Tim Leiweke made the rounds on Toronto sports radio on Wednesday, mostly to discuss the playoff series between the Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors, as well as the banning LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life in the wake of racial comments, but the MLSE Chairman offered his feelings about the Maple Leafs, the new management structure of Team President Brendan Shanahan and GM Dave Nonis, but did not let the cat out of the bag regarding the status of head coach Randy Carlyle.
“Brendan(Shanahan) is going to make changes here, he is going to change our culture.… Leiweke said of his new Team President on TSN 1050 Radio. “We won’t make changes for the sake of making changes.…
Leiweke indicated that Shanahan has been working in concert with Nonis over the last two weeks getting up to speed with the internal machinations of the Maple Leafs.
“They have a like mind on where they’re headed here and I think in the near future, you’re going to begin to see some of the results of the amount of time and energy they’ve put in to analyzing what’s wrong with this organization and more importantly what could be right with this organization.… Leiweke said.
The MLSE Chairman came to the defense of Nonis by taking some of the blame for miscalculating that the club was on the right path after making the playoffs in 2013.
“A lot of people I think have been unfair to Dave Nonis, this is as much my mistake.… Leiweke said. “I left this team alone and I shouldn’t have. It’s not for lack of desire, energy, passion or by the way some knowledge about what we need to do to win a Cup here, but I thought this team was OK, it’s not.…
The status of Carlyle has not been determined at this point and Leiweke made it clear that the management team he has assembled will make decision, but also made it clear that the collapse of the club did not sit well with him.
“In the near future and that is a decision that Brendan and Dave Nonis will make and I know they are spending every day and a portion of their day working on that.… Leiweke said. “I’m ticked off about the Leafs. For those who think we’re not paying attention to them and those who think I’m happy because we now get to hide behind the Raptors, you do not know the intensity of the conversations going on in our shop. We’re going to fix the Leafs and we will never go through 12 out of 14 again.…
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