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So roughly ten per cent of the way through this National Hockey League season, the biggest question about the Toronto Maple Leafs remains the same as it was before the season began: what are they?

Well, the best answer might be, as Dennis Green might say "the Leafs are who we thought they were" ... a mixed bag of talented but deeply flawed players who can look tremendous for stretches and just wretched for others.
 
But out of the gate, they sure don't look right now like a team that's headed anywhere fast.
 
As Michael Farber so appropriately pointed out on this past Sunday's edition of TSN The Reporters with Dave Hodge, the Leafs have a parent company whose president and CEO is on his way out, which means that within a matter of days Leafs president Brendan Shanahan will be working for someone who didn't hire him.

Which kind fits the theme of this organization since Shanahan didn't hire general manager Dave Nonis, who didn't hire head coach Randy Carlyle, who didn't hire either of his assistant coaches, Steve Spott or Peter Horachek.

The front office also includes two apparent Shanahan hires in two former junior hockey general mangers in Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter, the latter of which is already been viewed by outsiders as the GM in waiting.

So perhaps the question should be this: with an organization that's been constructed to look like some mad scientist's flying machine experiment, should it be any wonder the Leafs don't play like a well-oiled machine on the ice?

Building a winning hockey team is a little like constructing a skyscraper. You need an architect, some engineers who share the architect's vision and the foot soldiers to construct things in line with those who conceived the blueprint.

If everyone isn't on the same page, if the vision isn't shared from top to bottom, the structure is going to fall over sooner or later.

Changing the architect halfway through the building makes things more difficult, since anyone in charge has to be allowed to execute their own vision of what needs to be done.

The key elements of this Maple Leafs team right now are pieces laid in place by Brian Burke, including head coach Randy Carlyle, captain Dion Phaneuf and star winger Phil Kessel, both of whom happen to be in the first year of long-term contracts that won't expire until each is 36 years old.

That in itself would seem problematic since over the past several months the Leafs seem to be moving quickly away from what remained of Burke's vision for who to build a winner.

During his two years in full charge, Dave Nonis didn't so much execute his own vision as he tinkered with the one left to him by Burke, which is understandable for two reasons. One, as someone who worked alongside Burke with two organizations, it makes sense that he shared many of the same ideas for building a team. And given the nature of Burke's hasty exit, Nonis needed to allow things to play out before contemplating a new direction.

But the vision of the Leafs' future right now belongs to Shanahan – the third chief architect in less than three years, whose actions, if not words, suggest he subscribes to a significantly different approach to building a winner than those who were in charge before him.

There's no guarantee that Shanahan will have the answers, but before we find out, we're going to have to allow him the time to fill the organization and the roster with the kinds of people who share his vision, from top right down to the ice.

And guess what Leaf fans? That may take a while.