Anaheim staff surfaces as Toronto's surprise coaching target

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David St-Jean
May 15, 2026  (8:57)

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Photo credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Jay Woodcroft is suddenly the loudest name on Toronto's coaching board, and the Maple Leafs haven't picked up the phone to Anaheim yet.

That's where Nick Alberga planted a flag overnight, dropping the question every Leafs fan woke up to on Friday morning.

The timing tracks. Toronto finished the year 32-36-14, good for 78 points and 28th in the league.

They closed the schedule on a seven-game losing streak. The goal differential read minus-46. The bench job is open.

Craig Berube is out. Toronto's new front office has not named a head coach yet, and the search looks wide open.

Woodcroft sits behind the Ducks' bench alongside Joel Quenneville. Anaheim finished 43-33-6, 92 points, and third in the Pacific.

Alberga's tweet read less like a prediction and more like an inevitability. A one-line nudge that sounded like he's already hearing names whispered around the league.

What makes the fit obvious is the room a new coach walks into next September.

This is a roster that bled goals. The Leafs allowed 299 in 82 games. Anyone hired here needs to fix the structure first.

The head-to-head is its own little irony. Toronto beat Anaheim twice this season, 6-4 at home on March 12 and an overtime win on the road on March 30.

Eleven goals against the Ducks in two meetings, and Toronto still finished 14 games under .500. That tells you what kind of summer this is going to be.

Anaheim has every reason to slow this down. Or block it outright. Quenneville's staff is part of a rebuild they just paid to build.

Permission requests are messy. Compensation talks are messier. Toronto's front office has barely unpacked the boxes.

But the calendar moves fast. The draft is weeks away, free agency right behind it, and you can't run a war room without the man who picks the lineup.

So whose voice wins? The Ducks, who finally have a coaching room they like, or a Toronto group that needs a bench boss before it can pretend to have a plan?

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Previously

Jakub Dobes gets emotional after Canadiens' huge Game 5 win

Canadiens stun Buffalo crowd with wild postgame scene after taking 3-2 series lead

John Tortorella shocks everyone after series win with something we've never seen before: reason known

POLL
MAI 15   |   867 ANSWERS Anaheim staff surfaces as Toronto's surprise coaching target Should the Maple Leafs hire Jay Woodcroft as their next head coach?
Yes	368	42.4 %
No	499	57.6 %
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