Gino Reda is joined by TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger with the latest on the Maple Leafs head coach search, the futures of Jonathan Toews and Brendan Gallagher, where Landon DuPont will play next year and more.
---
Gino Reda: The Leafs’ coach hunt continues with a couple of Stanley Cup winners. Is this it for Jonathan Toews? What’s next for Brendan Gallagher after an emotional goodbye in Montreal? Could a Hall of Famer be on his way back in Denver? And where’s junior sensation Landon DuPont headed for next season?
Here’s our hockey insider Darren Dreger.
As the Leafs continue their hunt for a new head coach, they reached out to a couple of guys who hoisted the Cup in the past. What’s the latest there?
Darren Dreger: Well, let’s start with a more decorated from a coaching perspective, and that’s veteran coach Peter Laviolette. Yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs are among a few teams that have expressed interest in Peter Laviolette. My understanding is there’s at least been some initial dialogue and interviewing. They are still in, more or less, the first phase, but once you get through the draft combine in Buffalo, I think that John Chayka and the management team for the Toronto Maple Leafs will push a little bit harder on this coach hire.
But it’s Peter Laviolette and it’s Patrick Roy, formerly of the New York Islanders. And you know, before Leaf fans get a little too excited with either Laviolette or Patrick Roy, I mean, who wouldn’t like Patrick Roy when you think of the sensational history of the Hall of Famer?
But let’s also remind fans out there that John Chayka did acknowledge, when they fired Craig Berube, that they would cast a wide net in interviewing and collecting a list of candidates that would be widespread. So you go from one extreme to the other and definitely in between, including the Stanley Cup champion head coach in Peter Laviolette. But there’s still more work to get done here in Toronto.
After two full seasons away from the game, Jonathan Toews tried to make a comeback last season with the Jets. He was clearly just a shadow of his former self, which was to be expected after all that time off. So what’s next for him?
Dreger: Yeah, nothing official. I don’t think anybody will be surprised by that. But Jonathan Toews, I’m told, according to source, is contemplating retirement. High-level source says it’s more likely than not that the 38-year-old will officially retire from the National Hockey League.
Again, you’re right, talk about a real effort put in returning to the NHL, and he most definitely had his moments. The leadership qualities that Toews brought to the Winnipeg Jets dressing room, to the bench, on the ice, no doubt they were a real big asset to Scott Arniel and the overall team in Winnipeg. But 82 games is a long regular season. He does not go out the way that he was hoping or the organization had intended by missing the postseason.
So we’ll let him formally announce, but that’s definitely the way that he’s leaning heavily today.
After spending his entire 14-year NHL career with the Habs so far, Brendan Gallagher just said an emotional goodbye during their locker cleanup day. Any word on where he goes from here, Darren?
Dreger: Well, he wants to play. I think he made that abundantly clear earlier this week, Gino. But there’s going to have to be some work done by general manager Kent Hughes and the agent who represents Brendan Gallagher, and that’s Gerry Johansson. I believe that Johansson, if he doesn’t have it already, ultimately will get permission to speak with other clubs.
But Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens want to do right by Brendan Gallagher. So that means finding not only the right team, a team that’s willing to take him going into the final year of his current NHL contract, but where Gallagher is a useful day-by-day fit within that roster.
Maybe for some clubs that gets a little bit more complicated. I mean, you can look at teams that are either entering a rebuild, Gino, or in the process of a rebuild, who would love to add the character and the playability of Brendan Gallagher at this point in his career.
So there’s some work that needs to be done, but none of this blindsided the organization. I don’t think they were talking about it during the postseason, but definitely Kent Hughes, the GM, did have some conversation with Gallagher going into the playoffs and then at varying points over the course of the regular season, most definitely touch base with the agent, Gerry Johansson.
Some significant movement in the Avs management. Chris McFarland left for Nashville. Joe Sakic says he’s going back to his GM role, at least temporarily, as well as his team president role. And now talk about a possible Hall of Famer coming back. What are you hearing about that, Dregs?
Dreger: Well, that’s just the speculation that’s out there, Geno. And I think we can make sense of it, right? We’re talking about Rob Blake, longtime GM for the Los Angeles Kings.
He just agreed that it was time for a change in Los Angeles, more or less stepped away from the management capacity there. He’s been out for a bit, but I don’t get the sense that Rob Blake is eager to take on another GM role anytime soon. That’s not to say if the perfect opportunity presents, that he won’t give it some consideration. And I’m sure there are Colorado Avalanche fans that can see the former great defenceman that he was in Colorado being a perfect fit for the Avs as the general manager, or at least helping Joe Sakic, who, as you described, is taking on the capacity along with the president’s role.
At least to date, there hasn’t been any dialogue between Sakic and Rob Blake about the potential of that or Blake going in to help Joe Sakic. But it’s still relatively early, and perhaps there’s a change in that thinking.
With this year’s draft just about three weeks away, there’s a ton of excitement and speculation about Everett Silvertips D-man Landon DuPont when it comes to next year’s draft already. He just wrapped up his season at the Memorial Cup. So everyone wants to know Dregs, where is he going to play next year?
Dreger: You’re right. Everybody in the hockey world wants to know the decision that DuPont has to make. The problem is he’s just not ready to make that decision. And, you know, that’s in consult with his advisors, most definitely his family.
This kid needs some time to just decompress a little bit. Gino, there’s no shortage of interest here. He just turned 17 years of age and he’s coming off pretty emotional letdown, I would say, in falling to the Kitchen Rangers in the Memorial Cup championship game.
I look at the NCAA as a likely option with Michigan there and Denver, of course, keenly interested in Landon DuPont. But I wouldn’t discredit the possibility of him staying in the Western Hockey League and staying in Everett as well. That’s a decision that has to be made.
There’s lots of interest in Landon DuPont, but I don’t think that we’re going to get his direction or a firm decision on what he was planning next as early as next season within the next maybe two to three weeks. So we’ll all have to be patient.
Dregs, this is uncharted waters for us because in the past, once you play major junior, that’s it. You’ve made your decision. You’re not going to go the US college route. Now that rule has changed, two questions here. Do you think we’re going to see a lot more of this, guys, going from major junior to US colleges? And two, how do you think this affects the CHL moving forward?
Dreger: Well, we start with the latter. It definitely affects the CHL. I reported on this as part of our Memorial Cup coverage in Kelowna. There’s ongoing discussions between the CHL and Hockey Canada to develop a different relationship, if you will, so that they can work around or away from the IIHF recruiting restrictions that, frankly, hamper the CHL in comparison to what the NCAA is working with.
The NCAA can effectively recruit with any sort of restriction. So I think the CHL is looking for a more level playing ground in the recruiting field so that they can get to some of the American based players or some of the European based players. But with the options that these young players like Gavin McKenna, Landon DuPont go down the list, Gino, these top young players coming out of major junior hockey have, I think it’s a healthy world where these families have options. It’s just not one lane traffic.
So when the CHL gets onto more of a level playing field, as I’ve described, then I think that it’ll become more of a regular thing that happens on an annual basis.
