Who would you like as the next GM?

[SprDaVE]

Friedge brought up some names in his latest 32 thoughts pod, some to say he doesn't expect they will be involved and some to say he expects to be very involved in the GM search:

-Brad Treliving: The way they were talking about him (and mostly about him) it really sounds like he's the heavy frontrunner. All the other names talked about after him were brief mentions.
-George McPhee: Doubtful that he would leave his POHO position in Vegas to report under Shanahan.
-Doug Armstrong: Doubtful that he would leave his position running the show in St. Louis to report under Shanahan.
-Mike Gillis: Could be a name in the mix.
-Garth Snow: Could be a name in the mix.
-Mark Hunter: Could be a name in the mix.
-Marc Bergevin: Could be a name in the mix.

I didn't listen to the podcast but were they laughing hysterically when they talked about Mark Hunter, Mike Gillis and Garth f***ing Snow? Absolutely insane names to even suggest.

Bergevin I kind of get. He's got some experience and has a little bit of success but his last few years with Montreal were putridly bad.

 

[GoonieFace]

The fact that Dubas was willing to sign an Extension at some shows this is all a bunch of nonsense. Dubas pulled a power move and lost, seems fairly obvious

 

[Americanadian]

From a player standpoint, I do that in a heartbeat. On a contract standpoint, I think I'm out. Doughty is making 11M for 3 more seasons as opposed to Tavares making 11M for only one more.

I don't think that trade would ever happen but it would be wild if a person who was on the radio offering up Leaf trades last week ended up getting hired as GM.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Bergevin I kind of get. He's got some experience and has a little bit of success but his last few years with Montreal were putridly bad.

I really don't see much of a difference between Treliving and Bergevin tbh.

I actually might prefer Bergevin since at least he might be entertaining during our preiciptous fall back to competitive irrelevance

 

[SprDaVE]

I really don't see much of a difference between Treliving and Bergevin tbh.

Pretty vanila GMs indeed with red flags but not completely dog poop. Both feel like a step back. But I will say execs and coaches can learn and evolve from a bad situation into a better one.

 

[saltming]

Treliving has significant experience and in a Canadian market. He has drafted Tkachuk, Bennett and Fox and he has made several significant trades. Making the playoffs in 5 of 9 NHL seasons. He is a worthy candidate.

I also like Mellanby. He's never had a main role but he has lots of experience as an assistant GM and he is apparently doing well in GM discussions lately and would be a good choice for a leader of a franchise given the way he played and role he held for much of his career.

Mark Hunter and Dale Hunter would also be at the top of my list. They had Mark and Dubas and ultimately chose Dubas. With Dubas moving on, the role he was 2nd in line for last time has come available again.

Tulsky sounds like Dubas without the experience.

The hunters have no significant NHL experience and Shanahan said that was high on his priority list

 

[ShaneFalco]

Blast from the past - Dave Nonis

 

[SprDaVE]

The hunters have no significant NHL experience and Shanahan said that was high on his priority list

He just said it would be nice, not that it was a prerequisite. They obviously don't want another John Chayka or Kyle Dubas level of adjustment in the front office. They want someone that's been in the business for awhile and more importantly hit the ground running to retool the team into a better contender. The last part I think is the most important.

Mark Hunter would be someone that has plenty of experience in that sense. It's vastly different OHL to the NHL but the guy has been around a long time. Would he be good? That's the debatable part. There is no track record other than a few draft picks.

Eric Tulsky murks the grey area of experience. I don't know if he fits much what they'd be looking for. It sounds like he'll be a great GM soon enough. But without much front office experience, I don't know.

 

[Brobust]

Blast from the past - Dave Nonis

It was reported that Nonis will be assisting Conroy in Calgary.

 

[ShaneFalco]

It was reported that Nonis will be assisting Conroy in Calgary.

lol I was kidding - he shouldnt be near a hockey team

 

[saltming]

He just said it would be nice, not that it was a prerequisite. They obviously don't want another John Chayka or Kyle Dubas level of adjustment in the front office. They want someone that's been in the business for awhile and more importantly hit the ground running to retool the team into a better contender. The last part I think is the most important.

Mark Hunter would be someone that has plenty of experience in that sense. It's vastly different OHL to the NHL but the guy has been around a long time. Would he be good? That's the debatable part. There is no track record other than a few draft picks.

Eric Tulsky murks the grey area of experience. I don't know if he fits much what they'd be looking for. It sounds like he'll be a great GM soon enough. But without much front office experience, I don't know.

Fair take but I interpreted it as nhl experience

 

[SprDaVE]

 

[CaptainCrunch17]

Lol futa literally said they had to report to owners and President on trades before going down too. Why do people on here think that a gm doesn't have to report big trades to their bosses and owners?? If I was an owner I'd want to know before hand also lol.... you all relax. A president has to be involved too, looks like shanny saved us from losing Knies.

Ownership will always be involved in organizational decisions of consequence.

I see lots of people blaming Shanahan, but it sounds like he went to bat for Dubas with ownership for a renewal multiple times. It doesn’t sound like ownership were completely convinced, if they were, they would have locked Dubas up last summer. So I think when Dubas called into question his commitment to returning in public, then only a few days later, to respond by asking for more money as well organizational changes, it wouldn’t surprise me if Shanahan knew he couldn’t sell that to the ownership group even if he wanted to.

In a corporate structure, Shanahan is the spokesperson for the company, but he did not make the decision to not renew Dubas solely. This decision was clearly and logically an organizational decision. Shanahan being the good corporate employee, insulated he board, by framing this decision as his after he “slept on it” but the missing detail was that ownership had a change of heart.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

I didn't listen to the podcast but were they laughing hysterically when they talked about Mark Hunter, Mike Gillis and Garth f***ing Snow? Absolutely insane names to even suggest.

Bergevin I kind of get. He's got some experience and has a little bit of success but his last few years with Montreal were putridly bad.

If some of those names are ones that would be seriously considered, I would rather take my chances with another rookie GM to be honest.

 

[Bronxxx]

Surprise Suprise. Shanahan will be IGM until he hires one. I think Gabby eventually will be GM. He bleeds blue.

 

[francis246]

Pretty vanila GMs indeed with red flags but not completely dog poop. Both feel like a step back. But I will say execs and coaches can learn and evolve from a bad situation into a better one.

I think the biggest thing for me is both are decent at trading. They know how to get good value back and are respected around the league. Both also know how to build a good defensive core.

 

[jaric1862]

Sounds like to get any of the big names, we would have to have them as GM-President...No way Shanahan (who's under-qualified) would give up that power.

 

[SprDaVE]

Sounds like to get any of the big names, we would have to have them as GM-President...No way Shanahan (who's under-qualified) would give up that power.

I think we underestimate the amount of money that can change minds for what they are offering. Lamoriello of all people was convinced to move on from the Devils to GM the Leafs under Shanahan. I don't think the Presidents job is one that overly matters and if anything, it frees up the person to do hockey related work and the President handles the board. Doing both can suck at the Leafs level.

It's possible a team like the Blues want to make a change in what appears to be a retool/rebuild of their core. Maybe Armstrong see's the writing on the wall and both would welcome a change, which opens the door for the Leafs. Maybe. I dunno. Strickland seems to think Armstrong has zero reasons to leave nor does he want to leave the Blues.

 

[TheRumble]

More grim news from Friedman:

"He also says guys like George McPhee and Doug Armstrong aren’t coming to Toronto with its current structure (i.e. Shanahan above them)

Also someone who, according to Elliotte, fits the description that the Leafs are looking for as the next GM told him he wouldn’t be interested in the job because Shanahan’s presser felt like “airing dirty laundry”

Well now, the guys who wanted Dubas gone just found out why our talent pool of available GMs is currently made up of:

A guy that built a team and yo-yos in and out of the playoffs every other year

A guy that needed a once in a century pandemic just to make the playoffs

A guy who in 2014 did not know you could retain salary on trades.

Given the options, I'd say just to go with Treliving and be done with it.

 

[nuck]

He just said it would be nice, not that it was a prerequisite. They obviously don't want another John Chayka or Kyle Dubas level of adjustment in the front office. They want someone that's been in the business for awhile and more importantly hit the ground running to retool the team into a better contender. The last part I think is the most important.

Mark Hunter would be someone that has plenty of experience in that sense. It's vastly different OHL to the NHL but the guy has been around a long time. Would he be good? That's the debatable part. There is no track record other than a few draft picks.

Eric Tulsky murks the grey area of experience. I don't know if he fits much what they'd be looking for. It sounds like he'll be a great GM soon enough. But without much front office experience, I don't know.

I like Tulsky a lot but even if the Leafs are interested so are other clubs I think and the Canes might just do something internally because he is the heir apparent to Waddell right? Altho DW is only 64 which is not old in GM years. And I suspect Tulsky could be intrigued by the money in TO as Waddell was rumored to be the lowest paid GM in the league.

A few people have brought up Futa again and I watch some of his youtube stuff and dug around the Kings board a bit on his departure from there. I think he could be the dark horse here.

 

[Folignos Helmet]

Theo Epstein in a consulting role to break the curse!

 

[nuck]

I think we underestimate the amount of money that can change minds for what they are offering. Lamoriello of all people was convinced to move on from the Devils to GM the Leafs under Shanahan. I don't think the Presidents job is one that overly matters and if anything, it frees up the person to do hockey related work and the President handles the board. Doing both can suck at the Leafs level.

It's possible a team like the Blues want to make a change in what appears to be a retool. Maybe Armstrong see's the writing on the wall and both would welcome a change, which opens the door for the Leafs. Maybe. I dunno. Strickland seems to think Armstrong has zero reasons to leave nor does he want to leave the Blues.

Army has a Cup but he also has a string of odd moves. The Faulk and Krug moves while not finding the money for Pietrangelo is bizarre. I kind of think Binnington's deal with a crossroads demon has more to do with the Blue's Cup than Armstong. Except for the Cup year their playoffs kind of look like the Leafs.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

I like Tulsky a lot but even if the Leafs are interested so are other clubs I think and the Canes might just do something internally because he is the heir apparent to Waddell right? Altho DW is only 64 which is not old in GM years. On the other hand I suspect Tulsky could be intrigued by the money in TO as Waddell was rumored to be the lowest paid GM in the league.

A few people have brought up Futa again and I watch some of his youtube stuff and dug around the Kings board a bit on his departure from there. I think he could be the dark horse here.

If Carolina were to make Tulsky GM, I would gladly welcome Waddell. I've liked what the Canes have been doing for a while.

More grim news from Friedman:

"He also says guys like George McPhee and Doug Armstrong aren’t coming to Toronto with its current structure (i.e. Shanahan above them)

Also someone who, according to Elliotte, fits the description that the Leafs are looking for as the next GM told him he wouldn’t be interested in the job because Shanahan’s presser felt like “airing dirty laundry”

Well now, the guys who wanted Dubas gone just found out why our talent pool of available GMs is currently made up of:

A guy that built a team and yo-yos in and out of the playoffs every other year

A guy that needed a once in a century pandemic just to make the playoffs

A guy who in 2014 did not know you could retain salary on trades.

Given the options, I'd say just to go with Treliving and be done with it.

The way the pool is looking and if these rumors are true, Pridham might even be one of the better candidates. I'm curious to know what his beliefs are in roster construction and how he would be in trades.

 

[SprDaVE]

Army has a Cup but he also has a string of odd moves. The Faulk and Krug moves while not finding the money for Pietrangelo is bizarre. I kind of think Binnington's deal with a crossroads demon has more to do with the Blue's Cup than Armstong. Except for the Cup year their playoffs kind of look like the Leafs.

And thus why it's possible the Blues wouldn't mind going another way. Hard to say.

Armstorng has a long history of being very successful at what he does. In recent years though... it's definitely a lot more worrisome. But I still think he's one of the best and the Leafs would be very lucky if they can get him to jump ship.

 

[Americanadian]

Theo Epstein in a consulting role to break the curse!

I've mentioned it on this board twice now - would love to see it.