Brendan Shanahan to be named president of Maple Leafs
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GhostofPotvin29
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Joe S. said:
Don't think you need a track record in a specific field if you possess the qualities and abilities relevant to the field. Seems to be a lot of positives being said about his work with the NHL, the stuff apart from simply handing out suspensions. I mean, a guy like Yzerman had no track record in this field before he was hired for a similar position, so it's not unheard of.
GhostofPotvin29
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Joe S. said:
Vice president and alternate governor. But he didn't have any of Shanahan's experience in the NHL offices either before going into that role.
GhostofPotvin29
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Joe S. said:
Forgot to add that he was the NHL?s Vice President of Hockey and Business Development so he has some experience in this type of overseeing role.
Potvin29 said:
Still though - working for a team - not the league - Shanahan, as far as I know went from player to the league. I don't have an issue with him working for an organization, it's just that to me, starting at president seems like quite a leap.
But Leiweke is clearly a smarter man than me, and I'm basing my opinion on mostly... well... my opinion, so I'll defer to his judgement I suppose.
GhostofPotvin29
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Joe S. said:
Do either of us even know what the differences are? Other than one is team-focused and the other is league-focused?
GhostofPotvin29
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Joe S. said:
That took a sad turn.
I was kind of worried about Shanahan's lack of experience as well, but I've gotten over it. His work during the lockout and in the NHL front office post-retirement has shown that he's got a great mind for the game. He's not afraid of change and it seems like he understands where the NHL is going. And while his history as a player obviously helped him gain these roles he's not exactly a part of that old boys club that's prevalent in a lot of NHL front offices.
My biggest problem now is what exactly he'll be doing. If he just leaves things status quo and isn't involved in the actual running of the hockey operations I'm not sure what the point of him being here is. If he is going to be involved in the hockey operations and wants change then I'm not sure what the point of Nonis being here is. So we'll have to wait and see exactly what his agenda is.
My biggest problem now is what exactly he'll be doing. If he just leaves things status quo and isn't involved in the actual running of the hockey operations I'm not sure what the point of him being here is. If he is going to be involved in the hockey operations and wants change then I'm not sure what the point of Nonis being here is. So we'll have to wait and see exactly what his agenda is.
Potvin29 said:That took a sad turn.
It's how I feel - even when this team was winning this year, I had a hard time feeling any connection to them. I hate these teams more than those mid 90s mike murphy teams.
Sundin's last 2 seasons I was angry and frustrated, every season since then has been increasing apathy on my part.
Peter D.
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CarltonTheBear said:
This is where I'm at with this as well. As much as Nonis may deserve some more rope, I'll be slightly disappointed if he isn't relieved of his duties along with the coaches and other management heads.
For me, this should signal the beginning of sweeping changes throughout the organization. Basically start things afresh.
I don't think fans are going to be sucked into a PR move (if this is what it ends up being). Not only that, I don't think Shanahan is even the type of guy that would win a lot of fans over even if this were such thing.
Kin
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Joe S. said:
Except I'm not saying the job is a complete and total joke, just that it can be sold as two different things. You're right this won't have the PR effect of something as nakedly obvious as bringing Sundin would, you still get to sell a "changes are afoot!" story after the team flamed out even if Shanahan won't really effect the hockey side of things.
Joe S. said:
I know that you're not saying they should have hired those guys, but I'm very happy they didn't just bring in a former Leaf. How rare would it be that the best person available for a job like this also just happens to be a former player? Would Linden have even been remotely considered for the Canucks position if he wasn't their former captain?
Nik the Trik said:
If memory serves me correctly I think the Leafs are just a couple of seasons away from celebrating their 100th year as a franchise. I am sure they will want to make a big deal of that, so someone needs to oversee all that hoopla. We know that Leiweke will not do it and we sure do not want Nonis to do it.
Much is being made in the media of Shanahan's role in being able to hire and fire the GM and coach, but I think that in practical terms he will spend most of his time doing a lot more administrative type things.