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The Toronto Maple Leafs met with general-manager candidate David Nonis for the third day in a row yesterday, and this time his lawyer tagged along.
But the lawyer's presence doesn't suggest that the Leafs are prepared to make Nonis their general manager. If anything, it has become evident that the two sides were simply getting to know each other this week, to investigate whether there could be a fit down the road.
The Leafs are only in the early stages of their GM search, even though previous GM John Ferguson Jr. was fired on Jan. 22.
Nonis, who will be 42 this month, has other options. He met with the St. Louis Blues before his meeting with the Leafs. The Blues have a GM in Larry Pleau, but club president John Davidson wants to add another front-office executive who would report to Pleau and be the GM in waiting.
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Pleau is expected to receive a contract extension next month, but his wife, Wendy, has been battling cancer.
Davidson has also talked with former Dallas Stars GM Doug Armstrong.
“That doesn't mean Dave Nonis is coming here,” Davidson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It doesn't mean anyone else we've talked to is coming here. It's a matter of us trying to filter through that and see if it's a marriage and see if that person wants to come here. Larry is our general manager. It could be somebody who could come here for long term or short term. We just want to make sure that we're doing our job in that area.”
The Atlanta Thrashers may also contact Nonis. They are restructuring their front office, and current GM Don Waddell will likely be shuffled to another portfolio.
Nonis also has a standing offer from his old boss, Anaheim GM Brian Burke, to become a pro scout for the Ducks.
Burke also remains a person of interest to the Leafs, even though the Ducks refused to grant the Leafs permission to talk to him last month. Still, Burke will continue to lurk in the background until Anaheim's owners can persuade him to sign a contract extension.
Burke has a year remaining on his four-year contract, but the Ducks have been unable to entice him to sign a deal that would keep him beyond next season.
Another interesting development this week was the San Jose Sharks' firing of head coach Ron Wilson. Burke and Wilson are close. They were teammates on the Providence College hockey team in the 1970s, and it's likely that if Ducks' owners have a change of heart and allow Burke to bolt to Toronto, he would hire Wilson as his head coach.
