If the reports are true and the Maple Leafs are down to just two names for their vacant general manager's job, then one word comes immediately to mind: Embarrassing.
The way hiring John Ferguson Jr. was embarrassing.
Really, are John Chayka and Scott White the best the Leafs can find? These are the Toronto Maple Leafs. The biggest and richest team in hockey. The one team the entire hockey world follows from wherever they are. And these are the two best candidates?
Unsolicited, I received two independent text messages Friday afternoon from prominent people in the NHL. These are people I've known and trusted for years, though rarely have I reached out to either of them. One message was about Chayka. One message was about White. Neither were complimentary. Both texters were, frankly, stunned that the Leafs, after this much talked-about search to replace Brad Treliving, would end up with candidates such as these.
One text described Chayka as "smooth-talking" and "can't believe he's fooling them again." In the only GM job he's had, Chayka was fired in Arizona after being suspended by the NHL for conduct detrimental to the league and, after that, the team was punished with lost draft picks for breaking NHL combine rules. In the past, that alone would disqualify him as a candidate for any position with the Leafs.
White has no similar resume of controversy. He has been Jim Nill's assistant in Dallas for years. He has learned from one of the best in the business. But those most familiar with the Stars will tell you that Joe McDonnell, the director of amateur scouting, is Nill's most valuable asset in Dallas, not White. McDonnell has drafted stars such as Miro Heiskanen, Wyatt Johnston, Jake Oettinger, Thomas Harley and Jason Robertson among others in a fabulous run for one of hockey's best teams. White has brought in players such as Ilya Lyubushkin and Matt Dumba. Nothing to point to about excellence. And those who know him best say he isn't suited for a big job like the Toronto job. "I wouldn't hire him to run a junior team," the text message read.
Looking back, Ferguson Jr. was a well-regarded assistant GM when the Leafs pursued him in 2003. He was the son of a legendary NHL player and GM, a lawyer, apparently perfectly suited for the market and the job. And then he wasn't. This seems now like history repeating itself. The Leafs chose Ferguson over Neil Smith and Steve Tambellini — each who had someone inside pushing him — and quickly proceeded to miss the playoffs seven years in a row. Do Chayka or White equal Ferguson Jr.? From this vantage point, it sure looks like it.
This and That
I haven't said anything like this since the 1990s. But I'll say it now. The Montreal Canadiens can win the Stanley Cup. They have that much talent, the right management, the right coaching, that rare combination … Department of Dumb: Tampa Bay fans chanting "USA!, USA!" at Lightning games. The Tampa Bay coach is Canadian. Their goalie and best player are Russians. The captain is Swedish. That's a lot of USA cheering for Jake Guentzel … The Edmonton Oilers aren't a team right now, they're a collection of unconnected talent. There is a distinction between the two. Can't see Connor McDavid ever winning a Stanley Cup with this group. If the Oilers are knocked out by Anaheim in Round 1 of the playoffs, who gets canned for this? Coach Kris Knoblauch? GM Stan Bowman? Team president Jeff Jackson? One of them, two of them or all of them? McDavid has two years left on his Oilers contract. All told, that would be 13 seasons in Edmonton … The Florida Panthers played 68 playoff games in the past three years. Now they get five months rest before beginning next season. Wonder what that group will look like in October, fully healed. The only old player they have is free-agent goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who turns 38 in September and, like a lot of us old folks, wants to stay in Florida … Being a general manager isn't just about acquiring players. It's much more than that. It's about leadership. It's about presence. It's about management style. It's about respect and understanding culture. Anyone who would hire Kevyn Adams as a GM in the NHL doesn't understand that … Tom Dundon may not like to waste money, his money, as owner of both the NHL Carolina Hurricanes and NBA Portland Trail Blazers. But in Raleigh, he has at least made the right purchase year after year — and that was keeping Rod Brind'Amour as coach. He's like having Jon Cooper. He should be coach of the year every year, but the award doesn't work that way … Never mind what didn't happen in New Jersey, I would hire Tom Fitzgerald to be GM of the Nashville Predators. Fitzgerald has that 'it' factor you don't find in many hockey people … Doug Armstrong would probably admit it now. The biggest mistake he made in putting Team Canada's roster together for the Olympics in Milan was leaving off teenaged defenceman Matthew Schaefer. In retrospect, the kid might have been the difference between silver and gold.
Hear and There
What do you do with Max Scherzer? He has made five starts for the Blue Jays this season. Two of them were OK. Three of them amounted to 6.2 total innings pitched and 17 earned runs. Not OK. If the Jays didn't have Trey Yesavage, Jose Berrios, Shane Bieber and Cody Ponce all out, the decision would be easy: You'd shut down Scherzer. For now, it just gets uncomfortable with Mad Max. You don't want a Hall of Famer embarrassing himself in his final days in baseball … As bad as April has been for the Jays, there can be some solace in this: Heading into Saturday's schedule, they're only 2.5 games out of a wild-card position in a rather wonky American League … The longer Tom Henke has been gone, the more he should be appreciated. He had 217 saves for the Jays in 7 1/2 seasons. He had an 88% success rate closing games. The Jays won nothing before he took over the closer's role in 1985. He should have been honoured already on the team's Level of Excellence … Jeff Hoffman mercifully had the plug pulled on him this week as the Jays closer. Never mind the home run he gave up to Miguel Rojas in the World Series — still don't get that one — but he did save 36 of 46 attempts, regular season. This year, it's been three saves or three blown saves. The new bullpen by committee should mean Louis Varland closing most of the time … In this 50th season, the Blue Jays are trying hard to respect their history. They're just not very good at it. On May 11, they're giving out Legendary Home Run T-shirts to fans. Ed Sprague, who hit the pinch-hit home run in Game 2 of the 1992 World Series, is not pictured on the T-shirt. A little history: Jays lost Game 1 of that series to the great-pitching Atlanta Braves. Sprague won Game 2 with his homer. Had there been no homer and the Jays lost that night, there would have been no championship in '92 and quite possibly no follow-up championship in '93. The Sprague home run was a seminal moment in Jays history, just like the Roberto Alomar home run in Oakland that year. But Alomar has been written out of the Jays history. Sprague hasn't been, and shouldn't be ignored.
Scene and Heard
Young puck-moving defencemen are all the rage in hockey these days. From 18-year-old game-changer Schaefer to 22-year-old Lane Hutson scoring a fabulous overtime winner, to playoff stalwarts Jackson LaCombe in Anaheim, Owen Power in Buffalo, Brock Faber in Minnesota, Jake Sanderson in Ottawa, J.J. Moser in Tampa and Jamie Drysdale in Philadelphia; and non-playoff youngsters such as Luke Hughes in Jersey and Moritz Seider in Detroit. All of them are 25 and under. The Maple Leafs defence has Chris Tanev, 36; Oliver Ekman-Larsson, 34; Morgan Rielly and Jake McCabe, both 32; and Brandon Carlo, 30. None of them great puck-movers. None of them with side-to-side dexterity … Whatever Darren Raddysh wants in free agency, assuming he gets to free agency, the Leafs have to be willing to pay it. Bring the kid with the big slap shot home. His mom would love that … And it's the same story with Alex Tuch, the free-agent power forward in Buffalo. Unlike Raddysh, he's not from the Toronto area, but the Leafs have to be willing to overpay for Tuch if he's available on July 1. A Leafs team with Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Matthew Knies and Tuch up front can be credible. Plus, a Leafs team with a booming shot on the power play with Raddysh is significantly stronger than anything they currently have … What the Leafs don't have — and you can see now while watching Philadelphia, Utah, Montreal, Anaheim or Carolina — is team speed and natural quickness. You don't always have to skate fast to play fast in the NHL. But the Leafs did neither in this dreadful season, which is why Craig Berube has to go as coach … It's been hard to watch Sidney Crosby in the first three playoff games against the Flyers. So not Crosby-like … More than one agent has told me that the New York Rangers are the worst-run team in the NHL … Congratulations to the National Newspaper Award people who seem to annually recognize sports writers who don't regularly cover sports for Canadian papers. Among those who have never won the NNA for sports: Milt Dunnell, Stephen Brunt, Bob Elliott, Steve Buffery, Bruce Arthur, Rob Longley, James Lawton, Jim Taylor, Cathal Kelly, Dave Perkins, Doug Smith, Rosie DiManno, Cam Cole, Ed Willes, Terry Jones, Steve Milton, Al Maki, David Shoalts and Eric Duhatschek. And I know I'm missing a bunch who are also deserving.
And Another Thing
How cool is this? My pal Kenny Albert is about to pass Dick Stockton for most major-league games called — that's NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB combined — on television … Collin Murray-Boyles reminds me of a more athletic version of Wes Unseld. Too small to play as a big, but physical enough to get it done. He's going to be around the Raptors for a long time … Admit it, you'd never heard of Jamison Battle, as he was knocking down shot after shot for the Raptors on Thursday night. He wasn't drafted in the NBA. He played for three colleges in his last four years. He averaged three points a game this season but had 14 points in just 16 minutes in Game 3 versus the Cavs … By my count, I've been to 54 Raptors playoff games in Toronto. Can't remember Scotiabank Arena as quiet as it was for the first three quarters of Game 3. Then it exploded in the fourth. Nice to see there's still that energy around the Raptors when necessary… What a time for the family: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander about to be named MVP for the second straight year and already named clutch player of the year. And his cousin, Nickeil Alexander-Walker named NBA's most improved player. All of this happening as fellow Canadian Rowan Barrett Jr., better known as RJ Barrett, has been lighting it up with the Raptors …. The Leafs could have had Joel Quenneville as their coach when they hired Berube. GM Brad Treliving had some interest, as did the former Blackhawks coach in the Leafs. But above Treliving, there wasn't much appetite to entertain Quenneville as coach. Quenneville has the second-most wins in NHL history behind Scotty Bowman. Berube ranks 51st in career wins, just behind Gerard Gallant and ahead of Bob Pulford … Happy birthday to Aaron Judge (34), Vladislav Tretiak (74), Tim Duncan (50), Joe Buck (57), Kirill Kaprizov (29), Rich Clune (39), Glenn Goldup (73), Satou Sabally (28), Bill Wennington (63), Art Schlichter (66), wrestler Kane (59), Cody Ponce (32) and Al Pacino (86) … And hey, whatever became of Andreas Johnsson?
