in by the decision to speak publicly during the team’s end-of-season availability on Monday – “I had expressed to him that it was not my intention to talk to the media until I had something settled with him,” said Shanahan. “I expressed that I thought it was a good idea that maybe he didn’t either” – because it was there where Dubas first said he wasn’t sure about returning after learning how taxing things had been on his family.
That set off alarm bells for Shanahan.
“There was a shift in my thinking at that moment,” said Shanahan. “A dramatic shift in my thinking.”
Still, they texted throughout Tuesday and met face-to-face for multiple hours on Wednesday. There was a chance to save the relationship. They could have used a marriage counsellor.
Distrust had crept into the equation, which explains why they couldn’t piece it all back together even when Dubas formally told his boss that it was his intention to stay roughly 17 hours before he was sent packing.
keonsbitterness
Registered User
baton elevated
One Man Gang
- Jun 4, 2009
- 1,379
- 857
As coach. Then either Bowman or Mcphee (if he accepts the challenge & fat offer) as GM
