Toronto Maple Leafs: Who Will be the Next G.M?
By James Tanner
The Toronto Maple Leafs might be getting a new General Manager.
As reported by Nick Kypreos on this past weekend’s Hockey Night in Canada, the Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Lou Lamoriello may be in his last season in the role. Of course, it is well known that barely anything (information wise) squeaks out of the Leafs front office, so who knows?
Kypreos reported that Lamoriello is in the last year of his deal as GM, while Elliotte Friedman said that he believes that while it’s his last year under contract as GM, he is under contract to the organization for longer. This led to speculation that the veteran manager will transitioned from his current role to a more advisory position.
The irony here is that when Lamoriello was originally hired, many people assumed it was in an advisory position, with the title of ‘GM’ being bestowed out of respect.
The Leafs, under Brendan Shanahan – who himself wields the singular power of a classic GM anyway – are set up in a way that makes such distinctions virtually pointless.
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Prior to recent times, only hardcore fans would know who the President of a hockey team was, and he wasn’t considered to be that involved in the day-to-day hockey transaction, which were left to the GM. Since Shanahan has the role of a traditional GM, and since barely any information about how the team is run ever gets out, it’s impossible to speculate on the future since we know nothing (almost) about the present.
The Future
It seems logical that when the Leafs do need a new GM, the title will pass to Kyle Dubas. The current assistant GM is known to have run point on the Phil Kessel trade, and it was a massive success. He’s also a young, forward thinking, apparent analytics fan who may take the Leafs in interesting directions.
There is no doubt that prior to Lamoriello, and Babcock, the Leafs did seem to be trending down that path, so it will be interested to see if Lou Lamoriello’s transition away from the role of GM will change how the Leafs do business.
At the same time, it’s hard to image Lamoriello stepping aside and a 30 year becoming his boss.
Mostly, I think, and this is pure speculation, that unless Lamoriello outright retires, the Leafs will keep him as the figurehead GM. I mean, with Hunter, Dubas and Shanahan already (apparently) doing much of the work, and them likely to defer to Lamoriello’s age, experience and imposing personality anyways, it’s hard to see how a change would even work, unless Lou just didn’t want to come into the office so often.
Either way, with Shanahan in charge, I don’t think it makes much difference who has what title. It will be interesting to see what happens, but I don’t think it will be anything that changes how the Toronto Maple Leafs are run. At least not too much.