Toronto Maple Leafs Should Never Consider Bowman or Quenneville

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a massive mistake when they let Kyle Dubas go.

Not only is Kyle Dubas the best young general manager in the NHL, but now all the years of on the job training he got with the Toronto Maple Leafs will go to someone else’s benefit.

In addition, the best player in the 100 year history of the Leafs is no longer a lock to re-sign with the the franchise.

It is insane of Shanahan to do anything that would put Auston Matthew’s future in this city at risk, but here we are.

The Leafs will definitely have a worse GM than they had this year, but they can at least avoid making a major mistake by avoiding two of the most toxic people in the NHL.

Toronto Maple Leafs Should Never Consider Bowman or Quenneville

Stan Bowman and Joel Quenneville were the GM and coach of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2009-2010 when player Kyle Beach was allegedly sexually assaulted by video coach Bradley Aldrich, and they were banned from the NHL following an investigation that made it seem like they covered up the allegations during their 2010 Stanley Cup Run.

In addition, it is alleged that Joel Quennville wrote a recommendation for Aldrich to go elsewhere despite knowing what he was accused of.  This is not the kind of person you want running your team.

"“I admire Kyle Beach for his courage in coming forward, am appalled that he was so poorly supported upon making his initial claim and in the 11 years since, and am sorry for all he has endured,” Bettman said in a statement Thursday night.Details of Chicago’s internal investigation of the allegations were released this week, resulting in the departures of general manager Stan Bowman and senior vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac from the organization.The investigation found Quenneville — who coached Chicago at that time — and others in the organization did not prioritize addressing Beach’s allegations, presumably because they did not want to take away from the team’s push toward a championship. (CBC.ca)."

The NHL is supposedly going to review whether or not Bowman and Quenneville are allowed back in the league and there are rumours that teams are waiting to find out what is decided before they make their decisions.

This is incomprehensible.

Neither person should be allowed back into the league.  Even if the NHL makes the inappropriate decision to reverse the bans, the Toronto Maple Leafs should want nothing to do with either of them.

Stan Bowman didn’t even build the Blackhawks, he just took over for Dale Tallon and took all the credit.  As for Quenneville, there is no doubt he’s a top coach, but the fact is, he was put in a position of authority over young people and he let them down.

Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons wrote this:

"Neither has been approved to return to the NHL. Both want to return. Would a politically correct, modern semi-woke company such as Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment ever consider either of these men, pushed out because of the Kyle Beach investigation? I would certainly consider it"

It is completely messed up that not wanting to hire people who seem to be/ are alleged to be complicit in covering up a sexual assault would be considered “woke.” At this point people are just screaming “woke” at anyone who isn’t a complete monster.   It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so destructive.

The Toronto Maple Leafs making a moral decision based on basic human decency isn’t “woke:” It’s just common sense.  It is appalling to me to even suggest the Leafs hire either man, let alone seeing someone act condescending about the fact that they probably won’t.

“Woke” is just something people use to try to rile up people who don’t know any better – it’s fear mongering at its worst.  It’s a phrase used in the same way a magician uses misdirection, to distract people about something meaningless while they do much worse things.

The Toronto Maple Leafs shouldn’t have any interest in hiring either Bowman or Quenneville because what they did was disgraceful.  At the very least, their punishment should be that they are not allowed to be in the NHL.

Even if the league lets them come back, the Leafs should look elsewhere for their new coach and GM.  Having a conscience isn’t “woke” and neither is being a decent human being.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have tons of options for their new GM and coach and don’t need to scrape the bottom of the barrel to consider hiring the people who oversaw the absolute most disgusting franchise in pro sports.