Former Leafs GM in the running for Ducks GM job
A former Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager is in the running to become the next General Manager of the Anaheim Ducks. Dave Nonis is one of three in-house candidates who is being interviewed for the GM job that has been vacant ever since Bob Murray was fired in November of 2021.
Nonis has many years of experience as an NHL GM. Nonis spent 4 years as GM of the Vancouver Canucks and he was also Leafs GM between 2013 and 2015, taking over the job for his predecessor Brian Burke.
His time in Toronto is known for being one of the darkest eras in franchise history. His first season was the 2013 lockout season; we will not talk about how that ended (it was 4-1 in the 3rd...). Then, after making moves to bolster the team, the Leafs collapsed late in the 2014 season and missed the playoffs. Nonis' final season as Leafs GM was 2015. This season, the Leafs finished 4th-last in the NHL but fortunately finished low enough that they were able to draft Markham, Ontario native Mitch Marner 4th overall.
Nonis made many big trades throughout his career such as: brining Roberto Luongo to Vancouver and offloading David Clarkson's contract in Toronto. Unfortunately many of his big trades missed. His most infamous trades as Leafs GM were the Johnathan Bernier and Dave Bolland trades in the summer of 2013.
That summer, Nonis made many questionable moves. The Leafs lost key depth players such as Clark MacArthur and Mikhail Grabovski. They replaced these two by throwing money at David Clarkson and trading for Dave Bolland. Meanwhile instead of addressing team needs, Nonis traded for Johnathan Bernier after James Reimer was the scapegoat for the 2013 collapse.
Nonis was fired after the 2015 season and in July of 2015, he joined the Ducks organization where he's been ever since. Nonis is currently the Assistant General Manager for the Ducks. They have a youthful squad lead by Trevor Zegras and Jaime Drysdale. Perhaps Nonis has learned from the mistakes he made in Toronto and he could end up being a good General Manager in Anaheim.
He's in the running for the job at the moment and it could lead to the Ducks elevating to the next level but it could also be another example of NHL teams recycling General Managers, to no avail.
