The Toronto Maple Leafs, who officially announced their affiliation with the Newfoundland Growlers Thursday morning in St. John’s, see the expansion ECHL team as a pro hockey entry point for not only some of their prospects, but other key personnel as well.
And at the top of that list in the Growlers’ head coach, who will be under contract by Toronto and is expected to be named within the next seven to 10 days.
In addition to upwards of a dozen players who figure to be under contract by Toronto in 2018-19, the Leafs are also hiring the Growlers’ coaches, training and equipment staff.
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Multiple interviews for the head coaching position have been conducted, said Leafs assistant general manager Laurence Gilman. The announcement has been delayed thanks in part to the Toronto Marlies’ Calder Cup playoff run, which end with the Marlies winning the AHL title Thursday night in Toronto.
“A big part of this organization isn’t just developing players, but developing people,” said Gilman, who was in town Thursday for the affiliation announcement.
“Coaching is a big part of that.”
“(Marlies coach) Sheldon Keefe is clearly an up and coming coach, and it is reasonable to assume he could be moving on to coach an NHL team in not too distant future,” Gilman said. “With that in mind, we are looking to bring someone in who we can develop and get that person to the next level.”
Gilman, nor Growlers CEO Glenn Stanford, who has sat in on the coaching interviews, would speculate on who the organization is leaning towards leading the new ECHL team, but Gilman did say it won’t be Drake Berehowsky.
Berehowsky, the former St. John’s Maple Leafs defenceman, coached the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears last season, where Toronto had a working agreement. Berehowsky is expected to remain in Orlando.
“Given that people know what this organization is about, (the Growlers head coaching position) is going to be a good job. It’s going to have a lot of resources behind it, so it stands to reason that a lot of people would be interested in having it.”
Toronto assistant GM Lawrence Gilman
Gilman, who will serve as the Growlers’ general manager, did say there was no shortage of people who were interested in the Newfoundland job.
“I’ve been in this business a long time,” he said, “and when a job like this becomes available, whatever level it is, there are always people looking to get on board.
“And particularly, given that people know what this organization is about, this is going to be a good job. It’s going to have a lot of resources behind it, so it stands to reason that a lot of people would be interested in having it.”
He said Toronto has no preference in hiring someone from the Canadian Hockey League or the U.S. college ranks. However, new Leafs’ general manager Kyle Dubas is a product of the Ontario Hockey League and Keefe, Dubas’s hire, came from the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL.
One possibility you can scratch off is highly-regarded Kris Knoblauch from the OHL’s Erie Otters. Koblauch was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers as an assistant last week.
But as Gilman said, there are a lot of people in the hockey business, far more than there are available jobs.
It’s why the Leafs, and Stanford, received a lot of applications when the franchise was officially announced last month.
“People came out of the woodwork, and I don’t mean that in a negative manner,” Gilman said. “Right away, when a franchise is announced, you know there’s going to be a job right away for a coach, for an assistant coach and for trainers.
“Generally speaking, there are more people than there are jobs at any level of hockey, so when you’re someone who is not working or someone looking to climb the ladder, you are keenly aware of jobs that come available.”
Leafs coach Mike Babcock pulls some weight in the organization, and while Gilman would not go so far as to suggest Babcock will have a say in the Growlers’ coaching decision, he said the Toronto bench boss has, “a wealth of hockey knowledge, and it would behoove the Maple Leafs to tap into that knowledge.”
In many ways, the Growlers will be expected to employ the same style of play as the Marlies, who in turn mirror the Leafs.
So the coach in St. John’s, whoever that may be, will likely be in close contact with the Marlies’ Keefe and, to a lesser degree, Babcock.
“I would assume there’s going to be a high degree of dialogue between our coaches,” Gilman said. “When you’re calling up a player, and you’re the parent — and let’s refer to the Marlies as the parent team to the Growlers — before a callup is made, the coach of the Marlies will call the coach of the Growlers and say, ‘I need a player’, and then the question gets asked, ‘What kind of player do you need? A skilled forward? Defensive forward? A defenceman who can move the puck?’ These decisions are always collaborative and are made between the coach in the level up, and the coach in the level down.
“So we need people who are going to be on the same page.”
