Who would you like as the next GM?

[daveleaf]

I'll take Wickenheiser over Chiarelli, Hextall, Fletcher, Nonis without a 2nd thought. Maybe Treliving.

Sure. Compare her to a pile of crap she smells a little better. She's still part of the crap.

 

[Warden of the North]

Isn’t he the one who made the decision to step back?

Poile has said the Leafs GM job was his dream job though.

No one can really say except him. Ownership may have allowed him to leave gracefully rather then do it for him.

 

[Warden of the North]

Sure. Compare her to a pile of crap she smells a little better. She's still part of the crap.

You have no idea what she is. The other are clearly piles of crap.

 

[daveleaf]

73 years old and probably ready for a well deserved reirement.

HOWEVER he is a Toronto guy and maybe the Lou treatment grooming Pridham for 2 years and navigating a very difficult current situation might be of interest.

I'm not sure you convince Poile. You can try. All these older guys were once Leafs and were none to happy how they were treated in the late 60's and 70's.

We had the best available option in November. All Shanny had to do was put pressure on Kyle to get rid of Keefe and hire Trotz. Too late now. Poile would be one year, maybe 2. There is more to managing than playing with the cap?

You have no idea what she is. The other are clearly piles of crap.

Ya. I'll take my breadth of knowledge over yours but thanks.

 

[AvroArrow]

Requesting a Jeff O'Neill option

 

[Warden of the North]

I'm not sure you convince Poile. You can try. All these older guys were once Leafs and were none to happy how they were treated in the late 60's and 70's.

We had the best available option in November. All Shanny had to do was put pressure on Kyle to get rid of Keefe and hire Trotz. Too late now. Poile would be one year, maybe 2. There is more to managing than playing with the cap?


Ya. I'll take my breadth of knowledge over yours but thanks.

Ok then, please expand upon why Wickenheiser is "a pile of crap".

If any part of it is "she's not a man" I'll be sure to disregard your opinion moving forward.

 

[jiggy35]

Futa
Tulsky

Are the two that are interesting

 

[A1LeafNation]

Pridham he has the experience, worked in the league. He knows the cap. He's probably worked with all the GMs and signed contracts with these players.

He's the one who knows this roster inside and out and knows what needs to be done and not done more than any outsider that comes in which is especially important in these next 6 weeks.

Ontario boy so he knows the pressures and the media well from doing his current job and growing up here. Why can't we believe we groomed our own good GM.

 

[Advanced stats]

George McPhee, Pridham or Tuskley

 

[daveleaf]

Ok then, please expand upon why Wickenheiser is "a pile of crap".

If any part of it is "she's not a man" I'll be sure to disregard your opinion moving forward.

Do your own. I have better things to do than sit on the net all weekend and post some 45k responses. Been watching this gig for more than 50 years and I don't need 45k responses to prove it.

 

[Visnovsky]

I mean if Bowman would be of interest to Toronto, you'd have to think they'll be all over him - not many GMs have 3 SC's...

 

[hockeywiz542]

Isn’t he the one who made the decision to step back?

Poile has said the Leafs GM job was his dream job though.

Predators GM David Poile talks retirement, Barry Trotz and stories from decades in the NHL

Poile talked with The Athletic Hockey Show as he prepares to transition to an advisory role in Nashville.

theathletic.com

March 8, 2023

“It’s been a long run,” said Poile, who announced on Feb. 26 that he will be stepping down from his post on June 30. “It’s not really quite retirement because I’m going to have an advisory position with the Predators, which was really important to me. I’m so grateful that the owners are doing that, because I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to be living in Nashville and I think it’s important to me personally, and I hope it’s important to them, that I have some connection to the team.”

On the decision process

“There were two parts to the decision: The personal side and the hockey side. On the personal side, I’ve now watched lots of people retire over the years and they seem to have a common theme of wanting to spend more time with family. My wife jokes that we’ve been married for 51 years, but she tells people we’ve only been married for 25 because I’ve been gone at least half the time.

“The second part is the hockey side. You’re not in this game for this long unless you really love what you’re doing, and I really love what I’m doing. I’m the luckiest guy going here. This is the only job I’ve ever wanted, was to be the general manager of an NHL team, and here I am going to give up that job. So that’s not easy to do. But what trumps my love of the hockey is specifically the love of the Predators, and I want to end this in the best possible way that I can end this.

“I’m proud of what we’ve done here in Nashville in terms of a non-traditional hockey market, and from Nashville to Smashville to all the sellouts. We’re a huge part of the community now. Our players and staff. I really see this franchise being really successful, hopefully forever. The early years weren’t easy. For those that can remember we almost moved to Hamilton. The team was almost sold.

“I’m very proud of what we’ve done on the ice and off the ice, but here’s the punch line. As proud as I am of where we are over the last eight years, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, a Presidents’ Trophy and making the playoffs, we were starting to go downhill a little bit and are in this mushy middle and just can’t seem to get out of it. I think if we were to make the playoffs this year it’s still the same story, it’s going to be hard to win a playoff round.

“I think we need to take a step backwards to hopefully take several steps forward.”

 

[Warden of the North]

Do your own. I have better things to do than sit on the net all weekend and post some 45k responses. Been watching this gig for more than 50 years and I don't need 45k responses to prove it.

Right. As I thought. Enjoy your weekend.

 

[SprDaVE]

He'd be really intriguing.

However the Toronto GM role would for him actually involve a demotion since he's already a team President as well as GM

Armstrong was to me the best GM in the league for awhile. Unfortunately recently they've made some really questionable decisions overall but at least they recognized they needed to rebuild and started that process slowly.

But if you're looking for experience, the guy has plenty of it and a very good record. The guy made some of the best trades ever to build that cup winning team and even when they didn't win, he built some top teams for a long time. Also drafting under him is typically very good.

But like Andy said, it'll be hard to find a GM like that would be willing to work under a President like Shanahan. Lamoriello did so maybe Shanahan can convince him too. Maybe it could be a transitioning period where Doug Armstrong takes over the President role from Shanahan in a few years while he moves into more of an ambassador/governor role or something. Only way it happens if the Blues want to rebuild and want a new GM to oversee that rebuild.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I think Futa has a ton of experience excelling at everything he's done. However, he was never an NHL GM. I wouldn't mind Laviolette or Quenneville for coach.

No Treliving, Chiarelli, Burke, Wickenheiser or a ton of other unsuccessful retreads. Treliving might hire that mushmouth Sutter as his coach.

Dubas proved inexperience won't work here

 

[Trapper]

You have no idea what she is. The other are clearly piles of crap.

She might be good one day with more experience, but I think that would be totally unfair to her (and a city on the edge) to look at that right now.

 

[Dreakmur]

Scott Mellanby

 

[notbias]

I mean if Bowman would be of interest to Toronto, you'd have to think they'll be all over him - not many GMs have 3 SC's...

Holland has 3 and should probably be fired, we can get him (not serious).

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

You have no idea what she is. The other are clearly piles of crap.

Why is she qualified to run the Leafs?

And don't say "she played for team Canada." that's great, she was an INCREDIBLE player but that doesn't make her qualified to run the Leafs.

 

[Warden of the North]

David Poile.

 

[Dayjobdave]

Put together as large of a list as I could. Still left an other option.

We have the thread discussing, but would like to the see the poll format of everyone’s preferred option.

There’s at least a chance your list is more organized than Brendan’s. ;-)

 

[Warden of the North]

Why is she qualified to run the Leafs?

And don't say "she played for team Canada." that's great, she was an INCREDIBLE player but that doesn't make her qualified to run the Leafs.

Ive been advocating for Poile. I was responding to her being a "piece of crap".

I would absolutely take her as GM over horror shows like Chiarelli, Hextall, or Fletcher because she can't possibly be a worse option then those guys. Fletcher literally said he signed a player because he was a "lizard". WTF.

 

[notbias]

David Poile.

Out of the experienced options, this one is probably the best... I still want to steal some of Carolina's secrets (especially drafting), so Tulsky is my choice.

 

[Stephen]

Also, Jarmo Kekalainen.

 

[SprDaVE]

I agree on Fox. Not much you can do if the player plans to walk.

But the Tkachuk trade he screwed up because of what he did with the assets, rather than the trade itself.

If you trade Tkachuk for Huberdeau + Weegar + 1st, and then flip Huberdeau for a package of picks/prospects (and maybe a young NHLer), and then either re-sign Weegar or flip him as well, then that's making the best out of a bad situation and really helping to re-set your franchise.

Instead, he locked up Huberdeau on a big money long-term deal that kicks in when he's 30 years old, and who isn't a good enough player to build a contender around. The Huberdeau, Kadri, Coleman, etc contracts are all going to turn into anchor contracts, and they're not even benefiting from being contenders short term.

Just comes across as a guy with no vision who is only making moves based on the immediate season.

I don't think people give credit to him and his staff for even drafting Fox in the first place... in the 3rd round. Imagine if Fox didn't force his hand for a trade? His drafting is pretty strong from 2014 to 2022.

In 2015 he drafted Andersson, Kylington and Mangiapane. They had 5 picks and got 3 NHLers of out it, 2 of them being really damn good players. In 2016, he drafted Tkachuk, Dube and Fox. 2017 Valimaki and Ruzicka is solid. 2018 was bad but no picks until the 4th round. 2019 Pelletier and Wolf. 2020 to 2022 is up in the air but Zary and Coronato look like NHLers that could be very good.

You can't argue against the Tkachuk trade. It was terrible in hindsight but when it was made people thought Calgary was the winner. Weegar has been really good and his new contract is actually very good. Huberdeau's contract is terrible. Kadri's contract isn't great because of the term but he did well for them. Coleman has been a good signing, not sure where that comes from. Markstrom had an AWFUL year but he'll probably bounce back.

I don't know why I'm defending Treliving so much but I think he's really pushed into a corner with some awful general managers. He was a lot better than what people give him credit for. The 1 trade really makes people forget a lot of the other things he did.