RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Jon Cooper Getty
There’s a seemingly outrageous rumor floating around online purporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs could be getting a new coach.
Wait a minute, don’t the Leafs already have a new coach?
Yes, that’s right. That’s why this rumor seems as bizarre as it is tantalizing. The chatter purports that the Maple Leafs could poach 2026 Jack Adams Award winner Jon Cooper away from the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The buzz has come from a comment made by insider Jeff Marek. The comment is by no means an actual rumor. It’s more of a musing. But it might just be one of those ideas that has more legs than it seems at face value.
”I know the Maple Leafs have a new coach in Jim Hiller, this is probably unfair, but I do think that Jon Cooper is of the mind that that’s a real challenge that he would embrace.”
For someone who’s done it all at the NHL and international level, taking on the challenge that is bringing a Stanley Cup to Toronto is not nothing.
Sure, Cooper already has two Cups. But wouldn’t it be the ultimate piece of glory to be the coach that finally ends the Maple Leafs’ drought?
Could the urge to do something no one else has done, at least not in the last six decades, be too much to pass up?
The idea of going down as one of the NHL’s all-time best coaches might be too tempting for Cooper to pass up. And with nothing left to prove in Tampa, a new challenge, the mother of all challenges, could be enough to lure Cooper away from the Lightning and behind the Maple Leafs’ bench.
Maple Leafs Would Have to Make Jon Cooper an Offer He Couldn’t Refuse
There’s a reason this particular musing is so tantalizing, even if there isn’t much actual substance behind it.
Cooper isn’t just another available coach. He’s one of the most accomplished coaches of his generation, and he has already proven he can build a team capable of winning multiple Stanley Cups.
That would make him a fascinating fit for the Maple Leafs.
That’s why the idea of Cooper coaching Toronto is so intriguing. He wouldn’t be walking into an organization that needs to learn how to win. He’d be walking into one that desperately needs to learn how to get over the proverbial hump.
Of course, it would mean dumping Jim Hiller and potentially offering a ton of money to Cooper. But then again, a truckload of money plus the chance to go down in history might be too much to pass up.
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Toronto Should At Least Think About Landing Cooper, If There’s a Chance
Here’s where this gets interesting.
If Cooper really did have an interest in coaching the Maple Leafs, should Toronto simply dismiss the idea because it already has Hiller?
Hiller deserves a legitimate opportunity. There’s no question about that. But if Cooper were genuinely available and genuinely interested in taking on the Toronto job, the Maple Leafs would have to at least consider the possibility.
Again, none of this means the Maple Leafs are actually pursuing Cooper. There isn’t enough here to call this a legitimate rumor. But that doesn’t mean it’s an idea worth ignoring.
Sometimes the craziest ideas aren’t quite as crazy when actually working them out.
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