Fans in Toronto have been waiting for Brendan Shanahan to leave his footprint on the team since taking over as the president of hockey operations. Today may have been what they’ve been waiting for.
The Leafs announced they’ve hired Brandon Pridham as assistant to GM Dave Nonis. According to the team, Pridham will assist in salary cap analysis, contract negotiations and collective bargaining agreement interpretation for the team.
Being the team’s capologist means Pridham will never have a boring day at work in the Big Smoke and, as James Mirtle of The Globe And Mail shares, his reputation around the league is good one and he helped create the NHL’s salary cap system following the 2004-05 lockout.
The Leafs weren’t done there though.
According to Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy, the Leafs have hired a full analytics department highlighted by Darryl Metcalf (whom you may know best for his work at Extra Skater) as well as former Yahoo! writers Cam Charron and Rob Pettapiece.
All are well known for their work in statistics work, especially Metcalf whose website, extraskater.com, had become a popular visit for those interested in that side of analyzing hockey. Those hires along with the addition of Kyle Dubas as assistant GM have made the Leafs suddenly into one of the most modern-thinking teams in the league.