As if Dave Nonis did not have enough to do with the evaluation process of young prospects at the rookie tournament in London, ON and preparing for the start of training camp this Thursday, the Leafs GM was put in the uncomfortable position of having to refute statements made by his boss, MLSE Chairman Tim Leiweke.
Leiweke started a media firestorm last Friday with comments made to business students at Ryerson University.
“As much as you may think every decision we make is all charted out in a number and a computer, it requires an enormous amount of gut instinct, it requires an enormous amount of character.” Leiweke said. "There are players we have in our organization today whose numbers are off the charts good and whose character is just terrible. I don’t care how good your numbers are, if you have bad character you are doomed for failure. But I’ve seen guys with really bad numbers and great character and at the end of the day, they still make it in the NHL because their character is so good.”
Comments about the quality of the Air Canada Center and a belief that the NBA Raptors will be more popular than the Leafs within a decade were controversial, but the statement regarding the use of analytics and unspecified Leafs players having character issues may be a cross that Nonis and head coach Randy Carlyle will have to bear throughout the season, especially when the team struggles.
“We’re comfortable with the character of the group. Nonis told TSN’s Bob McKenzie over the weekend. “If we had questions about their character, they would have been gone in the summer.”
Leiweke’s comments are not only careless(and possibly said on purpose to facilitate an early exit from MLSE), they were destructive in their ambiguity, because by not specifying which players he is talking about, he places a shroud of doubt and dysfunction over a team looking for a fresh start after a significant managerial, coaching and player upheaval this summer.
If Toronto is slow out of the gate and core players like Phil Kessel, Dion Phaneuf, Jake Gardiner(all in the first year of long-term deals), Joffrey Lupul or Nazem Kadri underperform, their on-ice abilities will not be the only thing that will be questioned and the Leafs have Leiweke to thank for that.
*******
According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, the Leafs have invited former Flyers goalie Cal Heeter to training camp on a tryout basis.
The 25-year-old former Ohio State University netminder played 56 games with the Adirondack Phantoms of the AHL over the last two seasons and made one NHL start in the final game last season.
The addition of Heeter will give the Leafs six goaltenders in training camp; Jonathan Bernier, James Reimer, Garret Sparks, Christopher Gibson and Antoine Bibeau.
Heeter joins former NHL blueliners Henrik Tallinder and Brendan Mikkelson as tryout invites.
*******
Two standout players in Toronto’s 6-2 loss at the rookie tournament to the Ottawa Senators were forward Connor Brown and defenseman Viktor Loov.
The 2014 OHL scoring leader scored one of the Leafs two goals on a deflection of a Matt Finn point shot. The 20-year-old not only has goal-scoring capability, but was combined with winger Brett Findlay to create some of Toronto’s best offensive chances of the evening.
Loov was split up from defensive partner and countryman Tom Nilsson on Sunday and made his presence known with two center ice hits on Ottawa’s Darren Kramer and 2013 first rounder Curtis Lazar.
The 21-year-old is contractually obligated to MODO of the SHL and is likely headed back to Sweden unless he surprises at training camp and makes the Leafs.
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact” button at the top of the page.*******
For Those on Twitter:
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information
click here.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»