The first round of cuts have been made in the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ GM search and the reports are that Ryan Martin and Evan Gold are two of the candidates who have earned themselves a second interview with a decision potentially coming later this week. It’s an exciting time in Leafs land as we’ll start seeing what that direction translates into. Going into writing this, I can’t say I had a profound knowledge on who Ryan Martin is and what he particularly excels at. I’m not sure I can still speak to that confidently, but there is a case that can be made for an “Associate General Manager” that is also getting heavy consideration from the Nashville Predators in their GM search.

Ryan Martin’s bio speaks to a lot of successes in the Detroit Red Wings organization. He was part of the club when they won the Stanley Cup in 2007-08, though I’m not sure his role of Director of Hockey Administration was one that necessarily led the club to victory. More directly, as the GM of the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2017, Martin won the Calder Cup in the AHL and that would be more of a direct feather in his cap. His familiarity with AHL and his success there meant that when he joined the Rangers organization, he’d again be tapped for the GM of the Hartford Wolf Pack, a team that has only made the playoffs twice on his watch, but with the Rangers now just beginning to plunge into a retool/rebuild, something that is relevant to the Leafs needs right now.

Martin was just promoted at the beginning of the 2025-26 by the Rangers, moving from the common Assistant GM title to what is presumably a loftier role of Associate GM. This pretty much cements that Martin was Chris Drury’s right hand man and while Drury’s time in New York make Martin seem like a potential Dave Nonis under Brian Burke type of AGM, Martin’s 20+ years of leadership roles in hockey operations show that he has staying power beyond just Chris Drury, the downside is the other boss he worked under was post Red Wings dynasty Ken Holland.

In addition to his fancy associate title, a distant involvement in a Stanley Cup team, and Calder Cup, Martin has served some key roles in USA Hockey. He was a scout for the World Junior team for a decade and served as Assistant GM of a World Hockey Championship team as well as General Manager.

Martin’s experience with internal development and captaining the ship of an AHL club are certainly traits that could serve him well. Having experienced recent rebuilds/retools with the Rangers there is a lot of understanding about what went right and what went wrong that he can bring to the Maple Leafs. Playing a part in the dismantling of the dynasty Red Wings is an valuable experience as well, but the fact that the Rangers nor Red Wings have much in the way of success stories is a concern when looking at Martin.

Martin’s experience working in an organization run by James Dolan might also be a transferable skillset to joining MLSE. Dolan’s reputation as an owner who hinders operations should mean that Martin is arriving at a questionable MLSE culture with experience working in another tough environment. And if you take Keith Pelley at his word and that he has a genuine desire to fix it, Martin might have some interesting insights, at least from what not to do perspectives.

The main sales pitch on Martin seems to be that he’s done a bit of everything. He was a lawyer for a time before joining the Red Wings, he worked at KO Sports Agency as well, and with his AHL experience with both Hartford and Grand Rapids, he has a familiarity with most aspects of the GM role.

I’m not sure anyone can comfortably say they would be excited about Ryan Martin at this point, and nothing isn’t really known of his interest in the data side of things, but if he’s put together a compelling plan for the Maple Leafs that the organization thinks will put them on the best path forward, maybe that’s the case for him over an in house option like Brandon Pridham that should seemingly have the inside track.

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