Leafs' coaching search takes unexpected turn involving Gerard Gallant
The Toronto Maple Leafs were believed to be on the cusp of selecting their new head coach, but now things have taken an unexpected turn involving Gerard Gallant.
For much of the last week, much of the focus in Toronto has been around bringing in Craig Berube as the team's next head coach. However, according to Elliotte Friedman on his most recent 32 Thoughts podcast, the Leafs have since spoken with Gallant about the position.
I heard that Gallant has spoken to the Maple Leafs and I would assume he's spoken with other teams as well. I'm not surprised in the least, because he is exactly the kind of coach who I think Brad Treliving would be interested in."
This is a bit of a strange situation, as earlier this week, it was announced that the Leafs had not interviewed Gallant and that they might not even have any interest in interviewing the veteran coach, who went to the Stanley Cup Finals with the Vegas Golden Knights in their inaugural season.
Gallant has a reputation of being a "players' coach", which is a bit of a different personality than what the Leafs were said to be looking for originally.
There's no question that Gallant is a quality coach with a lot of experience. Could we potentially see him swoop in and swipe the job from under Berube's nose? It's certainly possible.
| POLL | ||
MAI 17 | 275 ANSWERS Leafs' coaching search takes unexpected turn involving Gerard Gallant Are you surprised to hear that the Leafs have spoken with Gerard Gallant about the head coaching position in Toronto? | ||
| Yes, didn't expect the pivot | 116 | 42.2 % |
| No, he's a very good coach | 159 | 57.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
