a few years ago but it wasn't approved : you can merge the thread after.... I just didn't want to get it hidden on a bunch of pages right away....
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"The worst thing we did was finish a point out of the playoffs last year and get the 13th draft choice. The year before we missed by two points and got the 13th pick, which we traded away," said Ferguson, clearly indicating that a team gone deep in the tank can at least take solace in eventually landing a top draft choice.
"That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," he said of a quality pick, adding that a plan to sacrifice present for future as a method of rebuilding was proposed a couple of years ago - presumably to the same Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment board of directors now said to be shopping his job around.
"That plan was not approved.
"We're not happy where we are, obviously not. But we have to make the best of it," Ferguson added.
Which a high draft pick would represent.
"Look at Edmonton last year, I think they won two of their last 20 games and got the fourth pick," said Ferguson, who obviously has heard all the rumours and reports about Cliff Fletcher or other candidates poised - or not - to take his job.
"I don't know," he said when the obvious question about his immediate future was put to him.
"We'll see."
This is what it has come down to around here. Wondering if Fletcher is going to Mexico on vacation or coming in to "rescue" the Maple Leafs.
Mexico?
Who does he think he is, Tony Romo?
The septuagenarian former GM of the Maple Leafs may or may not become Ferguson's successor. As usual, no one in the Leafs' upper management would appear in public to reveal policy or show direction.
Neither the board nor president Richard Peddie is showing any compassion for Ferguson, who has been twisting in the wind, his hands tightly bound for weeks, if not months, if not a couple of years.
Last night, the Leafs were able to hang on for the victory after blowing so many late leads in recent games. Although Pavel Kubina raised blood pressures by icing the puck unnecessarily in the final seconds, inviting Carolina to mount a final last-gasp try. But captain Mats Sundin promptly controlled the faceoff and plenty of breath was exhaled.
Last night's pre-game included one of those moments that speaks volumes about this organization. A brief ceremony in behalf of one of the sainted corporate sponsors identified their top three-star performer of the month.
A team that lost 11 of its previous 13 was honouring excellence? Isn't that like General Custer picking his soldier of the month just before going out to battle Sitting Bull?
Post-game, someone sidled up to Ferguson and said: "Well, that's good, but not too good if you're going the other way."
To which he replied, possibly jokingly: "Either get a few of these or get an awful lot of them."
He knows his fingerprints are on this mess, but he does not deserve this kind of treatment.
Yet here he is, like everyone else, waiting to see if a man named Cliff will be brought in to help a team that has played itself over one.