The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the midst of their coaching search, and from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the search may have included as many as 15 candidates who were interviewed by Zoom. Friedman and TSN’s Darren Dreger both indicated that former Stanley Cup winner Peter Laviolette was one of the candidates, as was former Colorado and NY Islanders head coach Patrick Roy.
On FAN 590’s Fan Hockey Show on Wednesday, Friedman indicated that the Hall of Fame goalie’s interview with the Leafs went “really well” and that he is a legitimate candidate for the job. Roy went 97-78-22 in three seasons as bench boss of the Islanders before being fired by new GM Mathieu Darche in favor of Peter DeBoer.
Laviolette was fired by the NY Rangers after a disappointing 2024-25 season, but won the President’s Trophy with the Broadway Blueshirts in 2023-24 and reached the Eastern Conference Final before losing to Florida. Friedman also indicated that the Leafs interviewed Tampa Bay Lightning assistant coach Jeff Halpern, but that he believes that Halpern has been told that he will not be part of the second stage of interviews, and that he is not 100% certain that David Carle is out of the running, despite various reports that he is not leaving the University of Denver.
One thing that may be a factor in reference to Carle is the news that came out on Tuesday that the Avalanche will not be moving on from head coach Jared Bednar. The Avs disappointing loss to Vegas was thought to put the Stanley Cup winner’s job in jeopardy, but Colorado opted for stability behind the bench after losing GM Chris McFarland to the Nashville Predators.
Other Candidates?
Previous reports indicated that Toronto GM John Chayka and Senior Advisor Mats Sundin had interviewed internal candidates for Leafs assistants Derek Lalonde and Mike Van Ryn. Former Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft is said to be a candidate, along with interim coach DJ Smith, for the LA Kings job, but the chatter that Woodcroft was in the mix with Toronto has gone silent since last week. There has been no speculation regarding the Leafs having interest in former Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy, whom the Golden Knights have not given permission to speak to other teams.
The Toronto Marlies hope to rebound from a 5-3 loss in Game 3 and take a 3-1 lead in the Calder Cup Eastern Conference Final over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Wednesday. The Marlies were tied 2-2 in the third period, before goals from Ville Koivunen and Atley Calvert put the game out of reach.
There was no update on the availability of winger Easton Cowan, who missed Games 2 and 3 with an upper-body injury Head coach John Gruden said before Game 3 that they wanted to make sure the 21-year-old was 100% healthy before they re-insert him back in the lineup.
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