Contrary to popular opinion, the Leafs' GM job is not coveted among current and aspiring hockey minds. So, that being said, open the coffers and make it it coveted.
There are a slew of quality candidates - both free to market and horribly encumbered by little nuisances like contracts - that could be on the Toronto Maple Leafs' short list of general manager candidates.
But before we get to listing them and if they might show up in the Big Smoke, let's establish one thing right from the get-go: Leafs president and CEO Richard Peddie or anyone else who says that the Leafs are the ultimate destination for a managerial job in hockey is either wrong and/or delusional. Most general managers - and even many general managers in waiting - will tell you that Toronto is not a coveted position. The ownership situation is complex and on occasion diabolical. The media scrutiny is intense, unending, often personal and sometimes not even professional. The demands are high, the support is ridiculously low and the hole is so deep it likely will take years to get back to even footing let alone move forward.
In addition, the commitment to winning in Toronto is often in question and among the few who believe it is there, the general acknowledgement from honest men behind closed doors is that even if the management and ownership does want to win it simply doesn't know how. Having witnessed how the powers that be at the ACC treated John Ferguson before he was fired - everything from labeling him "a mistake" to letting him twist in their mighty wind of indecision while occasionally verbally beating him like a piñata - the consensus is that these simply are not good people to work for.
Which is why, although there have been suggestions ranging from the ludicrous - Mark Messier and a handful of other inexperienced candidates - to the sublime - contracted professionals like Ken Holland, Lou Lamoriello and Brian Burke - there is no apparent heir apparent to the job.
It would have been nice and maybe even wise to have had someone in the organization being groomed to take over. That's a good strategy even if the Leafs never anticipated firing Ferguson but merely had an unfortunate situation like him being run over by a bus rather than thrown under one.
It might also have been wise to have a short list of outside candidates on a ready list - oh, say an experienced Stanley Cup champion who happens to be between jobs at the moment like a Neil Smith or a Craig Patrick. No offence to Cliff Fletcher, but perhaps someone just a tad more connected to the more recent goings-on in the NHL and one who perhaps hasn't yet qualified for a pension.
But of course none of that ever happens in Leafsland and so the powers at be are reduced to having to rely on people like yours truly for direction on what to do next.
Which of course brings the need for logic, strategic planning and for reasons of efficiency and flat-out success, scads of money into the equation, preferably huge amounts of small, unmarked bills the bulk of which will be deposited in a numbered offshore account.
Because if the Leafs are to grab one of the best and the brightest in the NHL today, they are simply going to have to do it the old fashioned way: bribe him. To put it a more delicate way, they will have to make him an offer they can't refuse.
The cost of that will be staggering. After all, the Leafs aren't just looking to lure a top candidate, they are looking to hire a quality general manager who doesn't really know them, doesn't really like they way they do business and, most importantly, won't trust them as far as he can spit. And they'll have to compensate his current employer as well.
That - as they say in the non-business world - is akin to being "all in." It's a poker term; but it fits if you're going to go after the man I think can save team owners from themselves.
My target: Ken Holland, the general manager of the Detroit Red Wings. There are others and some of the unencumbered mentioned above have their appeal, but if you want the best man in hockey today, it's Holland. Getting him won't be easy or cheap, but it's not exactly mission impossible either.
Start with a subtle overture. Sources have told me that Holland isn't put off by the challenge of rescuing the most poorly run rich franchise in the National Hockey League. He's not afraid of the demands of the legion of long-suffering fans or the oft-times hostile and over-abundant media. What does concern him is the poor management structure in place, the constant backbiting by board members and the titanic struggle for control waged by the various ownership mavens (read Larry Tannenbaum) and the powerful hired help (read Richard Peddie) and, of course, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Society.
But hey, that's fixable. Holland would need only a legal document giving him autonomy over vast elements of his operation such as budget, staff and the like. It might help if someone could provide him with pictures of board members in compromising situations just to be on the safe side, but we're willing to argue that agreements written and negotiated by recently conscripted lawyer Gord Kirke would suffice. Especially if there are significant financial penalties for any breach of contract or even for a breach of the spirit of an agreement.
Once that's done, a reasonably long-term deal at likely twice the going rate of any general manager in the game today plus a well-appointed condo (heck, the Leafs own a building full of them), a tax manager, car service, occasional use of a leased company plane for business and social pleasures and a box for every former Leaf on the payroll or in broadcasting (to be locked away in so that they can never advise him or the media of what the franchise needs to get better) should suffice.
After that, it's a little something for Mike Illitch. Now if this were the Phoenix Coyotes, Florida Panthers, Jim Kelley's Korner Rats or some other horribly cash-strapped franchise, gobs of money would suffice, but given it's the Red Wings, a franchise that regularly competes for the Stanley Cup largely because Illitch lets Holland do whatever is necessary, there might be a bit of sweetener needed.
Getting Mats Sundin to waive his no trade clause and accept a trade to Detroit for something akin to a couple of million orders from the local Little Caesar's pizza store might help. Tossing in a couple of prospects and a draft pick or two would likely finish off the deal.
After all, no owner alive doesn't like a little "business transaction" that goes his way and besides, losing Holland wouldn't be the end of the world for the Red Wings or Illitch. Holland has built - at no small expense by the way - an organization capable of withstanding his departure. It's what great general managers do. They surround themselves with good and even great people, people so good they could challenge for the top job if the top guy left (or in the case of many franchises, even if the primary builder was still there).
Illitch would still have Jim Nill, an assistant GM who today could step into any operation in the NHL and make it better just for his being there. In letting Holland go and keeping Nill, it actually eases some congestion at the top. Nill's time is now and as loyal as he is to Holland and as well as he's paid by Illitch (reportedly better than some GMs in the game right now) he isn't going to stay No.2 forever.
Illitch could demand that if he let Holland out of his deal that the Leafs could take no one else, leaving intact Nill, GM-in-training Steve Yzerman, consultants Scott Bowman and Bob McCammon and arguably the best North American and European scouting staffs.
That's probably an illegal restraint of trade, but what the heck, it goes on all the time in sports and Holland has enough respect for Illitch to probably honour it even if the owner didn't demand it be so.
That could set the Leafs back for awhile, but there are other good hockey people across the NHL and though they might never have considered going to Toronto before, they certainly would change their tune if someone like Holland assured them that things really have changed at One Make a Buck Place.
Is it looting? In a way yes. Is it unethical? To most people probably, but we're talking business people here so it's not going to bother anyone.
Is it a doable plan?
Not only is it doable, but the Leafs are one of the few teams in the league who both need to do it and can afford to do it and, by the way, it's transferable.
If Holland won't do it for reasons that are impossible to comprehend given the money on the table, well, maybe someone else will.
Lou Lamoriello is under contract, but he has had a long and successful run in New Jersey and though he is King of all he Surveys, the major tasks have been accomplished. Cups have been won; a new building has been built and opened. One last challenge for more money than he ever imagined could be on the table. Might not this be the time to take it?
And what about Brian Burke in Anaheim? He's relatively new to Cup winning, but he's built a reputation as a man who can turn around teams on the fly. He's in contract negotiations for an extension and likely more inclined to use Toronto as leverage, but at some point the Leafs could simply offer more and that's hard to ignore.
David Poile in Nashville hasn't won a Cup but he's a builder and knows how to get, keep and develop talent and build an organization. Besides, he's tight with Fletcher and might as well get use out of both men since Fletcher has negotiated a fairly long-term deal for himself. Doug Risebrough in Minnesota fits a mould similar to Fletcher, as do Darcy Regier in Buffalo and Doug Wilson in San Jose. Regier is particularly interesting. He has a year left on his contract after this season, but has seen the team he built into last season's President's Trophy winner free fall to the level of the Leafs because of poor decisions by ownership and upper management. He also appears to have been emasculated by his immediate supervisor, managing partner Larry Quinn, who has made himself the very visible point man for every decision made at HSBC arena.
You've got to use all your assets to be a success in hockey; and in the case of the Leafs, it's not the worst thing to be the richest guy on the block. You might not be able to buy happiness, but people, well, they are always within your reach.