The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to strengthen their scouting department, as they have hired Spokane Chiefs GM Tim Speltz to direct the club’s scouting efforts in Western Canada.
Speltz has two Memorial Cups on his resume and 28 years of management experience in the WHL with Medicine Hat and Spokane. He also has an association with Mike Babcock going back to 1994, as the Leafs bench boss coached the Chiefs for six seasons before leaving to coach Anaheim’s AHL affiliate in Cincinnati.
“The opportunity I’ve been presented with by Toronto is extraordinary and is something that I couldn’t pass up,” Speltz said
in a press release. “I am excited to take on a new challenge and get started with such an iconic NHL franchise. I am also very grateful that I’ll be able to assist in the Chiefs’ transition to a new general manager as well as continue to call Spokane home for my family.”
According to TSN’s
Darren Dreger, the position that Speltz accepted was similar to the one offered to Kelly McCrimmon last summer, but the Brandon GM and coach chose to stay with the Wheat Kings last season and accept a job as assistant GM under George McPhee with the new Las Vegas expansion franchise.
This marks the second significant hire for the Leafs scouting department, who added former Sherbrooke GM Patrick Charbonneau to the fold last week. Charbonneau was fired by the QMJHL club last December and was an assistant GM with the Rimouski Oceanic.
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After many months of speculation and waiting, Maple Leafs representatives were among a number of NHL teams to meet with 2016 Hobey Baker Award winner Jimmy Vesey on Tuesday.
Team President Brendan Shanahan confirmed to the Sun’s
Lance Hornby that he met with the Harvard forward in Boston and that things went well.
The 23-year-old forward also met with the
New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders on his first day of unrestricted free agency, after being only able to talk with the Buffalo Sabres since his rights were traded by Nashville just prior to the NHL Draft.
One club that expressed interest but did not make the cut was the Detroit Red Wings, who spoke to the Vesey camp but
were told that he would prefer to play closer to home.
That geographic preference would seem to limit the Chicago Blackhawks chances (who play in the Western Conference) and give teams in the Atlantic Division (Buffalo, Toronto, Boston) and the New York based clubs (Devils, Islanders and Rangers) an advantage.
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