Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach Paul McFarland will be leaving the organization at the conclusion of this season.
The Friday morning announcement was a surprising one, as McFarland was hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs just last summer to work with the power play and forward units.
At the time of the hiring, it seemed like a long-term decision due to his age and relative NHL inexperience.
Instead, it’s one and done for McFarland in Toronto as he returns to the Kingston Frontenacs as head coach, where he will look to continue to work towards an NHL head coaching job.
This decision leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs in an unexpected situation this off-season, where the coaching staff was one of the few areas we didn’t anticipate any changes.
Now, there’s an opening in a significant role, where the incoming candidate will likely take over the forward group and power play, just as McFarland had when he replaced Jim Hiller last year.
As it stands today, the market for a new assistant coach is murky. When we reach the true offseason, teams will make their own firings and hirings which will create more candidates and openings. This was just the case last offseason, where the Leafs got McFarland when he was let go by the Panthers.
Still, there are a handful of intriguing candidates that Toronto could potentially target already. Just looking back at their recent assistant coach hirings, we can get an idea as to where the Leafs will look for their new assistant.
Since 2014, the Toronto Maple Leafs have hired six different assistant coaches. Paul McFarland and Jim Hiller were assistants for other teams, Dave Hakstol was a recently fired NHL head coach, D.J. Smith was an OHL head coach, Peter Horachek was an AHL head coach and interim NHL head coach, and Steve Spott was promoted from Marlies head coach.
Taking this into account, we can see that recently, the Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t had one specific type they’ve targeted. They’ve brought in other assistants, former head coaches, looked down to junior, and promoted in-house all in just the past six years.
Given the range Toronto has elected to go with over the past few years, let’s take a look at some candidates from all across the board, beginning with the youngest head coach in the OHL.