Chapter 1: What updates are there on the Toronto Maple Leafs' GM search?
All right, let's get her going here. Start of the week. And we are off and running in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Schultz, Derek Brandeo. This is the part where you tell me I'm wrong. Nope, they're both up there. Nailed it. I got all the names right. That is awesome.
We are live on Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 590, The Fan in Toronto, streaming always on Sportsnet Plus.
Chapter 2: Who are the leading candidates for the Leafs' GM position?
Also available Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube, where the chats continue to run fast and furious. All around, of course, I think still the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now, Leafs are long gone, nowhere to be found. But we've still got two hours. We'll go a little Leafs. We'll go around the league. Plenty still.
Listen, if you thought you were coming here and we weren't going to do Leafs off the top, you got the wrong show. Like that OT win, did you? Too bad. You ready to slap a hat trick? Throw it in the trash. Let's talk AGMs from losing teams.
Safe to say, the Toronto Maple Leafs search continues. Never short of information. Our very own Elliott Friedman, Frank Cervelli, all the big boys all around this with names that are still in the mix. And I don't know if they've shrunk or they're down to the nitty gritty.
We had mentioned earlier that I had heard that there was some thought that it could move a little faster than what was once projected, I think, by Keith Pelley during his press conference that... looking at something that could go as far as middle of May, but it doesn't feel like it is. Does it, JB?
Chapter 3: What are the impressions from Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs?
No.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty here, we should probably explain to people what the format of our show is going to be going forward. Oh. Because this is the Leafs hour, right? People come here expecting it to be the Leafs hour. Okay. And I think we will... As Leafs news happens, we know they're going to hire a general manager. They're going to be doing whatever, president, coach, whatever.
We will do it as it sees fit.
Chapter 4: How did Montreal perform in their Game 1 win against Tampa Bay?
If there's lots of Leafs, we'll talk lots of Leafs. If there's not much Leafs, we won't talk a ton of Leafs. But we will do some other NHL stuff in the first hour. It'll be our Leafs maybe half hour. I'm not sure how exactly that's going to work. We've never done this when the Leafs are in the playoffs.
They've been in the playoffs for the duration of the season.
So we're kind of learning on the fly here. So that's kind of how we'll work in the first hour of our show. If you're coming here expecting all Leafs, it probably won't be all Leafs.
Chapter 5: What impact did Juraj Slafkovský have in the game?
Anyways, continue. But for now, it's all Leafs. And in terms of when the hires are going to happen, yes, it does sound like things are, I'm not going to say that they've been expedited, but it does sound like, you know, people are talking about in the next week. It could be possible. Do you think that it could be that soon?
Yes, I do. I do get that feeling. I don't know if the feeling is that Maybe a team of two or three people involved. Obviously, we've heard the name Matt Sundin involved.
Chapter 6: What challenges does Andrei Vasilevskiy face after the loss?
I don't believe for one second he's up for a GM job or president of hockey ops or anything like that. But I think it's safe to say that he'll come in as some advisory type of role, a supporting role. So the question is, where are you on, again, a true architect, someone that can... Take the reins here.
Well, you know, the names that are coming up, you know, it sounds like it's kind of getting down. Ryan Martin, who's an AGM from the New York Rangers, my understanding is he was the runner-up a couple years ago to Verbeek in Anaheim. Like, I think this is a guy that has been sort of sought after in the past. Yeah. a name that when the Rangers were winning a lot, people liked a whole lot more.
Then there's Evan Gold from the Bruins and Scott White out of Dallas, who's kind of between Nill and Peverly there, is another interesting name.
Chapter 7: How do playoff games affect team dynamics and player performance?
But all three of those names I just mentioned have never been a GM in the league.
I would prefer to, if I'm taking assistant general manager, the idea of Boston and Dallas would definitely interest me. Maybe not... from the Rangers at this point, but I mean, that's, he was there when they were president's trophy winners too.
Okay. But there, We are in a what have you done for me lately. So wouldn't you really want to do your homework on what's going on in the Rangers in the last year and a half, two years? And okay, tell us what was great about you when things were going well, but the Rangers are not in a great position. And if I'm not mistaken, his watch is also Hartford, which is the affiliate brand.
Chapter 8: What are the implications of the Leafs' current playoff strategy?
Of the New York Rangers. And they're also in last place. Right. So, I mean... It's hard for those guys because... You want to look at the positives throughout their careers, but you really kind of have to do your homework here. And for me, if I'm part of that search committee or Keith Pelley, I really want to hear what happened in New York. Well, sure.
Yeah, I mean, you've many times heard me say, I don't like when they hire the assistant coach that was on the bench of a losing team. They fire the head coach and they give it to the assistants. Like, if you had answers, why weren't you giving them to that guy? And I kind of feel that way about the AGM.
you know the rangers could be going in the other direction maybe he was part of the decision to tear it down but you're right there are real questions about what he been up to yeah yeah what's going on yeah so and saying that sorry to interrupt yeah no go so in your understanding then is i can't imagine coming out of this gm search they hire one of these first-time gms and that's it like to me it would be like a president and then a first-time gm i'm okay with that relationship
I'm totally with you. I cannot believe that they would just, they would substitute Brad Tree Living for Ryan or Evan and go, we're good. You and Matt, we're good.
There's, I mean... I can't believe they're thinking that. Do you think that's what they're thinking? Do you think they're thinking about the thinking? What are your thoughts on that thinking? But there's two different conversations here. One where we're like, it's what they should do.
And we all agree that if you're going to hire one of these guys that seem like a forward-thinking, first-time general manager, that that is a totally acceptable and fine hire as long as you bring in somebody with some cachet at the top. But if they're thinking that they are going to do that without the cache at the top, that's when I start getting nervous, boys.
Maybe if they tap tape.
I don't see a scenario where it's not without someone else. Okay. I don't. I don't. I don't. I'm not telling you what I know. I'm not telling you inside information. I'm telling you based on all my experience of being around this game for a long time, they wouldn't do that to an Evan Gold or Ryan Martin. They wouldn't do that to them. And especially, and I've said this, I am quite confident.
And especially, and I can't kind of emphasis this enough, in this particular market. At this particular point. You may try to get away with it in Columbus and in New Jersey and possibly in south of Washington, D.C., but not here. It won't fly here.
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