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Cliff Fletcher made two promises yesterday as the Toronto Maple Leafs put the wreckage of the 2007-08 NHL season behind them: The team will get better, and there will be a new man in charge when the puck is dropped next fall.
As for details, well, as Fletcher said a rancher told him in the 1980s, when Fletcher was trying to turn the Calgary Flames into a match for the Edmonton Oilers, "the corral is full of horses, but you can only bring one into the barn at a time."
So, Leaf fans, take it from the rancher with the world's smallest barn. Don't be in such a dad-burned hurry for the new GM to be hired. But, the Leafs' interim GM says, it will fall into place. He will not be in charge much longer.
"I started my NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens and I thought it was fitting that my last game as a GM was last Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens," Fletcher said, referring to the Leafs' season-ending loss. "There will be a new GM here."
Just when that will be, though, is up for debate. Fletcher said the search committee of Richard Peddie, president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and Toronto sports lawyer Gord Kirke has not interviewed any of the candidates. But they do have a list of "people who we think will be very, very capable of running the Toronto Maple Leafs."
Fletcher said the candidates who are under contract to other NHL teams will not be contacted until their teams are out of the playoffs. Since the front-runners are Brian Burke of the Anaheim Ducks and Ken Holland of the Detroit Red Wings, Leaf fans will undoubtedly take an unusually keen interest in the Western Conference playoffs.
But no one should expect someone to sign a contract to run the Leafs the day after his team is eliminated from the playoffs.
"Look at the history of the NHL [in hiring GMs]," Fletcher said. "There is very little action during the Stanley Cup playoffs. It picks up in mid-May, then accelerates as you get toward the [entry] draft."
Fletcher hinted that the priority of Peddie and the rest of senior management is to get someone hired by the entry draft, which is set for the weekend of June 21, and ideally no later than July 1, the first day of free agency for the players.
However, since this will depend on other NHL owners playing along by granting permission for the Leafs to woo their GMs, patience will be necessary.
Whether there will be a new head coach next season will be left up to the new GM, Fletcher said. The incumbent, Paul Maurice, has a year left on his contract. Maurice said yesterday he is not losing any sleep wondering if he will keep his job.
"It's not as difficult as you might think being that I've grown up in this game," Maurice said. He also said he was disappointed in "three or four players," but declined to identify them. Most people have a much longer list than that.
"I've got strong opinions on certain players and how they fit, but it's easy to talk about changes," the coach added. "Making changes is a lot more difficult. So I'm not sure it's my business to talk about that."
Maurice did say he will share his opinions about the players with Fletcher. The interim GM did not want to discuss his plans for the players either, although he indicated the only untouchable on the team is goaltender Vesa Toskala.
"You listen to offers for anything," Fletcher said. "Wayne Gretzky was traded. Logically, when finally we have someone who looks like he could be the goaltender who could take you an awful long way, it doesn't make sense to move him out.
"You have to start building a team around somebody, and if you have a good goaltender, it's a hang of a way to start."
Fletcher may also start by trying to land the No. 1 pick overall in this year's NHL entry draft, but that does not mean he will ship out every young prospect and draft pick he has to win the Steve Stamkos derby.
As he kept saying, the fans have to be patient.
"The message is simple: The team is going to get better," Fletcher said. "It's going to be a team starting next October that [the fans] are going to become excited about and be able to become proud about again.
"It doesn't happen overnight."
