Army Hypothetical

[stlblues1979]

Could have added this to the "Solid Response by the Leafs" thread I suppose. The last post there mentioned Shanahan & I too wonder how in the world he still has a job with Toronto.

Anyway, Toronto makes player changes this summer as we all expect. But next year, they fail again, not making it past the 2nd round. Toronto's ownership, which I know nothing about except I'd assume have very deep pockets, says they've had enough & completely cleans management house. Current GM fired, Shanahan axed, etc. etc.

Toronto, with permission, since Army still has a position waiting for him after this year with the Blues, offers him the moon to take over as GM but complete say so in all decisions. Would he or do you think he's ready to simply enjoy the lesser load with the Blues. Or would the enticement be too hard to pass up? Again, hypothetically with another failure, would they do everything to hire him?

[the miracle]

I'd guess Armstrong has enough money, and he's already got eyes on the retirement counter, so not sure why he would do that. But if he's one of those guys with the competitive fire that can't let stuff go - the Blues should absolutely ask for a haul in compensation in return if Toronto approached the Blues. I've never heard of draft picks for a GM in the NHL before, but the Blues should ask for the moon in this hypothetical.

[DawgDad]

Could go either way. Army is 60, soon 61. It took him ten years to get the Blues into the Cup Finals. How much patience is there in Toronto? The team is a mess, it could take a lot of patience.

Army is also an organizational leader in Canadian International hockey. I tend to believe he has three hats he's very comfortable wearing, the third being mentor to Steen.

[dhsux]

DA has one more year of GM, right? Then President of Operations likely until he wants to leave or retire.

Guessing of course but I don't see him going into that mess up there in Toronto.

Will be interesting to see what they do with their 2 big free agent guys coming up this summer.

And more importantly, just who is going to be making the decisions on them and others after this fiasco ending to the year.

[callitwhatyouwant]

The way Army talks about being a GM, he very much seems like he's almost out of gas. He is quoted saying that once you stop being competitive in this position you need to step aside. And he has said that the juices are still running there. But someone who says this generally means they are seeing the merits of the little bit of a downtime they are getting. I don't know if any of that signals that the guy would be eager to into the biggest pressure cooker in Toronto.

I do agree tho, at some point the Leafs need to make a change.

[SameOldBlues]

Id be willing to bet that not much changes at all with the Leafs, outside of the Marner situation and him either stayin or goin. They havent done much the last 5 years or however long its been that they havent been able to get over the hump, dont know why they’d do anything drastic (and necessary) now.

[a smell of green grass]

Thinking about committing Army as GM?

Call the crisis hotline for help.

1-800-ASOGG

[Frank Barone]

The way Army talks about being a GM, he very much seems like he's almost out of gas. He is quoted saying that once you stop being competitive in this position you need to step aside. And he has said that the juices are still running there. But someone who says this generally means they are seeing the merits of the little bit of a downtime they are getting. I don't know if any of that signals that the guy would be eager to into the biggest pressure cooker in Toronto.

I do agree tho, at some point the Leafs need to make a change.

Army doesn't seem to me to be out of gas. He seems fine.

People should watch the Tom Stillman interview with Andy Strickland. He said that early in Steen's tenure as GM he will have responsibility for the NHL roster and will be reporting to Army. So Army really still has the roster responsibility. Other departments in Hockey Operations like pro scouting, amateur scouting, the draft, Springfield, and analytics will report directly to Army. So Army's job will not be that much different than in the past.

I can see that Toronto would be very interested in Army, but I really don't see why Army would be interested in Toronto.

[STL fan in MN]

They’d need to fire Shanahan and offer Army the job of President of Hockey Operations for him to even be interested IMO. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Shanny is fired this summer. Something’s got to give there. Probably lots of somethings actually.

But I also don’t see Army abandoning the plan here and leaving Steener high and dry. He’s from Sarnia so I’d guess likely grew up a Leafs fan so maybe he’d have a burning desire to try to be the one to finally take Toronto over the top…but he’d also have to see how it could possibly tarnish his legacy and not be worth the hassle.

If/when Shanny is fired, I’m sure Army’s name will come up just like it did when Dubas was fired as GM. If being honest, I may have a little trepidation he’d leave but in the end, I doubt he would.

[smegma]

They’d need to fire Shanahan and offer Army the job of President of Hockey Operations for him to even be interested IMO. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Shanny is fired this summer. Something’s got to give there. Probably lots of somethings actually.

But I also don’t see Army abandoning the plan here and leaving Steener high and dry. He’s from Sarnia so I’d guess likely grew up a Leafs fan so maybe he’d have a burning desire to try to be the one to finally take Toronto over the top…but he’d also have to see how it could possibly tarnish his legacy and not be worth the hassle.

If/when Shanny is fired, I’m sure Army’s name will come up just like it did when Dubas was fired as GM. If being honest, I may have a little trepidation he’d leave but in the end, I doubt he would.

Has he really been bad(Shanahan)? Since taking the position in 2014 the team has been more competitive. Really he has improved the team every year since 2014, other than the last few years. If I'm a fan of the team I think I want to keep him on.

[britishblue]

Army is one of the best, if not the best, GMs in the league.

The Leafs would obviously be interested.

Would purely be down to Army.

On the one hand being the GM to bring a cup to the Leafs in the modern era would be one heck of a legacy, and a pretty big challenge on a professional level.

On the other hand, he's getting to the end of his career, does he really want everything that comes with that job for the next 5+ years?

Also I genuinely think he loves being part of the Blues and from various interviews he's enjoying mentoring Steen. He also has the Canada job.

[dhsux]

They’d need to fire Shanahan and offer Army the job of President of Hockey Operations for him to even be interested IMO. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Shanny is fired this summer. Something’s got to give there. Probably lots of somethings actually.

But I also don’t see Army abandoning the plan here and leaving Steener high and dry. He’s from Sarnia so I’d guess likely grew up a Leafs fan so maybe he’d have a burning desire to try to be the one to finally take Toronto over the top…but he’d also have to see how it could possibly tarnish his legacy and not be worth the hassle.

If/when Shanny is fired, I’m sure Army’s name will come up just like it did when Dubas was fired as GM. If being honest, I may have a little trepidation he’d leave but in the end, I doubt he would.

If they are going to dump Shanahan they should do it very soon.

If he doesn't get fired he must have something on some body.

[bluetunehead]

They’d need to fire Shanahan and offer Army the job of President of Hockey Operations for him to even be interested IMO. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Shanny is fired this summer. Something’s got to give there. Probably lots of somethings actually.

But I also don’t see Army abandoning the plan here and leaving Steener high and dry. He’s from Sarnia so I’d guess likely grew up a Leafs fan so maybe he’d have a burning desire to try to be the one to finally take Toronto over the top…but he’d also have to see how it could possibly tarnish his legacy and not be worth the hassle.

If/when Shanny is fired, I’m sure Army’s name will come up just like it did when Dubas was fired as GM. If being honest, I may have a little trepidation he’d leave but in the end, I doubt he would.

Has he really been bad(Shanahan)? Since taking the position in 2014 the team has been more competitive. Really he has improved the team every year since 2014, other than the last few years. If I'm a fan of the team I think I want to keep him on.

If the expectation is to have accomplished anything of note in the postseason then yes, Shanahan has been bad. He has overseen a great *regular season* era for the Leafs, but we all know that’s not good enough in Toronto.

I’d more specifically argue that he let Dubas make a number of very poorly thought out moves during his tenure that kept the team from getting over the top. Never finding a #1 goalie was a major failure, as is keeping all of the big forwards around at the expense of the rest of the lineup.

When a 1C stud like Tavares chooses to sign with you as a free agent, you’re effectively working with house money. At that point one of the younger big 3 should have been moved to fill the glaring void on defense next to Morgan Reilly. Instead, with Shanny’s blessing, they ran out a patchwork backend for years, relying on those forwards to make it all work. It failed year after year after year.

Now 2 of the Core 4 are set to potentially leave in free agency for nothing. Certainly plausible that Tavares returns, but it seems very likely Marner is gone. Huge, huge asset management failure.

[TheJackBurton]

They’d need to fire Shanahan and offer Army the job of President of Hockey Operations for him to even be interested IMO. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Shanny is fired this summer. Something’s got to give there. Probably lots of somethings actually.

But I also don’t see Army abandoning the plan here and leaving Steener high and dry. He’s from Sarnia so I’d guess likely grew up a Leafs fan so maybe he’d have a burning desire to try to be the one to finally take Toronto over the top…but he’d also have to see how it could possibly tarnish his legacy and not be worth the hassle.

If/when Shanny is fired, I’m sure Army’s name will come up just like it did when Dubas was fired as GM. If being honest, I may have a little trepidation he’d leave but in the end, I doubt he would.

Has he really been bad(Shanahan)? Since taking the position in 2014 the team has been more competitive. Really he has improved the team every year since 2014, other than the last few years. If I'm a fan of the team I think I want to keep him on.

If the expectation is to have accomplished anything of note in the postseason then yes, Shanahan has been bad. He has overseen a great *regular season* era for the Leafs, but we all know that’s not good enough in Toronto.

I’d more specifically argue that he let Dubas make a number of very poorly thought out moves during his tenure that kept the team from getting over the top. Never finding a #1 goalie was a major failure, as is keeping all of the big forwards around at the expense of the rest of the lineup.

When a 1C stud like Tavares chooses to sign with you as a free agent, you’re effectively working with house money. At that point one of the younger big 3 should have been moved to fill the glaring void on defense next to Morgan Reilly. Instead, with Shanny’s blessing, they ran out a patchwork backend for years, relying on those forwards to make it all work. It failed year after year after year.

Now 2 of the Core 4 are set to potentially leave in free agency for nothing. Certainly plausible that Tavares returns, but it seems very likely Marner is gone. Huge, huge asset management failure.

This is Tavares today:

Pierre LeBrun
@PierreVLeBrun
·
3h
John Tavares says he spoke with Leafs GM Brad Treliving today and he’s optimistic that maybe he will be back perhaps. But obviously none of that is for sure at this point.

When you put that many maybes into a sentence, you aren't staying unless they completely blow you away.