The Toronto Maple Leafs – for a brief time – did things differently than other NHL teams.
Specifically, the Toronto Maple Leafs hired a young person as their GM, and bucked tradition at every turn as they attempted to be an innovative franchise for the new millennium.
In a sport stuck perpetually in the past, it was a breath of fresh air.
Unfortunately, when you try to innovate at the NHL level, the vultures are circling from day one, and, as Kyle Dubas proved, if you don’t get lucky and win early, they will eat you alive the second you fail.