While the Colorado Avalanche quietly dismantled Nazem Kadri’s former team 9-2, the ground shook around the NHL.
It wasn’t an avalanche bearing down on the ground below. It was akin to a 9.0 quake on the Richter scale.
The Toronto Maple Leafs fired GM Brad Treliving on Monday night, just before the team got set to face the Anaheim Ducks in California.
The news has sent shockwaves around the league. One of the most high-profile jobs is now available, and, well, the speculation about who could take over will be relentless. On the surface, this situation should not impact the Avalanche directly. The Maple Leafs are not even in the same conference as the Avalanche.
But the indirect effects of this situation could be noticeable. For one thing, the media attention will shift significantly toward the Leafs’ GM search. Much of the attention will be dominated by an off-ice issue afflicting a non-playoff team.
So, in a way, the situation will steal some of the Avalanche’s thunder.
That’s all right. The Avs aren’t really in a situation where they particularly care about media attention. But the fact is that fans will hear more and more about this situation.
On the whole, the Leafs are set to miss the playoffs for the first time in about a decade. That’s a huge deal in Toronto. Plus, the club’s lack of direction and seeming aimlessness led to this decision.
Poor roster decisions and questionable trade dug Treliving into a hole he couldn’t climb out of. So, it will be interesting to see what ramifications this situation could have on the rest of the league.
One of the candidates to take over in Toronto is St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong. That seems a little far-fetched, but the chatter is picking up significantly around that possibility. If the move happens, one of the Avalanche’s Central Division competitors could get caught up in the entire situation.
As a word of caution, I would say that the Maple Leafs have a powerful double-whammy position available. The organization has its GM and President of Hockey Operations roles open. Could that siren’s call be too much to resist for someone like Joe Sakic?
That’s just mere speculation. But you have to think that the Maple Leafs would be so desperate that they wouldn’t care about plucking away the best candidates from anywhere they could.
It remains to be seen what will happen in Toronto. The Avalanche are a safe distance away from the splash zone. But Avs fans should keep an eye on what might happen north of the border. The implications could trickle down to Colorado after all.