Ex Oiler farm coach Jeff Truitt back behind the bench?

Both Gregg Drinnan and Rod Pedersen who both have their fingers on the pulse of the WHL are reporting that former Springfield Falcons head coach Jeff Truitt will be the next G.M. for the Moose Jaw Warriors. The tribe didn't renew the contract of Chad Lang for this year and Truitt's hiring is expected Monday morning. A WHL source of mine also mentioned Truitt as head coach in MJ. Gregg Drinnan reported that current Warriors head coach Dave Hunchak might also have a contract that won't be renewed for next year, paving the way for Truitt to step behind the bench once again in the WHL.

Truitt was an assistant and a head coach in Kelowna before the Oilers hired him to coach their AHL team. However he failed to last the whole season.

Meanwhile Pat Siedlecki is reporting that the Hurricanes have had 8 applicants for their vacant G.M. position, one of them being Rich Sutter. Rich along brother Ron have reportedly been trying to buy the Canes for a few years, and a former WHL manager recently told me that with the G.M. spot open, Rich Sutter might just be content with being the G.M. instead of the owner. It would be a lot cheaper and he'd still get to run the team.

A Toronto Schenn-sation

Much to the chagrin of The Kelowna Rockets, the Toronto Maple Leafs made it official in regards to their intention of keeping rookie Luke Schenn with them this season.

Maybe The Clash put it best when they penned "Should I stay or Should I Go?"

We posed the question to Adam Proteau of The Hockey News prior to the start of the season and back then he found it highly unlikely that Schenn would stick with the Leafs. With a plethora of NHL capable blueliners with the team, the argument was made that Toronto didn't need to have Schenn filling a depth spot.

Yet Schenn isn't just playing a small role while he gets his feet wet, he's carrying more than his fair share of the workload.

The question still remains though if this is the best thing for the Leafs and their budding star. Few believe that Toronto is a playoff team with or without Schenn so why burn a year off of his contract?

To me the answer is pretty simple. If he's proving that he can not only handle but thrive at the NHL level, then you have to keep him. Would he develop as much going back to the WHL? I would suggest practicing with NHL players on a daily basis would be more beneficial to development than playing in the WHL.

This isn't a slight on the WHL or on the coaching available in the CHL, although some would suggest that was what Leafs bench boss Ron Wilson was doing when he said "This may sound arrogant on my part but I truly believe he can get better coaching at this level (than in junior)."

Greg Drinnan has a wonderful take on that sentence alone, you can find it here.

No for me, the bottom line is that you shouldn't hold back a player if he's proving capable of making the jump. What this does now for the Leafs is provide some surplus that they could potentially uses in a trade... if any of the other 29 NHL teams agree with them that their excess blueliners are indeed NHL calibre.

But that's my perspective, I'd like to hear yours.