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The Toronto Maple Leafs are likely to make an announcement on their coaching staff when everything is in place, but there have been little bits of information that have popped out in recent days about who will be retained and who will be brought back.
Of the group of assistants that supported Sheldon Keefe, the only name that appears to be a lock to stay with the club is Mike Van Ryn, who served as an assistant to new head coach Craig Berube in St. Louis. Manny Malholtra was announced as the new head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks late last month, but the status of Dean Chynoweth and Guy Boucher is yet to be confirmed.
"With (Lane) Lambert, it's just a matter of (the Leafs) making an announcement."@FriedgeHNIC discusses the latest on the former #Isles coach's links to Toronto with @JeffMarek. #LeafsForever
— Sportsnet 590 The FAN (@FAN590) June 4, 2024
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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman offered some clarity on the situation on FAN 590’s Jeff Marek show on Tueaday, indicating that Chynoweth will likely not be back, that there is no news on Boucher, but that former New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert will be joining the Leafs staff. The 59-year-old served as an assistant with Nashville, Washington, and the Islanders and took over for Barry Trotz as head coach in 2022, but was replaced by Patrick Roy in January.
There has not been any further news on former Blues and Flames assistant Marc Savard since he mutually parted ways with Calgary last month, but there has been some speculation that he may join Berube’s staff.
Furthering on Friedman’s report on Monday, Pierre LeBrun of the Athletic indicated that there is no meeting scheduled between agent Darren Ferris and Leafs GM Brad Treliving at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo this week, but that it is possible that the two may cross paths at some point.
At this point, the indicator from those in the know is that neither side is blinking. Marner’s agent is not preparing a list of potential destinations, the Leafs are not making hints of interest in an extension, and at this point, he is fully prepared to play out the final year of his six-year deal, start the season and see where things go, but the problem for Treliving, as it was with William Nylander, is once you go into the season, the cap flexibility of many teams is limited and if that was a problem for a player with a $7 million salary, imagine what it would be with a cap hit of close to $11 million.
The Leafs and defenseman Joel Edmundson also reportedly have a mutual interest in a contract extension.
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