On where things sit with the Toronto Maple Leafs and their front office
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman, on the Toronto Maple Leafs and where their GM/front office search sits. The timing doesn’t seem right for Doug Armstrong to join the Maple Leafs. Sunny Mehta is one name to keep an eye on.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“Okay, so let’s just kind of reset where we are in the Toronto search right now. First of all, no asked for permission. Yet, they have not asked anybody for permission to talk to anybody under contract with another team.
After the change at the GM spot, Keith Pelley held a zoom call with the members of the hockey operations department, and just from talking to a few people after it was over and in the last couple of days, it’s pretty clear that they are expecting major change.
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You’ll remember that Brendan Shanahan came in in 2014, he watched for a year, and then he made changes after the ’14-15 season. Now I asked like, did Pelly say anything specifically about change in there? And it wasn’t so much the word Ron, it’s about how he talked. And you know, one of the things he kind of mentioned was, ‘we are going to use our resources to the fullest capacity we can.’
And they were kind of left with the impression that he felt that they hadn’t been doing that. And so that’s why I think a lot of people are expecting that there’s going to be even more changes than the one we already saw. And so we’ll see how that plays out to the end and after the season.
Now about, I mean, there were a ton of names thrown out this week. I was just as guilty as anyone else. Just a little bit more harder stuff that we can kind of tell.
You know, Doug Armstrong’s name, and I mentioned Doug Armstrong. It just doesn’t seem like the timing is right for the Blues and the Maple Leafs for Doug Armstrong. So you know, anything can change, and I reserve the right that I could be wrong now and or, and then, right now and then wrong later. But it just doesn’t seem like the timing is right for Doug Armstrong and the Maple Leafs.
But one name I do think is going to be part of Toronto’s search, and he’s been kind of discussed this week, is Sunny Mehta, the Assistant General Manager, one of the assistant general managers of the Florida Panthers. I do think he’s going to be a factor.”
MacLean: “You did mention on the podcast with Kyle, Brandan Shanahan, because, believe it or not, there was a thought a reversion. Because when Shanahan swept house, it was to get into the new age and the AI and the data that Keith Pelley spoke about.”
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Friedman: “One of the people I spoke to said, ‘You think there’s any chance he could come back?’ And I just don’t think that that’s going to happen.”
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