Most Valuable to the Leafs Organization

[Leafs1993]

Shanny because if not for him none of the other poll options would even be here.

This exactly

 

[Stephen]

Shanahan is the franchise foundation.

 

[Craig Button]

Very surprised that the pick is a close second to the only correct answer.

Without Shanny there would be
No Babcock
No Lamiorello
No Hunter

We would still have the 1st pick. But we would also have the previous regime.

 

[The Man in White]

Voted Shanahan but I wanted to shout out Leiweke for his hires in his short time here. All 3 teams he brought new leadership to have turned it around remarkably.

 

[Scratch]

Longterm it's Brendan, because he really is the General to this army... but like any army, supply is everything. So draft picks and prospect management is the most important criteria during a rebuild which makes Mark Hunter the most valuable asset in the organization.
Currently.
When it comes time for a cup run... it switches over to the Coach.

 

[Anthrax442]

Shanny becasue, to quote I Robot " Everything that follows is a result of what you see here"

 

[TeamBester]

Timmy

Timmy L

 

[SprDaVE]

Why chose only one? I tend to believe it's a team effort.

 

[ULF_55]

Voted Shanahan for the reason most did ... but maybe it is other because someone hire Shanahan.

Decision
Shanahan
Hunter
Dubas
Babcock
Lamoriello
scorched earth
1st. overall
hope

 

[Josh92]

Sorry. I just wanted to be politically correct. But yeah, there's only Matthews

How is that being politically correct?

 

[Atomos2]

How is that being politically correct?

I just meant I didn't want to offend the small group of Leaf fans (if there are any) who would prefer we chose Laine. Right now we just have the 1st overall pick. It was meant to be a joke, sorry if it didn't come across that way.

 

[kk87]

This is hard. I have it:

Shanahan
Matthews
Babcock
Top young guys (Marner, Nylander, Rielly)
Dubas
Hunter
Lamoriello

 

[Morgs]

Shanny because if not for him none of the other poll options would even be here.

I was about to post this.

 

[Lion15]

It always starts at the top. Shanny hands down. All the pieces are coming together because of him.

Taking a step back further I would give a lot of credit to Tim Leiweke for having ability and foresight to hire Shanny. On an even more separate note, he also hired Ujiri which was just a good of a hire for the Raps.

 

[ShaneFalco]

I don't think we'll be able to properly evaluate the management team for a few years

 

[93LEAFS]

I'll go with Matthews, I've seen great players lead an average coach to a title, I haven't seen a great coach lead an average team to a title.

Surprised to see how many Shanahan votes, in my opinion he is no longer that valuable going forward.........Because he's already created the blueprint and hired the people, now if we lost him prior to hiring Dubas or really prior to Babcock or Lou, that another story. Shanahan in so many ways is exactly what we needed, instead of dismissing things he doesn't like or understand like a certain former gm, he hires people who are leaders in that field to give him a greater understanding. In my opinion Shanahan's best trait as an executive is "knowing what he doesn't know" and hiring people to fill in the gaps. He didn't know how to be a great scout he hires Hunter and Vuori, doesn't understand analytics so he hires a young up and coming OHL gm with a background in it, doesn't know quite how to build a model organization brings in an NHL hall of famer to oversee it. I'd add Babcock, but that was such an obvious hire its hard to credit him outside of the recruiting aspect. Granted, it showed he has no fear of someone stealing his thunder or making a power-play, he knows if Leafs win the cup, there will be enough credit to go around. Shanahan out of all recent management groups understand how to use the Leafs money to their advantage.

 

[taurine330]

All the thanks belong to Brendan Shananan.

 

[taurine330]

Very surprised that the pick is a close second to the only correct answer.

Without Shanny there would be
No Babcock
No Lamiorello
No Hunter

We would still have the 1st pick. But we would also have the previous regime.

Are you so sure?

We might have finished 9th or 10th or so on again.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Shanahan as the man, who brought in everyone and everything.

 

[Menzinger]

I'll go with Matthews, I've seen great players lead an average coach to a title, I haven't seen a great coach lead an average team to a title.

Surprised to see how many Shanahan votes, in my opinion he is no longer that valuable going forward.........Because he's already created the blueprint and hired the people, now if we lost him prior to hiring Dubas or really prior to Babcock or Lou, that another story. Shanahan in so many ways is exactly what we needed, instead of dismissing things he doesn't like or understand like a certain former gm, he hires people who are leaders in that field to give him a greater understanding. In my opinion Shanahan's best trait as an executive is "knowing what he doesn't know" and hiring people to fill in the gaps. He didn't know how to be a great scout he hires Hunter and Vuori, doesn't understand analytics so he hires a young up and coming OHL gm with a background in it, doesn't know quite how to build a model organization brings in an NHL hall of famer to oversee it. I'd add Babcock, but that was such an obvious hire its hard to credit him outside of the recruiting aspect. Granted, it showed he has no fear of someone stealing his thunder or making a power-play, he knows if Leafs win the cup, there will be enough credit to go around. Shanahan out of all recent management groups understand how to use the Leafs money to their advantage.

He is likely finished building the front office staff - but now it becomes his job to 1) protect them from outside influences (ie ownership, media, ect) and then also manage the relationships among them - ie I'm sure guys like Lou/Hunter/Babcock all have very strong personalities so its it's important not to allow any flair ups.

 

[cujoflutie]

I'll answer the question survivor style. As in if we had to sacrifice people, I'll rank whom is the most expendable on the list

1. Mark Hunter. I like his resume and connections but as of right now we haven't seen many positive things linked to him. It's hard to gauge because he was brought in to help the drafting and it's too soon to judge. His value will depend heavily on how Marner develops

2. Lou Lamiorello I think he's done a great job but he seems to have max 5 years left. It wouldn't be the worst thing if he left now but I'm hoping he sticks around to develop the staff and roster foundation.

3. 2016 1st Overall Pick (Auston Matthews/Patrick Laine) I know we've waited over 30 years for this but we have to remember it's only one player

4. Mike Babcock even the biggest leaf haters are admitting this guy made strides and kept a roster probably worse than what an expansion team would have competitive.

5. Brendan Shanahan every name on this list is here because of Shanny. Shanahan is doing now what Brian Burke was supposed to do;Burke's two biggest blunders were holding onto a bad coach too long and sacrificing the rebuild for a shiny player he couldn't resist. Shanahan avoided both these mistakes, turfing two coaches and a GM who weren't working out and so far staying the course on the rebuild. Even the 1st overall pick may not be here if shanahan weren't staying the course; he made no attempt to be good this year which set us up better for the future already and landed us the top pick.

 

[nsleaf]

I chose other---the fans-- or Shanahan's mom.

 

[saltming]

The mastermind that brought this motley crew of mad genius' together; Brendan the man Shanahan!!!!

 

[DJIncognito]

Tough one

I picked Matthews because that would be the hardest asset to replace. Shanahan has been great - far exceeded my expectations and it would be tough to replace him - but there are other hockey people out there who could. Same with Lou or Hunter. I like the leadership group here but with MLSE money you can hire good replacements. You can't buy 1st overall draft picks.

 

[TLeafsFan]

Importance works from the top down. Shanahan hands down for me.

But he won't always be.

That once the Shanaplan becomes a well oiled machine, keeping it going strong will fall to the GM that succeeds Lou.

So I would say the 2nd most important piece to the Leafs future is Kyle Dubas.