Keith Pelley keen on new names as Leafs GM hunt winds down

Article content

Call them the three AGM-igos, one of whom could emerge as general manager of the Maple Leafs — or in one of two other vacant posts in the NHL.

Article content

Ryan Martin, Scott White and Evan Gold all currently hold a respective assistant role with other teams — the Rangers, Stars and Bruins – with the big question being as a Leaf hire, would any of them be working alone or under a more experienced director of hockey operations?

Article content

Article content

Neither is Toronto the only team with an empty position in its front office, thus it has become a seller’s market for the up-and-coming trio of executives. Martin and White have interviewed with the Leafs and Nashville Predators, Gold as well with Toronto. While another AGM, Edmonton’s Bill Scott, is highly considered, too, it’s believed he’s on the list being assembled by the Predators.

In Vancouver, where team president Jim Rutherford fired GM Patrick Allvin a couple of days ago, it’s expected the Canucks will to look into the aforementioned trio at some point, too. For now, the Canucks asked the Leafs for permission to speak to senior adviser Shane Doan, reported Wednesday by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, a day after requesting the same of Buffalo to chat with the fired, but still contracted ex-GM Kevyn Adams.

Article content

Article content

TOO MANY COOKS IN THE KITCHEN?

Brought in by the departed Brad Treliving, Doan had not been mentioned much in any in-house Leafs search where Brandon Pridham, able aide and contract specialist for Kyle Dubas and Treliving, would be the favourite were Toronto to go that route. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Keith Pelley has remarked on the six assistants the Leafs have now, from analytics to player development, as possibly being too wieldy.

There are indications Pelley’s search was winding down either this week or next. Yet no one is sure where Mike Gillis and Mats Sundin fit into the picture after both were interviewed, but not, it would seem, for the singular GM post. Gillis would be angling for a supervisory position, the non-trained exec Sundin a prominent advisory role. Gillis and Sundin know each other from the Swede’s half-season with Gillis’s Canucks 17 years ago. TSN’s Darren Dreger said the Leafs have sized up inspirational early 2000s winger Gary Roberts as a potential consultant as well.

Article content

A fourth outside candidate for Toronto who is still in the mix is John Chayka, who stepped down from the Arizona Coyotes’ job in a major 2021 dispute with ownership. It brought a year-long NHL suspension on him for “conduct detrimental to the league” regarding talks with another team for a job. The Coyotes had also acknowledged they violated league policy on testing draft-eligible players the year before, forfeiting a first- and second-round pick as a result, though no individual discipline came about in that particular case.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

WHAT THE NEW NAMES BRING

As for the AGMs, White, an effective lieutenant for three-time GM-of-the-year Jim Nill, has been part of the Stars organization for 20 years in scouting and recruiting NCAA talent and is said to be ready and eager to step up. From the Montreal suburb of Ormstown, White also has a playing history as a sixth-round pick of the Quebec Nordiques and he was once a teammate of future Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr. with the American Hockey League’s New Haven Senators.

Article content

Gold is in year 11 with Boston, a Toronto native with law and MBA degrees from the University of Toronto. He’s part of the reason that Leafs fans are gnashing their teeth heading into the draft, as he and Bruins’ GM Don Sweeney worked the Brandon Carlo trade that netted the B’s centre Fraser Minten and Toronto’s first-round pick.

It was the latest in a string of profitable trades for Boston at Toronto’s expense, so to flip a vital piece of the Bruins’ hockey hierarchy would be a welcome change.

Martin knows both the AHL and the talent pipeline of the U.S. National Team Development Program, was a player agent and learned at the feet of Ken Holland in Detroit. The Rangers haven’t been as successful as the other two AGMs’ clubs, but that didn’t stop Martin from getting consideration to replace Chris Drury as New York’s leader.

Scott is tough to get a read on with Edmonton still in the playoffs and trying to end Canada’s Stanley Cup jinx with a trip to the final for a third straight year. Such a title would make Scott even more desirable if there’s a job still open in June.

Article content

FIXING SMASHVILLE

While there is some urgency in Nashville, they do have a sitting GM in Barry Trotz, who agreed to transfer power later this spring in a mutual decision with ownership and to stay on as an adviser.

The Preds might bypass Scott and the AGMs to go down the familial path again with Tom Fitzgerald, the franchise’s first on-ice captain who was sacked as GM in New Jersey and replaced with Sunny Mehta.

Scott is not only well-versed in personnel as a former GM in the AHL before becoming assistant in Edmonton, but he was director of hockey operations for the AHL. He famously had a pair of “lucky socks” the night the Oilers won the 2015 draft lottery for the right to pick Connor McDavid.

Former Oilers and Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli, who also oversaw Boston’s 2011 Stanley Cup-winning team, has also been linked to Nashville from his current role as a hockey operations executive in St. Louis. The Blues are moving from Doug Armstrong to Alex Steen as GM, Armstrong initially seen as the front-runner in Toronto before electing to stay in St. Louis as director of operations.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

Article content