The Toronto Maple Leafs are searching high and low for their new general manager. And while they have reportedly narrowed down their search to two prime candidates, they have faced some rejection along the way.
According to a recent report, as the Maple Leafs (and a bunch of other teams) were asking around and trying to bring in as many candidates to interview as possible, they were told no by a former player who is in a high-up hockey operations position elsewhere.
A former Maple Leafs played said no thanks to GM position
On Friday's episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, Elliotte Friedman revealed that a former player for this team rejected the Leafs when they asked if he was interested in interviewing for the open general manager position.
"One of the people I've been wondering why their name I have not heard is Jason Spezza," Friedman said. "Like, I think Jason Spezza would be a great candidate. I think someday he will turn out to be a very good GM. He loves hockey, and right now he's putting in the work."
Since Spezza hung up his skates after the 2021-22 season, he has been working extensively in the hockey operations side. The 42-year-old was hired as a special assistant to the general manager with Kyle Dubas right away, for the 2022-23 season. And when Dubas was fired as Leafs GM, he brought Spezza along with him to Pittsburgh when he took the Penguins job. Now, Spezza has been an assistant general manager for the Penguins for three seasons and for the last two, has taken the general manager spot for the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, as well.
"And I've been asking, why is Jason Spezza not part of your search?" Friedman continued. "And what I found out is that I believe a couple of teams in this process, not just the Maple Leafs, have gauged his interests and he has indiciated that this is not his time. He has politely declined.
"Apparently, he has told other teams that he still has more to learn and when he does look at becoming a manager, he wants to make sure he feels he's ready. And that time is not now."
And that is more than fair. Being just 42 years old, Spezza is still very much on the younger side when it comes to hockey operations staff and he could spend another decade as an assistant general manager learning the ropes and getting more and more responsibility until he is ready to take full autonomy of a different team elsewhere.
Maybe Spezza can still be Leafs GM, but after this next one gets eventually fired for some reasons that we can all expect (them continuing to either miss the playoffs or lose in the first round).
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