The Toronto Maple Leafs GM Search

I have stumbled upon some pretty insider-y information when it comes to the Maple Leafs new GM search. With that being said,  I think it's time to step out of retirement. The Francis Report is no longer a dormant blog. We're back baby, and we're worse than ever before.

I little birdy sent me some inside information. It just happened to come from inside the Leafs organization. I need you to do me a favour though. You can't tell anyone what I am about to tell you.

Promise?

Well, a bit of a back drop here. The Leafs fired their GM, Kyle Dubas last week after the Leafs failed to make it out of the 1st round again second round. You may say "Well actually he wasn't fir" Shut up. They were bringing him back and then they didn't  because of something he did. They didn't lay him off, they didn't go their separate way mutually, plain and simple he was fired. 

Anyways, now to the juicy stuff. After one of the Jonas brother wrote an article about people crying and life as we know it is over at The Leafs offices, which may or may not be located at the Ford Performance Center, I decided to reach out to one of my contacts there to see how the search was going for a new GM.

I got a text back from my source. This shocked me as much as it did you. They sent me the top four candidates for the Leafs GM job.

Here they are in no particular order. 

Milhouse Van Houten

I'm not sure about this guy. Kinda looks like the last guy, just as nerdy too. Maybe the next guy will do a good job.

A Potato

I like this guy. He is very versatile. I feel like you could use this guy in nearly any situation. Doesn't talk much, that's an asset.  We already know he was a better GM than a couple of them out there.

If we are talking about someone coming out of retirement, then this brings us to our next candidate on the list.

Maggie the Macaque

Now, she is officially retired, she could come out of retirement and do a victory lap. She has good energy, a positive attitude, and won't take no shit from anyone, she might even throw some her self.

Tops on my list so far.

Speaking of taking no shit. The last candidate that was on the list is no slouch either. 

Sam Jackson

This BAMF right here might just be the best person on the list. Like Maggie, Sam Jackson won't take anyone's shit. He wont be pushed around by any snake GM's in the NHL. He is a great leader, assembling a world saving team in The Avengers. A++ candidate.

Now that The Francis Report is back, keep a watch for new content. But please, keep this article to your self, the information in this is super duper confidential. I can't let my source get caught.

You're Outta Here!

It was announced during the 2010-2011 playoffs, that starting during the Stanley Cup Finals last season, that Brendan Shanahan would take over as the  National Hockey League's Vice President of Hockey and Business Development and Head Disciplinarian.  Everyone hoped that Shanny would bring constancy and transparency to the disciplining of the NHL players.  Boy, has he made a difference already.


In one week of preseason action, there were seven suspensions.  Most of these suspensions were from either hits to the head, or boarding.   Shanahan has made a video of him introducing himself (see video below), and showing a clip of the incident.  He then goes on the show you exactly in the video where the hit occurs, and what parts of the hit are key.  He then goes on to explain why that hit was an illegal hit and reads right from the section of the rules where it bans such incidents.




If Shanahan continues to do this down the road, I think it will take away a lot of the "heat" that comes with this job.  By showing in his videos, WHAT he is suspending this player for, and telling us about what incidents such player has done in the past, he is completely justifying his suspension and hiding behind nothing.

Not that I am looking or hoping for something like the Chara hit to happen again in the future, but it will be interesting to see what his ruling would have been on such a controversial hit.

I like Shanahan in this position.  He is someone who was such a great player during his time in the NHL.  He is the typical power forward, netting tons of points, while piling up a lot of penalty minutes, but not being known as a dirty player in the least.

Keep up the good work Shanny!