Report: No New GM for Leafs by the Draft, Wings Open to Trading Top Pick, Mantha
8 years ago
Here’s a cold hard fact for you – Elliotte Friedman and Damien Cox kill it on a weekly basis with their second intermission Saturday Headlines segment. This week, they didn’t disappoint, sharing several interesting reports that directly impact your beloved Toronto Maple Leafs.
Most notably, Cox reports that Toronto will not be bringing in a new GM in the next couple weeks…
There’s going to be one team in two weeks at the NHL Draft without a general manager, and that’s going to be the Toronto Maple Leafs. They will not hire a GM before the draft. Brendan Shanahan decided he’s happy to do the draft, and any deals they might make – including ones for Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel, whoever – as long as he gets input from Mark Hunter, Kyle Dubas and the rest of their existing staff.
This is, in my humble opinion, good news. All signs point to Hunter and Dubas being more than capable of running a draft table, and they both did pretty damn well at the trade deadline in maximizing returns for assets. Instead of rushing a new decision maker into place before the draft, and perhaps giving up more draft pick compensation to do so, it’s best just to sit tight and let your current group run things.
Detroit Willing to Trade Top Pick, Mantha
Neither of Cox or Friedman mentioned the Leafs here, but let’s revisit the Phaneuf-to-Detroit rumours from the trade deadline, shall we? At the time, it was reported that the Red Wings, who were seriously interested in bringing Dion into the fold, were unwilling to part ways with significant assets to do so. According to Cox, Detroit may have softened its stance on that…
At the trade deadline, they did not want to part with either their first round pick or Anthony Mantha. They are now willing to look at both of those. Their first round pick is 19th overall.
If I’m the Leafs, I’m calling up my old friend Kenny Holland right away and reopening negotiations on a potential Phaneuf deal. Why?
Yes, please.
Leafs Looking For New Goalie Coach
One of the many positions that Shanahan and the Leafs have not filled yet is the goaltending coach. According the Friedman, Toronto is interested in speaking to Los Angeles Kings coach Kim Dillabaugh…
The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the teams, the Philadelphia Flyers another, who are still looking for a new goalie coach. One of the people who interests them […] is Kim Dillibaugh. He is a coach that both Toronto and apparently Philadelphia would like to interview. The Kings have block him in the past – it will be interesting to see if they allow him to talk to teams after the draft.
As Friedman also mentioned, Dillibaugh is the #2 goaltending coach behind former NHLer Bill Ranford. According to the Kings’ official site, Dillibaugh has been with Los Angeles for eight seasons and oversees all goaltending development. That means he has to be pretty familiar with both Jonathan Bernier and Leafs goalie prospect Chris Gibson.
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