Jeff Marek says Leafs GM job still one of the most coveted in hockey: Leafs Morning Take
William Nylander wants no part of a rebuild.
Reading between the lines of what the star winger told Jonas Siegel of The Athletic, Nylander is open to staying in Toronto—provided the team opts for a retool rather than a full rebuild. And honestly, that stance makes plenty of sense.
That’s where the conversation started on the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take, our final show of the week. At this point, it’s actually a good thing that Nylander’s at least open to a conversation regarding his future. There’s no telling what the new person in charge will have in mind when they get a chance to dig into this team. Right now, everything’s up in the air.
Speaking of which, we did address Keith Pelley’s comments on tanking. While we both agreed that he had to say something along those lines, we do think there’s a way to lose games —without compromising integrity. For example, the entire hockey world knows what the Florida Panthers are doing, but no one’s really questioning it. They sure do have a lot of injuries right now, that’s for sure.
Meantime, Rosie finally gave his thoughts on the way Toronto responded to Radko Gudas back on Monday night. He liked it. Furthermore, he liked how they stuck with the mentality all night long, which ultimately was a big reason why they managed to win that game. He even hit on Stolarz sizing up Ville Husso. A goalie fight would’ve been wicked, right?
After that, Jeff Marek, host of The Sheet, stopped by. Firstly, Marek weighed in on Keith Pelley’s press conference, the growing focus on data-driven decision making, and why the Toronto GM job remains highly coveted. When asked if the role still draws top candidates, Marek didn’t hold back: “Yeah. No blue pill needed. This is still the same.” He also shared insights on potential candidates and why Toronto continues to be hockey’s “biggest stage.”
Lastly, we did give quick thoughts on this Leafs/Sharks match-up, although it really wasn’t top of mind. We expect a lot of offence. Hopefully the Leafs show up. You never know these days.
We’re done for the week. We’ll be back on Monday. Talk then!