Maple Leafs’ Immediately Improve: Sign Rich Clune to Front Office

Two years ago, when the Toronto Marlies re-signed forward Rich Clune, ESPN’s Kristen Shilton noted that Clune was a respected voice in the dressing room that almost any Maple Leafs’ player who had been part of the Marlies had a story or two about Clune’s positive impact on them as a player or a person.

Rich Clune is coming back for another season with the Toronto Marlies.

He's become such a respected voice in that dressing room. Ask almost any #Leafs prospect who's done time in the AHL, and there's a story there about an impact Clune has had on them.

— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) October 15, 2020

To give a sense of who Clune was, he played in 139 regular NHL games with three NHL teams (the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nashville Predators, and Los Angeles Kings). But, he never quite found the kind of playing success he had originally hoped for. It was with the AHL, where he found his greatest success. He played 593 regular-season games with four teams (Toronto Marlies, Milwaukee Admirals, Manchester Monarchs, and the Iowa Stars).

But his true calling wasn’t as a player. It was as a player/coach.

Clune Retires as a Professional Player

Specifically, Clune played seven seasons and 256 regular season games with the Marlies in his hometown of Toronto. In those seasons, he scored 25 goals and added 34 assists. He also scored five points in 20 playoff games. He was part of the team’s Calder Cup championship in 2018.

Still, that’s really not that impressive as a player.

One Rich Clune NHL point stands head and shoulders above the others. https://t.co/0fHqaO0qXz https://t.co/OCcKozO3R9

— Jim Diamond (@diamondhockey) August 5, 2022

But Clune was so much more than a player. He was a leader. He was named the ninth captain in Marlies’ history during the 2020-21 season. He had been the team’s alternate captain in every other season he had been with the team.

Yesterday, just a few weeks less than two years after he was named captain, Clune announced his retirement from playing professional hockey. However, he hasn’t stepped away from professional hockey. As quickly as he announced he was retiring, the Maple Leafs’ organization announced that Clune would join the Maple Leafs in the area of player development as a member of their staff. 

Clune Will Take a Job in Player Development with the Maple Leafs

Both Clune and Jason Spezza will be great additions to the Maple Leafs’ organization. It isn’t quite clear what they will do within the organization yet, but Spezza retired this offseason to become a member of the team’s front office as a special assistant to general manager Kyle Dubas. In much the same way, Clune will also spend time learning from assistant general manager Hayley Wickenheiser.

These Are the Kind of Appointments that I Appreciate About the Maple Leafs

Two years ago, when I wrote about Clune being named the Marlies’ captain, I had called this moment. To quote my own post, I noted that “There’s more than a chance that, when Clune retires as an AHL player, he’ll move into a position within the organization in either the player development or player personnel department. Welcome back to the Marlies Rich Clune.”

Toronto Marlies Captain Rich Clune has announced his retirement from professional hockey after 16 seasons. He will be joining the @MapleLeafs player development staff.

— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) August 4, 2022

This time I want to re-shape that last sentence to say “Welcome to the Maple Leafs Rich Clune.”

When you have a talented person like Clune (and Spezza as well) who has proven himself to be a value to the organization, you keep them. The organization is better for having him!