This season has actually been a revelation in terms of unmasking just how much of an effect the MLSE board — and Larry Tanenbaum and [MLSE president] Richard Peddie especially — have on the running of the Maple Leafs. First, there was the whole senior adviser ridiculousness in the summer, which culminated in last weekend's revelation that the deal was basically in place to bring in Scotty Bowman but Peddie decided three weeks before the season he wanted to see where the team would go.Then during the Leafs' first tough stretch, there was Peddie again, this time making ill-advised (read: stupid) comments that hiring Ferguson was a mistake. Finally, there is now the entire “Fire JFJ” saga which has gone from a seeming no-brainer move last summer to a daily drama that has made Ferguson a figure of sympathy and MLSE into a classless monolith that can't even fire a GM properly.
First it appears that Fletcher is only here on an interim basis. That could still change. What is his mandate? Is it to make a run at the playoffs or start rebuilding? Has the MLSE board changed its view on rebuilding the team? Does everything have to do through Peddie and then the board? Will Mat Sundin finally agree to a trade or will he stick to his pathological desire to stay a Leaf? Because there isn't much else to trade.
Gord Kirke (an excellent hockey person) is leading the search for a new GM and not Fletcher. Will the new GM still report to the board through Peddie? Will he be free to make hockey decisions without interference? The MLSE press release states that the new guy will have complete autonomy and should be "a long-term builder and a short-term fixer". Thank goodnes Punch Imlach is not available.
I'm not optimistic as long as a pension plan is the majority owner of the team and every decision is based on revenue and profit.
