The Toronto Marlies have added another coach to their staff, as former Marlie Ben Simon has been hired as an assistant to new head coach Gord Dineen. The 36-year-old was head coach of the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL and led his club to the Kelly Cup Final last season.
The vacancy with the Marlies was created when head coach Steve Spott was hired as an assistant to Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle, along with former Panther bench boss Peter Horachek in early July. Leafs GM Dave Nonis indicated that there would not be a third assistant added for the NHL club and that other members of the organization would take over some of the duties, which may include Marlies associate coach Derek King and Simon.
Simon served as an assistant coach for two seasons with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. As a rookie head coach in 2010-11, Simon led the Sheffield Steelers to the Elite Ice Hockey League Championship in England.
During his playing career, Simon skated in 81 NHL games registering 4 points and 47 penalty minutes with the Atlanta Thrashers and Columbus Blue Jackets. Simon was originally drafted in the fifth round, 110th overall, by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1997 Entry Draft. Simon also appeared in 44 regular season games with the Toronto Marlies in 2009-10, collecting 8 points and 51 penalty minutes.
*******
Some interesting Leafs tidbits from the Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons weekend column.
The projected defensive pairings going into training camp are Dion Phaneuf(playing the left side) with new addition Roman Polak, Jake Gardiner with veteran Stephane Robidas and sophomore Morgan Rielly with pending UFA Cody Franson on the third pairing.
Reports tying the signing of free agent center Daniel Winnik to the hiring of analytics friendly assistant GM Kyle Dubas were erroneous. Simmons indicated that the Leafs had contacted the Toronto-area native at the beginning of free agency on July 1 and waited for his price to come down.
The Leafs broadcasts may also see a major change this season with Sportsnet taking over the national television coverage. Simmons indicates that Joe Bowen may be doing only the radio broadcasts on TSN Radio and Sportsnet FAN 590 and not TV games during the week. This would also affect Jon Abbott, who subbed in for Bowen when he moved to television.
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******
For Those on Twitter: Follow @mikeinbuffalo
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information click here.