Toronto Maple Leafs
Maple Leafs Hire Ryan Hardy to Run Marlies and Growlers [Report]
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced a new hire for its Marlies affiliate – Ryan Hardy. Who is Hardy, and what is his background?
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ organization announced today that Ryan Hardy had been hired as Senior Director of Minor League Operations for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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What Will Hardy’s Job Be?
Hardy will serve as General Manager of both the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers. Prior to his hiring to the Maple Leafs’ team, Hardy had served as the general manager of the United States Hockey League’s Chicago Steel. He’d held that position since the start of their 2018-19 season.
Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas was quoted in the announcement as saying: “Over the last several seasons, I have developed a strong relationship with Ryan as his Chicago Steel team had great success on the ice, as well as success in developing players and staff.”
Dubas added, “As we evaluate how best to maximize the potential of all our prospects, we felt that adding Ryan to our management team and tasking him with managing the Marlies and the hockey side of our relationship with the Newfoundland Growlers would be a great benefit to the organization.”
Laurence Gilman Is Promoted to Senior Vice-President of the Marlies
Laurence Gilman, who became the Marlies general manager prior to the 2018-19 season was promoted to become the Senior Vice-President of the Marlies. He’ll also continue with the title and role of being the Assistant General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Governor of the AHL club.
Effectively, Hardy’s hiring works to split the Marlies’ business operations and the AHL team’s on-ice hockey operations. Gilman will take over and run the business operations of the Marlies. Hardy will run the on-ice operations of the team.
Hardy Brings a History of Success to His New Job
No one can blame Dubas for missing talent. From what I read, this is a great hire for the organization.
Hardy has been extremely successful in his job with the Chicago Steel. Since he came to the team early in 2018, the Steel have put together an overall regular-season record of 116-39-8-2 in their 165 games. That’s the most wins for any team in the league since 2018. In addition, the Steel won the Anderson Cup as the league’s regular season champion during the last two seasons. It also won the USHL’s Clark Cup Championship last season.
Hardy has also been recognized by his peers, the other USHL’s general managers, by being voted as the USHL’s General Manager of the Year during the 2018-2019 and 2020-21 seasons. During the one season he didn’t win the award (2019-20), the Steel set the USHL record for highest winning percentage (at .847) before the season ended with the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Hardy’s Success Judging Hockey Talent
What makes Hardy an interesting hire is his talent for judging and developing hockey talent. Since 2018, his first season with the Steel, Hardy has watched 10 former Steel players selected during the NHL Entry Draft (five from the 2019-20 roster). That’s the highest number drafted out of any independent junior team for that season.
Perhaps there’s a connection between Hardy’s success developing players and his history as an amateur scout with the Boston Bruins for two seasons. In fact, before he worked for the Bruins, he spent the 2013-2017 seasons with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. There he worked as the Director of Player Personnel, Assistant Director of Player Personnel, and Regional Scouting Manager during that time.
Finally, Hardy was also an NCAA head coach at Sacred Heart University and Williams College and also at the junior level with the Springfield Jr. Blues (NAHL).
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