One More Loss to Go

Once you are out of the playoffs their is no point winning anymore.  The higher you get in the draft, the greater chance of you selecting someone who is going to help you win in the playoffs a few years from now. With the last two losses the leafs sit in 22nd place or 9th from the bottom.  Previously I analyzed draft picks for teams that finished with the 8th or 9th draft pick in this recent blog.

Now hiring of Brendan Shanahan (3 Time Stanley Cup Champion, Hockey Hall of Famer, Regular Season totals of 656 Goals, 698 Assists, 1354 points, and Olympic Gold Medalist) and most recently VP of Player Safety is in my opinion silly as the President of the Toronto Maple Leafs.  He is certainly a winner on the ice, has life time of experience of playing in the NHL, and experience working/leading at NHL office.  He has no experience job shadowing a general manager or team president, like a lot of his contemporaries such as Cam Neely, Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, Joe Niewendyk, and Wayne Gretzkey.   So, if he now supercedes on the management chain current Leaf Senior VP and General Manager David Nonis is ludicrous.  Leafs also have Assistant General Managers/VPs Dave Poulin and Claude Loiselle. Dave Poulin has been the General Manager of the Toronto Marlies since 2009 and long history in hockey management.  Claude Loiselle was hired as the Assistant General Manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1994 and was General Manager of their farm affiliate Norfolk Admirals for seven years.  In 2010, Brian Burke hired him as the Assistant General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.  So, you have essentially 3 General Managers who all have more than a decade of experience to now be supervised by Brendan Shanahan.  It makes little sense to me and too many chefs spoil the broth. Shanahan does not have the experience running a business or a business degree or a law degree which is common in these positions.  Putting his smiling face in front of the camera is not going to make any less upset with the Leafs falling in the standings, nor the lack of Stanley Cup since 1967.

One more opinion is not going to make the Toronto Maple Leafs a winner.  It is talent in good combination with coaching.  So, if the Leafs lose their final game on Saturday to Ottawa and Winnipeg Jets win tonight against Calgary than the Leafs would draft most likely 8th.  That would make me happy.  It would make me even happier if they can combine their first pick and a secondary player for a top 3 pick.  Which I have talked about on an another recent blog.




DRAFT ORDER - Based on April 11TH NHL Standings

Rank	Team	% of Winning	Points	Games Remaining	Wins (incl. Overtime)
1	Buffalo Sabres	25.0	51	2	14
2	Edmonton Oilers	18.8	65	1	24
3	Florida Panthers	14.2	66	1	21
4	New York Islandersa	10.7	75	2	25
5	Calgary Flames	8.1	77	2	28
6	Carolina Hurricanes	6.2	79	2	33
7	Vancouver Canucks	4.7	81	2	30
8	Winnipeg Jets	3.6	82	1	28
9	Toronto Maple Leafs	2.7	84	1	29
10	Ottawa Senatorsb	2.1	84	2	29
11	Nashville Predators	1.5	84	2	34
12	Washington Capitals	0.8	87	2	27
13	Phoenix Coyotes	0.5	87	2	30
30	New Jersey Devilsc	1.1	85	2	34

% of Winning - Is the odds of a team winning the draft lottery. 

a - The New York Islanders must give either their 2014 or 2015 first round pick to the Buffalo Sabers as part of the Thomas Vanek trade.  

b - The Senators' first-round pick was traded to the Anaheim Ducks as part of the Bobby Ryan trade.a - The New York Islanders have the option to give either their 2014 or 2015 first-round draft pick to the Buffalo Sabres as part of the trade that sent Thomas Vanek to New York. The Islanders have to notify the Buffalo Sabers prior to the 2014 NHL Draft.

c- The New Jersey Devils regardless of standings will receive the 30th overall pick as cap circumvention penalty for signing Ilya Kovalchuk.