The Toronto Maple Leafs can't do anything until they have a new general manager in place, and their search is narrowing down to a few names.
After the Maple Leafs fired Brad Treliving as the general manager of this team last month, no one really knew what direction Toronto would go for their next hire. Even after Keith Pelley had his now infamous press conference and specified some requirements for the new front office, no one truly had an idea as to who around the NHL or hockey in general, could be the new Maple Leafs general manager.
Thanks to a new report, though, we might have a very clear picture of who the Leafs are going to hire to be the new general manager. And, it could come as soon as this week.
Maple Leafs GM search reaches final stage as two finalists emerge
According to Frank Seravalli, two of the finalists who are getting into the last little bit of the Maple Leafs search for a new general manager, are two assistant general managers from other teams: Evan Gold from the Bruins, and Ryan Martin from the Rangers.
Sources say two of the 'finalists' advancing in the Maple Leafs GM search this week are #NHLBruins assistant GM Evan Gold and #NYR assistant GM Ryan Martin.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) April 20, 2026
There is likely a third (or more?) candidate to meet with the team for a second in-person interview this week.
Both Gold and Martin were among the names in the massive list of candidates that Elliotte Friedman laid out earlier on Monday, and they certainly are interesting.
Gold, who is a Toronto native, has been in the Bruins front office since 2015, after he was hired as the Director of Hockey Operations, with a focus on the legal side of hockey ops for four seasons until eventually being promoted to assistant general manager in 2019. He has had a big hand in player development for the Bruins, as the general manager for their AHL team for the last three seasons.
Considering just how many great trades and signings the Bruins have made -- and how they have turned their organization around after a down year -- Gold might be the hire to try to do the same thing in Toronto.
Martin is an interesting option overall. Before joining the Rangers front office, he was with the Red Wings for over 15 years, serving as Ken Holland's assistant general manager during the not-so-great years in Detroit. And then now he's a part of a Rangers team who is also not having a great time and is in a very tough situation. If he had his fingerprints over some of the moves in Detroit or New York, it might mean Toronto doing a whole lot of short-sighted win-now moves.
We'll see though -- no one truly knows what an executive is like until they get to have full control of their decisions. But, it is notable that these two would be first-time general managers and if hired, it most likely means someone coming in a president of hockey operations role, and that most likely being Mike Gillis.
The Maple Leafs are going to be taking their first steps towards hopefully turning this whole thing around.
Add us as a preferred source on Google