Which General Manager has been the most detrimental to the Leafs team today?

[YearsintheWilderness]

Fletcher wreaked a lot of damage in a short period of time.

He failed to create the atmosphere necessary to convince Sundin to accept a trade. Fletcher brought Sundin to Toronto and then was allowed to determine that Sundin's feelings trumped the future of the team.

What they could have had for Sundin...

I still remember that bizarre news conference where Peddie mouthed the words as Fletcher spoke them—a wonder that you can't see Peddie trying to maneuver his arm up Fletcher's puppet-hole.

Only the Leafs would hand the reins to a borderline senile old **** after the disaster that was JFJ.

 

[Stephen23]

Is this a serious thread? JFJ and it's not even close. When Burke took over from JFJ/Fletcher, Matt Stajan and Nik Antropov was our star player. And there were no top prospects in the system to boot. Since Burke/Nonis, The Leafs now have multiple 1st round caliber prospects and have acquired young talent in JVR, Gardiner, Kessel, etc. The Leafs are in much, much better shape than they ever were when JFJ had the reigns. Those were some dark days when there was NO light at the end of the tunnel. It all started with the drafting of Schenn (who was our 1st high pick in the 1st round since Antropov). Our other 1st round picks between them I believe were Rask, Steen and Tlusty. Dark days.

 

[sw13]

I give JFJ a pass because he actually wanted to sell and rebuild from the draft. He also loved Steen and let's be honest, Steen was awesome. I think if he was given a chance to rebuild it could have gone better.

Cliff gets a pass because he was just in limbo before Burkie.

Burke gets a pass for me because Brian Burke adjusted throughout the years. He sent Orr down, and realized top 6 bottom 6 didn't work anymore. He made good trades. The only bad thing is his horrendous signings and drafting of gritty role players (Tyler Biggs).

Nonis to me is the worst of the worst. He's been GM long enough to have made the worst moves BY FAR out of any of these guys. Burke would have never let MacArthur and Grabo walk for nothing. Burke thought Grabo was the heart and soul of the leafs, which he was if we're talking about leadership. Blows my mind some of the things Nonis has done and said.

 

[Mojo19]

All of the above?

Leafs have not had a good GM for a while.
JFJ should never have traded Rask.
Nonis should never have signed Clarkson for 7 years to a Gomez-type contract.

 

[Disgruntled Observer*]

Jeez... deciding on the worst of these guys is like choosing between eating vomit, piss, or **** (poo).

JFJ tried his best to make the playoffs, but usually just missed.
Burke also tried his very best to make the playoffs, but usually MISSED BY A FREAKING MILE!!!!

This resulted in Burke, by accident, helping this teams future more than JFJ (well, on those rare occasion that Mr. incompetence KEPT HIS FIRST ROUND ****ING PICKS!!!!)

Lol. Only in professional sports does being psychotically terrible at your job sometimes work out for the best.

 

[GalacticaActual]

How is the answer anything other than Nonis?

Nonis took a promising, young, hard-nosed, tough team that took an elite Boston team to 7 games, and turned it into a joke of a squad, in cap hell, with no hope of contending or maybe even making the playoffs for the next 5 years.

 

[wiindjammer]

i love that . wasted a third ..like they all work out in the 3rd round.

Chara, Plekanec, Franzen, Flipulla, Marchand, Brad Richards, Beauchemin, Gionta....................all "wasted" third rounders...

 

[Ratboy]

Apparently JFJ was just a puppet.

Burke, that Kessel trade defined this team, and it doesn't look like it was that great for the team.

****, why can't we get a GM who isn't a **** up?

 

[achtungbaby]

How is the answer anything other than Nonis?

Nonis took a promising, young, hard-nosed, tough team that took an elite Boston team to 7 games, and turned it into a joke of a squad, in cap hell, with no hope of contending or maybe even making the playoffs for the next 5 years.

How much longer are we going to be hanging our hats on seven games in the first round? Has any other fan base bragged about a first round loss as long as we have?

 

[Ratboy]

How much longer are we going to be hanging our hats on seven games in the first round? Has any other fan base bragged about a first round loss as long as we have?

No ****, it's pathetic.

 

[wiindjammer]

I still believe Brian Burke was wrong for this team and I'll tell you why. When Brian Burke was hired I thought "here is a professional sports executive who is going to drag this organization out of the dark ages.
I was astounded at his very first press conference when he said "I have no time for a five year rebuild". He said "Toronto fans didn't have the patience and either did he" What he was announcing of course was that he was going to do a "hurry up rebuild". This had been attempted many times over in the past 50 years and I was so disappointed when he laid out his plan
If there is ANYWHERE that can withstand a long slow methodical thorough rebuild, it is Toronto. The fans here aren't going anywhere, haven't for 50 years. A GM coming in can take his time and do it right. Its teams like Phoenix, Columbus and Nashville who are really under the gun to be competitive. He had all the time and money in the world and the first thing he does is start trading away high draft picks... For that reason he was a failure and is at the top of my list.. Cliff was also a menace in his return, I think he was senile, trading Steen and signing Finger like that

 

[thewave]

It's funny Harold Ballard pretty much ran the team into some dark times but Stavros came in and fiixed it up in short order.

Why couldn't Burke? Or especially Nonis? The answer is he is a flop of a GM just like the other flop who all he had to do was stick to his plan instead of supporting his friend Wilson.

Rask was a big mistake but hardly the end of the world. We would chew up Rask ourselves at this pace we play. We are a flat out garbage team that can't defend.

The truth is this..

If JFJ kept Rask here, Burkes team under Ron Wilson would have destroyed him. He would have been a wasted asset. He would literally be The Monster (who btw I still think if given the chance is one of the better tenders in the league, better than Reimer for sure.

Anyways whatever blame the goalie like you dopes always do. JFJ has got nothing on Nonis the real deal guy who has made a really bad mess.

 

[Ratboy]

If JFJ kept Rask here, Burkes team under Ron Wilson would have destroyed him. He would have been a wasted asset. He would literally be The Monster (who btw I still think if given the chance is one of the better tenders in the league, better than Reimer for sure.

Better than Reimer, likely. One of the better in the league? Nah.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

JFJ set this franchise back many years.

- The Rask trade makes me sick every time I think of it. Disastrous move that did not need to be made.
- The Toskala trade to rectify the Rask/Raycroft trade. He expended a potential star goalie and now a high pick and came out with even worse goaltending than previously. These two moves alone cost the Leafs at least three years, if not more.
- Perreault for a 2nd. Wasn't necessary. Just looked up to see that 2nd became Roman Josi.
- His drafting is overrated. Drafted serviceable guys, but left no studs, and the one home run pick he made was hastily traded away.

I cut him absolutely no slack even if was indeed told he had to make the playoffs, beacuse I doubt he was forced to make these moves. He had absolutely no creativety/vision and dropped his pants on command.

---------------------------------

I wouldn't give the honour to Burke because he did leave some pretty good pieces. But trying to shortchange a proper rebuild for a retool (I'd be worried if I were a Flames fan as he is saying the same things) and forcing/envisioning a certain type of team (ie. drafting Biggs) has cost the team quality talent and the team still has yet to win a playoff round with 6 years of Burkie stamps all over this team.

 

[sw13]

On the subject of Burke/Nonis I think we have to look at the people who are around these guys as well. Namely Poulin and Loiselle. They are significantly bad. I remember Poulin saying "teams know we give up a lot of shots so they take a lot of shots." That might be the craziest thing a VP of hockey operations has ever said. He is a Vice President of one of the biggest franchises on Earth. The question is: how do these guys still have a job? All of them. Loiselle is our apparent cap guru who has signed these ludicrous contracts and negotiated them. It's insanity. Ive never seen a management group so wrong and so lost.

 

[hotpaws]

How is the answer anything other than Nonis?

Nonis took a promising, young, hard-nosed, tough team that took an elite Boston team to 7 games, and turned it into a joke of a squad, in cap hell, with no hope of contending or maybe even making the playoffs for the next 5 years.

So Burke gets praised for assembling our core but Nonis gets ripped for resigning them ?

 

[thewave]

On the subject of Burke/Nonis I think we have to look at the people who are around these guys as well. Namely Poulin and Loiselle. They are significantly bad. I remember Poulin saying "teams know we give up a lot of shots so they take a lot of shots." That might be the craziest thing a VP of hockey operations has ever said. He is a Vice President of one of the biggest franchises on Earth. The question is: how do these guys still have a job? All of them. Loiselle is our apparent cap guru who has signed these ludicrous contracts and negotiated them. It's insanity. Ive never seen a management group so wrong and so lost.

That last bit is absolute. This management group is wrong and lost. It's very bad.

 

[Mess]

This resulted in Burke, by accident, helping this teams future more than JFJ (well, on those rare occasion that Mr. incompetence KEPT HIS FIRST ROUND ****ING PICKS!!!!).

The NHL rewards failure as it provides organizations with the highest draft picks and waves of new talent to the weakest NHL GMs that take their teams to the bottom of the standings.

The incompetence arises when that GM starts trading those lottery picks away when his team is in a position of weakness rather than use them to improve his own team.

Fortunately for Leaf Nation when the GM thought he was icing a playoff team, his skill set and talent evaluation skills only provided a 18-wheeler outcome that took the Leafs to the bottom and resulted in drafting Morgan Rielly. Had the GM believed he would be icing such a poor team at seasons start if he had better talent evaluation skills he likely would have trade the draft pick away to fuel what he believed would be instant improvement. Particularly if he would have recognized his failure would lead to his own dismissal.

 

[Disgruntled Observer*]

How is the answer anything other than Nonis?

Nonis took a promising, young, hard-nosed, tough team that took an elite Boston team to 7 games, and turned it into a joke of a squad, in cap hell, with no hope of contending or maybe even making the playoffs for the next 5 years.

The team this year was sitting just as high in the standings after 48 games as the team last year.
So when comparing to last year (48 game benchmark, then losing in the 1st round), this team was just as good.

 

[dantheleaffan]

If anyone votes Brian Burke you must be smoking something.

Guy took a bunch of 3rd liners and turned us into an at least decent team.

Everyone else has been brutal:
JFJ trading all our 1st round pick plus our prospects
Fletcher not all his fault but he wasnt able to trade Sundin and Kaberle when their price tags were high
Nonis: Clarkson deal "nuff said" hey but only 6 more years...

 

[Mess]

If anyone votes Brian Burke you must be smoking something.

Guy took a bunch of 3rd liners and turned us into an at least decent team.

Everyone else has been brutal:
JFJ trading all our 1st round pick plus our prospects
Fletcher not all his fault but he wasnt able to trade Sundin and Kaberle when their price tags were high
Nonis: Clarkson deal "nuff said" hey but only 6 more years...

If the GM did nothing essentially, made no trades (of picks and prospects) and UFA signings (no Komisarek, Armstrong, Connolly signings etc) and simply basically sat back and drafted in the position earned and developed that talent over the last 6 years this team would have all sorts of young talent right now.

Would that team be better or worse then the current non playoff team today?

 

[achtungbaby]

If the GM did nothing essentially, made no trades (of picks and prospects) and UFA signings (no Komisarek, Armstrong, Connolly signings etc) and simply basically sat back and drafted in the position earned and developed that talent over the last 6 years this team would have all sorts of young talent right now.

Would that team be better or worse then the current non playoff team today?

Burke/incompetent GM vs. a Potato. I think we'd have been better off today with the potato. Seriously, if no one had been in charge and we had just let the scouting department make picks, I think we'd have a better prospect pool and a brighter future.

 

[Warden of the North]

JFJ or Cliff. Cliff botched a lot of things including the Sundin situation, McCabe trade, and the Steen trade.

JFJ gave away first round picks/prospects like candy.

 

[Al14]

Burke/incompetent GM vs. a Potato. I think we'd have been better off today with the potato. Seriously, if no one had been in charge and we had just let the scouting department make picks, I think we'd have a better prospect pool and a brighter future.

Good one!

Yes, I think if we had used our picks, instead of trading them for Kessel, we'd be better off today! No way to know for sure, however! Drafting has been a weakness of ours as well!

 

[achtungbaby]

JFJ or Cliff. Cliff botched a lot of things including the Sundin situation, McCabe trade, and the Steen trade.

JFJ gave away first round picks/prospects like candy.

True. They've all been terrible, we can probably all agree on that. I wonder when we'll find the right guy for the right time?