The Toronto Maple Leafs will begin holding in-person interviews with their head coaching candidates this week, TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports.
LeBrun notes that about five candidates are believed to have advanced to the second phase after general manager John Chayka spoke to roughly 20 candidates in the first phase.
LeBrun revealed Sunday that NHL veteran Joe Pavelski is among the candidates for the Maple Leafs job despite having no professional coaching experience.
TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reported earlier last week that the Leafs spoke with Patrick Roy and Peter Laviolette as part of their search. Laviolette is out of the running after he was hired by the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.
The Maple Leafs fired Craig Berube as head coach after two seasons on May 13. The decision came shortly after Chayka took over as Brad Treliving’s replacement at general manager.
“We’re not focused on some artificial timeline,” Chayka said via TSN’s Mark Masters at the NHL’s draft combine in Buffalo.
“We’re really focused on conviction. I think it’s been a long time since there’s been kind of a full search for this organization and I think it’s important for us to take our time and get it right. You know, this is the next leader of the Toronto Maple Leafs.”
Chayka said the club remains without a firm timeline to finalize a hire.
“We’ve gone through a very thorough process,” Chayka said. “Now we’re starting to get into this next layer of this. No timeline, no time constraints. When it’s right we’ll make that decision, but we’re going to be patient and get it right.”
The Maple Leafs missed the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons in 2025-26, finishing with a record of 32-36-14 for 78 points. This brought major changes within the organization as Treliving was fired near the end of the regular season with Berube joining him on the way out of town a few weeks later.
Along with Chayka, Mats Sundin, Judd Brackett and Freddie Hamilton have also joined the team’s new-look front office this off-season.
