Maple Leafs close to narrowing down coaching candidates

After dismissing previous head coach Craig Berube, new Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka is in the midst of his first major decision at the helm of one of the NHL’s most storied franchises.

According to multiple recent reports, Chayka and Co. have recently interviewed longtime NHL head coach Peter Laviolette, most recently with the New York Rangers, and received permission to interview former New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy.

Could a decision on Berube’s successor be coming soon?

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by NHL insider David Pagnotta to discuss the current state of the Leafs’ search for their next head coach.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Starting to hear a little bout about the Toronto Maple Leafs and their coaching search, including Patrick Roy’s name popping up. What can you tell us about Chayka and his search for the next head coach in Toronto?

David Pagnotta: Yeah, well, he said he was going to cast a wide net, and he’s doing that. Roy in the mix, Lavi in the mix. It’s, depending who you talk to, Jay Woodcroft, I think, was on their radar in the beginning. It doesn’t sound like he currently is… Toronto, they interviewed guys on Monday. They interviewed guys Tuesday. I believe they interviewed some people yesterday. They’re continuing this all week, and then they’re going to start to narrow things down. But they got permission from the Isles to talk to Roy. They did. They got a few others that, as I mentioned, they spoke to this week. And Dallas Eakins was in Toronto on Monday at the Marlies game. People are wondering if they’re– are we connecting dots here? Is he one of the guys also in this fold? And I know that he’s looking for some coaching opportunities as well back in the NHL. He was in Germany this past season, last little bit. But yeah, Toronto’s going through it now, and they kind of want to start to narrow things down after this week.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…