NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun just stated that Joe Pavelski and Patrick Roy are two of the five head coaching candidates remaining, with the other three Maple Leaf Candidates being unconfirmed on TSN's Overdrive.
Pavelski has never coached, and it would be a huge win for the crowd that wanted a completely new hire. Still, it might not have been what they meant when they wanted a first-time NHL coach, not also a first-time coach period.
However, the Leafs may look at their division rival, the Montreal Canadiens, who hired a first-time coach, Martin St. Louis, and see the success that he has had as their inspiration, with potentially the former captain of Team USA.
Pavelski retired from professional hockey in 2024 after an impressive 14-year career in which he totalled over 1,000 points in 1,332 games, playing his entire career with the San Jose Sharks and the Dallas Stars.
LeBrun says Joe Pavelski and Patrick Roy are among the five still in the running
LeBrun only confirmed two of the five names; the other was Patrick Roy. Roy is probably the exact opposite of who Pavelski is. He has been a professional hockey coach for over twenty years now with various degrees of success.
He has won two Memorial Cups in the 2000s and transitioned to being the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche in 2013, where he would go on to coach for three seasons, having some highs and lows before ultimately stepping down in 2016.
He would then go on to become coach of the New York Islanders for three seasons, where he would make the playoffs in his first season as head coach and then fail to make the playoffs the following two seasons, when he was fired with less than five games left to go in the 2025-26 season.
When comparing the two names, it is pretty difficult; we just can not speculate on whether or not someone with no experience would be an ideal fit. It could go great; it could go poorly, but with Roy, there is history there to speculate on whether or not it would work.
Roy is the type of coach who coaches through an experienced and tough old-school mentality of holding players accountable, which could be what general manager John Chayka is looking for in the roster.
Pavelski, as a player, is one of the most underrated players in history, with a nearly point-per-game career. He finished in the Selke voting nearly every year of his playing career; he played a fantastic two-way game and is one of the greatest seventh-round picks of all time.
Pavelski could be someone with fresh voice in the locker room that main gain some new tractions with players, and maybe capture some of the success that made the Habs look so incredible early on in their rebuild.
Jay Woodcroft may also be in the mix, although LeBrun stopped short of confirming it
While rumours and speculations have been thrown around over the last few weeks with Jay Woodcroft potentially being in the running, it is still unconfirmed whether Woodcroft is someone who is in the mix for the final round of interviews before the Maple Leafs come to a decision.
At the moment, LeBrun only confirmed two such names, but he also did not rule out Woodcroft.
Woodcroft is an interesting option for the Leafs as head coach; he has previous experience in Edmonton, where the team excelled under him. Then, after less than 15 games in his third season, after starting 3-9-1 was canned for Kris Knoblauch, who took the team to two straight finals before they were eliminated in the first round this year and then fired.
Woodcroft is still pretty young, being under the age of 50, has over two and a half seasons of NHL head coaching experience with some above-average success, and got the most out of a player like Connor McDavid, who hit 153 points in the 2022 season.
This past season, Woodcroft was an assistant coach for the Anaheim Ducks, who would go on to defeat the Edmonton Oilers in six games.
In his one year in Anaheim, they took a massive leap to contender status with a ton of players seeing career years there.
Woodcroft could be the type of coach who gets the best out of his players and provides a system that boosts the star heavy roster, especially with a player like McKenna potentially joining the mix.
That is something Chayka could want, wins and development are important going forward, and while Woodcroft might not install the greatest culture, he could be a real ceiling raiser for this roster.
Which head coach would you like to see coach the Toronto Maple Leafs next season
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