Two former Leafs executives in line for jobs with Western Canadian team

Although they finished 16th in the NHL standings and only missed out on the post-season dance by 2 points, the Flames were a hot mess and it stemmed from some of their off-season moves and their players butting heads with the head coach, Darryl Sutter.

The Flames went from a 50-win season in 2021-22 to losing Johnny Gaudreau to Columbus in free agency, and then being forced into trading Matthew Tkachuk. They received Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar in exchange, along with balancing pieces, however Huberdeau went from 115 points to 55 in a calendar year after signing a long term extension. The Flames also signed Nazem Kadri to a 7-year deal but none of their moves bared any fruit, largely because of Sutter's coaching style and systems, which stifled their creativity.

So now as they search for a new general manager, they have looked into 2 former Toronto Maple Leafs' executives in Mark Hunter and Dave Nonis. Hunter was a Director of Player Personnel for the Leafs between 2014-15 and 2015-16 as well as the assistant general manager in 2016-17. As for Nonis, he was the Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations and Director of Hockey Operations from 2008-09 to 2011-12 before assuming his role as GM from 2012-13 to 2014-15 - while holding onto the senior VP role.

Hunter returned to the London Knights following his departure from Toronto and is currently their general manager - a franchise he has been apart of since 2000-01 - while Nonis had been the assistant general manager for the Anaheim Ducks for the past 3 seasons before just being relieved of his duties at the end of the season.

The Flames are narrowing down their search and should be coming close to a decision very soon. There's seemingly a good chance that either one of the former Maple Leafs executives could become the new general manager in Calgary.