Is Nonis on his way out?
With Mark Hunter having recently being hired as Director of Player Personnel, many Leafs insiders believe that the writing's on the wall that Dave Nonis' days with the Leafs are numbered. There have been many changes in the Leafs' front office over the past few months. They fired Nonis' assistants Claude Loiselle & Dave Poullin, fired the entire assistant coaching staff (except goalie coach Rick St-Croix) and Tim Leiweike announced that he would be leaving the organization at the end of his current contract, scheduled to expire next June. Many believe Leiweike will leave sooner & word is that the MLSE board would dearly love for him to vacate the premises a.s.a.p.
Nonis was never Shanahan's man & neither was he Leiweike's. He was hired by his buddy Brian Burke & there is no doubt there'd be a job waiting for him in Calgary once his term with the Leafs is done.
Nonis has always been a good soldier, but i have no doubt that like Carlyle, he has a feeling that his days with the organization may be numbered. Management literally told Carlyle that this may be his last season when they went against his wishes and fired his assistants, especially Dave Farrish, who coached with Carlyle for most of his career. They then re-signed defenceman Jake Gardiner to a long-term deal. It's no secret that Gardiner has never been one of Carlyle's favorite players due to his defensive deficiencies. Gardiner has recently been re-inserted into the lineup & i wonder if they're not forcing Carlyle to play him in order to show him off to teams who may one day be trading partners. Same thing with Kadri, whom in my opinion has not earned the right to play in front of the likes of Trevor Smith & Peter Holland, among others. Why Kadri hasn't been benched yet is beyond me!
I expect the Leafs' front office & coaching staff to possibly have a new look next season. Or sooner.