Around this time Yolanda had become a fixture at the Gardens. She brought with her dog T.C Puck a Bouvier. Harold Ballard enjoyed the attention and the two became inseparable. He gave her a job at the Gardens and paid her $35,000 a year but no one knew what she did. To the Gardens employees she went from amusing, to annoying and finally despised. 1983-84 was another dismal season with the Leafs finishing 18th overall in the 21-team league. It as the franchise's second worst season ever up to that point. The only high point was Rick Vaive's 3rd consecutive 50 goal season. The media began to writing negative articles about Mike Nykoluk. Soon reporters were being banned from the Gardens. A practice that became quite common for Ballard as time went on.
When the season ended and the Leafs had again failed to make the playoffs, Gerry McNamara finally fired Nykoluk. Although he wasn't solely to blame, he never won more than 28 games in the three season he was behind the bench.
McNamara has initiated a law suit over an auto accident prior to becoming General Manager which reached a settlement around this time. In the action he claimed he had suffered brain damage which included difficulty speaking in stressful situations. When he received a $125,000 settlement the newspapers had a field day. One headline read, "McNamara Proves He's Brain Damaged".
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