Friedman reveals a big name just exited the Toronto Maple Leafs coaching race
Peter Laviolette was hours away from being the Leafs' next head coach. At least that's how Saturday morning felt to the most plugged-in man in hockey.
Elliotte Friedman said there was a point Saturday when he thought Toronto was going to hire Laviolette. Then the wind changed.
By the time Friedman spoke again, the read had flipped completely: a decent chance Laviolette ends up in LA instead.
And Toronto? Friedman says the Leafs are now going to 3 to 5 candidates this week. From one name to a full interview circuit in roughly a day.
Something happened in those hours. Money, term, fit, a phone call from another candidate's agent, nobody outside the room knows yet. That mystery is the story.
The clip of Friedman walking through the Saturday-morning swing is worth the watch, you can hear him recalibrating in real time.
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Whoever takes the Toronto job inherits Gavin McKenna
The LA wrinkle deserves its own raised eyebrow. The Kings handed their bench to D.J. Smith on March 1. If Laviolette is genuinely headed there, that situation has layers nobody has explained.
But the Toronto half matters more, because this opening is unlike any other job on the market.
The next coach walks into a locker room coming off a last-place Atlantic finish, with Auston Matthews needing a bounce-back and a fan base out of patience.
He also very likely walks into the Gavin McKenna era, with the front office all but telegraphing the first overall pick. Develop a generational teenager, fix a broken veteran core, survive the market. One job, three careers' worth of pressure.
That's exactly why rushing on a Saturday morning would have been malpractice. Coaching searches are like home inspections. The eager buyer who skips one always finds the cracked foundation in year two.
Widening to 3-5 candidates suggests Toronto caught itself mid-sprint and chose the slow walk. Smart, if uncomfortable for everyone refreshing their feeds.
The Cassidy domino in Edmonton looms over all of it too. Every name that comes off the board shrinks Toronto's list.
A week from now, this search has a face. The question is whether it's one nobody saw coming, the way Saturday's almost-hire was.
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 6, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Martinook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||