What is the new Leafs’ general manager’s top priority?
As rumors circulate over who the next general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs will be, questions over what is the team’s top offseason priority are starting to take shape. Should the Leafs retain Craig Berube as head coach? Will Morgan Rielly’s 13-year span with the club come to an end? Who will Toronto target in free agency and via trade?
On last Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton are joined by The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta to discuss what the top priority will be for the Maple Leafs’ next general manager.
Carter Hutton: I feel like there’s so many different things to highlight, here. There’s Craig Berube’s future, there’s Morgan Rielly. What becomes the top priority as we approach May 5 and the NHL Draft Lottery? I know they want to get this done, so there’s a lot of things to clean up for a table that needs a little bit of restructuring.
David Pagnotta: There’s going to be layers to this whole process. There’s going to be at the top, then what comes down underneath, then they’ll go: “OK, what’s our plan?”
When Keith Pelly addressed the media at his press conference nearly a month ago, he indicated that the perfect scenario was that they mapped this out by the middle of May, worst case by June. It sounds like they’ve certainly sped up this timeline … but there was word at the end of last week they were going to name something over the weekend or by the start of this week, and it didn’t happen.
We think something is going to happen in the next few days, but it may not. Whatever they’re planning internally, this is going to be an all-encompassing process for the Leafs.
On the ice, there will be changes over the offseason. This is a team where the directive is to retool and compete for the playoffs next season. I think there will be a conversation with respect to Morgan Rielly, and if Chayka is the new GM and Sundin is with the team, they’ll have that conversation. They’ll talk with Auston Matthews and William Nylander to let them know what the plan is.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…