Off-ice giants must be patient
Road to contention may not be short
It hasn’t taken long for Lou Lamoriello’s presence to be felt in Toronto. The team’s radio broadcasters were kicked off the team plane, which in the National Hockey League only happens in New Jersey. Players have been known to shave before meeting the media in case they’re shown with a beard on TV and emerge with flecks of shaving cream on their chins or near the ears. There was a Travis Zajac rumour, emanating from New Jersey. Curious.
As the Leafs open their 2015-16 season, the off-ice roster is not only set, but it’s suddenly full of giants. Lamoriello, the 73-year-old godfather, as general manager.
Mike Babcock, the Olympian bench boss, as coach. President Brendan Shanahan, and his already-in- place crew: assistant GM Kyle Dubas, draft guru Mark Hunter, cap wizard Brandon Pridham. This is where the rebuild will really take place, and nobody knows yet how the pieces who control the pieces will fit.
“When some of the best in the business are available, you don’t shy away from that because they might be too difficult to manage, or get along in a room,” says Shanahan, entering his second full season at the helm.
“It’s just not how I think or how I’m built. In the summer of 2001(in Detroit), Kenny Holland added Luc Robitaille, Brett Hull and Dominik Hasek, I didn’t say, Oh no.
“I heard all the same stuff. How are they going to share the ice? How are they going to get along? That’s a loser’s mentality. Winners love being around other winners.”
Theoretically, putting together giant personalities in the front office is a little different than jamming the greatest goaltender in history into your net. But Shanahan has made it clear to both Babcock and Lamoriello that the goal is championship contention, and that the road to get there may not be short.
“I didn’t want them coming in and thinking, well if we make one good trade, or a couple good trades, or if we sign one big free agent, we’re a lot closer than people think,” says Shanahan.
But Lamoriello is 73, on a three-year deal; Babcock burns at an impossibly high flame and refuses to waste a second. As defenceman Morgan Rielly puts it, “(In practices), we don’t even go to the board; we just go to the next drill. In meetings, he keeps them exactly like his practices. You know, they’re probably like 10 minutes and they’re roll-in clips, and he’s talking, and he’ll just leave the room.”
“It’s three fairly strong people, and three probably fairly impatient people, who have to have patience,” said Lamoriello, who is expected to become a senior team adviser when his contract expires.
“If it took a little longer and some day I look and see the success that Toronto is having and feel like you had a little part of it, that’s success. If it can be expedited in some way through different things, you never know in this game what transpires, then great. But the process and the plan, I had no issue with. Yes, it was a change. Maybe a change that is good.”
But can Lou be patient? Can Babcock, eight-year deal and all? Do they grab at local boy Steven Stamkos next summer if he comes free? Everything remains possible.
Meanwhile, the team itself will be the laboratory. There are blue-chip pieces in the cupboard: No. 4 pick Mitch Marner, Rielly, whom teammate Daniel Winnik predicts will be a top-10 defenceman in the league, William Nylander, maybe Nazem Kadri, maybe Jake Gardiner. Some people think undrafted Russian Nikita Soshnikov looks really good, for what it’s worth.
But can the cupboard comprise a championship-level core? Seems unlikely. Shanahan says that Hunter needs more drafts, and that Norris trophies can be unearthed in the third round. He won’t outright tank. This may be a trickier path.
“You don’t want a team that has inherently learned how to lose. We have to start changing that.” BRENDAN SHANAHAN LEAF PRESIDENT
“I just didn’t think it would be good for anyone’s development to intentionally try to be bad,” says Shanahan. “I think that the young core of our team right now needed to learn the right fundamentals and attitude toward winning.
“Look, I want a head coach who wants to win every day. Because you can’t create the right culture (otherwise). Players are very perceptive. You don’t want a team that has inherently learned how to lose. We have to start changing that.
“Even if we don’t currently have the necessary pieces to be where we ultimately want to be, you have to have a team whose culture is learning how to win the games that they’re capable of winning.”
The games will start soon, somewhere underneath the blinding glare of the Blue Jays, a little obscured. But the men in charge will be watching intently, trying to see the forest, and the trees.