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Her Jay
Location: Ontario for now....
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Ferguson simply a lame duck, JFJ has no power to fire Maurice (who should be fired by the way, the players are done playing for him and he has no system for the team, he's done like dinner.
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Hockey/article/293401
Quote:
SAN JOSE, Calif.-John Ferguson still has a job. But he has no real power left.
That was made abundantly clear yesterday when Maple Leafs president Richard Peddie – the same man who called the hiring of Ferguson a "mistake" earlier this season – said that the team's general manager does not have the authority to fire head coach Paul Maurice.
"No," Peddie said firmly before boarding a bus with the team outside a downtown Los Angeles hotel. "Major, major changes (Ferguson) would have to bring to the (MLSE) board."
Peddie also made it clear that permission to make a coaching change could not be acquired by Ferguson through an emergency conference call involving board members or some other form of electronic discussion. "It would be encompassed by a full review at the board," Peddie said.
So Ferguson can tinker with his floundering team, such as picking up winger Dominic Moore on waivers yesterday and summoning blue-chip goaltending prospect Justin Pogge from the minors.
But, just as he was hired four years ago and told Pat Quinn was his coach, Ferguson can't choose his coach now.
The absurd part, of course, is that there is no hockey expertise above Ferguson, yet the board, essentially, has put itself in the position of deciding who coaches the team.
If this sounds somewhat Ballardian in nature, there is certainly an unhappy parallel to the years when Harold Ballard was in charge of the once-proud franchise.
Back in the summer of 1989, GM Gord Stellick wanted to replace head coach George Armstrong, convenient given that Armstrong didn't want to be the head coach.
But Ballard wouldn't give Stellick the authority to fire Armstrong, so Stellick quit. Now, there's a lot of people out there who might gain a new level of admiration for JFJ if he did the same thing.
"Our results lately speak for themselves," said Ferguson, whose team has lost 10 of 12 games and sits 28th overall in the NHL. "I'm accountable."
Well, not really. How can Ferguson be held "accountable" for this growing disaster when he has no authority to make key decisions, such as a coaching change?
Obviously, he also wouldn't have the authority to pull the trigger on a blockbuster deal for Mats Sundin before the trade deadline. It's unclear what kind of trade he can make on his own, although it's known he was furiously shopping winger Jason Blake around the league yesterday with no takers.
But we know he can't hire or fire the coach to try and turn around a losing team. That's problematic, since multiple sources suggest Maurice has already lost the dressing room. Two weeks ago, Ferguson stormed down from the press box to lambast the team during an embarrassing home-ice loss and, after a dreadful first period against the Kings on Thursday, it's believed Sundin berated his teammates for their shoddy efforts.
"I can't comment on things that go on inside our dressing room," Sundin said.
Still, it was strange that practice was cancelled yesterday morning without the knowledge of the captain. Moreover, the players surely noticed that after a terrible first period against the Kings on Thursday, no players were benched but instead No.1 goalie Vesa Toskala, just back from the injured list with groin problems, was thrust into the game cold with no warmup.
After the game, Toskala was so sore Pogge had to be recalled. So the starting goalie was put at risk in a game that was already lost. Players notice that stuff.
Clearly, if the board and Peddie won't give Ferguson the basic authority to run his team, they should bring in somebody now to evaluate the club, the coaching staff and all possible deals before the Feb.26 trading deadline.
"John's our GM and the trade deadline is still about five weeks away," Peddie said.
And so, a team run by a doomed manager and a doomed coach limps on through a bloody California road trip.
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Absence makes the heart grow fonder
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