TORONTO \u2014 Keith Pelley wants to be as open-minded as possible as he sets out to find the Toronto Maple Leafs\u2019 next head of hockey operations.<\/p>\n
But there was a tell in his news conference on Tuesday<\/a>. Citing the \u201cfoundational pieces\u201d he believes are still on the hockey team, the president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment said he prefers the idea of a retool over a rebuild.<\/p>\n That\u2019s something he 100 percent would have discussed with ownership before announcing it to the world.<\/p>\n Yes, Pelley made sure to add the proviso that the new head of hockey operations would have the ultimate say on that. But let\u2019s be real. The candidate with the best chance of winning the job is likely to be the one who shares ownership\u2019s view on whether to retool or rebuild. That\u2019s how these things work.<\/p>\n For example, some candidates who interviewed for the Pittsburgh Penguins general manager job three years ago didn\u2019t hide the fact that they felt that the Pens\u2019 aging roster needed a full teardown. That\u2019s not what ownership wanted to hear. It wanted to hear about the team remaining competitive in the short term around Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang while also getting younger over time and restocking the cupboard. The guy who said he could deliver on that was Kyle Dubas. And well, he has, which has been rather impressive.<\/p>\n The reason I bring this up is that I know there were some potential candidates for Leafs GM keenly watching Tuesday to hear what Pelley would say on that subject. And I know some candidates may not be as interested in the job if they don\u2019t get full autonomy to do a rebuild instead \u2014 because they believe the Leafs have so little coming in the pipeline that they need to reset things more fully than MLSE ownership may be willing to accept.<\/p>\n It\u2019s something to consider as Pelley and the search firm he\u2019s bringing in whittle down their list of candidates.<\/p>\n This is where the chicken-and-the-egg situation gets interesting. The new head of hockey operations will want to know how Auston Matthews feels about his future in Toronto before fully setting a new course for the organization. But in turn, the Leafs captain and his agent, Judd Moldaver, will want to know what course is being charted by management before deciding what they want. That\u2019s a delicate balance. Who blinks first?<\/p>\n Matthews alone could decide the rebuild-versus-retool path, depending on his course of action.<\/p>\n Still, even with that complication and with how things look at the moment, it\u2019s a job that is very coveted across the league.<\/p>\n So you\u2019re going to hear about all kinds of names over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n One you won\u2019t hear is Jim Nill. It was interesting timing indeed that the Dallas Stars announced his two-year contract extension on Tuesday, a day after Leafs GM Brad Treliving was fired. My understanding is that Nill and the Stars had agreed to the deal a few weeks ago but hadn\u2019t announced it. Hearing Nill\u2019s name bandied about by Toronto media Tuesday morning was probably enough incentive for the Stars to put an end to that. Nill\u2019s current deal was expiring after this season. So it was pretty darn important for the Stars to get done for the three-time GM of the Year extended \u2014 and, well, scratch his name off Toronto\u2019s list.<\/p>\n And what about Doug Armstrong, the outgoing Canadian Olympic GM? He\u2019s atop most lists of candidates, and his body of work certainly suggests he should be. Armstrong\u2019s headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame one day. But he\u2019s not a free agent<\/a>. There seems to be some confusion over that because he\u2019s stepping down as GM on July 1, but he signed a three-year extension to be president of hockey operations and help guide new GM Alex Steen in St. Louis.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say the Leafs shouldn\u2019t covet Armstrong, and in fact, they\u2019d be silly not to reach out to the Blues and ask permission to speak with him. But it comes down to Blues owner Tom Stillman deciding whether or not he would entertain letting Armstrong talk to the Leafs. I\u2019m not sure why he would, but if Stillman felt Armstrong really wanted the Leafs job, I suppose you never know.<\/p>\n