Farm team Growlers gave the Maple Leafs many positives in May

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While some Maple Leafs’ scouts were gathered in a room at one end of the country, compiling data for the draft, the club’s ECHL farm team was battling on ice to stay alive at the other.

The Newfoundland Growlers were down 3-2 in their series against the Florida Everblades before Tuesday night’s game in the Eastern Conference final. The Growlers are getting used to long playoff runs, noted team president Glenn Stanford in a phone interview from St. John’s.

“Our first year (2019) we won the Kelly Cup, then didn’t play for two (one season ending early due to COVID, the next not starting at all), then lost in the final four and now we’re back,” said Stanford. “So I’d say the formula with Toronto is working well. There are 20-something teams in our league who would take what we have done.

“The Leafs have made the commitment to put the players and coaches here and I think we’ve had about five Growlers play there (via the AHL Toronto Marlies, among them Bobby McMann) and other staff.

“And absolutely that’s made St. John’s a strong Leaf town (Toronto and Montreal set up there as a farm base in the AHL going back to the 1990s).”

Kyle Dubas would no doubt have dropped in on The Rock after the Leafs and the Marlies both were eliminated from playoffs, but his firing as Toronto general manager happened just as the Growlers and Everblades were starting their series in the south.

When the St. John’s half of the schedule began, Toronto’s director of minor hockey operations, Ryan Hardy, arrived with Marlies GM Laurence Gilman to watch and assess.

Pavel Gogolev, who had been with the Marlies and had two goals in Sunday’s Game 5 shared the team playoff scoring lead with Isaac Johnson at 16 points before Tuesday. Marlie loans Orrin Centazzo and Zach O’Brien were in the top five.

“I really can’t talk about the relationship with Kyle, that’s a bit above my pay grade,” Stanford said. “But our team and our coach (Eric Wellwood, younger brother of ex-Leaf Kyle) have done a great job.”

Stanford says he and the group running the Growlers are “in discussions” for an extension of the agreement with the Leafs beyond next season.

In Kamloops, B.C., where the Memorial Cup continues this week, the Leafs have wrapped scouting meetings with an eye to the June 28-29 draft in Nashville. Club president Brendan Shanahan said the day of the Dubas firing that Wes Clark, the club’s director of amateur scouting, would be a key resource for him in the coming weeks.

Dubas traded this year’s No. 1 pick to the Blues in the Ryan O’Reilly deadline deal, but recouped one a few spots lower at 28^th, getting Boston’s in a swap with Washington that included shipping out defenceman Rasmus Sandin. The Leafs aren’t scheduled to pick again until the fifth and sixth rounds, pending any trades before then.

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lhornby@postmedia.com

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