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Cliff Fletcher will remain the Toronto Maple Leafs' interim general manager for the entire 2008-09 NHL season, according to a member of the search committee for the new GM.
The Leafs do not expect to hire a new GM until the summer of 2009 because that is when the contracts of several of the top NHL general managers expire. Toronto sports lawyer Gord Kirke, who is one half of the search committee along with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment president Richard Peddie, said this will give the Leafs the best possible field from which to make a selection. In the meantime, Fletcher will run the hockey team.
"Most of the [GMs] at the top of our list are under contract," Kirke said Wednesday of the Leafs' list of candidates. "Our information is there are several, you might even say many, who are possibly coming off their contracts at the end of the coming season.
"There's a pretty good free-agent market coming up."
Toronto Maple Leafs new head coach Ron Wilson, left, and general manager Cliff Fletcher pose with a team jersey during a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday. (Mike Cassese/Reuters)
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This market will include Anaheim Ducks GM Brian Burke, who is thought by many in the NHL community to be the preferred candidate of the Leafs. His good friend Ron Wilson was introduced on Tuesday by Fletcher as the new coach of the Maple Leafs. But Fletcher and Wilson both insisted his hiring had nothing to do with any possibility Burke will join the team in the future.
Kirke declined to discuss which general managers he and Peddie have their eyes on, but there is an impressive list of those in the last year of their contracts.
Along with Burke, the list includes David Poile of the Nashville Predators, Doug Wilson of the San Jose Sharks, Darcy Regier of the Buffalo Sabres and possibly Doug Risebrough of the Minnesota Wild. In addition, Jim Rutherford is believed to have an escape clause in his contract with the Carolina Hurricanes if he is offered the Leaf job.
The only way the Leafs will hire someone sooner than next summer, Kirke said, is if one of their preferred candidates suddenly becomes available.
"It would have to be somebody in the top echelon, one of the top few people who we'd have to have a look at," Kirke said.
