• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

Official: Leafs and Mark Hunter part ways

LeafGm

LeafGm

Well-known member
It's official, Mark Hunter is gonzo:


Leafs PR @LeafsPR
The Leafs announced today that the club and Assistant General Manager Mark Hunter have mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately.
 
A few of the details that have broken so far:


Leafs PR @LeafsPR
“Following extensive discussions with Mark, he and @MapleLeafs have mutually agreed to part ways,” said Brendan Shanahan. “I’d like to sincerely thank Mark for everything he’s done for this organization over the last four years and I wish him nothing but the best in the future.”

Bob McKenzie @TSNBobMcKenzie
Expectation is that while Mark Hunter is departing TOR, because he has time remaining on his contract, one of the conditions of his departure is that he will not be permitted to work for another team until after 2018 draft and free agency period.

Which is to suggest he won’t necessarily be restricted from working for another team for the remaining year of his TOR contract, but it will be later in the summer before he would be permitted to do so.

TOR could have had Hunter run the 2018 draft but didn’t want someone who had expressed a desire to leave the organization doing it. So they agreed to part ways now, albeit with a condition on when he could begin working for another NHL team.
 
So basically Hunter is not leaving because he has another offer or opportunity to become a NHL GM, or better chance at becoming NHL GM, but he just doesn't want to stay in the Leafs organization anymore after Dubas took the GM job.
 
well wherever he goes he'll probably have a better chance of becoming GM than he does here behind the brand new youngest GM in the league.
 
number17 said:
So basically Hunter is not leaving because he has another offer or opportunity to become a NHL GM, or better chance at becoming NHL GM, but he just doesn't want to stay in the Leafs organization anymore after Dubas took the GM job.
Click to expand...
On the face of things, Hunter does come off looking rather petty in this.

There was no indication that he was unhappy in his current role, or would have been looking to move on had Shanahan elected to keep Lamoriello in the GM chair past this season. So it does seem like this comes down to Hunter's pride not allowing him to work under a guy who's 20 years his junior. And that seems even sillier when Dubas was hired a while before Hunter was, and the writing's been on the wall for years that Dubas would eventually take over as this team's GM. So it's not like this should have been a shocking disappointment for Hunter.

That being said, that might be an unfair and not entirely true view. It could just come down to Dubas and Hunter having fundamentally incompatible views of how the team's draft should be run, or Dubas asserting himself as the team's GM, and not being willing to cede total control of drafting & scouting to Hunter.

Either way, the boy wonder is truly on the clock now. He's got a big hole to fill in the front office, and regardless of whether or not he fills it before the draft, this year's draft is going to have to be run by him, now that they've made the decision to part ways with Hunter before the draft.
 
zeke said:
well wherever he goes he'll probably have a better chance of becoming GM than he does here behind the brand new youngest GM in the league.
Click to expand...
2 of the 3 were leaving in either scenario.

I believe Shanahan chose correctly

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
 
As for how Hunter's loss effects the team---I'm not going to boot Hunter in the ass on his way out the door, as he's certainly done a lot of good for us. Mitch Marner was a home-run of a pick, especially with a lot of the talking heads screaming for us to take Hanifin, and many of the mock drafts and rankings leading up to the draft listing Marner towards the latter half of the top-10, behind guys like Michael Dal Colle, Jake Virtanen, Nick Ritchie & Lawson Crouse. Dermott is also looking like one of our best second round picks in a long time.

I have to say though, I don't entirely love how Hunter's run the show in our last two drafts. He's burned more picks than I'd like on big, untalented defensemen with low ceilings. For a guy with such a strong background in the OHL, his picks out of the CHL have mostly been unimpressive.

The Russian prospects he's reached on (Korshkov, Kara) also by and large haven't paid off thus far either. Korshkov in particular was picked way ahead of where he was rated, and ahead of some pretty highly-touted prospects (Kyrou, DeBrincat, Hart). Neither of his goalie picks (Scott, Woll) have looked great thus far either.

So, all this is to say that while I think overall Hunter's done a good job, we're not losing an irreplaceable scouting director who's been slamming home runs left, right and center for us in the draft. There is room for improvement, and under Dubas, I hope we go back to placing an emphasis on skill in our selections.
 
its a loss. But Arty made the salient point. It was Hunter or Dubas. Not like Dubas was sticking around as an AGM for much longer.
 
The Leafs have some internal candidates. Jim Paliafito is the Director of Player Evaluation, was GM in Saginaw, and Tim Speltz, Director of West Scouting was a long time GM in Spokane, where he also hired Babs. Ari Vuori, Director of Euro Scouting also has a great rep.
 
This happens in the business world all the time. you have 3 top managers but only 1 director position; the 2 that don't get it will probably move on
 
Hunter has had some great moves but also poor ones. Happy we went with Dubas, expect Ron Francis to join Dubas soon
 
Really intrigued to who Dubas surrounds himself with. Has to replace himself too as a AGM - wonder if he can attract elite management like shanny was able to
 
Some reports out there have prindham as the agm already.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Prindham's original title was "Assistant to the GM", as in he was consulted whenever there was a salary cap concern. Not sure if there is some confusion there - I would just find it odd that he would pick up a role as a minor league GM - perhaps on an interim basis.
 
Apparently the love Pridham though, and see him as more of a hockey guy than just a CBA lawyer. Wouldn't be a shocker to see him promoted.
 
From Justin Bourne, who used to work in the organization:

One thing that I’ve said a couple times, is I bet Pridham has his title changed from Assistant to the GM to Assistant GM. Pridham is one of the handful of people who wrote the current CBA when he worked for the league, so there’s nobody in hockey with a better understanding of all the possible loopholes a team can use. There were always cries of “Loophole Lou” whenever the Leafs did something seemingly shady but advantageous, but my first thought was usually “Pridham.” He’s also a smart hockey guy, a respected person … it just makes too much sense.
Click to expand...

https://theathletic.com/364135/2018...departures-of-mark-hunter-and-lou-lamoriello/
 
BG said:
Prindham's original title was "Assistant to the GM", as in he was consulted whenever there was a salary cap concern. Not sure if there is some confusion there - I would just find it odd that he would pick up a role as a minor league GM - perhaps on an interim basis.
Click to expand...

2004992_2.jpg
 
It happens in the business world too, but usually unless you absolutely can't stand the new boss, you'd stick around until a better (or comparable) opportunity comes up. You don't just quit and wait at home for your next job because the other manager's got the director position.

Then again, in the real world people don't get paid enough to sit around waiting for the next job at home, so I guess it is different ...
 
number17 said:
It happens in the business world too, but usually unless you absolutely can't stand the new boss, you'd stick around until a better (or comparable) opportunity comes up. You don't just quit and wait at home for your next job because the other manager's got the director position.

Then again, in the real world people don't get paid enough to sit around waiting for the next job at home, so I guess it is different ...
Click to expand...
The other thing about Mark Hunter is that he still is the owner of the London Knights.

So even if an equal or better opportunity in the NHL isn't immediately available (which seems doubtful), going back to London is always an option that's in his back pocket.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top