By now everyone has heard the Maple Leafs have inked Ron Wilson to be their new head coach...I'm definitely not a Leafs fan but this decision has me scratching my head a little bit about the way that team is being run.
They do not have a general manager yet....Cliff Fletcher is only the interim guy in that job, holding down the fort until a new full-time guy can be found to take over. So why is Fletcher being allowed to hire coaches? It would seem to me that at a minimum, a new general manager should be allowed to choose his own coach. I'm not saying Ron Wilson is a bad coach; he has a very respectable .600 winning percentage in his last six years coaching in the NHL, even if he hasn't had much playoff success. But the point is that the Leafs have just eliminated any potential G.M. candidates who don't think Ron Wilson is the best coach available. Who's going to sign on for that job, in that city, with that kind of high profile and job pressure, without being able to have in place the coach they want to hitch their fortunes to?
For what its worth, the Leafs' search for a G.M. has taken far too long anyway....which I think probably means the guy they really want currently has a job somewhere else. Certainly adds credibility IMO to any speculation that they want either Brian Burke or Ken Holland.
Still in the NHL, I see there's more egg on the league's face over the Nashville ownership situation. Remember last summer they rejected Blackberry billionaire Jim Balsillie's attempt to buy the Nashville Predators in favour of a bid fronted by former San Jose Sharks part-owner William "Boots" DelBiaggio....well, it now turns out Boots doesn't actually have any money and has filed for bankruptcy with debts of $67 million. One of his biggest creditors is Craig Leipold, who's the guy Boots bought the Predators from. So in other words, he never actually paid Leipold all the money for the team. Balsillie, on the other hand, has a net worth in excess of $4 billion....I think he coulda wrote a personal cheque for the Predators.
Balsillie will never get an NHL team though unless he changes the way he plays the game. Even before he had bought the Predators he was negotiating a lease in Hamilton and selling season ticket packages there, making no secret that he planned to move the team if he got it. He's outspoken and a very public guy (he would be the NHL version of Mark Cuban or George Steinbrenner) and this is not the way the NHL does business. Quick, how many NHL owners can you name? They're a collection of mostly quiet, behind-the-scenes owners and they're probably not ever going to vote to bring Balsillie's shenanigans into their fold. I think he'd be a great, passionate owner for a team but he's going to have to learn to tone it down before the NHL owners club is going to accept him.
Back to the WHL quickly, a hiring the other day in Moose Jaw made me think for a second too. The Warriors have hired Kevin Higo as their new assistant coach, replacing Rene Lemire. Higo comes from the AJHL's Brooks Bandits, where he was G.M. & head coach. He has also been G.M. and head coach in two other AJHL cities, Fort McMurray and Crowsnest Pass and is a former AJHL coach of the year. So why would a guy like Higo, with that kind of resume featuring years of Jr A head coaching and G.M. experience, accept a WHL assistant coach position....especially one in an unglamorous WHL stop like Moose Jaw? Usually guys with that kind of Jr. A resume only leave for WHL head coach positions. Assistant coach in Moose Jaw has to be a step down in the hockey world from longtime head coach & G.M. in the AJHL. Oh well....
4 comments:
Alan, it is looking more and more like Cliff Fletcher "is" the new GM in Toronto.
Fletcher has said he doesn't want the job on a permanent basis....he's in his 70's and semi-retired. Fletcher signed only a six-month contract to serve as interim G.M. and that was back in January. So, come mid-July the team isn't going to have a G.M. if they don't hire one by then.
But it certainly looks like either they're having trouble finding somebody who wants that job, or the guy(s) they want aren't free to take it right now. Plus, Leafs president Richard Peddie is believed to be meddlesome in the day-to-day affairs of the team and if I were a prospective G.M., I'd want assurances that Peddie will stay in his office and let me run the team before I'd take the job.
It's official Cliff Fletcher is the Toronto GM until the end of next season.
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gLVNlmxXz4GqOtMZJQniuwvuvE8Q
Interesting development....could they be any more obvious in their desire to have Brian Burke? The hiring of Burke's friend Wilson as head coach is just the beginning of setting the table for Burke's arrival next summer.
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