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

[Larcos_Unal]

I would prefer to lose 15 Clarks before I lose 1 Pridham.

Pridham is the one guy you don't let Dubas anywhere near.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Meh...he was decent. But the whole Dubas crew should have been purged when he left. Slowly but surely they're getting cleared out, thankfully.

Spezza, recently Keefe, and now Clark.

Arguably the most overrated and underachieving management group this organization has ever employed.

 

[Ciao]

Good for Wes Clark, but he won't be missed.

 

[Leafs87]

Interesting thing is he’s Tavares trainer or was before this role anyways. Both joined the Leafs the same day. They’re “very tight” according to articles. Hopefully a package deal??

 

[Mess]

I will give Wes Clark credit where credit is due.,. He sure did a hell of better job than Mark Hunter who was supposed to be some scouting savant.

 

[Kiwi]

I will give Wes Clark credit where credit is due.,. He sure did a hell of better job than Mark Hunter who was supposed to be some scouting savant.

To be honest Mess I hold scout's to a higher standard than comparing them to one of the worst heads of amateur scouting in living memory

MLSE has huge amounts of resources, let's weaponize that and get somebody bloody good

 

[leafs in five]

Dubas has hired or acquired the following Soo alumni in his time in Toronto:

Sheldon Keefe
Wes Clark
Jack Campbell
Matt Murray
Jake Muzzin
Joe Thornton
Michael Bunting
Wayne Simmonds
Rasmus Sandin
Jared McCann
Max Hollowell
Conor Timmins
Nick Ritchie

was it bad or good that we lost McCann in the expansion draft

 

[leafs in five]

There are 31 other teams who made sound decisions at the draft.

Somehow they did it without Wes Clark.

so every other team had a good draft? good on them

 

[WTFMAN99]

To be honest Mess I hold scout's to a higher standard than comparing them to one of the worst heads of amateur scouting in living memory

MLSE has huge amounts of resources, let's weaponize that and get somebody bloody good

I would throw GM money at Jarmo Kekelainen to come in and take over our scouting operations.

He was amazing in St.Louis

 

[thewave]

I will give Wes Clark credit where credit is due.,. He sure did a hell of better job than Mark Hunter who was supposed to be some scouting savant.

By scouting savant you mean falling in love with undersized players and London Knights?

He certainly screwed some things up.

 

[Havoc]

What a cringe departure lol. Cool bromance though.

 

[Hellcat]

Was he that short grumpy guy at the draft that looked like he wanted to be anywhere but at the draft? Never heard of the guy, do we care? Is he irreplaceable?

I will give Wes Clark credit where credit is due.,. He sure did a hell of better job than Mark Hunter who was supposed to be some scouting savant.

Wasn't his drafting style to sign and draft anything SSM?

 

[Mess]

Wes Clark Shares Clip Hinting at Reason for Departing Maple Leafs for Penguins​

It was announced Tuesday that Clark would be leaving Toronto to become the vice president of player personnel for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In a video posted Tuesday following the announcement that Wes Clark would be reuniting with former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh as the vice president of player personnel for the Penguins, Clark shared an intriguing message with his followers on ‘X’.

The video, captioned “Excited for the next great challenge… Penguins hockey,” featured a clip of Adam Huberman talking about loyalty, with the leading quote being, “Don't eat with people you wouldn't starve with."



The phrase hints at a deeper sentiment behind Clark's departure from the Maple Leafs, suggesting that Clark values loyalty and trust above all else – referring to his relationship with Dubas. The latter half of the clip quoted, “To me, loyalty is really big because if you invest in certain people in your life and they stick by you and you stick by them, what else is life about?”

Dubas and Clark have a long work history, but all roads have ultimately led back to one another. It started in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds when Dubas served as general manager of the OHL club and Clark was the director of player personnel. When Dubas made the jump to the NHL in 2014, becoming the assistant general manager of the Leafs, Clark followed the same year as an amateur scout.

Clark’s video and his emphasis on loyalty imply that his decision to leave Toronto was motivated by both professional and personal reasons. His steadfast loyalty to Dubas and the mutual trust and respect they share appear to be the driving forces behind his move to Pittsburgh.

For the Leafs, they’ll now likely turn their attention to Derek Clancey, who was brought on as an assistant general manager of player personnel last summer, and depend on his abilities to lead the way..

.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

so every other team had a good draft? good on them

No. How could you misinterpret what I typed?

 

[Ianturnedbull]

I would prefer to lose 15 Clarks before I lose 1 Pridham.

Pridham is the one guy you don't let Dubas anywhere near.

Why is Pridham so special?

You'd think he would be villainized this whole time.

 

[TheDoldrums]

For the Leafs, they’ll now likely turn their attention to Derek Clancey, who was brought on as an assistant general manager of player personnel last summer, and depend on his abilities to lead the way..

This would be disappointing, to have our top guy poached and simply promote from within. No salary cap on personnel salaries, they should be throwing the biggest cheques at the guys who have managed the most successful drafting teams. Sure it’s probably unlikely they get the guy in Dallas to flip for one example, but they should show a little ambition here.

 

[francis246]

Wes Clark Shares Clip Hinting at Reason for Departing Maple Leafs for Penguins​

It was announced Tuesday that Clark would be leaving Toronto to become the vice president of player personnel for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In a video posted Tuesday following the announcement that Wes Clark would be reuniting with former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh as the vice president of player personnel for the Penguins, Clark shared an intriguing message with his followers on ‘X’.

The video, captioned “Excited for the next great challenge… Penguins hockey,” featured a clip of Adam Huberman talking about loyalty, with the leading quote being, “Don't eat with people you wouldn't starve with."



The phrase hints at a deeper sentiment behind Clark's departure from the Maple Leafs, suggesting that Clark values loyalty and trust above all else – referring to his relationship with Dubas. The latter half of the clip quoted, “To me, loyalty is really big because if you invest in certain people in your life and they stick by you and you stick by them, what else is life about?”

Dubas and Clark have a long work history, but all roads have ultimately led back to one another. It started in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds when Dubas served as general manager of the OHL club and Clark was the director of player personnel. When Dubas made the jump to the NHL in 2014, becoming the assistant general manager of the Leafs, Clark followed the same year as an amateur scout.

Clark’s video and his emphasis on loyalty imply that his decision to leave Toronto was motivated by both professional and personal reasons. His steadfast loyalty to Dubas and the mutual trust and respect they share appear to be the driving forces behind his move to Pittsburgh.

For the Leafs, they’ll now likely turn their attention to Derek Clancey, who was brought on as an assistant general manager of player personnel last summer, and depend on his abilities to lead the way..

.

This literally makes no sense. Derek Clancey would have been Wes Clark’s boss under our current structure. Why would Clancey now demote himself? My understanding is Clark would be reporting to Clancey. Essentially Clark now has the same job as Clancey but with a more fancier title.

They are gonna hire someone to report directly to Clancey and Treliving.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

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?

In his role, I'm sure our European scouts would have given him tape on players for evaluation before giving final stamp of approval

 

[francis246]

This would be disappointing, to have our top guy poached and simply promote from within. No salary cap on personnel salaries, they should be throwing the biggest cheques at the guys who have managed the most successful drafting teams. Sure it’s probably unlikely they get the guy in Dallas to flip for one example, but they should show a little ambition here.

What mess allured to makes no sense. That wouldn’t be a promotion for Clancey. Why would Clancey go from being the assistant GM who oversees all player personnel decisions to becoming the director of Amateur scouting which is a position that is lower than Assistant GM?

 

[leafs in five]

No. How could you misinterpret what I typed?

"There are 31 other teams who made sound decisions at the draft"

 

[ITM]

Our composition hasn’t achieved a thing.

As many have stated, other organizations with personnel not in our fold, have.

Al Murray would cause a lot of Wes Clark amnesia.

Until then…I know it’s unreasonable, but can we stop feeding the cult/myth of Kyle Dubas et al and end/lock the thread?

 

[The Masters]

Interesting thing is he’s Tavares trainer or was before this role anyways. Both joined the Leafs the same day. They’re “very tight” according to articles. Hopefully a package deal??

i didnt realize this was the same wes clark lol

 

[Menzinger]

Why is Pridham so special?

You'd think he would be villainized this whole time.

Pridham doesn't make the decisions to sign the guys to big contracts, he's just stuck with the task of making sure contracts are structured in a way to maximize cap flexibility based on the decisions made by higher-ups.

The Leafs have actually done a few pretty interesting things to either be cap compliant or to maximize mid season tdl capspace - be it paper transactions or things like reacquiring Clarkson from Vegas

 

[HockeyVirus]

IDK. Dubas didn't win anything but with him in charge it really felt like the Leafs were well run (outside of the commitment to the core which seems to be a Shanny thing).

I said it when Tre was hired, and I say it again now. As a long time fan, this shit just feels like slowly the Leafs are becoming what they were again and will lose their talent, lose their core pieces, refuse to rebuild and be mediocre and filled with awful contracts.

Meh...he was decent. But the whole Dubas crew should have been purged when he left. Slowly but surely they're getting cleared out, thankfully.

Spezza, recently Keefe, and now Clark.

Arguably the most overrated and underachieving management group this organization has ever employed.

Posts like this is how you tell who is a new fan

 

[Ianturnedbull]

"There are 31 other teams who made sound decisions at the draft"

You know how to copy and paste?