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One of yesterday’s emerging factors in the Maple Leafs winning the Babcock sweepstakes was the level of respect Mike Babcock has for Leafs Director of Player Personnel Mark Hunter as a hockey man and talent evaluator, something he reiterated in multiple interviews in his media rounds yesterday.

That has some, like Elliotte Friedman today, wondering if Hunter’s stock within the Leafs management hierarchy has risen to the point where he’s now among the favourites to be handed the official GM’s title by Brendan Shanahan, an added responsibility Hunter’s been reported to be interested in for a few weeks now. Shanahan so far has only said that he is evaluating both external and internal candidates, which would account for the possibility of a promotion from within.

[quote_box_center]“Now, yesterday Mike Babcock mentioned Mark Hunter’s name about how much he likes him about four or five times. So on the daily wagering chart on who is going to be the next GM of the Maple Leafs, Mark Hunter’s name shot about 10,000 points yesterday.”[/quote_box_center]

It also had Bob McKenzie wondering if the Leafs might add GM, coach and owner of the Brandon Wheat Kings, Kelly McCrimmon, to the front office staff after Babcock mentioned McCrimmon alongside Hunter as two of hockey world’s best noses for young talent.

[quote_box_center]Babcock: Well, Mark Hunter, when they hired Hunts last year, I said home run. The two guys that I know that are two of the best hockey men, period, there’s a guy named Kelly McCrimmon, and there’s a guy named Mark Hunter. They’re the guys for me. They just flat out do it year after year after year. They find players, they can smell ‘em and bring ‘em. So that right there, when I heard that last year, I said, there’s a hire. That’s a hockey man. When I met with Hunts and Shanny when I first got in here that day, I can talk to that guy. He’s a hockey man.[/quote_box_center]

McCrimmon has been with the Wheat Kings for over 25 years, taking over the GM’s role way back in 1989, and has served three stints as head coach spanning a total of 10 years. Under McCrimmon’s guidance, the Wheat Kings have captured eight Eastern Division titles (five in the last ten years), four Eastern Conference Championships, played in four WHL Finals, and participated in three Mem Cups. Since the 1992-93 season, when the Wheat Kings set a CHL record for the biggest single season improvement of 62 points, the Wheat Kings have won more games than any other team in the CHL. McCrimmon won the CHL Executive of the Year Award in 2010.

McCrimmon took over sole ownership of the Wheat Kings in 2000, making him owner, GM and head coach of the one of the most successful teams in junior hockey. After two decades of consistent success, McCrimmon is actually coming off his best ever season with the Wheat Kings this past season, posting a 53-11-4 record while coaching and managing a team featuring projected 2015 top 10 pick Ivan Provorov and a strong cast of NHL-drafted senior players (Morgan Klimchuk, Peter Quenneville, Jayce Hawryluk). The 2014-15 Wheat Kings recently lost out in the WHL final to the Kelowna Rockets.

Among the more recent graduated NHL products of McCrimmon’s Wheat Kings: Mark Stone, Brayden Schenn, Matt Calvert, Michael Ferland.

McCrimmon will be coaching the 2015 Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team with Sheldon Keefe as his assistant.

The Leafs have pulled a lot of brain trust out of the OHL pool, and if they’re looking for hockey minds elsewhere in the CHL, there isn’t anyone in the WHL who has been at it longer or been more consistently successful at all levels of the game, from coaching, to management, to ownership (he even played for the Wheat Kings in the ’70s, too). Given the main thrust of the rebuilding plan is to outdraft 29 other teams, he’s another good asset to have if there is any interest on McCrimmon’s part in leaving the GM and coaching role with a team in which he’s so deeply embedded.

Here’s the full transcript from Elliotte Friedman’s radio spot today, where he talks about Julien BriseBois (who sounds like he’s staying in Tampa), Mike Futa, George McPhee (who Friedman describes as an “ideal” fit as an experienced executive frontman), and Jeff Gorton.

Bob McKenzie seemed to agree that George McPhee could be a fit on TSN1260 today:

[quote_box_center]”I think a guy like McPhee would jump at it in a heartbeat. I mean, there’s only 30 jobs in the NHL, so when you lose one you want to get back in. George McPhee is very close with the Hunter family; he hired Dale to coach the Capitals. He could work with Mark Hunter in a heartbeat.”[/quote_box_center]

Mike Futa, meanwhile, is rumoured to be highly interested in the job, but there is some talk of concern with the exact role and level of responsibility of the GM’s chair in Toronto as well as the compensation situation between LA and Toronto:

 

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