With rumours swirling in Leaf land about who is going to be the next General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Elliotte Freidman dropped some pretty big news on the most recent episode of the "32 Thoughts" podcast.
According to Freidman, the Maple Leafs requested permission to speak to current Tampa Bay Lightning GM Julien BriseBois and had that request denied by the Lightning.
""James Mirtle had a line about Toronto being turned down after asking to speak to a current General Manager. I believe that was Julien BriseBois of the Tampa Bay Lightning. I don't think anyone here is shocked that the Lightning would say no -- that's that. I do think they asked for permission to speak to him, and were denied.""Elliotte Friedman
BriseBois has been the GM of the Lightning for several years now, and helped the franchise win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021. He was also an Assistant General Manager for Canada at the 2025 4-Nations Face-Off where Canada brought home the Gold, and he was also an assistant GM at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics where Canada captured the silver medal.
Maple Leafs still on the hunt for a new GM
Friedman also added that the expectation by most is that Mats Sundin is hired in the coming days in some sort of front office role -- likely vice-president of hockey operations -- and former Arizona Coyotes GM is expected to land the Maple Leafs vacant GM position.
BriseBois likely isn't the only name that Keith Pelley and co. have swung and missed on talking to since letting Brad Treliving go. In a hockey market like Toronto, with all the resources that MLSE has at their disposable, it makes all the sense in the world to take a swing at a big name with a succesful track record like BriseBois. It also makes all the sense in the world for the Lightning to deny the Leafs request.
We will likely see in the coming days who Keith Pelley and MLSE peg to be the Maple Leafs next General Manager.
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