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Re: The NHL 2007-08 Season Thread
By The Canadian Press
TORONTO - The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired GM John Ferguson and replaced him on an interim basis with Cliff Fletcher.
"After full consideration of the Leafs' situation, it has become clear that change and a new direction is needed," Richard Peddie, president and CEO of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, said in a statement. "The decision has been made that John will not be receiving a new contract at the end of this year, and it's in the best interests of the Leafs and of John to begin the transition immediately."
Ferguson was informed of the news by Peddie on Tuesday morning. A news conference was set for 1 p.m. ET at the Air Canada Centre.
When reached by e-mail Tuesday, Ferguson declined to comment.
"John has been given the opportunity and the resources he requested to deliver results from the strategic plans that he put in place when he was named general manager in 2003, and while the new collective bargaining agreement required some re-shaping of those plans, the results have fallen short of what our organization, including John, and our fans expect," added Peddie.
"We will always be grateful to John for his passion, dedication and commitment to putting a winning team on the ice. He's a man of the highest integrity, who withstood often unfair public criticism with dignity and class. He represented our organization and our community in a first class manner. We wish him well in what we expect will be a long and productive hockey career."
The MLSE board of directors met on Monday and decided to make the change.
Fletcher first served as GM of the Maple Leafs from 1991 to 1997, twice leading the team to the Western Conference finals. The 72-year-old is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
"Cliff Fletcher is the ideal person to lay the groundwork of positive change for the Leafs," said Peddie. "As all of our general managers have had, he will have the autonomy and responsibility for all hockey decisions with a focus on establishing a foundation from which the next general manager can build. He will guide us through the upcoming trade deadline and toward the draft and free agent signing period."
Leafs head coach Paul Maurice left the ice during practice Tuesday morning and was seen huddling with Peddie before returning to practice.
Speculation about Ferguson's future with the club has been swirling recently as the club has struggled in January.
The Leafs missed the playoffs the past two years and are in 14th place in the NHL's Eastern Conference standings with a 19-22-5-3 record. But they have won three of their last four games.
Re: The NHL 2007-08 Season Thread
About fucking time...this part made me laugh 
"We will always be grateful to John for his passion, dedication and commitment to putting a winning team on the ice.
03/04 - 45W 24L 10T 3OTL
05/06 - 41W 33L 8OTL
06/07 - 40W 31L 11OTL
07/08 - 19W 22L 8OTL
his commitment wasnt too good...their record has been getting worse by the year 
Re: The NHL 2007-08 Season Thread
About time they got rid of him though... I was sick and tired of reading about it. Although, it's always a happy day in Habland when the Leafs are falling apart. 
Update on the all-star players; Malkin is taking Crosby's place, while Tim Thomas is filling in for Brodeur. In the West, Stastny, Zetterberg, and Zubov are out, while Mike Ribeiro, Scott Niedermayer, and Corey Perry are in. I'm not sure about the philosophy on this, as both the Devils and Avalanche will have no representation in the game. And Scott Niedermayer should not be there. He's only played a handful of games this season.
As for my Habs, they just laid a beating on the Bruins. Sweet!
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: The NHL 2007-08 Season Thread
Stuuuuuuuuu Barnes!! That fucker is looking old. I really do like that guy, used to love him when he was in Buffalo. Anyway, Sabres may just win 2 or 3 more times this year from the looks of things. Pretty well played road game, but fire Peters. He sucks.
Re: The NHL 2007-08 Season Thread
One of the best All-Star weekends in recent memory. My highlight was seeing Chris Pronger trip over his own feet while Scott Oake was doing an interview with Ryan Getzlaf at the skills competition. The Ovechkin attempts in the "slam dunk" contest were crazy and it would've been great if he scored. The game itself was pretty good once it got into the 3rd period. Nabokov had a couple of great saves against Kovalchuk in the 2nd too. Would've been great if they went into overtime and a shootout though.
Re: The NHL 2007-08 Season Thread
With Crosby, Alfredsson, Heatley, and Kovalchuk all out, Ovechkin is going to run away with the scoring and goals race. He scored 4 tonight and added an assist. He's at 43 goals now. He could possibly pot 70+ this year. That's crazy!
Kudos to the Habs for actually playing a third period and not giving up after being down. Good to see them at least get a point out of it.
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: The NHL 2007-08 Season Thread
Holy shit that's scary what happened to Zednik. I hope he's alright. Apparently he's stable and being transported to a hospital but man, he could've died.
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: The NHL 2007-08 Season Thread
Communist China wrote:Holy shit that's scary what happened to Zednik. I hope he's alright. Apparently he's stable and being transported to a hospital but man, he could've died.
what happened?
His throat got cut somehow (they didn't show any replays because it was so gruesome, and it was sort of off camera). It was either a stick or a skate, unintentional, but it happened. There was a trail of blood going to the bench, where trainers had to carry him to the locker room. It looked like he was going to collapse and not get back up once he hit the bench. Blood everywhere on the ice. More than I've ever seen in my life.
