The only way that remark makes sense is basically if you're saying that you'll consider personnel changes regardless of whether that player has a 'big name' or not in the pursuit of a championship. And that strikes me as fairly sensible actually even if it's easier said than done.
The reaction of course is just people piling onto the Leafs because it's fun to do and Leafs fans being irrational. In reality of course there's no better way of selling jerseys than winning a championship. The idea that Leafs ownership/management somehow isn't interested enough in winning is pretty absurd. "Then why aren't they firing X or signing Y?" Well, probably because they view things differently than you do Mr. "There's no reason why anyone should ever take my hockey opinions seriously" Fan commenting on social media.
Winning a Cup in Toronto is worth more money than winning a Cup anywhere else. Pure greed dictates that everyone involved there is desperate to win a Cup. It just turns out that lots of teams really want to win a Cup and it's a league where simply being in a big enthusiastic market doesn't get you anything. It also turns out that getting a core of young talented players only takes you so far toward the Cup.. But the idea that the organization isn't trying hard enough is pretty crazy given how strong their incentives are. Maybe you can point fingers at individual players, but yeah..I'm sure TML management is just trying to sell jerseys because they hate money and love turning on the radio and listening to people calling them morons for two hours straight every day.
