The Toronto Maple Leafs do have a general manager, I am almost sure of it.
You’ve seen him, right? Middle-age guy, looks a bit like Al Bundy?
As much as I can be sure of anything, the Leafs hired him back in the summer, where he immediately made several much-criticized and ultimately failed moves before apparently retreating into a lair, or “den,” of sorts, where, legend had it, he will stay until he sees his shadow.
I’m pretty sure he popped out a few times to sign Auston Matthews and William Nylander, to what can only be called “Ben Savage Money,” but I haven’t seen him otherwise.
Where Is Big T?
On my way to work this morning, I was stopped by a familiar looking policeman on a motorcycle, who removed his reflective shades and his white helmet to ask if I had “seen this boy?” before showing me a picture of purported Maple Leafs General Manager Brad Treliving.
Like you, I had not seen him.
Do the Leafs have a dilapidated, slow, blue-line that is both somehow bad at moving the puck and not very physical? Indisputably, but the Leafs didn’t exactly swing into action to get any help.
Lack of left-wing production? Unworkable combination of players in the bottom-six? No NHL goalie on the roster? Nothing.
Coaching change? Some kind of reassurance that the GM believes in the team and is going to make sure they make the playoffs?
As Tony Danza would say: Forget about it!
Is that Brad over there in the striped shirt, and red hat? Hiding behind that tree?
You never know. But what I do know is that the Toronto Maple Leafs will play the Jets tonight in the first game of a back-to-back, with Ilya Samsonov in net, and Marc Giordano thankfully up in the pressbox getting paid to watch something I’d spend tens of dollars to see, namely the Leafs getting rocked by a team that understands the need to dress NHL players at every position.
Bizarrely, the Leafs will be playing Ryan Reaves tonight, after he complained publicly that he was healthy and not playing. The three years they gave him is absolutely hilarious. No Bertuzzi though, which is hardly a good trade off. The Leafs should get crushed here, but the great thing about this team is that if Matthews and Marner feel like it, all they need is half a Samsonov and they can win 6-5. Or lose 6-5 in ovetime, as the case may be.