hockeywiz542
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- May 26, 2008
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http://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs...is-knows-his-way-around-leafs-gm-role-feschuk
And though Nonis is Burke’s indebted protégé — Nonis even came to his first press conference as chief Leaf wearing the loosened-tie look that Burke made a trademark — there’s reason to believe he is something else important. Specifically, his own man.
Where Burke was a combative contrarian, people close to the game will tell you Nonis has built a name as a quiet consensus builder. Their paths have run in parallel. Their styles are divergent. And certainly they haven’t always agreed.
When the club was looking for a coach to replace Ron Wilson in the grim days when last season transformed itself into a lost season, NHL sources say Nonis went to bat for Dallas Eakins, then and now the coach of the AHL Marlies. Nonis and other front-office executives were of the belief that Eakins is everything a modern-era coach should be; progressive but hard-nosed, communicative with players but never friends with them. Burke, of course, insisted on his old friend Randy Carlyle. And though Carlyle certainly deserves a chance to prove himself in the coming 48-game season, the early returns on his tenure — six wins in 18 games after taking over for Wilson in March — suggest the old-school taskmaster may not be the best fit for one of the NHL’s youngest collections of athletes.