The Toronto Maple Leafs' stunning decision to part ways with coach Randy Carlyle will resonate throughout the NHL landscape for some time. General manager Dave Nonis was obviously part of the decision making process that ultimately ended with Carlyle's axing, but for Nonis and team President Brendan Shanahan, jettisoning their head coach may just be the tip of the franchise-reshaping iceberg.
Could player trades be the next domino to fall - and fall and fall and fall - for the beleaguered Leafs?
TSN Insider Darren Dreger, while appearing on Tuesday morning's episode of Toronto's TSN 1050, as transcribed by NicholsOnHockey.com, says that - beyond naming a new head coach - determining the future of the team's "core" will be the next major step for Toronto's brain trust.
"But what'll be most interesting to me is whether or not management, Nonis and Shanahan, still believe in their core. And by 'core,' you know who we're talking about. Obviously it starts, in some sense, with the captain Dion Phaneuf. And then swirls around that top line in Kessel, and Bozak, and James van Riemsdyk. Nazem Kadri's name is always included in that. What's going to become of Cody Franson."
Franson and Kadri's names have come up in potential trade talk before. Kadri is a player constantly tagged with the label of "potential" who has begun to reach the age - he's now 24 - and number of games played - 215 as of Saturday - where he may actually just be the, so far, underachieving player he already is.
Franson has gone through several ugly negotiations with the team, and while he's a right-shooting defenseman with legit size, isn't overly mobile and will be seeking a major raise from his current $3.3 million after this season.
It's hard to envision the team trading Phaneuf, their captain and emotional leader, or any of the members of their top unit, but these are the type of tough questions Shanahan and Nonis are facing in the wake of their surprising decision Tuesday morning.
"I mean, there's a lot of things that this management tandem is going to have to come to grips with. If they don't believe that you can win with that core, well what's the point in holding on to them? Find a deal that makes sense," Dreger said. "If you don't get enough, and you probably won't in-season, then certainly go into the offseason and onto the draft floor knowing that you've got to make some fairly significant changes to get this organization back on the right track."
The question for the Leafs and especially for Shanahan remains though - does he see the need to make the necessary and possibly monumental changes aimed toward finding a true and lasting fix for his flagging franchise, and further, do those potential changes in fact start with Nonis, the man charged with building the roster in the first place?
"But is there a stomach to do that? That's what we're going to find out, and then we'll find out whether or not Shanahan believes Dave Nonis is the right man to make that decision."
