The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: David Pagnotta on the Timing of the Leafs Firing Berube, Who Toronto Could Look to Replace him, and more

Episode Date: May 13, 2026

David Pagnotta joins to discuss the Maple Leafs firing Craig Berube, which coaches the Leafs could look to have replace him, and the latest in EdmontonSHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First of all, Dave, do we want little blood spoons now for officials wandering around to make sure there's sufficient blood to call a double minor? That's what Berkey's lobbying for here. I saw, yeah. Yeah, I mean, might as well. Give them all the tools. Why not? Okay, the headline story of the day. We'll get to names.

We'll get to all of it. But I don't think it was a surprise considering there's a new general manager. One of the slight surprises is, though, like, let me frame it this way specifically. I was always told that when a general manager gets hired, his job becomes to keep his job. And you have so many bullets in your chamber. And the coach is one of them. And generally, that's why the first thing a manager never does is fire the coach, because now you've just used a bullet.

And you can only use so many until the attention turns to you. That's why generally, when a new manager comes in, it's a wait and see approach for one season, and then they make their move on the coach. That's just sort of accepted policy. That didn't happen here. What does that tell you? What point does your radar go off and say, like, this is different and why? Yeah, I mean, you know, Jeff, what stood out to me, it wasn't properly defined when he spoke with the media, John Cheika, spoke with the media.

But when in the press release, they said they're going through an organizational shift. And that's the primary reason as to why they're not moving ahead with Craig Barouba as head coach. The indication last week was they had initial talks, it was positive, they will continue those conversations. And that kind of suggested that maybe, okay, wait a second, maybe, yeah, Baroube is going to stick around and then go through exactly what you described, give it a year or give it a part of a season and whatnot and then use that bullet. But the conversations that they had and the meetings that they had over the weekend, clearly it didn't align. His, Burubase tactics, style, structure, et cetera, just didn't align with whatever shift is now going to occur for the Toronto Maple Leafs. So I get that. You make that decision.

You make that decision now. But it just, I'm more curious as to what exactly that direction is going to be for this team and which head coach or what type of head coach is going to come in and align himself with whatever this direction. is and whatever moves are going to follow for this roster over the next, let's say, still, what, seven, eight weeks. So cynical me said, okay, because I'm always wondering like why things happen when and fueled by the idea that there are no coincidences. So we had the situation yesterday with Bruce Cassidy and the blocking by the Vegas Golden Knights.

And I think a lot of people will look at that and say, oh, I wonder if the Toronto Maple Leafs are there. and now the maple leaves know that the oilers are in the hunts for Bruce Cassidy. We might want to close them off at the past. I don't think about Bruce Cassidy there, but I will go down the road on a conspiracy theory, and that is, it seems like Vancouver's getting closer, okay?

Like to finalizing what their management structure is going to be. It's, this is like, what's the term that I always use? Roller skating down a gravel road is what this, Search really kind of has with all this sort of fumbling along the way. But nonetheless, they are inching closer and we feel it's almost at the finish line. And I wonder, too, if this is before Vancouver gets their management structure in place, is this Toronto opening up a spot where they can talk to Manny Malhotra? Yeah, and that wouldn't shock me.

Because there is competition out there, obviously. There's Edmonton. Yes. There's L.A. They're actively going through their coaching search right now, even though DJ Smith has the interim tag. And there was a report that they had interviewed Bruce Cassidy, that I was told not the case.

But I think they will. I think the Oilers will. But with Vancouver, yeah. And a lot of people thought that this was already going to be announced, that the conducts were already going to be mapping out and describing and telling everybody, here's our new GM, here's our VP of hockey ops, here's this, here's that,

here's where Daniel and Hendrick are. And presumably, what's going to happen with Adam Foote as head coach. Toronto, like, Mani Malhotra is the type of coach that I could certainly see Toronto going after, this group going after. And talking to a lot of people around the league, a lot of people believe it's only a matter of time before Mani Malhotra becomes a head coach

in the National Hockey League. And, you know, seeing how well some first year coaches have done, Pittsburgh, Boston, this season, it's kind of adding a little more fuel to the fire that these first-time NHL head coaches are worth their weight. And I can certainly see Toronto going in that direction. You know, there's another name, too, that I, he was in the mix for a couple jobs last summer.

I could certainly see him being a potential target, at least to have a discussion with her. it would be Jay Leach in Boston. That's another one with so much emphasis that seemed to have come out of their original press conference last week in Toronto of reshaping the D-Corps, and that's going to be our plan of attack moving forward, and that's where we need to upgrade. Boston's done a really good job with a lot of their young D in their system,

and Jay Leach has been a part of that, even though he was a ford, wasn't a defenseman, I believe. But that's a guy that I could certainly. certainly see being another potential, you know, target for Toronto, these younger coaches or first year, potentially first year NHL coaches. And Jay Woodcroft might be another one that I could see being a potential target for the Leafs to want to talk to, an assistant right now with Anaheim. That's a really interesting one. We mentioned his name a little bit earlier. I wonder about it. And maybe, again, like Occam's Razor just take like the most obvious and simple route and the simple explanation. Oh, by the way, Cheka is saying the search will

Hang on, let me grab this here. The quick note here. Sue, no timeline. The search will start wide and mentioned experience in the NHL in larger markets could be an asset. Jay Woodcroft.

Sorry, clear my throat there for you, Dave. You're good? Yeah, no, Jane Woodcroft. But what about Mike Van Rine? On the bench, John hired him in Tucson once upon a time. Yep. Just familiarity.

Familiarity. I don't know. I think I can hear a lot of names. You know, like, I think if the search is going to be wide, like at what point do we start to hear, you know, Gardner McDougal from Moncton, you know, like, let's get that room feeling good again here. Yeah.

It does sound like they'll cast a wide net. Yeah, and they should. I mean, you know, he said, you know, John Chike has said, perfect world. You have your head coach before, you know, draft in free agency, but they're not putting a definitive timeline on this. because of the wide net that they want to cast. And I think for a team, especially up top,

that loves their due diligence, having a conversation at least with Bruce Cassidy, I've got to imagine, would be something that they probably would want to do. That might not be a good fit. I agree with you, but from Cassidy's perspective, but you're casting a wide net, you better make sure that you're at least having conversations

with some of the best can't. that it's history-wise, historically, that are currently available. You know, does that mean they go after or at least have a conversation with a La Vialette or Gallant or whomever? It's possible, I think, with the direction of this franchise, and again, I don't know the definitive definition of what organizational shift means. Nobody does yet, but, you know, I would presume that they're going in a younger type of route. But we will see. Whether it's a Malhotra or a leech or, you know, Van Ryan or whomever,

Woody again, I could see them, see them going there. And with the cat pretty much out of the bag in Edmonton, would they want to have a conversation with Chris Knoblock if slash when he becomes officially available, I guess? Do you ever thought on that situation specifically and how it's like I don't like it? Well, here's the thing, though. No one likes it. It's public. Right? Certainly not the primaries. But this is the way things are done. Well, the fact that it got out, like, listen, Colton Pareko went through it at trade deadline. No one has to, no one has to like it, but this is, this is the way the sausage is made. What it said, like, Colton knew that this was happening. I don't think Noblock knew that this was happening at that moment.

I think it got out a little early. Hang on, hang on. Can I push back a little bit on? Did he hear Connor, did he hear Connor and Leon talk? No. Because if he did, he's got to be saying, honey, let's not buy real estate. Fair. But to get that from, from, you know, Stan and or Jeff or whomever to say, hey, look, just a heads up, we're probably going to be going in, or we are going in a different direction or probably will or whatnot.

Or we're even if, even if it's straight up as we're reevaluating. Everything. Multiple layers of this organization, including your position. it's not exclusive to you. We're doing it across the board. At least there's some type of heads up in that regard. Maybe that's happened. I don't think so.

But that's the only reason I don't like how this kind of happened. And a few people in Edmonton, I believe, weren't too happy that it did get out when it did. Of course. But, you know, I mean, it's out there. So what are you going to do? It's out there. So what are you going to do?

It's true. But like teams, I hate to break the news to everybody out there. like Dave knows this is how business is done. Like this is how one coach gets fired. And as part of the press release, there's an announcement about a new coach, which means they've been talking to each other coach for a while. Nick Alberger and I,

last week on Leif's Morning Take, we had David Carl on. And everyone's already saying that that's your target, that's your guy to send out. And I would say the same thing. had Carl Nutt said he's not interested in leaving the University of Denver. And one of the reasons, one of the most striking things that, or takeaways, I should say, that I had from that interview was when he talked about the job security slash longevity

of coaches in the National Hockey League nowadays. He's got that in Denver. He can stay there as long as he wants. He's probably getting paid pretty nice. But in the NHL, this is a very what have you done for me lately type of league. And two, three years, that could be it in one environment versus, you know, you may have a 20-year coaching career, but three years here, five years there, two years, this place, and so on and so on.

That's not appealing to him. And it's continuously proven to be true. Greg Brubate, two years out of four, he's out. Chris Knoblock signs an extension, by all indications. He'll be out with a brand new contract kicking in July 1. So it's tough out there in certain spots. I'm glad you brought up Carl because that name, of course, very much out there at University of Denver,

head coach every year like Pioneers win. And probably to be more of the same next season. We'll see what they do with that blue line. See, I was told about him that to get him away from Denver, he needs what he refers to as life-changing money. Like I could have seen him in Chicago. but would Kyle Davidson have been able to go to the words family with the number that he wanted? Like to your point, like, you're right.

He has a job for life. Let's say someone offers them four times four. If you look at Denver and making like what, a buck, maybe buck five, which is great. I'm not turning my note. Like, that's, that's good money. I think it would be more than that. Take 16 years. I don't know.

It's Denver. I'm not, again, like, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'm, again, like, I'll, I'll, I'll defer. I'll defer because I don't know 100%, but like someone offers you four times four. If you're David, like he like right now, if you're David Carl, you're super hot. Like you always like a sort of timing when when guys can ring the bell. If you're going to do it, isn't like right now the best time for David Carl? But if, yes, presumably, but exactly to your point, echoing what you just said, you've got to give him one hell of a bag. Yes, you do.

Yes. To convince him to move. Young family too, I believe. So that's another factor. Yes. 100%. Like I don't even think, I don't even think four times four starts the conversation. Like this is, you're probably going higher.

You're like you're going to have to reach pretty high right now anyway. Like maybe later on, maybe in five years he changes his mind and he's ready for a new challenge. But he's been there for a long time already. But yeah. Yeah. like, I'm talking 25, 30, 40 million over whatever term. Like, that's... Rookie coach.

But he's hot. But he's hot. But he's the guy. He's your first overall draft pick hands down, no question. Yeah. But there's no salary cap for head coaches. Real quick before I let you go. Do you know what's going on with the slowest hiring process we've ever seen?

The Nashville... Nashville. It sounds like it's a combination of finding the right individual that not only will lead the hockey ops, but have the business side aligning as well, which is where Nick Saban's kind of come in to the equation in terms of building the overall organization. There are some people who believe one of their prime candidates

is on a playoff team at the moment, or two of them. that could be part of the delay. But it sounds like once part of the ownership group got into the mix, the search or the criteria expanded beyond exclusively hockey ops. Like if I, if this were exclusively a hockey thing and Barry Trots was making the call, I think Tom Fitzgerald would be the guy already. But it sounds like this is a broader approach and part of the reason why things have slowed down. Now, keep in mind, Barry Trots is still under contract for another year. So they kind of warned us in the beginning that they're going to take their time with this, even though they're starting this now and whatnot.

So I guess we probably shouldn't be surprised. But it looks like this is an all-encompassing type of decision, and that's what's kind of delayed things. Like last week, the word was that nobody's blown Sabin's socks off. So maybe that's part of it. And they've expanded their search even further as a result. But that's definitely influenced. He's definitely him and the other minority owner, I forgot his name,

they've influenced part of this process. Well, Bill Haslam is a big part, a huge part of these. Well, yes, of course. Yes, the big guy. But, but yeah, certainly. Like, I'll be honest, I'm a little more surprised right now that Vancouver hasn't announced anything yet. because going into the week it was this is happening like tomorrow and it's been this is the third

tomorrow so maybe we get something today tomorrow's a great lie yeah so I don't know for their sake I hope there will be additional changes by the way to the management group in the front office staff in Vancouver and maybe that's maybe they're restructuring everything before I'm not sure but it sounds like they have their people but there will be additional changes beyond whoever's heading hockey ops. So real quick, swing in on Vancouver, that is another never-ending story. I don't know if that's, it was going to be Evan Gold until Evan laid the cards on the table and here's the money I need and here's the staff I need.

I don't know if that's what that was. I don't know. But it seemed like it was that was lining right up. Something like that was... Something like that. Yeah. Like every indication Sunday was Evan Gold was their guy.

Right. And or going into Sunday. And then everything kind of changed. I mean, he's considered a master negotiator. Maybe he negotiated too masterfully with the Canucks. I don't know. I'm with you.

I don't like every in the kid and people around the league and other teams thought it was him as well. Yeah. Appears not to be. Last one, thought on this one, if it is from a team

that's still in the playoffs for Nashville, for the Nashville Predators, Kelleher and Bergevin would be, would be the two that I would be warmest to. And I could see,

I could see, I could see, Nashville saying, you know what, we'll give you two rounds. But if you're past that and you're still not signing a contract and coming over, we got to go somewhere else. Does that make sense? Yeah, I can see that. I can certainly see that.

We know Bergerivain has been trying. He's kind of put his hat in the ring on every spot and whatnot. And he's made a lot of good decisions in Montreal. I know he gets burned a lot for a variety of reasons. But, you know, he made a lot of good calls. He did. They're paying off now. Especially on the trade front.

He really did. So, and Nashville. is going to be an interesting. I know everyone's, everyone's focused on Connor McDavid with two years on his deal kicking in. Everyone's focused on Austin Matthews with two years left on his contract.

You know who else has two years left? Roman Yossi. Yeah. And they have the same agent, all three of them. They do, as a matter of fact. I'm curious what the direction of that team will be and how that might affect, Like, Yos loves it there.

This is another scenario. He absolutely loves it there. But is this team going to be able to get to a spot where they can win in the foreseeable future? And if they're not on track for that, that's another, you know, discussion point that I think will have to happen once the new guy is brought in there. Apropos of nothing, any idea why Ken Holland only gave Artemmy Panarin a two-year contract? I think that was a no. Clear the deck. Nice. Oh, yeah, sorry.

Any reason why it was a two-year deal for a Timmy Paneras? Not bad. A little slow on that one. Love it out there. You've been traveling. I know. Don't worry about it. And I know one of those things makes you go. Listen, thanks for stop. I know it's busy. You're traveling and on the phone, burning it up, getting all the latest. And we thank you for stopping by the program today. Much appreciated, Dave. You'd be good. Of course, you too. Thanks, buddy. And I'm like nomin.