The Toronto Maple Leafs’ head coaching search continues to move along and it appears they have now spoken to Gerard Gallant.
On the latest episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicated that he had heard that the Leafs had spoken to the four-time NHL head coach.
“You know my feelings on Toronto, which is until I’m told otherwise I believe that (Craig) Berube is their guy,” Friedman said. It’s just a matter of what the process is to get there. But I had heard that Gallant had spoke to the Maple Leafs and I would assume that he has spoke to some other teams as well.
Friedman added he wasn’t surprised noting that Gallant is exactly the type of coach that Leafs GM Brad Treliving would be interested in.
Four days ago, Sportsnet’s Luke Fox reported that Gallant had not been contacted about the open position with Toronto. At that point, the Leafs had reportedly interviewed Berube and Former Los Angeles Kings head coach Todd McLellan.
But a lot can change in four days. And with Treliving expected to be thorough in his approach. It would be a surprise to see the Leafs continue speaking to people.
With the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs following a Game 6 loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday, there are a lot of questions surrounding the future of Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour, who doesn’t have a new deal signed yet. He’s expected to garner a lot of interest if a deal isn’t worked out. With Carolina out, some clarity is expected from that situation sooner rather than later and other teams can aggressively pursue or move on.
