If I were a free agent, I would like to know who my coach was before I signed. Which would mean, you'd like to ideally have a coach before July 1st. (which is three days after draft)
(shrug). or. Treliving inheriting Hartley (and extending him). it doesn't have to be backwards. It is backward because people decide it has to be backward.
I will ask again.
if say [insert the coach you 100 percent want, you can choose] is available tomorrow and you know this coach will hit every single note, teaching, demands accountability, will be a great communicator, the whole kit and kaboodle, are you honestly saying, that you would say no to the coach - because we don't have permission to hire [insert the GM that you 100 percent want] yet? And you know that there is another team hot for the coach you want?
You'd be okay with letting the coach walk away so we won't be backward?
People can't seem to get their heads around this.
20 years ago many hockey GM's reported directly to the owners. GM's did everything, from trades, in charge of scouting, hiring, firing, contracts, etc., etc.,. There were no such things as, President, other than the owners. The GM these days is an entire different animal.
For all intents & purposes Shanahan as President is very similar to the GM of 20 years ago. But now they have various underlings with various titles that carryout the multiple duties that the GM's of old carried out, plus they now have Cap experts, Analytics experts, Head of Player development, so forth & so on. There is just way too much for one person to do.
We don't even know what the duties of the new GM with the Leafs will be, especially with the management team we have/are forming. I would rather wait until after draft day & get a "new" GM without giving up a draft pick if possible.
As it stands now, we have two GM's, with the cool extra title, Interim. So if we sign a coach now, everything is good we have GM's, nothing ass backwards. We just may get a new one a little later.
