The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that they have hired Paul MacLean. He will be an assistant coach on the bench. Working alongside head coach Sheldon Keefe and assistants Manny Malhotra and Dave Hakstol.
Welcome to Leafs Nation, Paul.
MacLean has been hired as an assistant coach. #LeafsForeverhttps://t.co/UAHq4czX9N
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) September 25, 2020
Leafs Hire Paul MacLean
Paul MacLean seems like a pretty solid hire for Toronto here. It certainly gives their bench lots of different experiences. Keefe is a younger guy who has coached to success at all other levels. While Malhotra is a former player and now finding his way as an exciting young assistant. Hakstol was a long time College coach before coaching the Philadelphia Flyers for parts of four seasons. Now, they also add MacLean.
He has coached in the NHL for parts of 15 seasons, including winning a Jack Adams with the Ottawa Senators in 2012-13. His last coaching job in the NHL was an assistant with the Anaheim Ducks back in 2016-17. MacLean will bring a ton of NHL experience behind the bench to a staff that really doesn’t have a wealth of it.
Moving Forward
Different viewpoints for a management team is always a good thing. If MacLean can bring an old-school style of thinking mixed with new ways, that could really help the Leafs. Having people disagree and come to reasonable conclusions from it is always a good thing for an organization.
Overall, it is pretty hard to find anything bad about this hiring. His role may even vary over the course of the year as it goes on. One thing is for sure, the Leafs will still have plenty of other moves to make this offseason. No doubt MacLean will have some say in what he thinks Toronto needs for this roster.
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