The chief executive officer of the organization turned himself into a lame duck after he’d hired a president who decided to hang on to the incumbent general manager while bringing in a hand-picked assistant and in turn trusting that assistant to bring in a director of player personnel. But it was the GM who handled the messy business of firing the coach who’d had two new assistant coaches thrust on him, as well as a contract extension.
Know what? It’s easy to see now why Toronto Maple Leafs president of hockey operations Brendan Shanahan wants to stay in the background, at least publicly, as the 2014-2015 season spins toward some kind of conclusion.
Wish Peter Horachek well as the Maple Leafs interim coach, but like most of you I don’t expect him to be the man at the start of next season. I don’t know if the whole Mike Babcock thing materializes – it seems a little too perfect from a Toronto point of view, doesn’t it? – or if Dan Bylsma will still be on the market or if Dave Tippett or Bruce Boudreau or someone else will need a job by then.
But when this season is over, it is going to be Shanahan who is the dominant personality in the mix. That’s clear. And perhaps what Shanahan is doing is sending out a message to potential candidates by separating himself publicly from much of the dirty business — that he is getting a handle on what is going on at all levels of the organization, and can be a source of sober second thought as well as, perhaps, an ally for the next head coach. Because that will be the most important hire he will make in this job. By far.
THE ONE AND ONLY PEDRO
When Dan Duquette was general manager of the Montreal Expos and traded Delino DeShields for Pedro Martinez, I ripped him in the Montreal Gazette for making the deal.
Duquette called me at home when the story appeared and said: “Remember this: power wins. Power pitching and power hitting wins.” He was right.
In spring training of that year, 1994, I went to the Los Angeles Dodgers facility in Vero Beach, Florida, and pretty much did a hatchet job on Martinez based on comments from then-Dodgers pitching coach Ron Perranoski that Martinez was too small and didn’t have the stamina to start. The next day, the 22- year-old Martinez pulled me over to his locker and told me never to write another thing about him without giving him the last word, making liberal use of several pejoratives.
“It’s going to be worth your while to like me,” he said.
That, too, was right. And in 1997, when Martinez was on his way to winning a National League Cy Young Award, Martinez asked me in July to quietly point out visiting writers who might be Cy Young voters. “Guys I need to know,” was how he described them.
I have been lucky throughout my career to have covered people who through words or reactions would deliver impromptu ‘journalism’ lessons, and Pedro Martinez was very much part of that group. It was a joy covering Martinez, and seeing him inducted into the Hall of Fame will be a pleasure.
WHAT I LEARNED
The things you learn in a week hosting a sports talk-show
“I can assure you guys that there is no dysfunction. I can’t control what different people in the press will speculate. Dave Nonis is the general manager of this team. He has an important role for us … we talked about how to reach out to Randy … he said as GM of the club, his job was to talk to Randy and give him the news and step out in front of the media.”
– Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan reacts to criticism that GM David Nonis, widely-considered a lame duck, was the point man in the firing of Randy Carlyle.
Listen Now: Brendan Shanahan on Prime Time Sports
“I’d match up the 1997 Pedro Martinez against anyone in the history of the game.”
– Former major league catcher Darrin Fletcher talks about his former Montreal Expos teammate Pedro Martinez, one of four inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Listen Now: Darrin Fletcher on The Jeff Blair Show
QUIBBLES AND BITS
• This is the week that DeMar DeRozan returns for the Toronto Raptors, with two tough games – tonight at the Air Canada Centre against the Detroit Pistons and Friday against the Atlanta Hawks – sandwiched around a gimme against the awful Philadelphia 76ers. The Pistons’ starting lineup averages just 2.8 years of NBA experience and a win tonight would be their sixth consecutive on the road, their most since Dec. 19, 2007-Jan. 4, 2008, and one shy of a franchise record. The Pistons have held six of eight opponents to under 45 percent from the field and have won eight of their last 10, including wins over four playoff teams. One of those came when they beat the San Antonio Spurs 105-104 on Tuesday, when head coach Stan Van Gundy was caught during a timeout urging his team to form a f****** wall.” It went viral, of course.
• The chant of the year from Arsenal fans to their Stoke City counterparts at the Emirates during Sunday’s Premier League match: “Three-nil and you can’t go home!” The chant rained down after the public address announcer at Arsenal’s home ground told fans that there would be a track diversion for trains bound for Stoke, and remarkably it didn’t require a scoreboard prompt. Arsenal won the match 3-0.
• Pete Thamel of SI.com details the ludicrous nature of Oregon’s suspension of two players, wide receiver Darren Carrington and special teams performer Ayele Forde, ahead of Monday’s NCAA football championship game. The players failed tests for marijuana use at the Rose Bowl. Oregon is one of four states that has legalized recreational marijuana use, but beyond that Thamel points out that the NCAA’s threshold – five nanograms per millilitres of blood – is out of the Dark Ages, compared to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s threshold of 150 nanongrams. The NFL’s 35 or even Major League Baseball’s minimum of 50, which is the same level accepted of airline pilots.
• There’s no stopping the New York Rangers, who have won 13 of their last 14 games and who, with a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, became the second Eastern Conference team in NHL history to earn road wins in the same season against all three California-based teams as well as the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. Their head coach, Alain Vigneault, was also in charge of the only other team to do so: the 1997-98 Montreal Canadiens.
THE END GAME
Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills will be a marriage made in football hell. The fault lines will be clear if as expected Jim Schwartz, a proponent of a 4-3 ‘Wide 9’ defence, is retained as defensive coordinator of a team whose head coach is himself a defensive specialist who favors a hybrid 3-4. The Bills defence was the best part of the team this season and is unfailingly loyal to Schwartz. If Ryan wants to know how this will turn out, he should take a look back to the way his father, Buddy, turned into a divisive influence with the Chicago Bears and with the Houston Oilers. Should have gone to Atlanta, Rex.