Not a surprise. Coaches obviously had to go.
At the deadline, they had to confront how tough the contracts Nonis had committed to the rotten core of this team were going to be to move and/or the low talent return they were likely to bring. That and the character collapse of this club finished Nonis off if he wasn't already.
Leiweke talked about the need to improve character and culture when he arrived and when he hired Shanahan last April. Last September, Leiweke said:
Globe & Mail Link
Leiweke also made the point that the Leafs will continue to pursue ?character? as well as players with good analytics, noting that ?there are players we have in our organization today whose numbers are off the chart good and whose character is just terrible. I don?t care how good your numbers are, if you have bad character, you are doomed for failure."
It was reported in January that MLSE chatted about trying to talk Leiweke into staying on ... after looking like he possessed a pretty good crystal ball on the Leafs talent.
Leiweke went on to say in September:
"We are convinced that analytics at the end of the day will be key to getting this team back on track. But that said they will never ever replace our ability to determine one?s character and passion for the game of hockey. You have to be good at both, not just one.?
On this club, Nonis didn't prove he was very good at either. I like Dave. I still think he's a decent hockey guy. But he messed up pretty big in Toronto. He was held accountable as he should be. It's time someone else got a crack at the job.
As I've previously expressed, I'm glad Shanahan is not assuming the GM role. He can keep his "media distance" while the franchise gets fixed up properly.
I think what they did today is a good first step.
I don't have a big problem with the assistant GM's jointly handling the GM job on an interim basis because I doubt the vacancy will be a long one. I think they've had their ducks lined up on replacing Nonis for many months because the writing has been on the wall for some time.
