How 'Bout Scotty: Cleaning Up The Mess In Leaf Nation

It’s safe to say that Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Paul Maurice is no stranger to bold predictions.

Before taking over behind the bench for the Blue and White, Maurice was asked by the media to evaluate his roster for the upcoming 06-07 NHL season. Perhaps catching the media off guard, Maurice claimed that his team would be “in a dogfight” until the very end to make the playoffs.

To be perfectly honest—he couldn’t have been more correct.

Despite finishing a respectable third place in a tough Northeast Division, the Leafs found themselves on the outside looking in after missing out on the playoffs by a single point.

In the heartland of hockey, missing the playoffs for two consecutive years was simply not good enough. Under pressure to deliver, GM John Ferguson officially threw away the rebuilding program for immediate help.

Trading away his 13^th overall pick, he acquired Finish goaltender Vesa Toskala and forward Mark Bell to boost his current roster. This move was complemented by the arrival of free agent Jason Blake—a sniper coming off a career-best 40 goals with the New York Islanders the year before.

To say the least, both GM John Ferguson and head coach Paul Maurice came away impressed with their assembled roster. Confidently reporting back to the media, Maurice announced that his current squad was the “most talented hockey club [Maurice] has ever coached”. Ferguson went on to suggest that the team would “make the playoffs and compete for the Stanley Cup”.

Unfortunately for the both of them, they couldn’t have been more wrong about their squad. 24 games into the 07-08 NHL regular season, the Leafs are currently sitting near the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

As one could imagine, that hasn’t bode well for the Toronto faithful. Winning just one in their last seven games, the clock is quickly winding down for John Ferguson.

However, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The John Ferguson era in Toronto hasn’t led to the best of times for the Maple Leaf organization. Plagued by questionable trades and player personnel decisions, change looks to be inevitable.

With rumors spreading across the league of a possible “shakeup”, team owner Richard Peddie will need to be careful about making any rash decisions. Any knee-jerk reactions could set the team back for a prolonged period of time.

The names of Mark Messier, Doug Gilmour and Steve Yzerman come to mind when referring to the “big-name” candidates. While their success on the ice is unquestioned, how would they fare from the press box? That remains to be seen.

Finding a person with general manager experience will be vital for the Maple Leafs in the long run. Picking “big-name” candidates with no experience could turn out to be an even bigger disaster.

Convincing a person of Scotty Bowman’s caliber and credentials would be the first step in correcting a potential disaster. Considering that he is the winningest coach in NHL league history, one would be hard pressed to find a hockey man with a better resume.  

Whether or not Scotty would be willing to take up on this challenge would be interesting to see. One has to wonder whether or not the Maple Leafs will provide him with unquestioned authority over personnel decisions. Combine that with a big money offer and the Leafs could be closer to digging themselves out of a deep hole.

Faced with the dilemma over team captain Mats Sundin’s future and the lack of young talent in the Toronto farm system, there is little room for error. Finding a way to unload Pavel Kubina and Bryan McCabe’s ridiculous salaries will be another monumental problem in itself.

Whoever the man we'll be—he'll have his hands full trying to turn fortunes around.