Don Cherry believes former Leafs executive should've been named general manager
Don Cherry has always been outspoken about the Toronto Maple Leafs and has never been shy about the moves he wants to see them make. He was never a fan of Kyle Dubas and both Cherry and his som believe that Mark Hunter should've been his replacement instead of Brad Treliving.
Hunter was the head coach of the Sarnia Sting in the mid-to-late 1990s before becoming Franchise Owner, General Manager, and VP of Hockey Operations of the London Knights in 2000-01. He held all 3 positions until 2014-15 when he became Director of Player Personnel for the Maple Leafs. He worked for the Leafs from 2014-15 to 2017-18, all the while remaining owner and VP of Hockey Operations in London.
Once Dubas and company took over, Hunter walked away from the organization but returned to his posts in London again. He's back to all 3 positions and has been relatively successful with multiple championships.
Dale Hunter has been in the same boat as Mark as he has been Franchise Owner, President, and Head Coach since 2000-01.
Safe to say that the Grapevine podcast members are not fans of Dubas' and, to this day, don't understand how he got the job in Pittsburgh, let alone Toronto.
"He wanted to kind of take Shanahan out of the decision making process... he wanted to have more autonomy to make the decisions. So he goes to Pittsburgh and he's not GM, he's the head of hockey operations."
"He just keeps going up, like he's failing and yet he climbs up to the top... I just don't get it, how does a guy like that keep getting higher and higher into the chain of command?"
Going back to his OHL days, they were stumped that he was able to jump into such a position of power for one of the biggest markets in hockey:
"He took over the Sault St. Marie in 2011-12 and that's kinda tough because they didn't have a good team but he was out of the playoffs, then the next year he was out of the first round, and then the next year he was out in the second round, and then he made assistant GM with the Leafs... GM of the Leafs out in the first round, out in the first round, out in the first round, out in the first round, out in the second, and now he's the head of hockey operations, what did he do to get to that point..."
Once the Dubas questions were out of the way, they diverted their attention to who should've been named the GM for the Leafs:
"The Leafs should get Mark Hunter and Dale as coach. Give it a shot, Mark Hunter, London Knights, they never rebuild, they only re-load, they lost in the finals this year... when Dubas was in the Soo, Mark Hunter won the OHL Championship but lost the Memorial Cup Finals, then the next year won the OHL Championship... 2013-14 they hosted the Memorial Cup, 2016 they won the Memorial Cup, and 2020 he wins the World Juniors. They've been in the Memorial Cup 5 times since Mark and Dale took over."
Don Cherry ended it by saying:
"You have to have the right owner and say the right thing at the right time."
He mentioned how sometimes you have to "act stupid" with these meetings and interviews because he believes they don't want to hire people who think they know everything.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 5 | 1624 ANSWERS Don Cherry believes former Leafs executive should've been named general manager Do you agree with the Cherry family's opinion that Mark Hunter should be GM in Toronto? | ||
| Yes | 1210 | 74.5 % |
| No | 414 | 25.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
