The Toronto Maple Leafs fired their head coach, Mike Babcock in favour of the man calling the shots behind the Toronto Marlies bench, Sheldon Keefe. In doing so, it freed Babcock to accept roles from other organizations, both in the NHL and out.
The search that was underway for a Hockey Canada head coach was winding down when new broke of Babcock’s firing. Leading that quest for a national men’s team coach was acting general manager Sean Burke along with Shane Doan. They were on the hunt for someone to coach at the Spengler Cup.
Wayne Gretzky was originally offered the position, which he turned down.