The Maple Leafs have undergone a myriad of changes in recent months. General Manager Dave Nonis has managed to survive all of them.
The organization's got a new boss in President Brendan Shanahan; former Nonis aides Claude Loiselle and Dave Poulin have departed.
Coach Randy Carlyle has a fresh set of assistants behind the bench with him and the Leafs have implemented a brand-spanking-new analytics department that will use advanced stats to aid in player evaluation and scouting.
The newest NHL season is only a few days away and Nonis sounds like a man who - after watching his team compete in training camp and the preseason - knows that fixing the recently downtrodden franchise is not going to happen overnight.
"Expectations were raised. In some cases they were met, in some cases they weren't. It's been a good camp, competitive. Clearly, we have some prospects that are close. Whether they stick remains to be seen, but they've done a good job. I think we've accomplished not all, but a lot of what we wanted to do in training camp."
The back half of the roster and a significant portion of the blueline have changed since last season.
The additions of defensemen Stephane Robidas and Roman Polak should not only help via their skill and experience, but also by allowing captain Dion Phaneuf - who struggled at the end of last season - to play fewer, but hopefully more effective, minutes.
Defenseman Jake Gardiner and center Nazem Kadri were the subject of trade talks, but remained, with budding star Kadri possibly in line to see time with James van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel on the top unit, and Gardiner the subject of conversations as a top-pair defenseman.
There is talk that Nonis is a "lame duck" general manager, meaning that he is here unless and until the season falls apart at which point he'll be placed with all the blame and shoved swiftly out the door.
"I could care less about stereotypes. In this business, you come to work every day to do the best job you can to improve your team. We've done that. We're getting better. We're doing what we need to do make this team successful long-term."
When asked what the biggest difference needs to be between this squad and last seasons, Nonis didn't hesitate.
"We have to be in-your-face. We have to be tougher in the neutral zone. I think, as a group, we have to be harder to play against. We had that two years ago. We lost our way last year."
In the long run though, for the team and the organization to achieve and maintain success, Nonis sees his relationship with Shanahan, and their ability to stock the Toronto system with good young prospects, as the most important factors.
"We've done a better job of putting quality people on the reserve list. But we're not there yet. We're not deep enough. We need to add more players, better players. We still need to improve in every aspect of the organization if we want to be a contending team. We're on the exact same page of how this team needs to be built."
