The Toronto Maple Leafs have reportedly interviewed Derek Lalonde and Mike Van Ryn for an NHL head coach position, confirming earlier reports from TheHockeyNews.com
Ever since the Toronto Maple Leafs kicked off their search for a new head coach following Craig Berube's dismissal over two weeks ago, there has been a lack of confirmed names in the running for the position.
However, confirming a report by TheHockeyNews.com about a week ago, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Maple Leafs interviewed multiple interior candidates.
"I know they've interviewed their internal guys," Friedman said on Sportsnet's The Hockey Fan Show. "I think they interviewed (Derek) Lalonde. I think they also interviewed Mike Van Ryn."
Lalonde and Van Ryn served as assistant coaches beside Berube for the Maple Leafs last season.
Last year marked Lalonde's first season as an assistant coach with the Maple Leafs. He was in charge of Toronto's penalty kill, which was one of the team's few bright spots as they ended the year with an 81.2 penalty kill percentage, finishing in the top 10 of the NHL.
It's also worth noting that before Lalonde was hired by the Leafs to be an assistant coach going into the 2025-26 campaign, he was coming off a two-and-a-half-year stint as the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings.
He led the Red Wings behind the bench for the entirety of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, but got fired in December of the 2024-25 campaign.
Before Detroit, Lalonde served as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning and helped the franchise win a pair of Stanley Cups.
As for Van Ryn, he wrapped up his third season as assistant coach for the Maple Leafs. He was brought in by Sheldon Keefe in 2023-24 and stayed on with Berube's staff, having a history with him with the St. Louis Blues from 2018-19 to 2022-23, also as an assistant coach.
He was in charge of the defense's general system and operation, which didn't pan out so well for Toronto as they allowed the second-most goals in the NHL last season, with 295 and an average of 3.60 goals-against per game.
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