Fantasy Take – Nonis, Horachek Gone In TO
Ian Gooding
2015-04-12
How will Leafs’ players be impacted by the expected coaching and management changes made on Sunday?
The Toronto Maple Leafs cleaned house on Sunday, dismissing GM Dave Nonis and interim coach Peter Horachek.
Other personnel were also let go, including assistant coaches Steve Spott, Chris Dennis, and Rick St. Croix; director of pro scouting Steve Kasper; and director of player development Jim Hughes.
Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter will take on GM duties on an interim basis while the club searches for a replacement.
These moves should come as absolutely no surprise, as team president Brendan Shanahan had reportedly suggested that changes would be imminent. Before making a move, Shanahan will probably wait for the dominos to fall on other coaches and GMs with a strong track record. Possible coaches that may not be back with their teams next season include Mike Babcock, Todd McLellan, and Claude Julien.
Let's start at general manager. Dubas, 28, might be too young to fill what might be the most pressure-filled job in hockey, but he should certainly be able to provide a lot of input to his team's new GM. This may help his team improve on his team's enhanced stats. The Leafs were 27th in both 5-on-5 shot attempts and 5-on-5 unblocked shot attempts this season, numbers that were a well-document reason for the Leafs’ failures. Until Dubas' hire last summer, fancy stats appeared to be largely ignored by the Leafs.
During the job interview, a new GM will likely be asked what his plan would be for trading Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf, among others. The sooner a new GM is hired, the sooner he can put his stamp on the team, and the sooner these players will be out of Dodge. By announcing these changes the day after the season, Shanahan has done his part so far in ensuring that the trades that need to get done will get done.
Horacek inherited a bad situation, but he didn't appear to do anything that improved the Leafs. His record during his stint was 9-28-5, far worse than Carlyle's 21-16-3 record this season. If the new GM can hire a coach with some credibility and a half-decent game plan, then that should make Jonathan Bernier's life a whole lot easier. The Leafs faced an average of 33.5 shots per game this season, a number that was higher than every other team except for Buffalo.
Fantasy players this helps because of a likely trade:
Fantasy players this helps because they are probably staying:
Fantasy players this hurts: No one. These moves needed to be made and were going to be made no matter what.
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