They might as well have just admitted that the team will continue its slow and torturous death spiral.
Yes, I agree he did say that, however, he did also say that the new Hockey Ops Leader be that a President or GM will actually decide that. If they hire a new guy and he determines this team can’t be salvaged, he will leave it up to that new hire to deal with it accordingly.
Pelley is an idiot when it comes to hockey. He doesn’t understand that the UFA market won’t save this team. He also probably doesn’t understand that the Leafs development system won’t help this current group fast enough either. An intelligent President of Hockey Ops would understand this quickly. Add to that fact there are only two years left on Matthews’ contract and all that needs to be said from him is “I’m not sticking around for this anymore”. The entire franchise has to pivot to rebuild mode immediately.
Trade Matthews + Nylander at the 2027 draft. Tank 2027/28. Tank 28/29. McDavid is a UFA in 2029. Rod Brind’Amour is a free agent in 2029.
I have to think Berube is gone. I would love to see them grab Cassidy, but they’ll almost certainly let a new GM make that decision… and by the time they hire a new GM, I expect Cassidy will be signed elsewhere.
The new GM / Hockey President could be hired in just a few weeks. There are a lot of guys lining up to take the job according to EF and some of them are good names, others aren’t so much. Pelley wants a new guy running the team before the combine and the draft. Could see a new hire by the middle of the playoffs. I’d consider Pronger as perhaps President (not sure if he has the contract knowledge to be GM), he knows what it takes to win, seems intelligent and has already said in public he would tear this team down to the studs and start over.
Cassidy, DeBoer (career runner up coach) and Laviolette are all available. Cassidy did well in Boston and Vegas but both organizations were very strong “top down”. If the Leafs hire him without the same sturdy structure, he won’t work out like people think he will. DeBoer will take this team back to pretender status. Probably lose in the Conference or Cup Final multiple times. Laviolette is similar to Cassidy, he’ll need reinforcement around him or his discipline won’t work with this core.
I don’t think it matters at this point which coach they hire, the core is broken, the support cast doesn’t exist, this group can’t be fixed, saved or retooled. It’s the Kessel era all over again. Individually, great pieces but collectively, not going to win with this group.