If the Maple Leafs' tailspin and calls for the firing of general manager John Ferguson Jr. weren't bad enough in Toronto, the team's fans got another punch in the gut from an interview with Scotty Bowman on Saturday night.
The Hall of Fame coach told Hockey Night In Canada that he was close to taking the job as the team's president last summer, only to be turned away later.
"I had good meetings with Toronto," Bowman explained on the program's pre-game show.
"I had a very strong meeting with (Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Chairman) Larry Tanenbaum one day in mid-August. I was getting very interested and then he said he wanted me to meet (MLSE President and CEO) Richard Peddie and I met Richard for an hour a week later."
Bowman said Peddie told him later that they had decided to keep things status quo because it was three weeks before training camp.
Bowman, who won a combined nine Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings, wanted full control over the team's hockey operations.
"I had pretty well put my cards on the table with Toronto that for me to come in it would have to be like a Bryan Colangelo type of deal," said Bowman.
Colangelo, hired by MLSE's Toronto Raptors in 2006, has full autonomy over the operation of the NBA team.
"I said the only way it's going to work for me would be a Bryan Colangelo situation," Bowman added. "I think they might have been concerned about how much time I was going to be able to spend, but I spend all my living time in hockey. Even though I'm not behind the bench, I'm still 24-7 and I enjoy it."
Bowman, who previously stated that he had spoken with the Leafs but wasn't interested in the job, did not make any commitment to decision if the team approached him again.
"That's a pretty tough question to answer right now because you're asking something that's real hypothetical," he told Hockey Night In Canada. "It would be awful tough to leave Detroit (where he is a consultant) right now. That's where I want to win. We'll cross that bridge if we get to it, though."