SIMMONS SAYS: If Leafs are serious about contending, they need to hire an elite coach fast

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Published Apr 05, 2026  •  Last updated 18 minutes ago  •  9 minute read

If the Leafs are serious about contending next season, they need to make a call to fired Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy.  Patrick Smith/Getty Images file

If the Maple Leafs believe they will return to competitive form next season — and that seems to be the approach Keith Pelley and ownership want to take — then they should be on the Bruce Cassidy or Pete DeBoer watch almost immediately. If not already.

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Yes, they need a general manager or director of hockey operations or whatever you want to call the position, but there are only two sure-thing elite coaches available and they’re likely to be snapped up quickly once this season concludes.

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Hiring a coach before a general manager or someone doing that job is a foolhardy way to proceed. Really, the Leafs need someone to replace the fired Brad Treliving quickly and then hire a coach just as quickly before the market runs dry.

Cassidy’s teams have averaged 106 points per season over the past seven years in Vegas or Boston. He won a Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights and lost one with the Bruins.
DeBoer’s teams have averaged 102 per season over the past eight seasons. He has coached both Dallas and New Jersey to the Cup final, losing both times.

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He’s coached 18 years in the NHL and has just two losing seasons with five different teams.

Read More

1. 

   SIMMONS: CEO Keith Pelley talks a better game than the Maple Leafs play

2. 

   SIMMONS: Why Brad Treliving's time was up with the Maple Leafs

Most hockey coaches are reasonably replaceable. There are a lot of Craig Berubes out there you can miss the playoffs with. But for every Paul Maurice or Joel Quenneville or Rod Brind’Amour, there is a long list of those who aren’t so certain.

The Leafs have yet to fire Berube, which they could have or should have done when they fired Treliving. But he can’t be brought back next season unless it’s the Leafs’ determination to throw the season and begin the rebuild. Which makes almost no sense because they may not have their own first-round draft pick next season (it was traded, with top-10 protection, to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Scott Laughton deal).

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So the Leafs are caught in a position of paddling in circles. They have two more years of Auston Matthews. They have William Nylander and Matthew Knies signed long-term. And they don’t have much after that.

They can’t tank because they may not have their pick next year and they can’t go for it because they don’t have enough depth or talent, especially on defence. A coach can make that kind of difference, the way Pat Burns or Pat Quinn did in earlier Leafs incarnations.

The new boss of hockey operations may sell himself on a one-year go-for-it mentality — which is what ownership wants to hear — all while realizing the rebuild will probably start one year later.

Cassidy or DeBoer are perfect for the go-for-it attempt and not at all suitable for the bottoming-out part of the equation.
This is the biggest challenge for Leafs ownership, Pelley, and the new director of hockey ops: Trying to determine where you can or cannot go when none of the paths are in any way clear.

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The cringe factor was high during MLSE president Keith Pelley’s news conference after the firing of GM Brad Treliving. Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun

THIS AND THAT

I’ve known Keith Pelley for almost 30 years. I’ve worked with him, around him and for him in that time. There is a lot to like about him. His energy can be captivating. What he should never do again, in his position as CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, is give news conferences. He tends to say the wrong things. He doesn’t necessarily look or sounds comfortable, and just he comes across as a touch disingenuous. And when he says slightly outrageous things like “each team has certain verticals and the verticals weren’t as horizontally integrated as they need to be,” you want to cringe. When his Tuesday news conference was over, the text world among NHL executives and wannabe executives blew up. Everybody texting everybody: Like, what was that? Some of what Pelley was saying was true, but some was pure poppycock. When he said the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres were trains the Leafs didn’t see coming, there was front-office cringing all over the place. Before the season, the Leafs identified four teams on the rise worth fearing: Montreal, Buffalo, Detroit and Ottawa. Three of the four should be in the playoffs. This was not a train the Leafs didn’t see coming. What they weren’t prepared for was being driven over by the train … Pelley wants the Leafs to be more data-driven, which is nice, and sounds good. But would data have jumped Radko Gudas when no Leaf did? Will data be the first-pass-out-of-the-zone defenceman the Leafs desperately need? Will data measure heart or character, some of hockey’s most important components? Data is necessary for all pro sports teams today. But it may be less necessary in a random game such as hockey when compared with the other sports. If data can play right wing on a line with Matthews, I’m all for it … Before Mike Gillis was hired as GM in Vancouver, he cuddled up to ownership of the Canucks prior to the firing of Dave Nonis, and all but sold himself as the saviour. He’s now trying a similar approach with the Leafs. Whatever short list the Leafs may eventually have, Gillis shouldn’t be on it. It’s no secret why he hasn’t been hired by anyone since Vancouver fired him … Doug Armstrong hasn’t said he wants the Leafs job, but more importantly, he hasn’t said he doesn’t want it. And he’s been given the opportunity to say so and hasn’t done so. Armstrong, who grew up the son of an NHL linesman, in the same province as the Leafs, would probably welcome the homecoming. He’s smart, savvy and poised enough to be able to work the Toronto market. What he has to explain is what’s happened to his St. Louis Blues after winning the Stanley Cup in 2019. They’ve been out of the playoffs three of the past four years and have won just one round since the surprising Cup victory seven years back … If the Leafs have any hope of competing next season — and I doubt they can — they must sign Darren Raddysh, the free-agent defenceman from Tampa with the booming slap shot, and Alex Tuch, the power forward from Buffalo. I’d like to see a line of Matthews, Tuch and Matthew Knies. That would be difficult to play against.

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HEAR AND THERE

What a list for Cole Caufield, who had 49 goals entering Saturday’s play, to join when he scores his next one: Only six players have managed 50 goals in a season for the Montreal Canadiens. Their names: Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Pierre Larouche and Stephane Richer. The great Lafleur scored 50 in six straight seasons for Montreal … The Maple Leafs have had just four 50-goal scorers in their history, but without nicknames like Rocket or Boom Boom. They have Matthews, Rick Vaive, Dave Andreychuk and Gary Leeman … The ancient giant Frank Mahovlich, who still holds the Montreal record for most playoff points in a season, scored 48 goals for the Leafs when the schedule was only 70 games long and he scored 49 for the Red Wings when the season was 76 games long. Next season, the NHL is going to 84 games. There will be more 50-goal scorers. It won’t seem right … Since scoring the American version of the Golden Goal, Jack Hughes has been red hot for the New Jersey Devils, with 32 points in 18 games. The only NHL player with more points in that time: The Professor, Nikita Kucherov, at 33. Connor McDavid has 30 post-Olympics and Nathan MacKinnon has added 28. Macklin Celebrini has 24 points in 19 games post-Milan … Why Hart Trophy voting is so challenging this season: McDavid has been in on 47.7% of Edmonton’s goals, while Kucherov is at 46.2% in Tampa, Celebrini at 46% with San Jose and MacKinnon at 42% in Colorado.

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Struggling Blue Jays reliever Brendon Little was shaky again on Saturday. Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press file

SCENE AND HEARD

For the record, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. didn’t hit a home run in his first 18 games last season. And he hit just two in 28 games in April the year before. Now he has one. Something to build on … That’s it for Brendon Little as a Blue Jay, isn’t it? I don’t worry about his ERA. I worry about his DFA … The one player, Guerrero aside, the Jays couldn’t afford to lose: Alejandro Kirk. He’s just on the verge of being a great Major League player. You have to figure six weeks for a fractured left thumb to heel, which isn’t exactly advantageous for a catcher and for Jays team struggling on offence … The early flaw in Kazuma Okamoto: 10 strikeouts in 36 at bats … If you missed my exclusive interview with Roberto Alomar, who broke his silence after being banned from baseball five years ago, here it is: https://tinyurl.com/5n6tcd7z … I’d been trying to interview Alomar for about three years. The reason? When baseball suspended him, they never really provided clarity as to why. He was essentially tried behind closed doors. That seemed wrong then, wrong now … Alomar, to me, remains the greatest Blue Jays player of all time, no matter what you may think of his personal life … My least-favourite baseball word: Velo. Nolan Ryan threw hard. Harder than anyone before him. Nobody ever mentioned “velo” … My favourite ballparks: Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Camden Yards, Oracle Park, PNC Park. Worst name of any stadium in baseball — Rate Field, home of the White Sox … The Raptors season will almost be a total waste if they don’t get out of the play-in round prior to the playoffs … What hasn’t been a waste, though, is the development of 2024 first round pick Ja’Kobe Walter. In March, Walter shot 46% from three-point land after 43% in February. Steph Curry, maybe the greatest shooter in NBA history, is shooting threes at 39.1% this season. Luke Kennard of the Lakers, who scores just 8.1 points a game, leads the NBA with shooting 48.7% from three this season … By comparison, Gradey Dick, drafted a year before Walter, shot 25.9% from three in March and just 20% in February.

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Make the final! A happy retirement to TSN analyst Vic Rauter.

AND ANOTHER THING

A World Cup without Italy is a poorer World Cup. I know it benefits Team Canada to have Italy eliminated, but big picture, in a place like Toronto, how much fun have we lost out on without the Italians involved in a city with so many Italians? … Toronto is going to love Marina Mabrey, the expansion draft pickup by the WNBA’s expansion Tempo. She’s a Tie Domi template in women’s basketball clothing, with a trash-talking mouth and an occasional lack of control. And more talent than Domi. Lots more … What does curling sound like? It sounds like Vic Rauter. It probably looks like Vic Rauter. Few broadcasters ever do one sport so well, with seeming ease, voice and personality. Vic Rauter is retiring this weekend. We have been blessed to have him round for all these years … Among the stranger numbers of this Leafs season: William Nylander is scoring at a 100-point pace, which is more than he’s scored in any NHL season. He is scoring at a 36-goal pace, though, which would be his fewest in four seasons. Odds are there will only be five 100-point scorers in the NHL this season. Just three years ago there were 11 … Who would have predicted Karel Vejmelka of Utah would have played more games this season than any other NHL goalie? Over the past 10 seasons, Connor Hellebuyck leads all goalies in games played 594, followed closely by Andrei Vasilevskiy with 553 … . The thought Jim Nill was a candidate for the Leafs job is media nonsense from those who don’t know better. He was staying in Dallas, period, which has been home to his family for the past 13 years … The Maple Leafs need a hockey boss with vision, power, character, NHL contacts and extreme hockey knowledge, leadership, and toughness. Which sounds a lot like Brendan Shanahan … Happy birthday to Doug Favell (81), Chad Owens (44), Roberto Luongo (47), Kevin Weekes (51), Matt Bonner (46), Matt Boldy (25), Charlotte Flair (40), Bo Horvat (31), Scott Rolen (51), Karen Magnussen (74), Rachel Homan (37) and Diamond Dallas Page (70) … And hey, whatever became of Marco Estrada?
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