The Toronto Maple Leafs -- the shame of the NHL

In my mind, it's official! The Toronto Maple Leafs are singularly the worst managed NHL hockey team ever!

It's been over forty years since the Stanley Cup has been in Toronto in any capacity other than a hallowed exhibit in Toronto's Hockey Hall of Fame. And, to the horror of Leaf fans everywhere, it should be obvious that the half century mark will be come and go before there might be any likelihood of Stanley being raised in celebration at the Air Canada Centre.

In an interview Saturday with Hockey Night in Canada's Ron MacLean, the legendary coach said he discussed a possible senior adviser's job with the team until September, before Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment president Richard Peddie called off the talks. SOURCE

What on earth could the management of the Maple Leafs have possibly been thinking? Anyone with half a wit would have literally jumped at the chance of having Scotty Bowman work as an advisor (or in any capacity) for their team. Scotty has forgotten more about the game than most coaches could ever hope to know. All that one has to do is look at the man, his record (9 Stanley cups: five with Montreal, one with the Penguins and three with Detroit), and one will quickly come to realize that Scotty is the cure for lackluster, hopeless hockey teams. Just look at what Scotty did for the Detroit Red Wings!

Fortunately for the Wings, Scotty will be remain in Detroit in an advisory capacity. Incidentally, the Wings are currently at the top of the NHL standings while the Leafs already face elimination from the playoffs.

I should add that I am a life-long Detroit Red Wings fan. As such, I am hardly a fan of Maple Leaf hockey but loving hockey as I do, it troubles me when I see an "original six" team struggling for credibility. It's time for Toronto fans stop settling for mediocre hockey. They need to apply pressure on Leaf management in the only way that matters -- stop attending Leaf games. Don't buy season tickets and don't buy Maple Leaf jerseys and other Leaf merchandise. Otherwise, expect more pitiful hockey from the once great and mighty Leafs.

All I can add is that the Leafs are the shame of the NHL


[edit on 1/14/2008 by benevolent tyrant]

Um, I think you meant 5 Stanley's with Montreal.

The Leafs contacted Bowman and he turned them down. Smart guy. Who would want to be associated with a franchise that is run for profit and not to win?

The top 10, by value:

1. Toronto Maple Leafs
2. New York Rangers
3. Detroit Red Wings
4. Montreal Canadiens
5. Dallas Stars
6. Philadelphia Flyers
7. Boston Bruins
8. Colorado Avalanche
9. Vancouver Canucks
10. Los Angeles Kings

And this is without making it to the playoffs for what's going on 3 years now.

At least with the Leafs being the focal point of the hockey world, you guys can all just forget that my Kings actually have the worst record in the league right now..........And we even destroyed Toronto last week

man, i hate Tampa's head coach.
They should fire him and get a good coach, i don't think he's doing the Lightning too well. I mean, they have Lecavelier and St.louis and some other guys, they should be winning, they're good enough.
Lecavelier is a leading scorer in the league, he scores in like everygame, and that's only because he's good, nothing to do with the coach. If the coach would motivate him and the others, Tampa would at least be in the top 8, only because the other teams are really good.

There may be a few here who'll hate on me for saying it but it warms this Cape Bretonners heart to see the Laughs toiling at the bottom of the table. The only thing I asked for for xmas was them to be in last place but alas, Santa didn't help me out.

Seriously though, I don't know how any self respecting hockey fan can be pleased with whats happening in Toronto. They are a disgrace to the city and there fans country wide. How in God's name they can justify John Ferguson's position is beyond me. With one or two exceptions, he has built a team of border line NHL players who have little no future in the league. The team has little or no hope of getting any better in the foreseeable future and to top it off they reject Scotty as an advisor. Who in their right mind would do that?

You hear talk of it being Maurice's fault and he does have to shoulder some of the blame but the man's not a miracle worker. He can only work with the tools provided by the front office. And frankly, those tools are blunt and dull.

Being a Habs fan, it makes me happy to see them suffering. Being a hockey fan, it pains me to see a franchise like the Leafs constantly mired in the lower half of the league. I really long for some meaning between the Habs/Leafs games now that the league wised up and put them in the same division.

Originally posted by GAOTU789
Being a hockey fan, it pains me to see a franchise like the Leafs constantly mired in the lower half of the league. division.

I am a Detroit Red Wing through and through. I've despised the Toronto Maple Leafs for as long as I can remember. Anyone would have been truly hard pressed to hear me utter a kind word about the Leafs. On a personal note, I don't think that I ever have said a kind word about them. Nevertheless, here I am feeling sorry for the Leaf fans, I'm sad for the players (it really isn't their fault) and I am sad for this hallowed old franchise -- one of the "original six".

I can remember the good old days back in the sixties and the seventies when theDetroit Red Wings would battle it out with their "evil nemesis" from just up the road (the 401). It used to be anyone's game back then. It used to be exciting. Now, playing Toronto just makes me sad.

Maybe they should have let Jim Basillie, owner of RIM (Research In Motion) -- makers of the Blackberry -- buy the Nashville Predators and set up shop in Hamilton!!! That certainly would have forced the owners of Toronto to stand up and take notice. The Maple Leaf monopoly of SouthWest Ontario hockey would have been over. Once they start to see some empty seats in the Air Canada Center and the figures in the ledger books started to look as red as a Detroit Red Wing jersey, you just know that they would then begin to care.....maybe not about the game but certainly about the bottom line. That's when hockey will return to Toronto.



[edit on 1/14/2008 by benevolent tyrant]

Originally posted by benevolent tyrant


I am a Detroit Red Wing through and through. I've despised the Toronto Maple Leafs for as long as I can remember. Anyone would have been truly hard pressed to hear me utter a kind word about the Leafs.

That I can agree with( except for being a Detroit fan ). I don't like the Leafs. In fact, I used to say that I hated them.

Basillie tried to get the Penguins and the Preds and bring them to Canada but the league blocked them. Oh Bettman, he will be the death of the game, I'm sure of it. He has no desire to bring hockey to anywhere in Canada right now and especially not Southern Ontario. A team in Hamilton would seriously affect the all three teams there but the Leafs would suffer most. Can't have the most lucrative team in the league(yet no where even near middle table in the standings) get hit financially. When they stop worrying about being a brand and start worrying about hockey maybe things will change. I honestly thought when Ballard died that the Leafs had a chance to finally break the curse. Oh well, I wasn't alive when they won their last one( missed it by a couple of years) and I might be dead before they win another.

Your right though BT, I miss those games when the Habs/Leafs rivalry meant something. Now its just another game, even with them in the same division.


edit: fixed my smiley

[edit on 14-1-2008 by GAOTU789]

There are three problems working together here that are driving the Leafs lower and lower in the standings.

John Ferguson Jr.

Richard Peddie

MLSE's Infrastructure

Ferguson is a twit, and his track record backs this up. MLSE is to blame as well for hiring him, considering he had no experience in the position. Richard Peddie is just as popular in the mainstream media as John Ferguson, and more than most General Managers in the league. Why? Why is this guy with absolutely no hockey sense so predominately displayed on almost all Canadian sport newscasts?

Ferguson is the only GM in the league that would have to get approval through the board of MLSE to fire his own head coach, or make any other major decision as it pertains to the hockey organization. He doesn't have a say. He is a face for the corruption that goes on behind closed doors.. a group of people that have probably next to nothing for hockey sense.

We hear on a daily basis that they need a "Colangelo deal" for the Leafs. This is spot on. They need a Bowman/Burke/Holland type GM to come in and take complete control of the hockey operations. The way Colangelo has with the Raptors, and the way Parcells has with the Dolphins.

Until this is done, the rest is just irrelevant.

Part me of me thinks that the board doesn't care anyways. If they didn't win a game all year, they would still sell out and still make tons of money. The board is getting richer and richer, regardless of how the team performs. Before there was a salary cap, the leafs could of done remarkable things. But they chose not to on a daily basis. They could of landed Gretzky when he was playing, and chose not to because they didn't want to pay him.

This is why the Bell Center is more electric than the ACC. The Habs are a hockey team first, and a business second. The leafs are a business first, and a hockey team second. Even the most die hard of fans are aware of this.

Any Saturday night on HNIC where they actually show the Habs game, watch when they hit the ice. The announcers and cameras make an effort to be quiet and directed right on the players and the fans.. with the U2 song "Where the streets have no name" just cranked.

I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

You make some good points chissler. There was a bit on the radio today about the board of directors considering firing Ferguson. I'll believe it when I see it.

Any Saturday night on HNIC where they actually show the Habs game, watch when they hit the ice. The announcers and cameras make an effort to be quiet and directed right on the players and the fans.. with the U2 song "Where the streets have no name" just cranked.

I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

I get goosebumps from you just describing it.

I am a Leafs fan. Always have been, always will be.

What the H have they done to my team. My god, 28th place, thats a disgrace and a slap to leaf fans everywhere. Ever since the lockout, they have been a bad team. This certainly looks like the 4th year in a row we'll miss the playoffs, not even coming close. That is unacceptable.

Ferguson need to go now. Richard Peddie also needs to go, yesterday. Turning down Scotty Bowman?? ...... Tanenbaum seems to have some sense to him, but not enough power to do anything. At this point, I think that drastic changes are in order, players and management. But wait, because of how Ferguson has arranged the contracts, we're pretty much stuck with the same team for the next 2 years. Goody.

The only one I'd keep is Toskala, because he's good. Even with how good he is playing, he can only stop so much. I thought Maurice was a defensive coach. Guess not. I'm hoping that changes are coming this week, just had a meeting today.

No matter how bad they play though, I will remain a fan. Through thick and thin they say. No matter how bad they play...

(but if anyone asks, say I'm going for Minnesota)

Well, it looks like the Laughs finally admitted the season is over...

Ferguson's fired as Maple Leafs GM

Cliff Fletcher has been linked to much of the speculation regarding the team and is expected to be announced as their interim general manager on Tuesday

They look to be bringing back Fletcher for the rest of the seaon.

Maybe this will give them a kick in the pants and they'll make a drive for the playoffs.

Nahhh..

I'm something of an old guy, sliding into sixty later this year, so I have seen a lot of things change in the NHL. I grew up a Red Wings fan and remember their battles with the Leafs and the Canadiens from my childhood. I suffered through the time after Gordie Howe's career with them ended and by the time that Mickey Redmond's career was cut short I had lost my taste for sporting sadness.

When I moved to Toronto I decided to support the Leafs or I should say that by osmosis I caught the Leaf mania. Things went fine for a while until Harold Ballard started to become bigger than the team. His dismantling of the McDonald, Sittler team set a benchmark low for managerial mischief. 1993 was a nice year with Gilmore, Andrychuk and those guys, although a little sour at the end. Ever since then it has been very grim.

It would be nice if the Leafs latched on to decent management and then prepared the way for good fortune.

When I was a kid the Boston Bruins were the perennial sad sacks of the old six team league, despite having some good players. Bruin fans knew a year or two ahead of his arrival that they were going to get a young phenom from Parry Sound. It was a different system then. I don't think there was a draft then, just a "farm system" where teams owned the rights to players. Everyone knew that Bobby Orr was going to be good and would make a big difference for Boston.

Something for the Leaf fans to dream about, getting a kid who becomes one of the greatest ever to play the game.

the leafs stink, their owners make money and the only reason they ever made any changes was because EVERYONE was sick of missing the playoffs for the _th year in row and you'd watch a leaf game and see empty seats near the end of this season, the lower bowl season ticket holders weren't there, didn't care and a dip in attendance (and revenue) probably was on the horizon if not already happening forced a change

mats sundin most of the time will start a season and be in the top 5 point getters every year, but in his entire toronto maple leafs career he has had 1, yes 1, line mate that is a world class player like him or has anything close to his skill level, alexander mogilny for 1 or 2 seasons

*edit, i posted but for some reason all of my post didn't show up? oh well*

THE LEAFS SCOUTING SUCKS!

[edit on 11-5-2008 by OSSkyWatcher]