The Maple Leafs have spoken to Stars assistant general manager Scott White to fill their open GM position, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on Monday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast.
He’s one of many candidates Toronto has talked with in its efforts to succeed Brad Treliving at the top of its front office. Among those names are Islanders AGM Ryan Bowness and Sunny Mehta, who has since landed with the Devils as their GM. There have been varying degrees of speculation linking them to virtually all the other AGM-type candidates on the market as well.
In terms of the level of experience for a first-time GM candidate, you’ll be hard-pressed to find one with more on their resume than White. The 58-year-old has talked to numerous teams over the years but has remained in Dallas, where he began his executive career back in the 2005 lockout.
He was initially brought on by their AHL affiliate, then located in Iowa, as their director of hockey operations after amassing some NCAA and ECHL coaching experience. He was promoted to the NHL staff a few years later while taking on the role of AHL GM, a title he holds to this day for the Texas Stars.
White is also on the Predators’ radar and could easily get a call from the Canucks regarding their new vacancy in the coming days as well. With Nashville looking to wrap up its process in the next week or so, the Leafs may have to make a decision quickly if they decide White is at the top of their list.
I’m thinking he’s too smart for the Canucks
If White’s their guy he’d be the second hiring out of Dallas. The Leaf’s head of Amateur Scouting also came from Dallas and he did a good job there. It’s hard to figure out what the Leaf’s are going to do,are they going to try and slap a few band-aids around Papi and Nylander and hope for the best. Will it be a total rebuild which I think that should be the way they go. Slapping a few band-aids is only going to add to the time of a rebuild and they’ll lose value on Papi’s deal because he’ll only have one year left on his deal. Nylander’s value will still be high as long as he score’s forty or more goals. Is ownership that short sighted to try for another year with this group, instead of looking down the road. Leaf’s putting a few band-aids around the core group would be a huge mistake, Habs, Sens, Buffalo, have been putting their team’s together for year’s now. If you start a rebuild now by the time you have a Cup contending team other team’s around you will be starting to fade. Be smart and look down the road when it should be your turn again to be a top team. Keep your eyes on the prize you had you’re time and failed to bring home the Cup. It’s time to rebuild for your next opportunity to compete for a Cup. Do it right not your usual half a$$ way of trying to do a short-cut. If you have the right people in place let them do their job just get out of their way and enjoy the process. Ever since Ballard took over this organization it’s been down hill for sixty years. Pension fund and now Rodgers what have these owners have in common Greed, the bottom line, it’s been all about the money and Rodgers has gone to new low’s with charging for everything. Pelly’s mandate is turning up the profits. Pelly said that they are not here to sell sweaters, and that may be so. But their here to sell you anything leafs. Nothings free in the Leaf’s organization you want to be a fan it’s going to cost you. Ownership only cares about the money, being a fan of the Leaf’s is very expensive, the most expensive seats in the NHL after that anything that you might want to do has a price tag attached to it. Cheerz 🍻