Picked the right day, at least.

With the Yunel Escobar ridiculousness spinning furiously and the NFL continuing to look worse and worse every week with fans now dressed up as officials, the departure of Francois Allaire from the Maple Leaf organization at a time when there are no NHL games on the horizon just didn’t didn’t have the same bite as it otherwise might have.

That said, Allaire’s parting shots, whether you buy the point of view of a disgruntled ex-employee or not, did portray the Leaf organization as dysfunctional, hardly the thing GM Brian Burke needs these days with new owners arriving to see exactly what it is they have purchased.

Allaire says he quit, the Leafs say they weren’t going to invite him back, and somewhere in there lies the truth. What seems clear, and this should be the important matter to Leaf fans, is that the rift between Allaire and the rest of the coaching staff at least finally supplies one concrete reason behind the team’s curious late-season swoon that cost it a playoff spot.

That’s not to blame Allaire. But here’s what we do know:

Allaire warned Cronin not to speak to his goalies. Cronin responded in a most unfriendly way, and unrest within the staff was born.

Wilson, out of sheer frustration, finally went directly to the goalies, bypassing the celebrated goalie guru. Soon, Allaire and the other coaches weren’t even on speaking terms.

Allaire refused to agree to any of the three conditions.

How much this internal coaching feud affected the team is hard to measure. Surely the injury to productive winger Joffrey Lupul had an impact, and the Leafs’ leadership group clearly wasn’t strong enough to stop the young team from suffering from a massive case of stage fright in the final weeks of the season.

Allaire says he felt he couldn’t do his job properly, while Burke, in an unprecedented use of the team’s website, blasted Allaire’s methods as “outdated” after learning he had spoken out.

“Was there interference from the staff as he said there was? Yes,” said Burke. “But it was done reluctantly and it was done to change elements of our goaltending that was subpar.”

This wasn’t the way this was supposed to go. Burke and Allaire spoke last week and apparently agreed to make an announcement together sometime this week that would make it look like a mutual parting of the ways, but instead Allaire fired and Burke fired back.

Given how Burke defended Allaire time and time again, the former goalie coach’s disloyalty had to be deeply wounding for the Leaf GM, whose job may very well be on the line this season if the team cannot make post-season play.

It was hard enough for Burke to fire Wilson, a long-time friend, last February, but Wilson didn’t tear a strip off Leaf management after leaving. Allaire, by contrast, has suggested the Leaf coaching staff is effectively getting in its own way, an accusation that won’t be easy to shake.

Rick St. Croix is expected to be hired to replace Allaire, and St. Croix will have to deal with the only hockey environment in North America that clamours for the head of the goalie coach if the netminders struggle.

Even worse, Burke defended both Wilson (who he didn’t hire) and Allaire (who he did) so passionately before ultimately cutting ties with both that it will be more difficult for the public to accept similar words in defence of his players or coaches this season.

For example, if the team doesn’t do well this season and captain Dion Phaneuf comes under fire, it will be hard for Burke to back his captain without producing suggestions that he’s again trying to mask over internal problems.

Given the state of Leaf goaltending in recent seasons with Allaire as consultant, change is probably a good thing, although Reimer and Ben Scrivens, in particular, were devoted disciples of Allaire.

But change accompanied by bitterness and accusations of interference is a very different thing, The best the Leafs can hope for now is that the season is delayed long enough by labour woes to make fans and media forget L’Affaire Allaire.

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