The Toronto Maple Leafs are looking for a new head coach after the organization’s new brass of GM John Chayka and senior executive advisor Mats Sundin made the decision to fire Craig Berube.
Berube completed two full campaigns with the Leafs and is now a free agent and in the mix for coaching jobs across the NHL.
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When Chayka was named GM of the Maple Leafs, many were surprised and shocked by the hire, for several different reasons.
With the surprise hire for the GM position, what if Toronto go a similar route when selecting the 42nd head coach in franchise history?
Here are three surprising head coach candidates for the Maple Leafs.
Todd Nelson
Maybe it wouldn’t surprise some if the Maple Leafs considered hiring Todd Nelson as the team’s next head coach. Nonetheless, he’d be a great candidate to be a head coach in the NHL, let alone for Toronto, and many may not have Nelson at the top of their lists.
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Nelson is currently an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins, coming off his first season with the team. He previously spent three years as the head coach of the AHL’s Hershey Bears, winning a pair of Calder Cups in that stint. Nelson has won a total of four Calder Cups in his coaching career.
Despite his excellence in the American League, Nelson has never had a true tenure as an NHL head coach. In 2014-15, Nelson led the Edmonton Oilers behind the bench as an interim head coach for the final 51 games of that regular season.
Even if the Maple Leafs don’t snatch him up, Nelson should be getting an offer to be a head coach in the NHL eventually.
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Dallas Eakins
Dallas Eakins has been out of the league for a few years now, with his last season as an NHL head coach coming in 2022-23. Since then, he’s been the head coach of the DEL’s Mannheim in Germany.
In the NHL, Eakins coached the Oilers for two seasons and was actually replaced by Nelson in 2014-15. He also had a four-year stint with the Anaheim Ducks from 2019-20 to 2022-23. In between those gigs, he was the head coach of Anaheim’s AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls.
It’s worth noting that Eakins has ties to the Maple Leafs, serving as an assistant coach in 2006-07 and 2007-08, as well as the director of player development in 2008-09. Also, he was the bench boss of the Toronto Marlies from 2009-10 to 2012-13.
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Furthermore, the Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek suggested that it should be expected to hear Eakins’ name surface in Toronto’s search.
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Bruce Boudreau
Like Eakins, it’s been a few years since Bruce Boudreau has been a head coach in the NHL. His last stint ended in 2022-23 when he was fired by the Vancouver Canucks in the midst of his second campaign with the team.
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Boudreau, a Toronto native, has had some successful campaigns as an NHL head coach.
In his first year as an NHL bench boss, he won the Jack Adams Trophy with the Washington Capitals. In 2009-10, he led Washington to a stellar 54-15-13 record, which turned out to be the best season in Capitals history.
He had some more great years with the Ducks, marking a 54-20-8 record in the 2013-14 season, which was also the best campaign in Anaheim’s franchise history.
Boudreau certainly knows how to make a team successful in the regular season, winning eight divisional titles in his NHL coaching career.
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