'7' Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/kelly-maple-leafs-realize-being-boring-is-a-key-ingredient-of-rebuilding/article28475434/ Quote As a hockey team, the 2015-16 Toronto Maple Leafs are an objective failure. They sit last in the NHL standings. They’ve won one of their past 10 games. They’re not impossible to watch, but there’s a strong element of kindergarten recital to proceedings – the most lovable thing about the Leafs is their plucky incompetence. Quote A year ago, with great reluctance, they laid out their plan to give up. That it was warmly accepted emboldened them to bring in 73-year-old Lou Lamoriello as general manager. This wasn’t an ambitious hockey hire. Lamoriello is a technocrat, not a visionary. His signal talent is controlling the flow of information. He controls it by tugging on the information tap until it snaps off. Quote Lamoriello may be the only person alive who can put himself to sleep by speaking out loud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 We could've told them a long time ago that Lou is about as bad of an interview as it gets. He's not going to give you anything (but most GMs don't anyway). Still think it's not going to work out for him up there, but just like Shero, we won't know the answer to that for quite some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfitz804 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 This stuff always makes me laugh. The guy inherits a pile of sh!t, its still a pile of sh!t, guy gets the blame for it being a pile of sh!t. Its obvious to anyone other than the media that you cannot judge a GM based on his first season, let alone the first 4 months of his first season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devil Dan 56 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Lou and the Toronto media was a match made in hell from the beginning. I have no idea what they were expecting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devil Dan 56 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 1 hour ago, Martyisth3b3st said: Hope Beetlebum is enjoying his new team I'm sure he has 8 names in their message boards too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Eco Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Was only a matter of time before they turned on Lou. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Eco Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 It's actually a major victory and somewhat of a miracle that Lou is actually going forward with a rebuild. They should be counting their blessings that he's not "not rebuilding", which is what I thought his biggest fault and failure in Toronto would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadDog2020 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 It's actually a major victory and somewhat of a miracle that Lou is actually going forward with a rebuild. They should be counting their blessings that he's not "not rebuilding", which is what I thought his biggest fault and failure in Toronto would be. I don't really think Lou has a choice in the matter, to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 3 minutes ago, DJ Eco said: It's actually a major victory and somewhat of a miracle that Lou is actually going forward with a rebuild. They should be counting their blessings that he's not "not rebuilding", which is what I thought his biggest fault and failure in Toronto would be. I'll always think that the 2012 Cup run had Lou thinking "Just one more run...just gotta get into the playoffs..." The fact that Gomez said that it looked like he would've been back had Lou remained tells me Lou might've even tried that here yet again. And I think ownership knew it too. Just now, MadDog2020 said: I don't really think Lou has a choice in the matter, to be honest. On this note, hard to know for sure if Lou was basically told "No Band-Aid approach" when he took the job, or simply decided to do what he couldn't bring himself to do here. At any rate, not sure what Maple Leaf fans were expecting...it was pretty obvious the Leafs weren't trying to win this season, and that they were going to take some steps backward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lateralous Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Not sure what they were expecting this quickly. I still think the LL hire makes sense from the standpoint that it was a f'ing circus up there last season and there were leaks to the media out of management about everything. Anyone remember the whole "scored earth policy" thing? What franchise lets their fanbase know they're going scored earth before they even start? I wasn't a fan of what Lou did here for about the last decade but he was kind of the perfect person to step in and stop all of the non-sense up there. There's not a person in hockey that demands as much respect the second he walks in the room. When Babcock first got hired, he talked about making it a safe environment for his players. He and Lou are perfect to create that. How much less abuse does a guy like Phaneuf take every day from the fanbase and media this year? Would Kessel have to put up with half of the crap he did if he were still there this year? I think that is going to be key if they ever want to build a winner in that crazy ass city, especially when they start to bring the prospects up and they don't turn into Toews/Kane on day one. I hate the Leafs but they kinda look like they're finally doing it right this time IMO. They're letting their prospects develop in the CHL/Minors. Babcock is still coaching to win with the group he has instead of letting a loser mentality set in like when Edmonton and Buffalo decided they were all in for the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Cathal Kelly is a hack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecoffeecake Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Yea there was some colorful imagery in this piece. Toronto is such a joke. I think this front office all star group they put together is as laughable as the on ice product. There are few things I want to see more than Toronto winning nothing before Lou, Shanahan, and Babcock are out the door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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