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The Toronto Maple Leafs could bring back Manny Malhotra ahead of next season, a notable insider believes could happen.<\/p>\n
The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> have plenty of spinning plates this upcoming offseason. As if the GM search wasn\u2019t enough, there might also be a major shakeup behind the bench.<\/p>\n Of course, the move behind the bench will be dependent on what the organization does high up the food chain.<\/p>\n But assuming a change behind the bench becomes a necessity, the Maple Leafs might consider bringing back a familiar face. In particular, that face could be Manny Malhotra.<\/p>\n Malhotra is currently the head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks of the AHL. He was the frontrunner for the Vancouver Canucks head coaching job last season. Vancouver eventually went with Adam Foote to replace Rick Tocchet.<\/p>\n But now, Malhotra could be in play, at least that\u2019s what insider Elliotte Friedman thinks.<\/p>\n \u201cMy theory on Toronto is if they do make a coaching change, maybe a Manny Malhotra is the kind of guy they look at.\u201d<\/p>\n The comments, as spoken on the latest edition of the 32 Thoughts Podcas<\/a>t, make sense for the Leafs. The 45-year-old was an assistant on Sheldon Keefe\u2019s staff. He moved to take the head coaching gig in Abbotsford following the 2023-24 Maple Leafs\u2019 season.<\/p>\n Given the success that Malhotra had last season, winning the Calder Cup with Abbotsford, it wouldn\u2019t be crazy to imagine NHL clubs calling on him.<\/p>\n Malhotra Brings Familiarity to Maple Leafs <\/p>\n Bringing back Malhotra would be like hiring a new old face. There is a familiarity between Malhotra and the Maple Leafs. As such, the transition wouldn\u2019t be quite as complicated as it might seem.<\/p>\n Moreover, the former NHLer is on the younger side. At 45, he would inject some of that new blood that CEO Keith Pelley talked about in his now infamous presser last week.<\/p>\n The hardest part of all would be to convince Malhotra to come aboard. Considering that it would be his first NHL head coaching job, it might not be quite as tough. However, the Maple Leafs will need to get permission from the Canucks to speak with him.<\/p>\n Perhaps that might not be the most complicated part. The most complex issue could be competing with other clubs for his services.<\/p>\n What to read next: Maple Leafs Should Re-Sign Forward Ahead of Free Agency<\/a><\/p>\n Coaching Change Likely Last on the To-Do List for Toronto<\/p>\n While Malhotra may seem like a good fit for the Maple Leafs, that decision may be the last item on the club\u2019s to-do list this offseason.<\/p>\n The first major issue is filling the President of Hockey Operations role. Then, the next move could be the GM role<\/a>. Once both upper-management roles are filled, the coaching situation may come into focus.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why Craig Berube remains behind the bench, at least to run out the clock on the season. Additionally, there is always the possibility that the Maple Leafs hold onto Berube for one more season.<\/p>\n That move may be a bit of a last resort, particularly if the Leafs can\u2019t get the coaching candidate they want. The key here is for the organization to act quickly. Delaying a decision could prove costly.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tNestor Quixtan<\/a> Seasoned NHL analyst and baseball writer focused on covering clubs across each league with news, analysis, and insights. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Nestor’s singular experiences and background have enabled him to bring a different take on the sports world as a whole. Nestor’s fondness for baseball and hockey set the tone for his love and passion for writing about sports. More about Nestor Quixtan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Maple Leafs\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Toronto Maple Leafs could bring back Manny Malhotra ahead of next season, a notable insider believes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[5,20,5172,4,66,31,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-544906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-maple-leafs","10":"tag-mapleleafs","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-toronto","13":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","14":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116361545227286811","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}