the leafs have had someone dedicated to working out the cap since it came out. I believe Jeff Jackson was doing that role in the JFJ / Fletcher years.
however the capologists just advises on the numbers, they don't set policy.
right. they advise on the numbers. the manage the budget. some capologists also do the negotiating and help draft the contracts. they help advise the GM/AGM in how to make moves to constantly keep them cap-compliant.
And until Pirdham. kinda sucked at their job. If you have an accountant who sucked at the accounting at their job - you'd lay the blame either. It's not just
the numbers either, it's all the little nuances etc, that we don't know.
for all the derision in here, JFJ laid the future groundwork for alot of good things to happen in leafland. the new training facilities, moving the marlies, getting the marlies and leafs synchronized on both coaching and training, increased scouting,etc,etc. however at the time, management was still dazzled by big playoff profits that were being generated before the cap. Therefore, JFJ was handcuffed.
Yes. JFJ did do a lot of nice things - which some people do give him credit for. But you don't get a cookie for partially doing your job right. and there comes a time where I think the "handcuff" just becomes a big excuse.
everyone's mandate in the NHL is to make the playoffs for the most part.
That doesn't excuse JFJ for making bad trades. Or signing bad contracts. There are a lot of teams back then, and currently who barely have any futures at all (hi, Rangers), but - they still trade very well, and they sign well. JFJ didn't. that's not on the Teachers - that's on JFJ.
I give him all the credit in the world for the good that he did (and I don't really remember a lot of people being "praise be to JFJ" when he got hired, a lot of people saw what it was at the time, Peddie won and it was a way to push Quinn out (which - it did), and a LOT of people wanted Tambellini (lets just take a big breath and say thanks that didn't happen).
Same with Burke. I loathe him (on a hockey sense) - but the little few things that he did here, I give him credit for. But he doesn't get excused for making horrendous decisions, based on "he was handcuffed". he drafted crappy.
being "handcuffed" doesn't mean you can't draft well. being "handcuffed" doesn't mean you can't trade well.
as far as the prospect pool? well, yes, when you suck like toronto has, you should have a good prospect pool. that just goes with the nature of finishing near last for the last decade.
and it's also a little harder to judge because Toronto hasn't been promoting as quickly as other teams. so the prospects in the AHL will tend to look far more attractive.
and that's the thing. we
didn't have a strong prospect pool. not for years. we drafted horrendously (when we had the picks) and we made poor decisions with them. I am not saying what so ever that the guys Hunter picked out are amazing and trump all- but at the same time, (and i say this for someone who has read z-e-r-o of hockey futures anything) - the leafs prospect pool, simply based on skill has been commented on by a lot of other people, not just in Toronto, but throughout the league, throughout scouting (though it's twiter, take your pinch of salt).
it's also considerably harder to judge how a pool will transition up to the NHL. while a PPG in the AHL, or even a 2 PPG pace in the OHL sounds amazing, that translates down 60% / 30% respectively to the NHL level on average.
I commented on that. just not with numbers. they aren't going to hit on everyone. and I think a lot of people can acknowledge that. But - I do think the process of ensuring they have more than the league minimum of picks. (something that we rarely had) and drafting flat out skill - not "tall" people or "tough" people, and all the other stuff we focused on the last five years - gives us a better chance of being lucky v. praying to goodness that we luck out somehow.
vs. drafting skill each and every round.
This management's competency will be when they actually start do to do something to get out of the challenging for a playoff spot, to challenging for a cup.
Right now? it's a little premature.
which is why i did the first couple of sentances, because this has happened with EVERY new management. from Fletcher, Burke, to Nonis, to now Shanahan/Lou.
I find it very interesting how people feel that it is "easy" to tear this down. I - personally feel that it is really difficult. I mean - yes. it's "easy" in the sense that you can put a sign up and say "open for business" but the prime example I have to use in this situation is look at the Sabres. they went from playoffs to being Buffalo in five years - and in that time span they had to sell off a lot of pieces.
We sold off most of our massive contracts in less than a calendar year (Feb 26th, to Feb 9th - leaving only two - one is almost always on LTIR, so it doesn't impact our cap, and one is actually quiet decent - and both contracts are up next year). that is four whole years less than buffalo. and we only retained 1.2 million out of it. (where as - before most people assumed that we would have to retain heavily on Dion - didn't. retain heavily on Clarkson - didn't)
Everything that management is saying - matches their actions. in every aspect. I truthfully don't remember this at all in the JFJ era - or in the Burke/Nonis era.
they - as of right now
sign properly - this will be revisited as they deal with more complicated players, and tricker situations - it's a fluid thing.
they trade smartly - again. fluid thing - but they have a bucket full of picks, a boat load of cap space (in a sinking cap world), and a lot of expiring contracts to play with - again, very smart considering where we were a year ago - and their trades match where we are right now with where we are supposed to be - not getting Gerber to push us from last to middle ground etc.
they draft* smartly. again - my personal view is that drafting for skill all the time trumps drafting for some ideology (ie: truculence). it's still luck base, etc and we'd have to see how it pans out in draft2 years and so forth - but for a prospect base that have very little skill - we've got a lot of it now - we need to see how it translates later. but it opens up for more trades that, I don't think we would be able to make later.
all the drama and back-room crap is gone (or very very quiet)- you see that with the players themselves, you don't "hear" anything - and that's existed since Quinn/Peddie/Dryden. Everyone's oar is rowing the exact same way, towards the exact same goal. No one contradicts each other. no one is throwing people under the bus, all aspects that have happened in previous regimes.
that - in itself is different than anything I've seen since I've been a fan.
there are many, many steps between being good and winning a cup - but judging people's ability shouldn't just be on the "end goal" that's just my personal view anyway. There is a reason why people get reviewed at work every year. but to each their own.
