The Toronto Maple Leafs have hired long-time Spokane Chiefs General Manager, Tim Speltz, according to TSN 1260’s Guy Flaming.
Good scoop by @TPS_Guy. Long history between Speltz and Babcock and M.Hunter and Speltz got along well at under 18. https://t.co/EJmRLM2NXH
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) August 16, 2016
Essentially, the job Tim Speltz has accepted with the Leafs is very similar to the offer Kelly McCrimmon considered a year or so ago.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) August 16, 2016
While Kelly McCrimmon was originally targeted for this sort of role last offseason, Speltz’s resume in the WHL is formidable in its own right. His 28-year WHL career started in Medicine Hat in 1988 before he took over the Spokane Chiefs in 1990. Under his watch, the Chiefs won two WHL titles and two Memorial Cup titles, in his first year on the job in 1991 and most recently in 2008.
The opportunity I’ve been presented with by Toronto is extraordinary and is something that I couldn’t pass up. I am excited to take on a new challenge and get started with such an iconic NHL franchise. I am also very grateful that I’ll be able to assist in the Chiefs’ transition to a new general manager as well as continue to call Spokane home for my family.
– Tim Speltz on joining the Toronto Maple Leafs
In the mid-to-late 90s, Speltz was the boss of none other than Mike Babcock, who spent six seasons under Speltz as the Chiefs’ head coach. The pair amassed a 224-172-29 record between 1994 and 2000, making Babcock the winningest head coach in Chiefs history.
It was 1993 when a then-30-year-old Babcock first interviewed for the Spokane Chiefs head coaching job. Tim Speltz, who is still the Chiefs’ general manager today, knew he saw something in Babcock, recently fired by the Moose Jaw Warriors.
Even he couldn’t predict the success that would soon come Babcock’s way.
He met Babcock for an interview at a Calgary hotel and was immediately impressed. He recalled a confident, intelligent, “take-charge guy”, a strong thinker who not only answered Speltz’s questions, but asked some of his own.
“He was exactly what we were looking for,” Speltz said.
The Chiefs were beat up with injuries and trading their present for a better future, a preview in many ways of the task Babcock would face when he joined the Maple Leafs on a rich eight-year deal last May.
Babcock, Speltz said, wasn’t rattled during a stretch that saw everything seemingly go wrong.
“He was 100 per cent with the plan. He stuck with the plan as we had it,” Speltz said.
The Chiefs won 50 games the next year before losing in the Western Hockey League final. They would return to the final under his leadership four years later.
“He’s not easily satisfied,” Speltz said of Babcock. “He’s always pushing forward, which I think is another great quality, not only as a coach but as a teacher as well.”
Speltz has been named WHL Executive of the Year twice in his career, in 1995-96 and 1999-2000. The Chiefs missed the playoffs only three times during Speltz’s 26-year tenure, and haven’t failed to qualify for the postseason since the 2005-06 season, although they haven’t advanced beyond the first round since 2012-13.
Tyler Johnson, a Spokane native and eleventh round draft pick of the Chiefs in the 2005 Bantam Draft, tweeted out some words of gratitude for his former GM after the news broke:
Couldn't have happened to a better person. I owe him a lot, thank you for everything! https://t.co/9dLkv3xOta
— Tyler Johnson (@tjohnny09) August 16, 2016
In the bantam draft previous, Speltz’s Chiefs unearthed now-Minnesota Wild defenceman Jared Spurgeon in the tenth round of 2004. A list of the Chiefs’ NHL alumni is available here.
Speltz has also taken on a management role with Hockey Canada in the past few years, assisting the Program of Excellence management group at the 2014 U18 Ivan Hlinka, where Canada won the gold medal. He has also been involved in Team Canada’s management group for the U20 team ahead of the 2017 World Juniors.
Speltz will complement the Maple Leafs‘ growing group of scouting brain trust, with Mike Babcock no doubt playing a major role in the recruitment effort. The hire comes on the heels of the addition of Patrick Charbonneau for the Eastern region, as Director of Player Personnel Mark Hunter continues to build out the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ scouting network piece by piece with experienced talent evaluators specializing in each of the major junior leagues.
