Leafs make surprising change to coaching staff
The Leafs made a change to the coaching staff seemingly out of the blue this evening, choosing not to renew the contract of goaltending coach Steve Briere. His contract is due to end on June 30th. Briere has been the Leafs' goaltending coach for the past 7 years and has helped send Jack Campbell and Frederik Andersen to the All-Star Game. Unfortunately, the work he did with the Buds did not equate to success when it mattered most.
The move could come as both a surprise and not all that surprising depending how you look at it. It could be surprising because of the success he has had with Campbell and Andersen, while not surprising because of the inability to groom Leaf prospects into full-time NHLers (Garrett Sparks among them). The decision also puts lots of speculation into how the Leafs are approaching their goaltending situation this summer. Are they going with 2 new goalies to complete the ensemble? Was this move made to appease Campbell? Is the entire goaltending department being revamped?
According to Darren Dreger on TSN Overdrive, his thought is that the Leafs need a new voice and possibly already have someone in mind. Regardless, now the entire Leafs goaltending situation is a bigger question mark than it was before and it will be interesting to see Dubas' plan evolves over the coming weeks.
