Maple Leafs notebook: Chris Pronger explains interview with Keith Pelley, Tinus Luc Koblar continues torrid form at Worlds
Welcome to an offseason edition of Maple Leafs notebook, where we examine current events in the hockey world. As the Maple Leafs continue their offseason, several players are thriving at the 2026 IIHF World Championship, while the organization continues their search for the next head coach.
Chris Pronger details interview with Keith Pelley
“I met with Neil Glasberg and Keith Pelley for a couple of hours,” Pronger said. “And just talked about, getting to know one each other first. I’d never met Keith Pelley, I’d met Neil Glasberg a few times before that. Just had a good, frank conversation about the team, about the direction, my thoughts on what they needed, both in the front office and on the ice, with respect to the players. I got good feedback on my conversation with them, but they were going in a different direction.”
Pronger said he addressed how to fix the Maple Leafs’ defensive woes during his conversation with Pelley.
“They’ve got to get faster on the back end, they’ve got to get more puck movers. If you want to play an uptempo, offensive game, you’ve got to have defencemen that can transition the puck and get it up the ice quick. Get retrievals quicker. And a lot of that has to do with the goalie-defence interaction. Where to go, are they playing the puck or not, all the rest of that. There’s a lot that goes into the nuance of the transition game, but some of that comes from how they play defensively too: where pucks are left, where they get stops and turnovers, and how they flip it around from there.”
Tinus Luc Koblar continues torrid form at IIHF World Championship
Tinus Luc Koblar wasn’t necessarily known for his scoring touch prior to the start of the IIHF World Championship. Koblar was considered a surprise selection, when the Maple Leafs took him with the 64th pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. One summer later, and Koblar is beginning to carve out a name for himself on the international stage.
Koblar entered Tuesday’s game against Denmark with three goals and six points in six games. He continued his torrid form, scoring twice, showing off his ability to get to the tough areas of the ice.