Quote:
Originally Posted by Finger Cookin
Fletcher was our only GM from an era where all player moves could be evaluated strictly from a hockey perspective. He didn't have to consider how much cap space he had, if he had to take on money to make a deal work, whether a draft pick would hold out to try and force a move to a more lucrative tax-friendly market, what the Canadian dollar was trading at versus the US dollar, and on and on and on. He could just evaluate hockey players with his staff and make deals with the sole focus of making the hockey team better. And he was good at it.
It's telling that he left town right around when all of these other factors started influencing the league and the Calgary market. And that he ended up where he didn't have to consider any of the extraneous factors again, as he could spend the Leaf's Monopoly money freely.
This isn't to undersell his ability, because he was great at his job. But he's also our only GM from an era where the job was relatively easy compared to what it is now.
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Maybe, but this makes me value him even more. If what you say is true, then he saw what was coming. Maybe he knew the Flames were too cheap to adapt (I recall that being the knock against them back then).
I think our HHoF players were looking for contracts in the low $1 million range - certainly Flames could have accepted that and kept the window open another 4-5 years, no?
Cliff also turned the Leafs from laughing stock to contender almost immediately by taking one of those contracts from the Flames.
Dude deserves his GOAT/legend status.