Toronto Maple Leafs Lose Vaunted Member of Their Front-Office
The Toronto Maple Leafs have lost another part of their management group to the Pittsburgh Penguins as Wes Clark joins former boss Kyle Dubas in Pennsylvania.
Clark's primary role within the Toronto Maple Leafs was the director of armature scouting, while also being the assistant director of player personnel. In his role, Clark headed up the selection team over the past couple of Entry Drafts.
His most notable move this past draft was passing up an opportunity to draft 6'3" winger Liam Greentree with the 23rd overall pick, instead trading down to the 31st position, while also acquiring a second round pick in the draft.
The Maple Leafs would select Oshawa General right handed shot defenseman Ben Danford. The Leafs would then swap the second round pick for a future second round pick in 2025, while also adding a seventh round selection that was used to draft defenseman Nathan Mayes.
In total, the Leafs and Clark swapped pick #23 for picks #31, #225 and a second round pick in 2025.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Best Move in Clark's Time
Clark's most famous suggestion to date was to go off the board and select Easton Cowan with the 28th overall selection in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.
Many had Cowan, at best, being a late second round pick and more likely a third round selection. Cowan, so far has proven people wrong by impressing the coaching staff in training camp last September which earned him a longer look than was expected.
Once back in the Ontario Hockey League he lit up the scoreboard that resulted in a selection to Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships, as well as OHL MVP.
Clark initially was a consultant for the Maple Leafs starting back in 2014 and was then hired in 2018 to the assistant director of player personnel position. In 2021 he took on the role of Director of Amateur of Scouting.
The Penguins announced that Clark would be the Vice President of Player Personnel; and will oversee the club's amateur, professional and college/European free agent scouting while reporting directly to Dubas.
To know if the Maple Leafs are at a loss losing Clark won't be known for at least a half a decade as it takes time to find out if draft picks and college free agents will pan out.
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For every Matthew Knies who panned out, fans also thought they had a top end shutdown center in Frederik Gauthier, a play making winger in Semyon Der-Arguchintsev or a power forward in Christian Hanson.