DETROIT -- The search committee for the Toronto Maple Leafs' new general manager will interview Doug Armstrong this week, but the former Dallas Stars boss would be well advised not to get his hopes up.
So far, the activities around the club owner, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, indicate the porch light is still on for Brian Burke. Last month, Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli put the kibosh on the plans for Burke to take the Leafs' job by insisting he serve out the remaining year of his contract as the Ducks' GM.
However, Burke still has not signed the contract extension that has been sitting on his desk in Anaheim for months. And there is no indication he plans to put his autograph on it.
One theory is that Burke and the Leafs are playing a waiting game. Ideally, at some point soon, Samueli will get tired of Burke's dragging his feet, throw up his hands and say, "Go to Toronto, then."
The owner could even tell Burke a condition of his departure would be to install a good GM in Anaheim. That shouldn't be too hard, because Burke's right-hand man, Bob Murray, is a capable fellow.
Or he could throw the job to his buddy Dave Nonis, who was recently given the pink slip by the Vancouver Canucks. But Nonis is being courted by the Atlanta Thrashers, who are still waiting for GM Don Waddell to decide whether he wants to be kicked upstairs as the president, and by the St. Louis Blues. Nonis also figures in the waiting for Burke theory.
The other part of that theory is that if Samueli digs in his heels and makes Burke serve out the final year of his contract, the Leafs would carry on with interim GM Cliff Fletcher until Burke is ready to move. In the meantime, they would hire someone to assist Fletcher in running the Leafs.
That is why the Leafs wanted to interview Joe Nieuwendyk for a job in the front office. But the Florida Panthers refused to grant permission for them to talk until Nieuwendyk's contract expires on July 1. This even though Nieuwendyk resigned his personnel job more than a month ago, presumably because he was tired of the upheaval in the Panthers' office, where Jacques Martin was told he could keep his GM job, but had to step down as the head coach.
The Panthers' cheesy move with Nieuwendyk shows you where relations are between them and the Leafs.
Nieuwendyk, considered to have much potential as an NHL executive, became attractive to the Leafs because, according to those who should know, Nonis is a reluctant quarry.
The Leafs want to hire him as part of the plan to wait for Burke, but do not want to grant Nonis the full power or title of a GM. The word is they offered him a one-year deal that was solid enough or a three-year deal loaded with escape clauses for the club.
But Nonis, quite rightly, is resisting. Those who know him say he does not mind if his good friend Burke comes along a year from now as the president. But he doesn't see why he should not be hired as the full GM, with the appropriate salary, in the meantime. And with two other clubs courting him, Nonis has the bargaining chips to do so.
In the meantime, the Leafs are slowly getting round to talking to the other candidates for the job. Armstrong, who could not be reached for comment, has been getting a vigorous push from people consulted by the search committee, which consists of Toronto sports lawyer Gord Kirke and MLSE president Richard Peddie. No date for the interview has been set, but it is expected to take place this week. Kirke and Peddie are staying quiet.
Armstrong's stock shot up this spring when the Stars, a team he largely put together, made it to the Western Conference final.
Also getting a big selling job, with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman fingered as the chief pitchman, is the league's director of hockey operations, Colin Campbell. He will probably be interviewed, although he will have to overcome the frosty relations between the Leafs and Bettman that started two lockouts ago in 1994.
Jim Rutherford, the GM of the Carolina Hurricanes, is another candidate who is said to want the job badly. Other names in the mix are Neil Smith and player agent Don Meehan.
3