• For users coming over from tmlfans.ca your username will remain the same but you will need to use the password reset feature (check your spam folder) on the login page in order to set your password. If you encounter issues, email Rick couchmanrick@gmail.com

Nonis, Horachek and assistants fired

Some of the lamenting of 'good people losing their jobs' is such bull#$#%. This is the business, weren't Burke and Wilson good people? Was it just that they didn't spoon feed the media as well?

Glad this is the end of the Burke/Nonis era and I'm not sad they lost their jobs, none of them will be flipping burgers at McD's next week.

Also, say what you want about Burke, but he didn't leave them with boat anchor contracts the way Diamond Dave has.

If you listen closely you'll be able to hear Darren Dreger quietly weeping as his days of being an insider are essentially over.
 
Potvin29 said:
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Step 1 complete.
Step 2: fire the entire top line.

They're all good people let down by underperforming management.


Heh. Simmons may be disreputable but in this case he also happens to be right.
 
Not a surprise. Coaches obviously had to go.

At the deadline, they had to confront how tough the contracts Nonis had committed to the rotten core of this team were going to be to move and/or the low talent return they were likely to bring. That and the character collapse of this club finished Nonis off if he wasn't already.

Leiweke talked about the need to improve character and culture when he arrived and when he hired Shanahan last April. Last September, Leiweke said:

Globe & Mail Link
Leiweke also made the point that the Leafs will continue to pursue ?character? as well as players with good analytics, noting that ?there are players we have in our organization today whose numbers are off the chart good and whose character is just terrible. I don?t care how good your numbers are, if you have bad character, you are doomed for failure."

It was reported in January that MLSE chatted about trying to talk Leiweke into staying on ... after looking like he possessed a pretty good crystal ball on the Leafs talent.

Leiweke went on to say in September:
"We are convinced that analytics at the end of the day will be key to getting this team back on track. But that said they will never ever replace our ability to determine one?s character and passion for the game of hockey. You have to be good at both, not just one.?

On this club, Nonis didn't prove he was very good at either. I like Dave. I still think he's a decent hockey guy. But he messed up pretty big in Toronto. He was held accountable as he should be. It's time someone else got a crack at the job.

As I've previously expressed, I'm glad Shanahan is not assuming  the GM role. He can keep his "media distance" while the franchise gets fixed up properly.

I think what they did today is a good first step.

I don't have a big problem with the assistant GM's jointly handling the GM job on an interim basis because I doubt the vacancy will be a long one. I think they've had their ducks lined up on replacing Nonis for many months because the writing has been on the wall for some time.
 
Potvin, To be completely honest, you are right too of course. Nonis absolutely deserved it. Horachek too. He disappointed me. Wasn't any more progressive than RC. As for the assistants they are unfortunately collateral damage
 
@DarrenDreger  59s60 seconds ago
Rob Blake may seem like a prime candidate for Leafs GM job, however, the timing for him and his family is not right.
 
Patrick said:
@DarrenDreger  59s60 seconds ago
Rob Blake may seem like a prime candidate for Leafs GM job, however, the timing for him and his family is not right.

Where did his name come from. I haven't heard it all year.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Potvin, To be completely honest, you are right too of course. Nonis absolutely deserved it. Horachek too. He disappointed me. Wasn't any more progressive than RC. As for the assistants they are unfortunately collateral damage

Nonis deserved it. They had to do it in my opinion. But Nonis did get caught up in Burke's retooling fiasco. He kind of didn't get a clean shot to be Leafs GM. I cut him that much slack.

Horachek proved he wasn't a solution for this group either and had to go. But like Nonis, he didn't get a clean shot at doing the job either. I think they at least partially mandated the system change on him to see which players would respond and he kind of got left holding the bag on that to some extent - forcing a system change that didn't optimally fit the talent to flush out the roster and trying to do it mid-season was tough.

Next up are the players. The core players who quit on this team: they have absolutely no future here. They're going and good riddance. The only question now is the limited return they'll bring and when they move them out.
 
Man that was fast, thought some of the blood would be let tomorrow. Happy Sunday, hey you guys can watch the Masters.
Liked Nonis but he f__ked up the job pretty bad. Suprise to see Spott go as well.  To much bad air on those boys.
 
Potvin29 said:
@simmonssteve

Nonis. Carlyle. Poulin. Loiselle. Farrish. Cronin. Gordon. Spott. Horachek, St. Croix. All good people let down by underperforming players.

Man, what a free ride these guys got from the Sun.

I'm so sick of the way journalists like Simmons bases how good people are at their jobs by whether they talk to him nicely or not. Look at things with a broader perspective when you are stating that someone is good at their job.

At the end of the day these were the guys that acquired the underperforming talent in the first place & are the biggest reason for the franchise being in the state that it's in. Good on Shanahan for seeing things as they were & dealing with things accordingly.
 
freer said:
Patrick said:
@DarrenDreger  59s60 seconds ago
Rob Blake may seem like a prime candidate for Leafs GM job, however, the timing for him and his family is not right.

Where did his name come from. I haven't heard it all year.

About six weeks ago a few of the respected media guys reported that LA had been contacted by several teams as to Blake's availability. Apparently he's made an excellent reputation as AGM in LA and as GM of the Canadian World Championship team last year. Blake and Shanahan apparently developed a good relationship while working at the league office.

Blake apparently also coaches his son's team for the Jnr Kings and his family are happy there, might mean the job is not right for him now.

Sean Burke coming in as goalie coach too apparently, guy credited with changing goalie coaching in a fairly big way, gets a lot of credit for Dubnyk's turnaround.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Heh. Simmons may be disreputable but in this case he also happens to be right.

The way he presents it is completely wrong, though. It's like he believes they had nothing to do with the team's failures. The group of "good people" he's letting off the hook put this team together and failed to lead them to anything but failure. A significant portion of the blame is on them, and Simmons is just flat out ignoring that.
 
freer said:
Patrick said:
@DarrenDreger  59s60 seconds ago
Rob Blake may seem like a prime candidate for Leafs GM job, however, the timing for him and his family is not right.

Where did his name come from. I haven't heard it all year.

It's been floated in the media for a while
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/blake-plans-to-stay-with-kings-organization/
 
bustaheims said:
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Heh. Simmons may be disreputable but in this case he also happens to be right.

The way he presents it is completely wrong, though. It's like he believes they had nothing to do with the team's failures. The group of "good people" he's letting off the hook put this team together and failed to lead them to anything but failure. A significant portion of the blame is on them, and Simmons is just flat out ignoring that.

Exactly.
 
Yes I know the Shannaplan and all but doesn't this just feel like a never ending cycle with this team? It was barely two years ago that Burke was fired and he was supposed to be the saviour.
 
Mike1 said:
Potvin29 said:
@simmonssteve

Nonis. Carlyle. Poulin. Loiselle. Farrish. Cronin. Gordon. Spott. Horachek, St. Croix. All good people let down by underperforming players.

Man, what a free ride these guys got from the Sun.

I'm so sick of the way journalists like Simmons bases how good people are at their jobs by whether they talk to him nicely or not. Look at things with a broader perspective when you are stating that someone is good at their job.

At the end of the day these were the guys that acquired the underperforming talent in the first place & are the biggest reason for the franchise being in the state that it's in. Good on Shanahan for seeing things as they were & dealing with things accordingly.

A lot of those guys accepted jobs with Burke's (which became Nonis) retooling bluster. Heavy odds were that it was an accident waiting to happen, they very probably knew that and collected some pretty good dough while they tried to pull off a long shot.

What Shanahan is doing now is what Burke, Nonis & Company should have sold the board on years ago. They didn't and now they're paying for that.

I don't think any of them are horrible hockey people. But I don't feel sorry for them. They're not stupid and knew what they were getting into.
 
Kessel Run said:
Yes I know the Shannaplan and all but doesn't this just feel like a never ending cycle with this team? It was barely two years ago that Burke was fired and he was supposed to be the saviour.

For decades, they've avoiding doing a true rebuild. They're going to try that with Shanahan.  There's no guarantee no matter what they do. But their chances to truly contend are better with a proper rebuild than Burke's quick fix retooling.
 

About Us

This website is NOT associated with the Toronto Maple Leafs or the NHL.


It is operated by Rick Couchman and Jeff Lewis.
Back
Top