League-wide, it’s getting very quiet in the NHL. The offseason is officially here.
Since a very active July 1, the Maple Leafs haven’t done much. For all intents and purposes, the heavy lifting looks to be complete. For now, we’ll sit back, relax, and wait for the next domino to fall.
Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin was my co-host for Friday’s edition of Leafs Morning Take. Since we haven’t spoken in a while, we kicked off the show by discussing what’s transpired over the past few weeks. Furthermore, Matt gave his thoughts on Toronto electing to run it back yet again with the Core Four. While there’s no question that the team looks different, it’s fair to wonder how much different you can truly be when the same nucleus is still in-tact. Well, the proof will be in the pudding for Craig Berube and company.
Presented by Greta Bar YYZ, we then jumped into the whole Bill Manning conversation. On Thursday, MLSE parted ways with the president of both TFC and the Toronto Argonauts. Naturally, the story raised some eyebrows within Leafs Nation as Brendan Shanahan gets set to enter his 11th season on the job. For the record, Toronto’s one measly playoff series under Shanahan’s watch. On top of that, it sounds like he has one year left on his deal, so it will be fascinating to watch this all play out.
Meantime, Dave Hakstol, who spent two seasons recently on Sheldon Keefe’s bench in Toronto, dropped by the show. He was very candid. The 55-year-old was fired by the Seattle Kraken in late April. We started by discussing his time in Seattle and the constant coaching carousel in the NHL. After that, we hit on Sheldon Keefe, working during the pandemic, the Core Four, Mitch Marner, and the Craig Berube hire.
We’ll return with a brand-new episode of Leafs Morning Take on Tuesday at 11 AM ET. After a week off, Jay Rosehill will be back in the mix!
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