Leafs make some significant changes behind the bench ahead of the 2023-24 season

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Mike Armenti
July 20, 2023 (12:51)

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The Leafs have been uncharacteristically quiet over the past few weeks. With Toronto being the hockey hot bed, you'd have thought the chatter would be plentiful throughout the summer, however, with Brad Treliving at the helm, there has been very little to report on thus far this summer.

Well, the quiet gave way to some significant chatter on Thursday after the Leafs announced that they had hired two new assistant coaches in ex-Lightning and Senators head coach Guy Boucher and former St. Louis Blues assistant coach and ex-Leafs defenseman Mike Van Ryn.

Van Ryn comes in to run the Leafs' D corps after winning a Cup in St. Louis as an assistant coach in 2019. Meanwhile, Boucher has been to the Eastern Conference Finals twice, once with Tampa in 2010-11 and then again with the Sens in 2016-17.

The two coaches hired both have far different connections to the league. Guy Boucher was a prolific head coach in the 2010s, leading both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators to the third round of the playoffs. Mike Van Ryn on the other hand, has only been assistant coach to last year's St. Louis Blues team, and us of course, a former Maple Leaf player. Only playing 27 games with the Leafs in 2008, Van Run's most memorable moment came when he was hit through the glass by the Bruins' Milan Lucic.

Per reports from Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun, Keefe has confirmed that Van Ryn will run the team's D corps, while Boucher will step in to run the Leafs' powerplay, following the departure of former PP coach Spencer Carbery, who is now the head coach in Washington.