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The Toronto Maple Leafs has relieved General Manager Dave Nonis, Interim Head Coach Peter Horachek, assistant coaches Steve Spott, Chris Dennis and Rick St. Croix of their duties.
According to a press release from the club, Leafs' Assistant General Manager Kyle Dubas and Director of Player Personnel Mark Hunter will share the GM responsibilities on an interim basis while the club begins a search for a new general manager.
The club also relieved Director of Pro Scouting Steve Kasper, Director of Player Development Jim Hughes and some of the club’s full and part-time scouts in its pro, amateur and player evaluation departments.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs ended their season with an energetic effort in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens at Air Canada Center on Saturday, a characteristic that was few and far between for the Blue and White following of firing of head coach Randy Carlyle.
Rookie forward Casey Bailey, Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak scored for Toronto, representing an alpha and omega of sorts for the organization. Bailey was strong in his fifth game and showed a bit of the potential the Leafs were intrigued by when they signed the undrafted college free agent out of Penn State University in March, while Bozak and Kessel’s tallies could be the footnote of their Toronto careers.
The Leafs finished the year with a 30-44-8 record, 27th overall in the NHL standings and with a great deal of questions about the future.
After a season of evaluation and observation, Team President Brendan Shanahan appears poised to start implementing a new direction for the club, as the dismissal of interim coach Peter Horachek is expected and the status of GM Dave Nonis could be revealed at a season-ending press availability Monday afternoon.
Shanahan met with Nonis prior to the season finale and will meet again on Sunday according to Sportsnet’s Damien Cox to discuss his future with the organization, but there is no preliminary indication of whether the Leafs GM who replaced Brian Burke 27 months ago will be retained or dismissed.
Cox reported on Saturday that assistant GM’s Mark Hunter and Kyle Dubas are staying and that assistant coach Steve Staios will resume his role in the player personnel department, but indicates that a major housecleaning is set to occur which could stretch into all aspects of the organization.
Hall-of-Famer Rob Blake and former Arizona Coyotes goaltending coach Sean Burke are said to be management candidates on the Leafs radar, but neither have significant management experience. Blake is currently an assistant to Kings GM Dean Lombardi and refuted any interest in leaving California when his name was linked to the Leafs in January.
Other managerial candidates could be added to that list if they become available this week, such as Boston GM Peter Chiarelli if the Bruins clean house after missing the playoffs.
The challenge for the organization in the coming months is to satisfy the appetite of an annoyed fan base by moving many of the Leafs core group, who have repeatedly shown they were incapable of being consistent and unwilling to play two-way hockey.
The ‘culture change’ talked about when Shanahan took over 12 months never really happened, as the Leafs adding veterans Stephane Robidas, Roman Polak, Daniel Winnik and Mike Santorelli was akin to addressing a bullet wound with a band aid.
"Individuals resist change," Horachek said in his final post-game presser. "That's the best way I guess I can say that. People don't want to change, they want to keep it in the comfort levels where they are."
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