Proposal: Is there room for Ron Francis and/or Joe Nieuwendyk with our Leafs

[SprDaVE]

Fair enough. I am happy with Francisas AGM. Speltz for scouting.

I'd be fine with that. I liked what I hear about what Francis did in Carolina with a small budget, even if he did make some mistakes however. I don't know much about Speltz other than he's Director of Western Scouting currently. What's his background?

 

[Leaf Fans]

I'd be fine with that. I don't know much about Speltz other than he's Director of Western Scouting currently. What's his background?

Former GM of Spokane, won a couple of Mem Cups. Has worked with Babcock in the past. Great eye for talent.

 

[SprDaVE]

Former GM of Spokane, won a couple of Mem Cups. Has worked with Babcock in the past. Great eye for talent.

Thanks. I actually wasn't aware, and I'm not overly familiar with the WHL as awhole.

Seems like a great candidate for sure.

 

[showtime8]

I think that you start to look at the areas that you're trying to improve within the organization and use your financial backing to pry these executives away from other teams.

For example, your director of scouting has just left. Who amongst the league has had the best drafts?

Tampa Bay has had very good drafts lately. Al Murray has been there for the past 7 years:
2011 - Namestnikov, Kucherov, Nesterov, Palat
2012 - Koekkoek, Vasilevsky, Paquette, Dotchin
2013 - Drouin
2014 - DeAngelo, Point
2015 - Stephens, Cirelli, Joseph
2016 - Howden, Hajek, Katchouk, Raddysh
2017 - Foote, Volkov

So you look at that body of work and say he's been very successful. So as a franchise, you approach him and say we'll give you 5 years at almost twice what you're making in TBay.

That's the approach that the Leafs should be taking with the league.

 

[Buds17]

Don't know that we go back to the well with Nieuwendyk, though that tenure wasn't for very long. Might be a good opportunity for Francis to re-establish himself and there's also the connection with Dubas.

 

[DarkKnight]

Nieuwendyk could give us that net presence we will miss with JVR leaving.

 

[Buds17]

Nieuwendyk could give us that net presence we will miss with JVR leaving.

Could use the centre depth as well. Bring in both?

 

[Stephen]

Yeah poaching Al Murray would be a little more interesting than adding Joe Nieuwendyk, a failed GM in Dallas. Ron Francis was pretty good in building Carolina, but would he be good in an AGM role?

 

[Leaf Fans]

Yeah poaching Al Murray would be a little more interesting than adding Joe Nieuwendyk, a failed GM in Dallas. Ron Francis was pretty good in building Carolina, but would he be good in an AGM role?

Yes, that would be one to bring in as well. Tampa Bay always has so many prospects at the World Junior Championships. And the development side in Tampa is excellent.

 

[moon111]

I think as Leaf fans, we should be well aware of the handcuffs that ownership might put on management. I've seen the Leafs with plenty of youthful potential but being too cheap to complete the team into a winner. I've seen them spend to the hilt, desiring immediate success, buying player after player, which if the older bodies could of held up, might of worked. But when it fails it fails big. Did these two have free reins? Did their teams want to win, more make money? If you ask ownership if you could blow a playoff round of revenue to start a rebuild, what would they say? Not saying they're good or bad, but it's hard to judge without all the facts we'll never know.

 

[SprDaVE]

I think that you start to look at the areas that you're trying to improve within the organization and use your financial backing to pry these executives away from other teams.

For example, your director of scouting has just left. Who amongst the league has had the best drafts?

Tampa Bay has had very good drafts lately. Al Murray has been there for the past 7 years:
2011 - Namestnikov, Kucherov, Nesterov, Palat
2012 - Koekkoek, Vasilevsky, Paquette, Dotchin
2013 - Drouin
2014 - DeAngelo, Point
2015 - Stephens, Cirelli, Joseph
2016 - Howden, Hajek, Katchouk, Raddysh
2017 - Foote, Volkov

So you look at that body of work and say he's been very successful. So as a franchise, you approach him and say we'll give you 5 years at almost twice what you're making in TBay.

That's the approach that the Leafs should be taking with the league.

Anaheim and StLouis are top tier drafting teams and have been for a long long time. I'd start there before poaching Tampa's head scout.

 

[Nithoniniel]

When it comes to draft and develop, I consider Anaheim, Winnipeg and Tampa as the gold standard. The difficult thing would be to identify a key component on one of these teams that we could poach.

 

[93LEAFS]

When it comes to draft and develop, I consider Anaheim, Winnipeg and Tampa as the gold standard. The difficult thing would be to identify a key component on one of these teams that we could poach.

St Louis and Nashville, I'd say deserve mention.

I feel Tampa is overrated based on their late hits. Under Yzerman they have botched their 3 top 10 picks to an extent.

 

[pheasant]

If Francis is willing to come here to be an assistant GM, then the Leafs should be standing there with open arms. He would be a fantastic guy to add to the executive team, and would keep the dynamic of having a hive mind rather than just one shot caller.

Plus, I keep saying this, I love the idea that history would repeat itself for Francis to leave Carolina for a shot at a Cup in Toronto.

 

[81Leafs50]

Should Shanahan hire Ron Francis and/or Joe Nieuwendyk?

If the hiring makes sense I'm sure Shanahan will look into it.

 

[Warden of the North]

Mirtle thinks Francis is likely

 

[Kiwi]

Mirtle thinks Francis is likely

Mirtle certainly has some insight into what Dubas is up to so that's a pretty good bet