Toronto Maple Leafs hire Marc Savard as assistant coach

The Toronto Maple Leafs have hired former Calgary Flames assistant coach Marc Savard to join Craig Berube’s staff as an assistant coach, the club announced Sunday afternoon.

Savard, 46, spent the 2023-24 season on Ryan Huska’s staff in Calgary, helping the club to a 38-39-5 record while primarily overseeing the power play, which finished 26th in the National Hockey League with a 17.9 percent conversion rate.

The Flames and Savard mutually agreed to part ways on May 22 after persistent rumours had surfaced that Savard was in line for a job in Toronto. On Sunday, the Maple Leafs made the news official.

The Maple Leafs’ coaching staff for the 2024-25 season will be led by Berube, who previously guided the St. Louis Blues to the Stanley Cup in 2019. It will include Savard, associate coach Lane Lambert, assistant coach Mike Van Ryn, and goaltending coach Curtis Sanford.

Savard began his coaching career as an assistant under Berube with the Blues in the 2019-20 season before leaving to take the head coaching job with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. The longtime NHL centre led the Spitfires to an 88-35-8-5 record over two seasons and helped them the OHL championship series in 2022.

During his playing career, Savard established himself as a star junior forward with the Oshawa Generals before beginning his NHL days with the New York Rangers, who drafted him in 1995. After parts of two seasons in New York, Savard was acquired by the Flames in 1999.

Savard spent three full seasons in Calgary, where he emerged as a top-six NHL centre. But amidst a clash with then-head coach Greg Gilbert early in the 2002-03 season, the Flames traded Savard to the Atlanta Thrashers.

With Atlanta, Savard became one of the top-scoring players in the league, setting career-best marks with 28 goals and 97 points in the 2005-06 season. He subsequently signed with the Boston Bruins as an unrestricted free agent, posting outstanding offensive numbers year after year but ultimately suffering a string of career-ending concussions while playing with the team.

Despite playing only 25 games in the 2010-11 season, Savard’s name is on the Stanley Cup in recognition of his contributions to Boston’s championship team. He officially announced his retirement from playing in 2018, seven years after his final game with the Bruins.

In 807 career NHL games with the Rangers, Flames, Thrashers, and Bruins, Savard collected 207 goals and 706 points. The Ottawa, Ontario product added eight goals and 22 points in 25 playoff contests.