We ran a small brief in the paper on Monday after it was revealed Leafs assistant GM and director of hockey operations Jeff Jackson had left the team, and to my surprise it was one of the more popular items on globesports.com that day.
I’ve also had a number of emails from readers looking for more details on Jackson’s departure and what it means, so I caught up with him this week to chat briefly about his decision.
Jackson has been with the Leafs for four years, dating back to when he was John Ferguson’s right-hand man, and he said he wanted to keep his departure low key. Despite some speculation out there, there was no turmoil in the Leafs front office, and this move was something Jackson said has been in the works for months.
After GM Brian Burke brought in both Dave Nonis (senior VP of hockey ops) and Dave Poulin (VP of hockey ops), Jackson said the writing was on the wall.
He was a second-round pick by the Leafs in 1983 and played 77 games with Toronto before moving onto the stints with the Rangers, Nordiques and Blackhawks before retiring in 1992. Jackson then practised law for eight years with Heenan Blaikie LLP in Toronto, where he handled some salary arbitration cases for NHL teams.
Despite rumours he may join the NHLPA in some capacity, he said nothing had been offered on that front and only that staying in hockey “was a possibility.”
“Coming back to the Leafs, four years ago, was pretty cool,” Jackson said. “It was an honour to be drafted by them, it was great to work for them. It’s one of the toughest sports markets in the world, so it was kind of a baptism by fire on the management side.
“In a lot of respects, it’s been a rough four years because of the inability to have success. I was hoping I’d be part of a winning team here because when it happens, it’s going to be a great place to be. So, it is a hard thing to be leaving, but it’s just the right time.
“Burkie and I talked a lot about it and Dave Nonis and I talked about it, and it was one of those things where I wasn’t going to be part of the key management group that they have in place currently and going forward, so it was the right time to leave. We just kind of picked the Olympic break – it’s just kind of a natural break – and that’s when I really kind of stepped aside.
“I’m leaving on good terms, no hard feelings. Burkie was really fair to me and treated me well so I’m not leaving under a cloud or anything. It’s just one of those things in hockey – people have their own guys and, you know, I didn’t fit into that group.
“I was hoping to stay, but it didn’t work out that way.”
Here are a few more comments from Jackson for those interested:
Why he left midseason: “The thought was if I wasn’t going to be part of the group beyond the end of my contract, then there’s no point in staying, really … It gives me an opportunity to get a jump on talking to different teams whether that’s what I’m going to do or looking at other opportunities. It also gives the team the opportunity to bring somebody else in.
“The timing of it made sense, for all of us. A lot of the work is done for the year and now the next set of work will be negotiating Group 2s and free agency and at that point you’re getting into July, which is when I would have been leaving anyway.”
