There likely will not be a great deal of news regarding the Leafs GM search until after the NHL Draft on June 26-27, as the club’s hierarchy is turning all their attention towards who to select at #4 and #24 overall.
Former Washington GM George Mcphee, LA Kings VP of Hockey Operations Mike Futa and Leafs Director of Player Personnel Mark Hunter are considered the leading candidates, while mention of Rangers Assistant GM Jeff Gorton has been infrequent after the Rangers elimination from the playoffs last week.
The current managerial structure with Team President Brendan Shanahan, Hunter, Assistant GMs Kyle Dubas and Brandon Pridham having input on player personnel decisions does not sound like a scenario for a traditional GM like McPhee, but the ex-Caps GM has a long standing relationship with the Hunters. Kings GM Dean Lombardi sent mixed signals when discussing Futa, who is intricately involved in preparations for the draft.
“Mike Futa is still a Los Angeles King and will remain a Los Angeles King. You don’t think a guy could jump ship now, right? Lombardi said according to Kings insider
John Hoven “There is a big challenge ahead of us. I don’t think he’s had time to think about it. He’s been going 100 mph. He’s at the combine now.”
While the first part of the statement sounds definitive that Futa will remain in Los Angeles, Lombardi sounds more unsure where things after the end of June.
The Leafs interviewing Brandon Owner/GM/Coach Kelly McCrimmon last week could be in anticipation of Hunter being promoted and McCrimmon taking over as the head of Player Personnel, but it does not sound as if there will be a final decision on the GM front until after the Leafs hierarchy get back from Sunrise, FL.
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One thing that will be for sure about the days leading up to the NHL Draft, they will not be boring. The Leafs draft plan relies in part to what Arizona decides to do with the third pick, but also on how the top players are ranked of Toronto’s draft board.
The assumption is that Toronto will choose between Noah Hanifin or Mitch Marner with the fourth selection, but it is possible that players ranked slightly lower could be just as impactful and that Toronto would consider trading down a couple draft slots to get extra picks.
"We're open for everything," Mark Hunter said to the Toronto Star’s
Kevin McGran "As of right now, we'll likely draft with the fourth pick. But we'll see what happens.”
Philadelphia(who drafts seventh overall) has the Blackhawks 2015 and 2016 2nd round picks from the deadline deal for Kimmo Timonen, while Columbus(eighth overall) has three seconds and two third rounders; the Leafs pick that was swapped for goalie Jonathan Bernier and later dealt by LA in the Marian Gaborik deal, their own and Anaheim’s from the James Wisniewski, as well as the Flyers third from the deal for Steve Mason.
With the focus on drafting and developing, Toronto could see a pathway to adding a couple second day draft picks and still get a promising talent just a few picks later. The National Post’s Michael Traikos tweeted on Wednesday that defenseman Ivan Provorov’s(who played for McCrimmon in Brandon) stock has been on the rise to the point that he could be the first defenseman off the board ahead of Hanifin.
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