Top of the morning to you all. I am off to—– you guessed it, my knee surgeon today- yes again to see what the !@#@!#!@ is wrong with the knee he operated on. Details at 11.

Anyways, it’s been a fun couple of hours here watching things unfold online and on twitter with lots of conflicting reports…..

So last night Darren Dreger posted on the TSN website and on his Twitter account that Dave Nonis is on the verge of signing a contract extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs that would tie him to the club until the end of the 2011-2012 season.

Several other outlets picked up the story and ran with it in the morning editions.

David Shoalts was the lone exception:

“David Nonis withdrew himself from consideration for the job of general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning and committed himself to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the next two seasons.

However, Leafs president and GM Brian Burke said in an e-mail message, Nonis is not about to sign a contract extension. But the Leafs’ senior vice-president of hockey operations has removed the escape clause from his contract for this summer and the summer of 2011.”

Semantics aside there is a difference between waiving a clause and an extension. In fact, if Shoalts’ story is true one would have to ask why would Nonis do this? Contracts 101- you don’t usually give something up of value without getting something of value back (usually called “consideration”). So why would Nonis agree to waive his “trump card” without getting something in value back? That something back could be a raise, or an extension or, hell anything beneficial to Nonis. As much as he may like it here, and as much as he may like Burke he is smart enough to know how quickly things can change. I can’t imagine Nonis waives his right to take another job for nothing.

Now it gets interesting.

Greg Brady posted the following on his Twitter account:

“Bad info in G&M on TBL GM search. Nonis WILL sign extension, Yzerman/Vinik not even CLOSE to deal, Feaster NOT candidate. Perfect otherwise.”

Brady has added on his Twitter account more on the “extension”

“Dave Nonis extension is likely to be through the 2013-14 season. He will get a raise on his $750K salary as assistant GM.”

But wait, there’s more….

From Shoalts:

“The move may mean that Lightning owner Jeff Vinik has worked out an agreement with Steve Yzerman to become the team’s GM.”

Word on the street is that Yzerman may in fact be interested in listening to Tampa Bay, he certainly hasn’t been interviewed as of yet.

Shoalts then writes:

“But there is talk going around the NHL that former Lightning GM Jay Feaster, who left after Oren Koules and Len Barrie bought the team in 2008, is in the running.”

To which Dreger replied on his Twitter account with:

“Some believe Feaster is a candidate in TBay. He should be, but he isn’t. I spoke to Jay yesterday.”

So, who are you going with??? Dreger says extension. Brady says extension. Shoalts says no extension. Keep in mind, Bill Houston tells us that Dreger is related to Nonis (that’s a joke and not a shot)

No real shocker here, as JFJ has been told he will not be interviewed for the vacant GM post with the Minnesota Wild.

“The short list includes Pittsburgh Penguins assistant GM Chuck Fletcher, TSN and NBC color analyst Pierre McGuire, longtime NHL GM and coach Pat Quinn, Nashville Predators assistant GM Paul Fenton and Wild acting GM Tom Lynn.”

That from one of my favorite hockey writers, Michael Russo. Fenton surprises me because when Craig Leopold bought the Wild, as part of his deal he was apparently prevented from hiring any Predator employee. Unless the Pred’s have given him permission to do so, then all bets are off. Chuck Fletcher was with Florida under all sorts of different regimes and is a great guy with respectful pedigree. Quinn, surprises me only in that I thought he really would want to only coach. I can’t speak to Lynn’s credentials at all. McGuire is the most intriguing name on the list. If you want to build a team from the draft up, I can’t think of anyone alive who knows more about junior aged players and up coming drafts then Pierre. How that translates into the ability to run a franchise is anyone’s guess. This will certainly be an interesting hire unfold.

Poor JFJ, still stuck as a scout. Question is can he confirm or deny that to be the case?

TSM

Russo is here

Compare if you will:

“August 5, 2008, 3:16 PM ET
According to a source Matthew Barnaby may be announced soon as the replacement for Barry Melrose at ESPN, and Pierre Lebrun will be joining ESPN.com as a hockey writer as well.

A source has gotten back to me to inform me that the Leafs GM job may be “filled by someone currently outside the organization” by next Friday, the 15th of August.”

Vs.

August 10, 2008, 4:44 PM ET
“Cliff Fletcher….a source told me today that it looks less and less likely that Fletcher isn’t the GM of the Leafs for a “a few more seasons.”

That to me is staggering and while I hate to trigger panic in Toronto, coming from this source….this was disturbing to me. And I am NOT a Leafs fan.”

There is an old strategy in the litigation that I am pretty sure Ek subscribes to. It says that if you throw enough charges at the wall, one of them will be sure to stick. With Ek, if he throws enough names, teams, rumors out there, from time to time he will get one right. I have been tracking Ek for some time and am scoring him for a later report. While at first (and for awhile) this will prove successful for EK, over time the fable of the little boy who cried wolf will come to fruition and people will stop listening.

So while it is entirely possible that over a 5 day span the guy did hear 2 totally different views on the Leafs GM, it just doesn’t seem likely. More so, once again there is no story here. The Leafs have said Cliff is here for the foreseeable future; until such a time as the right candidate is hired. Lets suppose, and you need to give me some leeway here, but, lets suppose the Leafs have a successful campaign. The leeway is needed in that I am not quite sure what will qualify as a successful season but will soon have to come up with some goals etc. Anyway, assuming we all can kind of agree on some criteria for the 08-09 Buds to achieve in order to call the campaign a success.(YES I know anything short of a stanley cup shouldn’t be considered a success….but, i digress). Lets say for example, the young players play well. The Leafs fail to make the playoffs but play hard, they compete and they don’t get blown out ugly at home all year.

If that is a success, would it be the worst thing in the world if Cliff did stay on? I am not arguing for it, nor am I preaching for it. All I am saying is that the logic in Ek’s article is flawed. I don’t think leaf fans are clamoring for Cliff to be gone. We are desperate for a foundation to be laid upon which a successful franchise will ensue for years to come. IF, and I repeat IF Cliff starts that, then who cares? Assume for one tiny second that one of these 2 stories written less then 5 days apart is valid , I won’t be panicking, will you? Does he not remember what we just went through with JFJ? Remember one thing Leaf fans. MLSE has lots of cash. Boatloads of it to be exact. So if they have to pay off an executive from time to time, so be it. This won’t effect the team one bit. If they announced a long term deal for Cliff tomorrow (and I am not suggesting they will), I argue that it is nothing more then optics, and has no bearing on their ability or inability to land another candidate down the road. Why? To get rid of Fletcher, or anyone else for that matter it will only cost them cash.

What I don’t understand is why this is even newsworthy right now. It appears to me that EK, like lots of folks, is finding this summer increasingly difficult to find topics to write about. Truth be told, Toronto is one of the few markets where you say hockey or Maple Leaf and you are sure to gather a crowd to listen, watch or read. The Fletcher/Leaf GM story has 0 appeal in any other hockey market. The diehard fan in Florida could careless about it. The crazed Minnesota Wild fan who visits Ekbuzz on a daily basis could care less too. So you know he is catering to his largest market, Toronto.

The best part of this story is that the big announcement that we were all panicked about, the one that was set to come before this coming Friday, is obviously no longer an issue. Phewwwww, there’s one less thing to worry about.

When the reigns changed in Tampa Bay, and Jay Feaster took an immediate back seat to the current regime you knew it would only be a matter of time before Feaster would be on the open market. Sure enough, Feaster and the Lightning mutually agreed to part ways the other day. This was not really news.

Of course, any time a GM becomes available both Leaf fans and Leaf media try to picture the world with that GM leading the way for the blue and white. This was the case again when Feaster became a free agent.

The guy does after all have the credentials that Richard Peddie listed as essential for the next leafs GM, he has experience (been the GM since 2002) and he has won a cup. He was named the NHL executive of the year by The Sporting News in a vote of his peers following the 2003-04 Stanley Cup championship season.

However a little nugget appeared in yesterday’s Boston Globe that made me want to immediately cross his name off the list:

“Since 1999, the first draft with Feaster as a member of the front office, the Lightning’s picks have combined for only 1,544 NHL games, fewest of any Eastern Conference team. Defenseman Paul Ranger, the 183d pick from 2002, leads all Lightning selections with 220 NHL games. In 2003, when future NHLers were falling into executives’ laps, a ninth-round pick, forward Nick Tarnasky, turned out to be the club’s best selection (169 NHL games).”

That is hard to believe. When one thinks of the Tampa Bay Lightning, one thinks, young talent. They aren’t filled with over the hill guys ala our beloved buds used to be. This was a model franchise (prior to this past season) To have that poor a track record while at the helm is stunning. I wouldn’t have guessed that.

The one thing the Buds need more then the credentials listed by Peddie is someone with experience building a hockey department. When you look at Detroit or New Jersey, they have so much experience on their staff. The players, coaches etc rave about their entire hockey department. I want someone who has built an successful hockey department to lead the blue and white. So even if you can’t blame the drafting squarely on the GM, you can blame it on his staff, and he is ultimately responsible for their performance or lack there of.

Sorry Jay, to the extent you were ever on the list…you have been voted off the island.