Toronto Maple Leafs: The Fingerprints of Dave Nonis are Gone

The Toronto Maple Leafs used to be very, very, very bad. Remember that?

When it comes to Twitter, I typically operate with a “is this the hill you want to die on?” mindset.

Nine times out of ten, the answer to that question is a resounding  “no”.

The reason for this lies in the fact that Twitter is a bonafide hellscape of rage-inducing hot takes and unrelenting vitriol, crammed with enough garbage on a daily basis to make that trash island in the Pacific Ocean look like a floatie in a kiddie pool. Channelling anger at each and every bit of nonsense is just not a conducive use of anyone’s time, not to mention a great recipe for how to go insane.

Of course, some exceptions must be made. It doesn’t happen often, but every once in a while, a hill will cross my timeline that is just so ridiculous, so downright insane, I can’t help but die on it.

Today, this was that hill.

DISCLAIMER: I’ll be ignoring the second paragraph of this tweet entirely. Commenting on a familial connection is just not necessary to the topic at hand, as the root of the tweet’s insanity stems from a hockey perspective, not a personal one.

With that said, let’s do this.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Dave Nonis will go down in Toronto Maple Leafs history as the worst general manager whose tenure failed to coincide with the Harold Ballard years.

Over the half-decade Nonis held the GM role, nearly every single one of his moves can be held responsible for thrusting the Leafs’ organization into a period of unprecedented failure from which they only just emerged.

Be it Nonis’ big swings; the David Clarkson contract, Dion Phaneuf‘s extension, trading for Dave Bolland, or the smaller whiffs; wasting a compliance buyout on Mikhail Grabovski, giving up a 4th round pick for Ryan O’Byrne, acquiring Tim Gleason before buying him out less than 6 months later, Nonis demonstrated an impressive ability to face down any given situation, weigh the options, and ultimately choose the worst possible one.

The bulk of Nonis’ shortcomings, however, can be attributed to his ideological stagnancy. The Leafs promoted Nonis to GM in 2013, at the precise moment when the NHL began its transition away from being a physically-dependent league and into one based on skill.

Nonis refused to acknowledge that, opting instead to conduct his business using a mindset from a bygone era.

Nonis willfully loaded Toronto’s bottom-six with enforcer-types whose place in the modern game was rapidly approaching extinction. When it came to handling the nuances of the salary cap, Nonis did so about as well as Billy McFarland conducted organizational duties for Fyre Festival. And at a time when most teams began recognizing the value draft picks held in constructing a long-term contender in a hard-capped league, Nonis saw no problem in jettisoning his own draft capital in bulk to acquire middle-six role players.

Of course, that was nearly 5 years ago now. People change, and maybe Nonis has for the better. He’s spent the past few years holding down various hockey jobs, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt in that regard, at least.

But to suggest that Nonis’ fingerprints remain present on this current iteration of the Leafs is downright outrageous.

For one, only two players who the Leafs happened to acquire while Nonis held the GM title remain with the team today. Those players are William Nylander and Andreas Johnsson – supposedly drafted by Nonis in conjunction with Toronto’s scouting staff and who each went on to play precisely zero NHL games prior to Nonis’ firing in April of 2015.

Expanding the scope now to his time as assistant GM under Brian Burke, only Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner, and Morgan Rielly can be tied back to Nonis in any feasible capacity. If you’ll recall, each of Kadri, Rielly and Gardiner experienced their own rocky developmental paths as prospects under Nonis’ rule, with management constantly yo-yo-ing them up and down between organizational levels which, in Gardiner’s case, was so detrimental that it culminated in the infamous #FreeJakeGardiner hashtag.

All three went on to have their respective breakout campaigns in the post-Nonis era.

Any trace of Nonis on the ice has been scrubbed away years ago. In the front office, however, it was eradicated.

On April 12, 2015, roughly one year into his tenure as President, Brendan Shannahan walked into the Toronto Maple Leafs’ offices and fired Dave Nonis, coach Peter Horachek, seven of the team’s hockey operations staff and, reportedly, most of their 22-person scouting staff, as well.

It was deemed Shannahan’s Bloody Sunday. A scorched-earth move meant to kickstart a scorched-earth rebuild, flushing out any leftover remnants from the era of mediocrity which preceded him.

Nonis was the undisputed grandmaster of that era. And in the years to come, Shannahan ventured down a path that saw him methodically undo each and every move Nonis ever made, to the point where, when looked back upon today, his existence has all but been deleted entirely.

It was a purge of monumental proportions.

Handed a massive 7-year extension by Nonis in 2014, Dion Phaneuf was subsequently dealt to the Ottawa Senators for a package of draft picks, pricey veterans with expiring term, and prospects. Shockingly, Toronto retained no salary.

Both Joffrey Lupul; extended for 5 years by Nonis in 2013, and Stephane Robidas; handed a 3-year deal in 2014 at age-38 while coming off two broken legs, were exiled from the team and sent to the mysterious purgatory that eventually came to be known as Robidas Island.

Jonathan Bernier, the prized goaltending acquisition of Nonis’ first summer at the helm, was shipped to Anaheim in 2016 for what amounted to nothing. After Nonis extended Phil Kessel for 8 years prior to the 2013 season, the Leafs sent the controversial winger to Pittsburgh in 2015 in exchange for Kasperi Kapanen and a few other pieces you don’t remember.

The $1.2 million owned to Kessel in retained salary and Nathan Horton‘s $5.5 million buried on the LTIR are all that remain of his decisions.

Actually, that’s not true.

In fact, both Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner symbolize the presence of Nonis’ fingerprints on the Leafs’ organization, but only in the sense that, were it not for Nonis, the team would never have undergone the failure worthy of gifting them not one, but two consecutive top-5 draft picks.

So, congrats, I guess.

Again, maybe Nonis has changed. Maybe his mindset has caught up with the current innovation of the NHL. Maybe he’s spent the past 5 years learning how to operate as a modern executive and, now rejuvinated, is ready for a second shot.

All the power to him, then.

By all accounts, Dave Nonis is a good person – someone who carried himself in a professional manner at every stop throughout his hockey career. And when it comes to the Edmonton Oilers, whose management group is reportedly considering Nonis for their vacant GM position, they could certainly use some professionalism.

To suggest that Nonis’ fingerprints still remain on the Leafs today, however? That, in every facet of reality, is simply not true and seemingly ignores the half-decade prior successfully dedicated to doing the exact opposite.

Thanks for reading!