When Brendan Shanahan was hired to run the Maple Leafs 10 years ago, he made a determination to reach out to the “smartest” people in junior hockey to begin building his organization.
It wasn’t the usual approach to front-office recruiting in the NHL.
He reached out to Kyle Dubas in Sault Ste. Marie and hired him in 2014. He identified Mark Hunter in London and hired him three months later. Twice, he tried to hire Kelly McCrimmon from the Brandon Wheat Kings — once by himself, and once with Lou Lamoriello involved — but both times he came up empty.
What a swing and a miss that turned out to be long-term for the Leafs. After an unhappy ending in Toronto, Hunter has returned happily to London and the junior dynasty that is the Knights. Dubas, who was the chosen one as general manager, is about to miss the playoffs in his first season running the Pittsburgh Penguins. McCrimmon is the Bill Torrey-Glen Sather-Harry Sinden of his day, the smartest, brightest, most accomplished, GM in all of hockey with the Vegas Golden Knights and he seems to be proving that year after year.
Vegas is the defending Stanley Cup champion. It won last year’s trade deadline, bringing in Ivan Barbashev for somebody named Zach Dean.
It won the summer trade market in 2022, sending a fourth-round pick to San Jose for goaltender Adin Hill.
Last season, McCrimmon traded for Jack Eichel, who had lost his way in Buffalo. In recent days, all McCrimmon and his staff did was manage to acquire the best scorer available, Tomas Hertl, the best defenceman available, Noah Hanifin, and a solid depth scorer in Anthony Mantha.