Cliff Fletcher Era (Re)Begins: Is There REALLY Change in Toronto?

As I am sure you already know, Toronto Maple Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr. was fired.  Cliff Fletcher will be filling in on an interim basis.

Fletcher essentially has a 35 day job which is the time from his hiring to the trade deadline. Fletcher was hired to make change, whether he be a buyer or a seller at the deadline. Or was he?

If you have not seen this, search YouTube and watch the Cliff Fletcher/Richard Peddie press conference, paying close attention to Richard Peddie’s lips.

Peddie’s lips were moving to Fletcher’s words, as if he knew what he was going to say. Even the "custodian of the keys," which sounded like Fletcher just made up.

This begs the question: Was Fletcher really hired to make change or is Peddie just placing words in his mouth?

It is obviously no secret that Peddie, the Board of Directors, and the Ontario Teacher’s Pension like to meddle in the affairs of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The GM needs approval to fire the coach, make big trades, etc. Rumor says, although Ferguson does seem to have a knack for overpaying players, on more than one occasion he went to the board, requesting permission to blow it up and rebuild. He was Denied.

The Fletcher case is supposed to be different. Apparently he was given full autonomy to do what he sees fit, but that video has left many Leaf fans, including myself, wondering.

People can make the argument that it does not matter whether or not Fletcher has full autonomy. He will not do what the Leafs need, which is to rebuild. The basis of this is his famous "draft shmaft" comment. But he recognizes the importance of drafting because with salary caps, you can not go out and spend millions on free agents to improve your club. He said this himself.

In the end, it all comes down to Peddie’s mouth movement. Was there a script involved? If so, who wrote it? If it was written by Fletcher, there is the possibility that Peddie simply read it knowing what he was going to say. But if it was Peddie who wrote said script, then the big question becomes:

Can Cliff Fletcher really do what he wants? And what does it mean for the Toronto Maple Leafs?