The Toronto Maple Leafs are to hockey what the New York Yankees are to baseball, but unfortunately for Leafs fans, the last few years have not been as kind towards the Blue and White as it has been for the guys wearing the pin stripes.

And the question on most hockey fans minds, regardless if they're Leafs fans or not is, when will it ever get better? Because the situation in Toronto is so bizarre and convoluted that it confounds most hockey experts, never mind the ordinary fan who just wants the team to start winning again.

In simple terms, the problem begins at the top. The team, whose value is tops in the NHL at $413 million, is owned by Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment. This sports conglomerate is owned by a consortium of four different groups, the biggest being a teacher's pension fund which controls nearly sixty per cent of the ownership pie. Another of the principal owners is a man named Larry Tanenbaum, who also happens to be on the eight member board of directors alongside the current President and CEO Richard Peddie.

And this is where the problem begins, as it is rumored that these two gentlemen have philosophical differences on how to run the hockey team, so that in effect, the executive is creating an atmosphere of confusion and infighting that ensures future instability for the club. Until this ownership situation is straightened out, the chances of the Leafs returning to respectability are very slim as the team is literally scaring any potential management types away. Just ask Scotty Bowman, who was cocked and ready to grab the reins and turn the ship around in December 2007, until he found out just how messed up the working conditions would be.

Or ask John Ferguson Jr., the recently fired GM who tried valiantly to right the ship the last few years despite having to deal with the messy situation where one guy says one thing, and then the other guy says another. It was rumored all summer that John's days were numbered, and even during the regular season Peddie was quoted in the Toronto media as saying he made a mistake hiring Ferguson in the first place. Ouch! That has to be a very uncomfortable situation to be working in for anybody, so it probably wasn't too disheartening for John when the axe fell in late January of this year. And to think Leafs fans thought the Harold Ballard years were bad!

As has been typical of the Leafs organization the last few years, it always seems like no matter how they try, there's always

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