TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger joins Gino Reda to discuss the details behind the Maple Leafs\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
With the details and more, here\u2019s 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\u2019d they hire and what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n
Darren Dreger: Well, this gentleman\u2019s name is Neil Glasberg of the Coaches Agency, and anybody who\u2019s familiar with the hiring of general managers and to some degree NHL coaches will know Glasberg\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
Yes, he is being retained by the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> to assist in their process – effectively, Geno, managing the search. <\/p>\n Now, undoubtedly, Keith Pelley and the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> brass will have their own list of candidates that they want to interview. <\/p>\n 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<\/a>. <\/p>\n But look, Glasberg has not been hired to influence this process. He\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n So it\u2019s just part of managing the search. That\u2019s why this firm has been brought in to the fold. <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n But when it comes to something as simple as seeking permission from a club, if there is a candidate that\u2019s currently under contract in the National Hockey League, that will be up to Pelley and the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> and not Neil Glasberg and the Coaches Agency. So merely there to provide some guidance in this process.<\/p>\n Reda: And Dregs, the Leafs aren\u2019t the only team looking for a new GM. The Nashville Predators<\/a> have been looking since Barry Trotz announced that he was going to step down in February. And now the New Jersey Devils<\/a> are on the hunt as well after they just fired Tom Fitzgerald. <\/p>\n Any sense of the kind of direction the Preds and Devils are going to be taking?<\/p>\n Dreger: Let\u2019s start with the Preds for just a moment, only in connection to Tom Fitzgerald and the New Jersey Devils<\/a>. <\/p>\n We know that Tom Fitzgerald has history with the Nashville Predators<\/a> 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<\/a>. <\/p>\n Even though we know that Nashville is well down the path of trying to replace Barry Trotz eventually at some point, but they\u2019re exhausting that situation. <\/p>\n As for the New Jersey Devils<\/a>, many wondering about what sort of influence Martin Brodeur<\/a> might have. I\u2019m told that he will have a voice, but how significant that voice will be in the process, we\u2019ll have to wait and find out how it pans out. <\/p>\n I mean, some of the candidates we\u2019ve already talked about in linking to the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> and some of the other jobs are names that are going to be applied yet again. <\/p>\n What about Doug Armstrong and the St. Louis Blues<\/a>? I mean, if this guy is actually available, could he be a fit with the New Jersey Devils<\/a>? Sunny Mehta, we\u2019ve heard his name in connection to the vacancy in Toronto. David Blitzer, who\u2019s one of the owners of the New Jersey Devils<\/a>, actually hired Sunny Mehta years ago, and I\u2019m told that he\u2019s got a lot of time for everything that he\u2019s done with the Florida Panthers<\/a>. <\/p>\n So there\u2019ll be a number of different names, but scenarios surely that will be investigated by the Devils brass.<\/p>\n Reda: Dregs, do you think there\u2019s a temptation to kind of accelerate the timing of the process when you\u2019re not the only person out there looking for a general manager? <\/p>\n 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?<\/p>\n Dreger: It might be if we\u2019re looking specifically at Sunny Mehta. Again, you\u2019re looking at a resume that\u2019s 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\u2019re the Maple Leafs or as I just mentioned, the New Jersey Devils<\/a>, then why wouldn\u2019t you move sooner than later? <\/p>\n I mean, it depends on the candidates that we\u2019re talking about here. Again, I think of what the Nashville Predators<\/a> have done and the work they\u2019ve put in. And they\u2019ve been doing this now for several weeks. <\/p>\n