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The Next Leafs GM


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The candidates currently available, this includes former GMs who are now team executives:

-Mike Keenan

-Niel Smith

-Pat Quinn

-Pat Burns

-Bobby Clarke

-Colin Campbell

-Pierre Lacriox

-Mike Milbury

-Cliff Fletcher

-Rick Dudley

-Dave Taylor

Mike Keenan:

-Keenan is an agressive negotiator, and is not well liked by younger players, especially Roberto Luongo. He has a tendency to bring in his own guys, and to bring in veterans, shown in his recent Florida signings of Gary Roberts, Joe Nieuwendyk, Ed Belfour, and Martin Gelinas, and his trade acquisition of Todd Bertuzzi. Does bring a Stanley Cup ring, but as a coach. As GM he didn't really lead the Florida Panthers anywhere, and didn't load up on any young stars. In fact, in all the years Florida has spent in the basement, the only players they drafted that ended up anything were Jay Bouwmeester and Nathan Horton, both Rick Dudley picks.

Current Affiliation: None

Neil Smith:

-Neil Smith is a very underrated GM. Think of all the good Islanders signings that just seem to "fit", well sorry to everyone on the Garth Snow bandwagon, those deals like Chris Simon, Sean Hill, and Mike Sillinger were Niel Smith signings. He won a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers, but left their future stripped. He can win us that Cup we're desperate for, but if Smith takes over the reigns, don't expect a dynasty.

Current Affiliation: None

Pat Quinn:

-A former Maple Leafs GM who was known for giving up younger players for prospects. He is a well liked guy all around the league, in fact, Pavel Bure owes his stay in Vancouver to him, and Theoren Fleury, his Olympic gold medal. Paul Kariya describes him as "somone you'd go to the wall for." Though he did get rid of players like Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan, Fredrik Modin, and Brad Boyes for next to nothing, he's another go big or go home GM, so a good scouting staff would be needed if Quinn were to take over as GM.

Current Affiliation: None

Pat Burns:

-Burns has never been an NHL GM but word is he could be interested in such a position. Pat Burns was the sort who seems happy with the media, but angry behind the bench. He's won a Cup, and has had success in Toronto. He's been able to succeed in very defensive systems like the 2003 New Jersey Devils, and very offensive systems like the 1993 Toronto Maple Leafs. It's really a debate as to what Pat would bring to the team as GM.

Current Affiliation: None

Bobby Clarke:

-An all around bad guy, who fires more coaches in a season than I have fingers. Known to be able to maneuver well, but the cap is a serious issue, and he doesn't seem to know the new game very well. He gets deals done, and could bring a little more certainly to the Leafs direction. A definite negative is that every time he goes to a game in Toronto he brings that ###### Allan Eagleson.

Current Affiliation: Philadelphia Flyers

Colin Campbell:

-Coley has never been GM in the National Hockey League but has run veteran clubs, like the New York Rangers. He's not well liked by a lot pf players who are mad about disciplinary actions, and would probably bring a soft club to the Toronto Maple Leafs, considering the way he manages suspensions.

Current Affiliation: NHL head Office

Pierre Lacroix:

-Lacroix is another big deal GM, who gets the job done, and finds ways to maneuver under the salary cap. He was able to keep a core of guys together in Colorado while still drafting well, getting guys like Milan Hejduk, Chris Drury, and Alex Tanguay. The move that really scares me about him is his last, acquiring Jose Theodore from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for David Aebischer.

Current Affiliation: Colorado Avalanche

Mike Milbury:

-Most fans will dismiss him right away. With good reason. Todd Bertuzzi, Zigmond Palffy, Bryan McCabe, JP Dumont, Wade Redden, Zdeno Chara, Eric Brewer, Raffi Torrest, Tim Connolly, and Taylor Pyatt were all New York Islanders draft picks, with the exception of Palffy, none of them succeeded with the Islanders. While you may be able to find the odd trade that went right for Mad Mike, you'll probably notice that he's wound up on the losing side of just about every trade he's made.

Current Affiliation: New York Islanders

Cliff Fletcher:

-Built the 1993 and 1994 Toronto Maple Leafs that both went to the conference finals, making deals to acquire Dave Andreychuk, Doug Gilmour, and other stars. The biggest deal he made is STILL helping the Toronto Maple Leafs, acquiring Mats Sundin from the Quebec Nordiques for Wendel Clark, who came back to the Maple Leafs shortly after.

Current Affiliation: Phoenix Coyotes

Rick Dudley:

-Rick Dudley traded the number one pick in two consecutive years, those picks turned out to be Rick Nash and Marc Andre Fleury, apparently adding the players he wanted anyways in Jay Bouwmeester or Nathan Horton, neither of whom is as much of a help to their team as Nash and Fleury are. It looks painfully clear that Dudley just drove the Florida Panthers further into the gutter.

Current Affiliation: Florida Panthers

Dave Taylor:

-Taylor had great teams in Los Angeles but was unable to keep teams healthy. I've speculated it's a curse from Matt Johnson ruining the career of Jeff Beukeboom, but from Ziggy Palffy, to Adam Deadmarsh, to Jason Allison, to Martin Straka, to Jeremy Roenick, every player who goes to Los Angeles has terrible injury problems, and many of them have had their careers falter. Dave Taylor still was able to assemble some pretty solid teams in Southern California.

Current Affiliation: Los Angeles Kings

Our new General Manager would have to address the following issues:

-A need for a new top six winger or two.

-To get Mats Sundin, Jeff O'Neill, Mike Peca, and Nik Antropov signed.

-To Reload a weak prospect base, so even if we don't want to look at the future, we have future to deal for a present.

-To find a coach who can work within his system.

-To acquire a goaltender who can go deep into the playoffs.

-To be able to move Andrew Rayflop.

-To be able to move one of the two big contracts on defense in Pavel Kubina, or Bryan McCabe.

-To be able to convince a player or two to sign smaller contracts to fit in with a team that could make something special happen. Must draw comparisons to the Red Sox, remind a player what a hero he'd be if he won a cup here.

A big job for whoever it is.

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