With news this morning that one of the candidates on the (media's) short-list to take over as Leafs GM - Doug Armstrong - is alive, well, under 80 years old, and best yet, apparently VERY interested in the job, it occurs to me how much time and space Monsieur's Peddie and Kirke are giving themselves to put a man behind the desk at the ACC.
Doug, or Dougie, as I'm sure everyone calls him, is late of the Dallas "It Says Dallas Right On The Front" Stars. The team that a lot of people are suddenly picking to win the West. He of, "I drafted all those guys". He of, "I was so good, after I left they had to hire two guys to do my job". Whatever he is, he's the next heir apparent to the greatest job in hockey next to being my linemate.
Although he said all the right things about the magnitude of the Leafs GM job, when Sarina-born Dougie (Oooo, it just rolls of the tongue!), was asked about working for the Leafs, he said,
"I'm from Ontario. I grew up there. My father worked in the NHL, and I spent a lot of times at Maple Leaf Gardens."Not exactly "I bleed blue and white", is it? It sounds more like, "I grew up worshiping the Red Wings", but, whatever. Armstrong gets it. Leafs GM is the biggest job in the sport, and if he comes in knowing how big a task he'll face, all the better. Personally, my top choice is Jim Nill, because of the way the Wings draft, but hey, hey, hey, we're still a long ways off from anyone getting the job.
As we sit here totally relieved that no Canadian team will win The Cup, can't we all feel Peddie and Kirke starting to fuck up the task of finding the GM? Is it just me, because I've got this dread creeping up my spine. I just know those two walking advertisements for scotch and hubris will go down the same path they did when they hired JFJ: That being bringing in someone under qualified who they feel MLSE will be able to micro-manage into the ground. That happens, and we'll all have to have this very same conversation in 5 years. Or, more accurately, you'll be having it with Loser Domi as I'll have long moved on to blogging about the most exciting sport on the Versus network: professional bullriding.
To wit, please reflect on this graph showing Peddie and Kirke's modus operandi between now and the next most important event in Leafs history: Draft day this June.*
*accurate to +/- 0.00000000000001 of a percentage point
