Dreger: Do Leafs have stomach to make "fairly significant changes" to core?
/Darren Dreger was on Toronto’s TSN 1050 on Tuesday morning.
As part of a MUCH larger discussion shortly after the firing of Randy Carlyle:
“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.
“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. 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. 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.”
Source: TSN 1050/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey
Related: Dreger: "Franson is no dummy" in contract talks with Leafs
