That's been the pattern, right? They were too slow to move off the last coach, the star winger who wasn't going to re-sign, the GM who couldn't build a defense, the president who let them down this path. They're always a season too slow.
This is where we come back to the fact that the Maple Leafs are a corporation, not a sports team. They don't act like the other franchises that are owned by a single entity. The more I think about it, I think we the fans are the problem, I really do. We allow them to continue to operate like this. Nobody in Leaf management is sending out a text about shutting down rumors about their players. They'll just let the rumors swirl, because commenting one way or the other could sway how fans see the team. Best just to stay non-committal and go full corporate.
I don't think anyone is actively saying that they want to have a bad team. I think everyone has good intentions of trying to do a good job. Just like in a large corporation. However, when push comes to shove, protecting share value is always the most important thing, so if you have to lay off a bunch of people you do that, and justify it by saying that you had no choice. You don't try and find a creative way out of the solution, because why would you? The easy path is right there.
That mentality of the easy path flows downward in the Leaf organization from upper management. We can be angry at them all we want, but as long as they are getting their money, it isn't going to change things. The only way to get them to take notice is if the fan base collectively says "Yah, I'm not buying what your selling anymore. Improve the product".
And we have seen it in Toronto. The Blue Jays have to try and be competitive, because if they aren't then the ticket sales suffer, or they can't charge as much for the tickets, so there is incentive for them to do something smart and put a competitive team on the market. They have learned that lesson multiple times over the years.
That incentive doesn't exist for the Maple Leafs. They can literally run the most incompetent organization around, because they have in the past, and they still make money hand over fist. That isn't the organizations fault. It's ours.
