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Report: Mike Yeo won’t join Maple Leafs, could be destined for Travis Green’s staff in Ottawa
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Photo credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Mike Gould
May 31, 2024, 07:30 EDTUpdated: May 31, 2024, 11:09 EDT
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Mike Yeo has officially departed the Vancouver Canucks organization, but it doesn’t appear he’ll be joining the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The long-time NHL coach parted ways with the Canucks earlier this week after spending two seasons as an assistant coach under Bruce Boudreau and Rick Tocchet in Vancouver.
The move led to speculation that he could be coming to Toronto to take on a role on Craig Berube’s coaching staff, but Vancouver hockey insider Rick Dhaliwal poured cold water on that potential outcome on Friday’s edition of Donnie & Dhali – The Team during a conversation with co-host Don Taylor.
Taylor: Looks like Mike Yeo, who we talked about yesterday, who left the Canucks [after being] offered a one-year contract extension by the Canucks — said no — looks like he’s going to get himself a new job.
Dhaliwal: Interviewed by, guess who? Travis Green, Ottawa. Travis Green’s the new Ottawa coach —
Taylor: Same position, assistant coach?
Dhaliwal: Yep, assistant coach. So, Mike Yeo was interviewed by Travis Green, and I’m not hearing Mike Yeo to Toronto. I’m not hearing that. There was some speculation, maybe with Berube, not hearing that. I think Mike Yeo in Ottawa with Travis Green makes a lot of sense. If it happens, I would not be surprised, Don.
Taylor: You mentioned the Leafs, did he talk with them at all?
Dhaliwal: I don’t know that, but I just heard this morning, I’m not hearing Mike Yeo to Toronto, but I am certainly hearing Mike Yeo possibly in Ottawa, for sure.
Yeo, 50, previously worked alongside Berube with the St. Louis Blues, serving as head coach while Berube was associate coach. Berube ultimately took over the head coaching position from Yeo midway through the 2018-19 season and guided the team to the Stanley Cup that same year.
In addition to his Blues tenure, Yeo has served as the head coach of the Minnesota Wild and as interim head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. He won the Stanley Cup with the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins as an assistant coach on Dan Bylsma’s staff.
On top of Dhaliwal’s report, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch and former TSN Ottawa radio host Shawn Simpson both linked Yeo to the Senators on Thursday, with the latter suggesting Ottawa is in advanced talks with both Yeo and former NHL defenceman Nolan Baumgartner — another former Canucks assistant — to join Green’s staff.
It still remains to be seen what changes, if any, the Leafs make to their coaching staff this summer. They’ve been connected to former Calgary Flames assistant coach Marc Savard, who parted ways with the organization earlier this month, but no official announcements have been made about Berube’s staff in Toronto since he was hired on May 17.
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