Bob McKenzie: ”The Leafs have a lot of $ tied up for a lot of years in Clarkson. Everyone knew the Leafs overpaid for Clarkson” … ”They overpaid because every team in the league that had an opening wanted Clarkson” … ”I don’t think the Leafs style helped Clarkson and I don’t think Clarkson helped himself.” … ”I think Clarkson got a lot more PP time with NJ than he did in Toronto.” … ”I think salvaging Clarkson as a top 6 guy is one of the Leafs’ biggest priorities this off-season”
Bob McKenzie: ”The new structure in Toronto is that Shanahan is the boss. That includes all the marketing & business side of the hockey club” … ”I think what you’re going to see, & probably not immediately, is that he’s going to want to have a vision of organization & team” … ”Which means, he’s going to want to surround himself with really good people. He did that while working for the NHL” … ”In that position Shanahan brought in Rob Blake, Stephan Quintal and Brian Leetch. Had a whole team that he really relied on” … ”He’s going to look to assemble his own dream team in Toronto. I don’t know if Nonis will be part of that” … ”I know Shanahan won’t make any knee jerk decisions on dismissing Nonis immediately after taking over” … ”No question that Shanahan has a long list of people that he’s had in his sphere of influence that he wants to bring into the fold”
Steve Simmons: Dave Nonis’ inclination may have been to keep Randy Carlyle as coach. Brendan Shanahan may not think that way. Reports from New Jersey may be that Shanahan would like Peter DeBoer as they coach. Simmons likes the Leafs core of Phil Kessel, James van Riemsdyk, Jonathan Bernier, Tyler Bozak, Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner, but the contracts of Dion Phaneuf, Joffrey Lupul and David Clarkson will make it hard for them to build around their young core.
James Murphy of XN Sports: A Maple Leafs source said that Dion Phaneuf is not looked upon as a lead in the Leafs dressing room. His seven-year deal at $7 million starts next season, so he would be difficult to trade. The could retain some salary. Teams like the Islanders, Avalanche, Oilers or maybe the Flames might be interested.
Hope Smoke: Eric Francis: ”Burke will hire someone experienced like David Poile as the GM in Calgary” … ”Burke made it very clear to me yesterday that he is going to wait until he speaks to every single candidate & guy on his list” … ”That may cause the Flames GM position to not get filled until after the draft. When all the candidates will be available” … ”Feaster was a dead man walking in Calgary. There are a lot of people who believe Feaster’s days of being a GM in the NHL are over”
TSN Insider Trading: Darrren Dreger: Don’t expect any decisions on Dave Nonis and/or Randy Carlyle to made in the near future.Dreger: Safe bet is that Paul Maurice will be back in Winnipeg next season.
Pierre LeBrun: There haven’t been any talks between the Ted Leonsis and GM George McPhee. No decision has been made, but there could be a change in GM for them.
The Panthers may look for a more experienced coach, and if Randy Carlyle is fired by the Leafs, he could be high on their list.