Leafs and Mark Hunter mutually agree to part ways

Yesterday Elliotte Friedman tweeted this:

And then even later last night, Sportsnet posted a very brief story including the tweet and saying that unnamed sources have said the expectation is Mark Hunter will leave his position as Assistant General Manager to the Maple Leafs.

Also yesterday, Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star confirmed the news that Lou Lamoriello is going to the New York Islanders. That wasn’t in question, really, but he also added a couple of interesting things, including this tidbit from a French news site:

Hockey30 reported that he had reached out to pending free-agent centre John Tavares on behalf of the Isles. If he was acting on behalf of the Leafs, speaking with Tavares could be considered tampering.

That explains this Friedman tweet:

Friedman had also earlier reported the belief that Lamoriello has already spoken to John Tavares.

The other point made in the Star story is that the NHL has told teams not to make big announcements during the Stanley Cup Finals. Washington plays Tampa again on Wednesday, and the finals will begin on Monday, regardless of who wins that game. If there is a game seven in the final round, it will be June 13.

If you’re holding out hope for fun trades leading up to the draft, it seems like you’ll be waiting until mid-June unless someone acts fast.  Now, what else counts as big? Likely upper management or coaching changes, but what about ECHL affiliation news? Either way, we might get some clarity on a lot of things this week.

Typical week after a holiday weekend, there’s so much to do, you feel like you never had a day off.