TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger joins Gino Reda to discuss the details behind the Maple Leafs’ hiring of Neil Glasberg and PBI Sports to assist with their search for a new head of hockey operations, the direction the Predators and Devils could take in finding new general managers, the pressure for teams to accelerate hires for vacant GM positions and more.
Gino Reda: The Leafs just took an interesting step towards their new hire, another GM shake up in the league, a new key rule change when it comes to age potentially coming up in the NHL very soon, and a 16-year-old prospect may be set to decide his future.
With the details and more, here’s our Insider Darren Dreger – Dregs, the Leafs have hired a search firm to help find their new head of hockey operations – kind of an interesting choice – who’d they hire and what’s next?
Darren Dreger: Well, this gentleman’s name is Neil Glasberg of the Coaches Agency, and anybody who’s familiar with the hiring of general managers and to some degree NHL coaches will know Glasberg’s name.
Yes, he is being retained by the Toronto Maple Leafs to assist in their process – effectively, Geno, managing the search.
Now, undoubtedly, Keith Pelley and the Toronto Maple Leafs brass will have their own list of candidates that they want to interview.
But sure, Glasberg and the Coaches Agency are also going to submit some names that they think should be considered for the vacancy of the head of hockey operations for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
But look, Glasberg has not been hired to influence this process. He’s been hired to bring in added value, if you will. Do some deeper investigating. Find out which candidate is the best fit. Why is this individual good at certain things? Why is he not so good at other things?
So it’s just part of managing the search. That’s why this firm has been brought in to the fold.
I believe that Glasberg and Keith Pelley, the head of MLSE, will have a meeting in the next couple of days to iron out the approach moving forward.
But when it comes to something as simple as seeking permission from a club, if there is a candidate that’s currently under contract in the National Hockey League, that will be up to Pelley and the Toronto Maple Leafs and not Neil Glasberg and the Coaches Agency. So merely there to provide some guidance in this process.
Reda: And Dregs, the Leafs aren’t the only team looking for a new GM. The Nashville Predators have been looking since Barry Trotz announced that he was going to step down in February. And now the New Jersey Devils are on the hunt as well after they just fired Tom Fitzgerald.
Any sense of the kind of direction the Preds and Devils are going to be taking?
Dreger: Let’s start with the Preds for just a moment, only in connection to Tom Fitzgerald and the New Jersey Devils.
We know that Tom Fitzgerald has history with the Nashville Predators organization. I can tell you that Fitzgerald is pretty eager to get back into the next office of general manager. So perhaps there could be a fit with the Nashville Predators.
Even though we know that Nashville is well down the path of trying to replace Barry Trotz eventually at some point, but they’re exhausting that situation.
As for the New Jersey Devils, many wondering about what sort of influence Martin Brodeur might have. I’m told that he will have a voice, but how significant that voice will be in the process, we’ll have to wait and find out how it pans out.
I mean, some of the candidates we’ve already talked about in linking to the Toronto Maple Leafs and some of the other jobs are names that are going to be applied yet again.
What about Doug Armstrong and the St. Louis Blues? I mean, if this guy is actually available, could he be a fit with the New Jersey Devils? Sunny Mehta, we’ve heard his name in connection to the vacancy in Toronto. David Blitzer, who’s one of the owners of the New Jersey Devils, actually hired Sunny Mehta years ago, and I’m told that he’s got a lot of time for everything that he’s done with the Florida Panthers.
So there’ll be a number of different names, but scenarios surely that will be investigated by the Devils brass.
Reda: Dregs, do you think there’s a temptation to kind of accelerate the timing of the process when you’re not the only person out there looking for a general manager?
We saw with Pete DeBoer, he gets a job near the end of the regular season because people are afraid someone else is going to snatch him up moving forward. Do you think that might become an issue in the hunt for new GMs on a number of different fronts?
Dreger: It might be if we’re looking specifically at Sunny Mehta. Again, you’re looking at a resume that’s analytics driven. Is he ready to be a National Hockey League general manager? And if the answer to that is yes, and you feel that way if you’re the Maple Leafs or as I just mentioned, the New Jersey Devils, then why wouldn’t you move sooner than later?
I mean, it depends on the candidates that we’re talking about here. Again, I think of what the Nashville Predators have done and the work they’ve put in. And they’ve been doing this now for several weeks.
So I get the sense from Toronto’s standpoint that they want to expedite and they’d like to have somebody in place by mid-May. And I would think that the New Jersey Devils are likely feeling the same way.
Reda: Not a bad time to be a GM looking for a job. Listen, when we were at the GM meetings in Florida a couple of weeks ago, the NHL and CHL took a major step towards changing the rules about allowing 19-year-olds out of major junior into the NHL. Any updates on that, Dregs?
Dreger: Just ongoing back and forth between the National Hockey League and the Canadian Hockey League.
They’re swapping language, so it’s getting very close to the finish line.
As we reported back in Florida, there’s no doubt that 19-year-olds will be able to play in the American Hockey League as early as next season.
What we don’t know – what hasn’t been fully or officially disclosed – is what are the restrictions around that?
And again, it’s the lawyering that is being done in the process right now. I expect that the National Hockey League will have something in their hands from the CHL at some point this week.
And then at that point, I think we can start to peel away the layers of what the restrictions are and what it’s actually going to look like next season.
Reda: Speaking of young guys making an impact, Landon DuPont, son of former NHLer Mickey DuPont, is making quite the impression already. The 16-year-old was the first D-man to be granted exceptional status in the WHL. What are you hearing about his short- and long-term plans, Dregs?
Dreger: Most of it’s media driven, right? And it’s because of Gavin McKenna and what he’s done this season in Penn State, Keaton Verhoeff and what he’s doing with University of North Dakota, players that made the jump.
So we’re looking at, okay, well, who’s the obvious? Who’s the next one? Who’s going to cash in on the dollars that could be available from the NCAA and the programs there?
Well, Landon DuPont’s name is the next best one, right? But he’s only 16 years of age, as you’ve identified, Gino.
He turns 17 next month, he’s a star with the Everett Silvertips, and their focus in the Western Hockey League is to not only win the league, but vie for the Memorial Cup Championship this year in Kelowna.
If they were able to do that, if he was able to be part of a championship run, then maybe there is pause and reason to consider what is the next best challenge for him from a hockey perspective.
And if he’s proven everything that he can at the major junior level, then yeah, the NCAA absolutely would be a strong consideration. But they are not there yet, not by a long shot. All of this will be discussed at the end of the season.