{"id":545859,"date":"2026-04-07T16:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545859\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T16:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:52:17","slug":"nhl-rumors-maple-leafs-hire-firm-panthers-offseason-moves-oilers-signing-the-hockey-writers-toronto-maple-leafs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545859\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumors: Maple Leafs Hire Firm, Panthers Offseason Moves, Oilers Signing – The Hockey Writers – Toronto Maple Leafs"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s NHL rumors rundown, the Toronto Maple Leafs have hired<\/a> a search firm to assist in hiring a GM or President of Hockey Ops, but there is already controversy over the choice<\/a>. Meanwhile, Bill Zito of the Florida Panthers hints at off-season moves, and the Edmonton Oilers are set to sign a Russian prospect.<\/p>\n

Did the Maple Leafs already make a mistake with their first big hiring decision? There\u2019s a lot of chatter about why the firm they\u2019ve chosen is polarizing. <\/p>\n

Maple Leafs Taking Flak Over Hiring of Search Firm<\/p>\n

The Toronto Maple Leafs have chosen a firm to aid in the hiring of their next GM or President of Hockey Operations. They\u2019ve selected Neil Glasberg and PBI Sports (Glasberg\u2019s The Coaches Agency).<\/p>\n

The reason the decision is already drawing negative attention is that Glasberg arguably has a vested interest in who gets hired. He represents, as an agent, some of the candidates who could be in line for the job. Frank Seravalli posted, \u201cFurther to last tweet about conflict of interest, this is the LLC shell game Glasberg plays to make everything appear above board. Reminder: We\u2019ve already had one team terminate a search firm this spring for a conflict of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KeithKeith Pelley, MLSE President and CEO (Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

He later adds that he received a text message from another NHL executive who agreed that this doesn\u2019t look good. <\/p>\n

Seravalli wrote, \u201cText message from a current #NHL executive re: #LeafsForever hiring Neil Glasberg to conduct search: \u201c1. Get paid to run search. 2. Search hires your client as GM (get paid again) 3. Client hires another client as HC (get paid again) The only question is if Neil can hit a superfecta: search, client as president, client as GM, and client as head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Florida Panthers assistant GM Sunny Mehta is among Neil Glasberg\u2019s clients<\/a>. Mehta has been named as a frontrunner in the search.<\/p>\n

Panthers to Look for Offseason Opportunities <\/p>\n

In an interview with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito suggested he\u2019ll be active in seeking offseason opportunities. Just days after being officially ruled out of playoff contention, the Panthers\u2019 GM has no desire to use injuries as an excuse. <\/p>\n

Related: NHL Rumors: Roy\u2019s Firing, Maple Leafs Reunion, TJ Hughes News, and a \u2018Red Herring\u2019 Trade<\/a><\/p>\n

As for how active he\u2019ll be, LeBrun cites Zito:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too early to tell. But it\u2019s also about availability, right? You can say, \u2018I need three Maseratis,\u2019 but there are none out there, there\u2019s none for sale, there\u2019s no one that will trade you theirs, so you\u2019d better have a Plan B\u2026 I think we\u2019re not alone. But I do think it\u2019s an interesting dynamic now \u2014 a few years on this job \u2014 where you break down your roster, and you say, \u2018We need this. We need that.\u2019 Yeah, OK, where are you going to get it? So it\u2019s a never-ending puzzle. We\u2019ll just continue to grind and try to make good decisions.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

source \u2013 \u2018How do the Panthers move on after a lost season? Catching up with Bill Zito\u2019 \u2013 Pierre LeBrun \u2013 The Athletic \u2013 04\/07\/2026<\/p>\n

Oilers Signing Maxim Berezkin?<\/p>\n

It appears the Edmonton Oilers will add another Russian player next season, signing 24-year-old forward Maxim Berezkin<\/a> to a one-year entry-level contract. As R.org reports<\/a>, \u201cBerezkin is an Oilers prospect who was selected by Edmonton in the fifth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, No. 138 overall. He has spent his entire professional career in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl system.\u201d<\/p>\n

A versatile, physical power forward with strong vision, he stayed an extra year in the KHL to gain experience. Despite a slower 2025-26 season, Berezkin is set to join Edmonton, joining fellow Russian Vasily Podkolzin to ease his transition to the NHL.<\/p>\n

\"SUBSCRIBE<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In today\u2019s NHL rumors rundown, the Toronto Maple Leafs have hired a search firm to assist in hiring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[9107,5,9830,20,5172,62149,4,11,66,31,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-545859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-bill-zito","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-keith-pelley","11":"tag-maple-leafs","12":"tag-mapleleafs","13":"tag-maxsim-berezkin","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-sergei-bobrovsky","16":"tag-toronto","17":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","18":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116364468075329315","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545859","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=545859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}