Confirmed with Link: Wes Clark leaves the Leafs for promotion with the Penguins

[Rob Brown]

So that he doesn't make the pick for someone else, or let the other team know the Leafs plans.

Similar to why Treliving wasn't allowed to do anything at the draft last year for the Leafs.

I get the Treliving thing cause he was already employed by his new team. That comparison would work if Clark joined the Penguins prior to the draft and the ruling was that he couldn't support the Penguins draft.

 

[thewave]

So, you are blaming Pridham for the stupidity of Shanahan and Dubus?

They are all failures. Fire the whole lot.

The only management I want to see are Berube and BT and the people they brought in.

 

[Bloomberg]

Until we see who replaces Clark, I'm not too worried. I like some of the Europeans we drafted recent years, and I don't think Clark played a big role in those decisions? Who are some teams that have drafted well in recent years? St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas?

 

[Gilmour1996]

Why can't our executives be given the same restrictions as handed out to our players aka NMC? So Pittsburgh would have to ante up draft picks to break our executive "contracts" if our executives are swindled away from us?

 

[notbias]

They are all failures. Fire the whole lot.

The only management I want to see are Berube and BT

Treliving has the worst track record out of them all...

You just want your failures.

 

[uncleben]

Some fans hate Dubas here, but players seem to like playing for him and people seem to love working for him
I'm not shocked at all, tbh

Good for Clark for moving up the ladder and doing what's best for him and his. Wish him the best

I'm curious if Shanny and Tre will bring in an outsider or if he'll promote one of the longtime guys internally

 

[trellaine201]

Nobody is irreplaceable plus our prospects are nothing to write home about.

Some fans hate Dubas here, but players seem to like playing for him and people seem to love working for him
I'm not shocked at all, tbh

Good for Clark for moving up the ladder and doing what's best for him and his. Wish him the best

I'm curious if Shanny and Tre will bring in an outsider or if he'll promote one of the longtime guys internally

They like him because he pays them and is loyal as FK to them.

 

[notbias]

They like him because he pays them and is loyal as FK to them.

Source?

 

[thewave]

Source?

Really?

He hires them in the Soo. Then at the Leafs and now at the Penguins.

That's pretty much the slam dunk right there. You're not associated with Dubas are you?

 

[PROUD PAPA]

Good for him to get a promotion.
Leafs have the resources to attract whatever top talent evaluators are available. The only drawback to hiring a new guy is we have so few picks next draft it'll take awhile to evaluate his work. Maybe he can talk management into hanging onto a few more picks in the years to come.

 

[notbias]

Really?

He hires them in the Soo. Then at the Leafs and now at the Penguins.

That's pretty much the slam dunk right there. You're not associated with Dubas are you?

All his hires have come from the Soo? That is new information to me.

 

[rumman]

Not much for him to do next year since it's likely the Leafs won't have a pick in the first five rounds. That 2nd will be likely dealt at the TDL.

Draft smaft……..

 

[AcerComputer]

That Dubas hiring is starting to look really bad.

You could just as easily argue it was mistake to let him go

 

[francis246]

I thought Wes was decent but bolting a couple weeks after the draft doesn't look too great but is what it is.

I don't care what he does now or Dubas. Moving on.

Im more interested in who the Leafs bring in now.

He got a promotion! When is the best time to accept that?

 

[thewave]

All his hires have come from the Soo? That is new information to me.

I am just going to quote this and leave it here in the event you decide to change it. He is extremely loyal to his past hires in general.

 

[francis246]

You could just as easily argue it was mistake to let him go

I actually agree, I think he at least would have had the balls to move Marner or Nylander. Deal may have sucked but hey he might have done it. But it’s clear that Shanahan let something so stupid ruin the organization at a crucial time.

 

[4thline]

Watching the post draft interview with Clark, when he was questioned about one of Lahey or Mayes (or maybe both) I remember a comment to the tune of "I know how Tre likes em" with respect to size- I got the vibe that maybe they weren't his favourite pick on the board, but were the best pick to satisfy directives from the boss. A good soldier doing what he was asked to the best of his ability, but without his heart in it. If him and Dubas are on the same page that's going to be a lot more fun to work

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Good for Wes to double his salary .. Leafs are better off without Wes .. he tends to like da Dubie types so he will find more common ground with Pens .. we need to draft more Tre and Berube types going forward .. big fast and mean dudes for playoff hockey success

 

[francis246]

Treliving can't get the Flames to pick up his phone calls, but the Leafs are just letting Dubas poach whoever he wants.

This feels like a significant loss for the Leafs.

LOL the leafs can’t stop a move like this. What do you want them to do?

If Wes Clark resigns from his position the leafs cannot block him from then accepting a position elsewhere. He’s no longer a Maple Leafs employee once he resigns. That’s exactly what happened.

 

[uncleben]

That Dubas hiring is starting to look really bad.

So let me get this straight:

Dubas just hired away Wes Clark...
And that makes our initial signing of Dubas bad because you presumably value Wes Clark and didn't want to lose him? So therefore, Dubas=bad
And if Dubas wasn't initially signed, then he wouldn't have thought to poach Wes Clark.
...The same Wes Clark that was originally hired by Dubas and wouldn't even be in our organization to be poached if Dubas wasn't initially signed and given power to hire Clark...


So the hiring of Dubas was bad because a year after he left, he got one of our guys that is only there because he himself hired him when he was here.

Clear as mud

 

[francis246]

Don't be surprised if Pridham is the next to leave. Dubas gave himself the GM title after searching candidates but I think the plan is still him remaining as President with someone else taking over the GM duties... and Pridham might just be that guy. He loves his guys and Pridham was very close to him.

I don’t think Pridham is leaving. Pridham is a Shanahan guy. Not a Dubas guy. Pridham worked for the NHL and so did Shanny.

 

[diceman934]

See you. Do not let the door hit you where the hod lord split you on the way out.

 

[SprDaVE]

I don’t think Pridham is leaving. Pridham is a Shanahan guy. Not a Dubas guy. Pridham worked for the NHL and so did Shanny.

Maybe. Dubas and Pridham were very close though, similar to Spezza and Clark. It's not like Pridham can just move for a promotion -- he's already an assistant GM, the only step up is be a GM or VP/P of a department really. We'll see.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Good for Wes to double his salary .. Leafs are better off without Wes .. he tends to like da Dubie types so he will find more common ground with Pens .. we need to draft more Tre and Berube types going forward .. big fast and mean dudes for playoff hockey success

We have no real picks next year and that 2nd will likely go at TD to replace Bert. Anyone drafted in 2026 will be outside our window and Tre may even be gone by then. Wes would have had nothing to do next year anyway. The timing for him to leave was good. A bunch of 5ths to 7ths will likely never play.

 

[Mess]

Hard to blame him for leaving after Dubas scorched Earth of Leafs future draft picks before he left.

Before BT traded back 2 X from his 1st in 2024 to obtain a 2nd round pick in 2025 (for next year for Florida) the Leafs would have had ZERO picks in the 1st X 4 rounds and have already traded 2nd and 4th in 2026.

Leafs have 3 picks in the top 120 for the next 2 draft classes. You want to spend 1000s of hours on the road sitting in cold arena's WITH NO DRAFT PICKS.

If you're the head of scouting and you have no draft picks then what is the use of scouting ???

If it wasn't the Pens it was only a matter of time before he left based on how much damage has been done to Leafs draft picks.

Tough position fill for the next guy with so little opportunity to make their scouting mark.