The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that Brandon Pridham, formerly Assistant to the General Manager, is being promoted to Assistant General Manager.  The press release is here.

While the easy joke is that only in Toronto is it a story when a hockey executive loses a preposition, the move is significant.  The Leafs previously had Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter as their Assistant General Managers under Lou Lamoriello; Dubas moved up, Hunter and Lou moved out, and now Pridham has risen in rank.

Pridham is the Leafs’ Collective Bargaining Agreement specialist; he helped draft the CBA that came out of the 2012 lockout, before joining the Leafs in August 2014.  You can spot his fingerprints on some of the more creative moves the Leafs have executed in recent years, like the Clarkson-Horton deal and the Dion Phaneuf trade.  In a cap world, Pridham’s ingenuity for how to work with and around the rules is ever more essential, especially given the Leafs will be more squeezed than ever by salary restrictions as their stars get second contracts.  In the Tweet announcements, the Leafs indicated Pridham would continue in his current areas of expertise.

While he’s been something of a shadowy figure in the close-mouthed Leafs’ organization, the Leafs have certainly been savvy CBA navigators in the last few years, and Pridham likely deserves a lot of the credit for that.  Kyle Dubas certainly appreciates his work.

Congratulations to Mr. Pridham, and may our cap shenanigans lead us to glory.