Toronto Maple Leafs GM Search: Not Bad Is Good Enough

In the last 23 seasons, 13 different teams have won the Stanley Cup (per nhl.com).  Of those winning franchises, 7 won multiple cups, while 6 hoisted the trophy only once.  Conspicuously absent from the list are the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Those same Toronto Maple Leafs are currently searching for a general manager who has just the right blend of experience and intelligence to make the moves that will result in the biggest street party Toronto has ever seen.

The best general managers are so good that their teams win year after year and build dynasties, right?

Uhhhh…..maybe not.  Look again at the first sentence in this post. Thirteen different champions.

Toronto Maple Leafs GM Search: Not Bad Is Good Enough

The teams that won three cups apiece in that same time frame?

Pittsburgh (rumoured to be chasing after recently departed Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas); Chicago (gave away all their talent in the last couple of years, hit rock bottom, and got rewarded with the right to draft Connor Bedard); and Tampa Bay, who have had a good run but appear to be out of gas.

The best general managers are so good that their teams logically win the most games, leading to them winning the President’s Cup.  Ooops…..wrong cup.  Of course, you’ve probably heard that over the last twenty seasons, only twice has the team with the best regular season record gone on to win the Stanley Cup.  And I would never forgive myself if I failed to point out that this year’s Boston Bruins are the poster children of that oddity.

The mighty B’s compiled the most regular season points ever (135) before coughing up a 3-1 series lead over the Florida Panthers and crashing out of their first round playoff matchup.  That would be the same Florida team that squeaked into the playoffs by a single point.  You know, the lowest ranked squad of all sixteen teams in the playoffs.  Winners of 11 of their last 12 games, and barreling towards their first Stanley Cup.

One can analyze the makeup of previous championship teams for days on end, but the one common denominator among every single team is this – they made the playoffs. That’s it.

Some teams came close for years on end before finally winning (Washington).  Others came out of nowhere, and disappeared just as quickly (Anaheim, St. Louis).  Some were guided by highly regarded coaches (Scotty Bowman, Pat Burns, Barry Trotz).  Some of the winning coaches are no longer held in high esteem (Mike Babcock, Joel Quenneville, Darryl Sutter).  Many of the teams were very good for a few years before falling back into the parity pack.

My point is that there is no magic formula that leads to winning the Stanley Cup.  There are 32 NHL teams, many of which are managed by very smart, experienced hockey minds.  Yet, every year, only one team succeeds.

A general manager needs to be good enough to guide his team into the top half of the standings (ie make the playoffs).  After that, circumstance plays a huge part in who succeeds and who golfs early.  Injuries, hot/cold goaltending, momentum, officiating, luck (yes, I said the “L” word) – these all combine to determine which of the good teams goes all the way.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s vital to have a competent general manager.  A bad GM can kill a team’s chances for years.  But beyond competency, I would argue there isn’t much difference between one GM and the next.  If such a difference existed, we would see the same teams winning cups year after year.  The most any general manager can do is get the team into the annual crapshoot that is the NHL playoffs, and see what happens.

Although there is a lack of exciting names being mentioned as candidates for the open position with the Toronto Maple Leafs, there are plenty of competent people available. Brendan Shanahan simple has to pick one.