The Toronto Maple Leafs announced the Toronto Marlies' coaching staff for next season, including Steve Sullivan as head coach and Mark Giordano earning an elevated role.
The Toronto Maple Leafs organization announced on Thursday that it hired Steve Sullivan as the next head coach of the AHL's Toronto Marlies, becoming the ninth head coach in franchise history.
Alongside Sullivan in the American League will be Mark Giordano as an assistant coach, goaltending coach Hannu Toivonen, and video coach Nick Biamonte.
Giordano's role for next season has been elevated after spending most of his time in 2025-26 as a development coach.
For the past three years, the head coach of the Marlies has been John Gruden, who is coming off a Calder Cup championship in 2025-26. After his tenure with the Marlies, Gruden earned a promotion and joined the Maple Leafs' coaching staff as an assistant coach, along with bench boss Jim Hiller, associate coach Daniel Alfredsson, and assistant coach Brad Werenka.
For Sullivan, he spent the majority of the past season with the Maple Leafs as an assistant coach, looking after the team's power play. Before earning a promotion to the Maple Leafs on Dec. 26 this past year, he was an assistant for the Marlies, and for the 2024-25 campaign.
"Steve has earned this opportunity through his work with both the Maple Leafs and Marlies and has built strong relationships with our young players throughout the organization," Marlies GM Ryan Hardy said. "His experience as both a player and coach, combined with his commitment to player development, makes him the right person to lead the next generation of Marlies."
The last time Sullivan was the head coach of any hockey team was in 2023-24, according to eliteprospects.com. He coached the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes U-18 AAA team. Since then, there hasn't been additional documentation of Sullivan as a head coach.
Looking further in the past, Sullivan was the GM of the Arizona Coyotes AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners, and assistant GM of the Coyotes when current GM of the Leafs, John Chayka, was running Arizona's franchise.
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