or you can attempt to be astute, try reading between the lines and have a measure of "where there is smoke there might be fire"
I ask you this teeder.
how many people said or thought during JFJ jrs time that
everything he was doing was just to get them back into the playoffs.
Ferguson stated his vision in his intiial press conference which was to bring the Leafs up to date in the scouting department and to build the team from the draft up, in other words complete rebuild.
Tanenbaum was never on board with his hiring because it was Richard Peddies hiring and thus torpedoed every move so much so that Craig Button whom Ferguson hired quit in the middle of a management meeting.
The feud that existed between Evil Larry and Peddie was enough to screw up Leafs decisions for year. When Pulver was having a problem getting more then 5 years at 4.5 from Ferguson for his client he merely called Tanenbaum. Tanenbaum then ordered JFj to give him whatever it was he wanted plus the now infamous NMC and thats how Mccabe got so vastly overpaid.
then we find out years later , that "THE BOARD" set a mandate that they budgeted for atleast 3 playoff games.
that was for this year, and any major company always projects their budgets based on best case scenario
does that put into a clearer light the Rask trade, toskola trade and some other moves?
sure does to me.
Rask was holding out for top ten pick money or would not sign with the Leafs. they were getting near the 2 year limit for signing draftees and so put they're money on Poggie's future but still needed a goalie immediately.
there were a few UFA's but none that would provide the help they needed nor at the right price, Raycroft was willing to sign for the money they had earmarked for a goaltender and Rask was the price
most at the time said the move was a gamble not because everybody knew Rask was going to be a superstar but because they weren't sure how long Raycrofts wonky knee would last, if only they knew it was what was going on between his ears was the real problem
Toskala was unfortunately a panic move trying to counter the Raycroft move, but again Vesa's number in San Jose playing behind Nabokov were fairly strong and don't forget San Jose chose to initially keep Toskala figuring he was the future instead of Kiprusoff who had been sent to Calgary