Maple Leafs hire new coach for 2020-21 season and it’s not Bruce Boudreau

A new coach is added to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ bench. The team announced on Friday that the hockey club has hired Paul MacLean as an assistant coach.

“Over nearly two decades as an NHL coach, Paul has filled every role on a coaching staff, winning a Stanley Cup and Jack Adams trophy along the way,” said Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe. “Adding someone of Paul’s expertise and character to advise and assist our staff is something that we felt was very important as we seek to make tangible steps next season.”

MacLean spent the 2019-20 season as an assistant coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets once he was hired on November 21, 2019. He previously served as the head coach of the Ottawa Senators from 2011to 2015, leading the Senators to a 114-90-35 record and a pair of playoff appearances. 

He won the Jack Adams Award while coaching Ottawa in 2012-13 after being a finalist for the honour in 2011-12. MacLean served two stints as an assistant coach for the Anaheim Ducks spanning 2002-04 and 2015-17 and was an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings from 2005-11. He has been an assistant coach in the postseason on 11 occasions and has made three appearances in the Stanley Cup finals (2003, 2008, 2009), winning the Stanley Cup in 2008.

The Leafs have also recently hired Manny Malhotra to join head coach Sheldon Keefe’s staff as an assistant coach. Malhotra had previously been with the Vancouver Canucks as an assistant coach the past three seasons and has really raised eyebrows around the league as a young, up and comer in the NHL coaching ranks. 

This sounds like Bruce Boudreau, who has often been linked to the Maple Leafs ever since he was let go by the Minnesota Wild earlier this season, won’t join his favourite team behind the bench.