Post by CL on May 9, 2003 8:34:17 GMT -5
The saga of the NHL's most beleaguered franchise continues on in the never ending style of a fine television soap opera. For the Toronto Maple Leafs, another season of underachieving has become standard fare for fans so patient a doctor should be checking them for a pulse. All the shortcomings in both the manager's office and with the coaching have been mirrored on the ice by a bench full of players who, at more times than not, have looked confused by what it is they were supposed to do. And amid all of this turmoil, word out of the Air Canada Centre is that Ken Dryden is going to be moved and Bill Watters dismissed because they are redundant.
Redundant is a word that can be used to describe the disappointment Maple Leaf fans experience on an annual basis. Redundant is a word that can be used to describe the measure of excuses Pat Quinn keeps coming up with year after year. Redundant is a word that can be used to describe the recruiting Leaf management has done over the last five years. How many Garry Valks are out there? How many times can Jonas Hoglund be re-signed after a terrible season? How many disgruntled players can leave this team on a yearly basis?
Larry Tenenbaum chooses to hide behind the formality of a legal agreement rather than demonstrate a public level of interest in the displeasure of the paying public. His first priority is to disperse the shares for Steve Stavro's buyout. In all fairness this should come as no surprise, after all, the first thing MLSE has done the last five years is raise the ticket prices before addressing anything to do with the product on the ice. And to their fault, Leaf fans keep paying religiously for the privelege of watching their beloved team fall short year after year. After five years of Pat Quinn 's can't win philosophy, fans are supposed to buy into the smokescreen Tenenbaum has decided to hide behind?
Nothing can be done Tenenbaum says, until the takeover becomes official on the first of July. Nothing he says? Quinn did manage to sign Rick Ley to a contract extension before that date. That certainly smacks of a committment. If anything meaningful was indeed yet to be decided in terms of management and coaching once Tenebaum officially becomes the boss, why was this allowed to happen? For a man just about to embark into a primary role with the ownership of this team, a less than forthright beginning is not a very auspicious start. Tenenbaum has committed to bringing a Stanley Cup to Toronto and yet he has retained a management and coaching staff that has failed to demonstrate any kind of meaning progress from one year to the next over the last five years.
In every year that Pat Quinn has been associated with this team, there has always been one blatant failing that comes to the surface. If is not a lack of team toughness, it is a lack of team speed. If it is not a lack of team speed, it is turmoil in the locker room. If it is not turmoil in the locker room, it is confusion on the ice. For four years this team did not need a major addition at the trade deadline according to Quinn, even though in two of those years the Leafs fell just a player or two short of getting into the Stanley Cup finals. In a year where the team struggled both on and off the ice, Pat Quinn decides to blow the bank on deadline deals and the result is a first round exit. If Larry Tenenbaum does not see something seriously wrong here, he should find another business to run.
Some Leaf fans are asking for patience. Let's wait and see what happens at the draft and after the first of July. These are the same tired old refrains Leaf fans have been listening to for the last three decades. And while there might have been some reason for optimism in years gone by, does anyone really believe the Maple Leafs will spend huge sums of money on guaranteed salaries for aging free agents who might not even play the year after next? Are these the same people who think Jonas Hoglund is bound to break out of his scoring slump if the team just gives him one more chance? Dmitri Khristisch where are you now? Perhaps Pat Quinn has yet another plan. Give him and his assortment of hasbeens enough time and we will all be dead and beyond caring. Leaf fans to the end.
Redundant is a word that can be used to describe the disappointment Maple Leaf fans experience on an annual basis. Redundant is a word that can be used to describe the measure of excuses Pat Quinn keeps coming up with year after year. Redundant is a word that can be used to describe the recruiting Leaf management has done over the last five years. How many Garry Valks are out there? How many times can Jonas Hoglund be re-signed after a terrible season? How many disgruntled players can leave this team on a yearly basis?
Larry Tenenbaum chooses to hide behind the formality of a legal agreement rather than demonstrate a public level of interest in the displeasure of the paying public. His first priority is to disperse the shares for Steve Stavro's buyout. In all fairness this should come as no surprise, after all, the first thing MLSE has done the last five years is raise the ticket prices before addressing anything to do with the product on the ice. And to their fault, Leaf fans keep paying religiously for the privelege of watching their beloved team fall short year after year. After five years of Pat Quinn 's can't win philosophy, fans are supposed to buy into the smokescreen Tenenbaum has decided to hide behind?
Nothing can be done Tenenbaum says, until the takeover becomes official on the first of July. Nothing he says? Quinn did manage to sign Rick Ley to a contract extension before that date. That certainly smacks of a committment. If anything meaningful was indeed yet to be decided in terms of management and coaching once Tenebaum officially becomes the boss, why was this allowed to happen? For a man just about to embark into a primary role with the ownership of this team, a less than forthright beginning is not a very auspicious start. Tenenbaum has committed to bringing a Stanley Cup to Toronto and yet he has retained a management and coaching staff that has failed to demonstrate any kind of meaning progress from one year to the next over the last five years.
In every year that Pat Quinn has been associated with this team, there has always been one blatant failing that comes to the surface. If is not a lack of team toughness, it is a lack of team speed. If it is not a lack of team speed, it is turmoil in the locker room. If it is not turmoil in the locker room, it is confusion on the ice. For four years this team did not need a major addition at the trade deadline according to Quinn, even though in two of those years the Leafs fell just a player or two short of getting into the Stanley Cup finals. In a year where the team struggled both on and off the ice, Pat Quinn decides to blow the bank on deadline deals and the result is a first round exit. If Larry Tenenbaum does not see something seriously wrong here, he should find another business to run.
Some Leaf fans are asking for patience. Let's wait and see what happens at the draft and after the first of July. These are the same tired old refrains Leaf fans have been listening to for the last three decades. And while there might have been some reason for optimism in years gone by, does anyone really believe the Maple Leafs will spend huge sums of money on guaranteed salaries for aging free agents who might not even play the year after next? Are these the same people who think Jonas Hoglund is bound to break out of his scoring slump if the team just gives him one more chance? Dmitri Khristisch where are you now? Perhaps Pat Quinn has yet another plan. Give him and his assortment of hasbeens enough time and we will all be dead and beyond caring. Leaf fans to the end.