Leafs like Spott's player development abilities

Leafs hockey operations director Dave Poulin tells The Toronto Sun he had an eye on Marlies head coach Steve Spott, who was then with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, long before Spott contemplated a change.

“You do your homework for these positions long before they’re open,” said Poulin. “Through (the Leafs hockey department) meetings, when you’re scouting, watching how people work in certain environments. You always file away things. When you see a junior team or an AHL team play, you’re watching the discipline of the team, how they look in playoffs.”

Poulin went more into specifics.

“He had players who were ready at 18 that weren’t necessarily slam dunks. Jeff Skinner was taken seventh overall by Carolina, the smallest player at the time. Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan Murphy ... we looked at the success he and Peter DeBoer had all the way back in Plymouth (before DeBoer went to the NHL and Spott took the Rangers reins).

“What stood out for us in Steve’s interview was his understanding of the balance you need to develop players, but in a winning context. He knew the importance of putting a young player out there to win a big faceoff, of developing (first-rounders) such as Stuart Percy, the balance of using Petter Granberg, who hadn’t played on a North American sheet before. He’s melded the vets with the rookies in kind of a seamless fashion.”

Source: Lance Hornsby, Toronto Sun