Toronto missed out on Vitali Pinchuk and the cost of not having a GM is now showing up in players signing else
Vitali Pinchuk signed with the Nashville Predators on Monday, leaving the Maple Leafs empty-handed; and it's all because of their coveted GM search.
Monday afternoon came with a bit of big news as highly-acclaimed and coveted KHL prospect Vitali Pinchuk finally put paper to an NHL contract. There were several teams interested in the two-way forward, but only one was able to win out.
Nashville gets their future two-way star by signing Pinchuk out of the KHL
That team just so happened to be the Nashville Predators, who announced they had signed Pinchuk to a one-year deal for the 2026-27 season:
Pinchuk, 24, had 66 points in 65 games for Dinamo Minsk this season, and for his KHL career has put up 145 points in 252 games; all with Minsk. He's a big boy at 6-foot-3 and over 200 pounds (listed on Elite Prospects) and he was seen as one of the top players looking for an NHL job.
We previously touched earlier on the Toronto Maple Leafs being a team who could use someone like Pinchuk, and the fact that they missed out on adding a potential top-nine centre with great defensive potential is going to sting.
Pinchuk now joins the likes of Steven Stamkos, Roman Josi, and Filip Forsberg; a group that nearly managed to make a run to the playoffs this year and with some tinkering could compete next year.
Toronto's vacant GM position ruined their shot at Pinchuk despite two interims in place
But for Toronto, a team that has not one, but two interim GMs; they really dropped the ball. Just because they don't have a plan in place for someone to lead them now doesn't mean they have an empty front office.
Why couldn't Brandon Pridham and Ryan Hardy made a play for Pinchuk? Is Toronto so worried about getting the right guy that everything else takes a backseat? This was a signing that could have been made for pennies on the dollar, and set the new GM up nicely with a young, reliable piece for the core.
Plus, he could have been a great replacement for guys they lost like Scott Laughton and Nic Roy, and at only 24 he has years to grow and isn't even near his prime.
Instead, the team is waiting for Mats Sundin to start picking up the phone and relying on someone's answer before you do literally anything is a very shortsighted business decision. Making the team better doesn't need a brand-new GM; it involves signing guys who take the ice.
It's tough to see a name like Pinchuk go, and if there are other names who are ready to take the leap then it's hard to see any of them coming over to Toronto especially if there is so much anxiety around whoever is coming in.
For now though, Pinchuk gets to ply his trade in Nashville and prove to the rest of the league — and especially Toronto — that they were wrong not to sign him.
Also read on Hockey Patrol :
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Charlie McAvoy said what Maple Leafs fans have been waiting to hear from their own team for a decade
Previously on Hockey Patrol