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April 17, 2006
So fired
I have never agreed with Damien Cox more, nor do I ever expect to again, than when he wrote the following:
Let's be clear. Ferguson and Quinn didn't fix this team in the final three weeks of the season.
Injuries fixed it for them, essentially reversing their poor decisions.
…
Ferguson didn't believe it was sensible to buy out Ed Belfour last summer and create useful salary cap room, and Quinn blithely ignored the veteran goalie's obvious inability to carry the load of a No. 1 goalie until Belfour's season was ended by back problems.
These hockey men, understand, had younger, faster players at their disposal all season long, but instead preferred to go with an older, slower lineup featuring a broken-down goalie.
When there were personnel choices to be made, they made all the wrong ones.
Dead on. Mikael Tellqvist had his two worst games of the season against Montreal and didn't play again until tonight, which is fair enough — "stick with the hot hand" is a pretty unimpeachable strategy. If Pat Quinn had employed it throughout the season and played Tellqvist instead of Ed Belfour, the Leafs might well be getting ready for the first round of the playoffs right now. He has to go.
(Cross-posted to the Battle of Ontario.)
Posted by Chris Selley at April 17, 2006 12:31 AM
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Comments
I still have my doubts about the Belfour thing having been in Quinn's hands, or even Ferguson's. When upper management/ownership insists you keep a goalie on a massive salary, it's pretty hard to bench him mid-season. And if you don't think Tenenbaum et al interfere in personnel decisions, explain the presence of Tie Domi on this year's team.
Posted by: Adam Radwanski at April 17, 2006 02:33 PM
Yes, I agree that placing the blame squarely on Quinn is bit of a stretch. There is no doubt that those above the coach and GM at MLSE get way to involved in player related issues and decisions. The solution isn't to fire Quinn, the solution is to fire Peddie, et al. How many idiotic decisions is this guy allowed? Just look at the basketball team (i.e. the one that hasn't, until this year, been able to mask it's organizational ineptness with overpriced player contracts).
Sadly, I don't see it happening.
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