Before the Maple Leafs close the door on Steve Yzerman as their next general manager, they should think long and hard about their motives.
As a journalist it is my job to get people to speak from the heart, even when it is not in their best interest.
Having said that, if ever there was a time for a "No comment," it was Thursday when Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment chairman Larry Tanenbaum was asked about his team’s future.
Not only did Tanenbaum summarily dismiss future Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman as a candidate for the position of general manager of the Maple Leafs, he also said he would not trade a Stanley Cup victory for five years of bad hockey to follow.
I am not making this up.
Imagine the head of an organization that has been constantly accused of not putting winning ahead of making money, telling hockey’s long-suffering fan base he wouldn’t give them a Cup if it meant struggling for the next five years. Tanenbaum talks as though the Leafs have been contenders for years and don’t want to do anything to mess that up.
Watching a struggling team is a way of life for Leafs fans. There are Leafs fans who would give up their first born to see their team win its first Cup since 1967.
Oh, and by the way Larry, your team has missed the playoffs the past three seasons, you don’t have a superstar to build around and, barring a miracle, your team will struggle for the next few seasons. So the timing of your pronouncement could not have been worse.
For those not keeping track, that’s three bad seasons in the books with the possibility of two more to come and no Cup to ease the pain. Five years of bad hockey for one guaranteed Cup? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
As for dismissing Yzerman as a GM candidate, well I guess it’s Tanenbaum’s call. But before he closes the door on this very special person, he should think long and hard about his motives.
Clearly the Maple Leafs are gun shy about hiring somebody with no significant managerial experience at the NHL level. That is easy to understand after the dreadful John Ferguson experiment. But just because Ferguson didn’t work out shouldn’t automatically discount every other candidate who has not managed an NHL team. And let’s be honest; the Leafs only hired Ferguson because he came cheap. You get what you pay for.
Let’s take a quick peak at Yzerman’s resume: He was a star junior player with Peterborough; won three Stanley Cups and an Olympic gold medal as a player and one Cup as an executive with Detroit; was a first team all-star in 2000; played in 10 NHL all-star games; won the Selke Trophy as best defensive forward in 2000 and the Masterton Trophy for perseverance in 2003; stands sixth in all-time NHL scoring; was named vice-president of the Red Wings in 2007; and was named GM of Team Canada for the world championship in 2008.
John Ferguson played no games in the NHL and was a scout.
That’s not to say that Yzerman is fully equipped to run an organization, but don’t you think being part of a winning environment the past 12 years and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Scotty Bowman, Ken Holland, Jimmy Devellano and Jim Nill gives him a leg up on many who might be considered for the Leafs post?
It appears the Leafs are determined to wait until Brian Burke is free of his contract obligations with the Anaheim Ducks; he is the chosen one, which isn’t a bad thing. And perhaps Burke is the man for the job, having built the Vancouver Canucks into a solid organization before leading the Ducks to a Stanley Cup in 2007.
It just seems weird – make that wrong – to write off such a dignified and decorated hockey man as Yzerman. Sadly it is all too typical of how the Maple Leafs operate.
Kind of makes you wonder what was muddling around inside Tanenbaum’s head when he decided to speak into the microphone.