Insider Trading: Leafs proactive in addressing slur allegation

TSN Hockey Insiders Bob McKenzie and Pierre LeBrun joined host Gino Reda to talk more about how proactive the Maple Leafs were in the Morgan Rielly homophobic slur allegation, college free-agent frenzy, the raise we should expect for Lightning coach Jon Cooper, and how many candidates the Oilers are looking at for their GM position.

The Leafs were very proactive in addressing the homophobic slur allegations attached to Rielly, and it started before the press conference on Tuesday with a statement from GM Kyle Dubas on Monday night.

LeBrun: First of all, you saw the statement from Dubas that was released. Not every GM would have done that in that situation, but the Leafs felt strongly about it, so much so that they were going to make sure that they got the bottom of this with the NHL. Brendan Shanahan, the Leafs president, reached out quickly to the NHL’s senior executive vice-president of hockey operations Colin Campbell and expressed the Leafs interest in getting to the bottom of this. A willing Rielly and Dubas then went to Campbell’s office in the NHL’s Toronto office to commence the investigation and give their side of things and, of course, Rielly strongly denied muttering the slur in that moment. The evidence that the league investigated ultimately did not support Rielly uttering it, either. Certainly it was deplorable that it appears that someone made the slur, but the Leafs absolutely in no way would ever tolerate that and wanted to get to the bottom of it. By the way, I should mention, the timing of all this comes on the heels of Campbell just a week ago reminding team GMs to remind their players that during games, there are mics everywhere.

The NCAA hockey playoffs are currently underway, which means as teams are eliminated, their players become available to sign with NHL clubs. Essentially, this is a college version of free agent frenzy.

McKenzie: A lot of Canadian kids  that play U.S. college hockey, were amongst those signed earlier on Tuesday, including Ottawa native Max Veronneau who signed with his hometown Senators. Josh Teves, from Calgary, signed with the Vancouver Canucks. Ryan Kuffner, also from Ottawa, signed with the Detroit Red Wings. The Maple Leafs haven’t made it official yet, but American defenceman Joseph Duszak, who played at Mercyhurst this year and put up some good numbers, is expected to formally sign with Toronto in the next little while. And most recently, Calgary kid Taro Hirose, who put up big numbers at Michigan State and was the top point man in the NCAA this year, signed with the Red Wings. And then there’s 23-year-old Luke Philp from Canmore, Alberta, who played with the University of Alberta and is arguably the top player Canadian university hockey. Of course, the University Cup is this weekend, so the teams that are interested in Philp will get one final look at him.

Could we see a coach possibly follow in the mould of Barry Trotz last season with the Capitals and end up moving on from a team that wins the Stanley Cup?

LeBrun: I don’t think we will. As a matter of fact, at this point in time Jon Cooper, who has done a lot of things that are pretty good with the Tampa Bay Lightning  this year, is a pending unrestricted free agent. It’s important to know that it’s different from the Trotz situation from a year ago, in that, everyone in Tampa is on the same page here. General manager Julien BriseBois was on record earlier this season saying that he sees Cooper coaching this team for a long time. Cooper, he doesn’t want to go anywhere. His family is happy in Tampa, and what matters to him is having a chance to win every year and he has that in Tampa. So all signs point to an extension getting done at some point in time, but again, what’s interesting is that it hasn’t happened yet and we’re a month away from the end of the regular season. The real question is how much money will Cooper make in his new deal. Right now, he’s making $2.25 million a year, which is actually just below the average salary for an NHL head coach. We know what the big guys are making, Maple Leafs’ Babcock ($6.25M) and Blackhawks’ Quenneville ($6M), I don’t think Cooper is going to be in that area. Listen, a lot of those guys have Stanley Cup victories and Cooper does not. I think the real question is can he get to the $3-to-$4 million range? That’s probably what he’s looking at, but I really do feel that he will re-sign with the Lightning.

What’s the latest in the Edmonton Oilers search for a new general manager?

McKenzie: There about eight to 10 authentic, legitimate candidates that they’re looking at, but they also know that not all of those eight to 10 guys are going to be made available for interviews before the end of the season or before teams are eliminated from the playoffs. The process is going to continue without those guys, and it’s up to the Oilers to decide as they go through many of the names on that list and have interviews with them. Do they find their guy this way? Or do they say, ‘no, you know what? We want to interview everybody available’ even though they may have to wait until May or June before some of those guys are available. That’s a call that Oilers CEO Bob Nicholson will make as the process unfolds.