BlueWhiteBlood
New member
bustaheims said:Before Leiweke, there didn't seem to be much inclination to separate the position of President from that of GM. Burke was both, and, JFJ didn't have anyone in that title overseeing him (Dryden had previously been in that position, but, his position was essentially eliminated when the OTPP bought the team from Stavro). Before bringing in Leiweke, the new ownership hadn't really shown much interest in the position either way. For a decade, the Leafs' GM had been reporting directly to the MLSE's board of directors. So, without Leiweke, the position might not exist at all.
On top of that, with someone else making the decisions for MLSE, they could have very easily decided to go in a different direction with the hire. The story is that Leiweke is the one who identified and pursued Shanahan for the position. That might no have happened without him. No judgement on Shanahan yet - it's way too early on that - but, it's impossible to know for certain what direction MLSe would have taken without Leiweke steering the ship. While they probably still would have had the ability to convince Shanahan to leave the league offices, there's a very real possibility they would not have gone in that direction.
Ah, ok. I just assumed that they were keeping that role after they canned Burke, but decided to split the roles to two different people.
It doesn't matter to me either way, as long as it benefits the Leafs, they could have 5 guys there and if it made the product on the ice better, I'd be all for it. Similarly, if they would have given the position to Nonis along with the GM duties, I don't think I would have cared, again, as long as it benefits the product on the ice.