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Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment chairman Larry Tanenbaum is reportedly going to divest himself of most of his holdings in MLSE, according to Sportico.
The 78-year-old bought into the ownership of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996 and helped form MLSE in 1998. His ownership stake currently of the sports conglomerate that consists of the Leafs, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC of MLS, the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts, and their respective venues is 25% and according to the report, he is a large portion of that to OMERS(Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) for more than $8 billion.
The current ownership structure of MLSE is that the two major communication companies; Bell Canada and Rogers Communications own equal majority shares of 37.5% and that a potential issue with the transaction is that they have a right of first refusal to purchase any shares in the company.
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The Leafs still have two major coaching vacancies to fill at the NHL and AHL level following the departure of Spencer Carbery and the decision to not renew the contract of Marlies head coach Greg Moore and his staff. A number of jobs have been filled in the last week, with former Leafs Michael Peca and Phil Housley joining Peter Laviolette’s staff in New York, ex-Vancouver bench boss Travis Green being hired by New Jersey as an assistant, and Calgary Wranglers head coach Mitch Love joining Carbery’s staff in Washington.
Green and Love were considered potential candidates for a spot on Sheldon Keefe’s staff.
Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson, (who won his second Calder Cup title on Wednesday) was also mentioned as a possibility by Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek, along with Karl Taylor of the Milwaukee Admirals. It is possible that Toronto had to wait until Nelson’s playoff run was complete before being free to talk to him.
As for the Marlies, one intriguing possibility is Marc Savard. The former NHLer was an NHL assistant in St. Louis in 2020 and has been head coach of the OHL Windsor Spitfires the last two seasons. Taking a job as AHL bench boss would be considered the next step in putting Savard on the radar for an NHL head coaching job.
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