On Friday, TSN's Darren Dreger spoke about Keefe briefly, pointing out that if the Leafs hire ex-Flames GM Brad Treliving, Keefe might end up remaining in Toronto next season after all, as Treliving doesn't really have his "own guy" in terms of an NHL coach. With how his relationship with Darryl Sutter ended in Toronto, Dreger doubts that Treliving would even consider him in Toronto.
Last night, during his 32 Thoughts segment in between periods of the Dallas/Vegas game, Elliotte Friedman reported that we could be nearing a conclusion to the Spencer Carbery stint in Toronto. Per Friedman, Carbery had met with 4 teams over the last week and is expected to be hired at some point very soon.
Carbery joined the Leafs in the summer of 2021 after spending 3 seasons behind the bench as head coach in Hershey with the Capitals' AHL affiliate Hershey Bears and being named the AHL's Most Outstanding Coach in 2020-21. Carbery has spend the last 2 seasons in Toronto despite a number of interviews for head coaching positions around the league. With the Capitals having a vacancy at the head coach position and with the organization already being so familiar with Carbery, he seems like the most likely candidate to get a look there. In addition, Carbery has also interviewed with Anaheim and the New York Rangers, along with one other unspecified team.
If the Leafs lose Carbery, they'll need to bring in someone else to run the power play - however, they won't be able to do that until they have a GM in place and that GM makes a decision on the future of Sheldon Keefe within the organization. If Keefe is let go, I'd imagine that the futures of Dean Chynoweth and Manny Malhotra will also be up in the air. There's a very real possibility that we could see an entire new coaching staff in Toronto next season.
If Keefe is let go and the Leafs decide to retain anyone on the current staff, I'd think that Chynoweth would be the most likely staff member to remain, due in large to his work with the Leafs' D corps this season. However, we won't know more until the GM situation gets sorted out.
POLL | ||
MAI 28 | 74 ANSWERS Storyline involving Leafs coach expected to be coming to an end very soon, per trusted NHL Insider Which team will name Leafs assistant coach Spencer Carbery as their head coach this summer? | ||
Washington | 33 | 44.6 % |
New York (Rangers) | 15 | 20.3 % |
Anaheim | 10 | 13.5 % |
Other | 16 | 21.6 % |
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