Maple Leafs Head Scout Wes Clark Leaves Toronto & Joins Penguins…But Why? | SDP

Maple Leafs Head Scout Wes Clark Leaves Toronto & Joins Penguins…But Why? | SDP

the Toronto Maple Leafs have lost free agent Wes Clark no longer a leaf West Clark If you don’t know and I don’t expect you to if you’re not from Toronto and in fact if you are from Toronto I still don’t expect you to Wes Clark was the head of the scouting staff he’s notable for draft picks I think people were attributing draft picks to him that were not fair like Jersy was not under his staff he wasn’t the head Scout until 2021 um so we’re talking about uh a guy the guy he really seems to have hit on although this player has never played in the NHL is e count um right and so because of eastn count and that pick last year Lee fans have been really high on this guy and they should be um this is a really this was a guy that that you know strangely enough former Sue Greyhound you’re not wor worked on dubis staff with the Sue hit greaham you’re not going to believe it uh and uh and he posted this really weird Tweet now I can’t play it because it’s another podcast but uh it was from The Lex Freedman podcast and Lex Freedman if you don’t know is one of the biggest podcasters in the world but he’s kind of the Horatio cane of podcasting I don’t know who either of those people are okay so so so you know did you guys ever watch CSI Miami yes you know the blonde guy with the sunglass always he’s like the yeah the M he’s the meme Lex Friedman is that guy so like so one of them is real though Lex Freedman is real Lex Freedman real Horatio Kane fictional character why is he that guy because so here’s what the the interview clip says it says don’t eat with people you wouldn’t starve with which is just another another way of saying hang out with people you like like okay like it’s such a stupid it’s it’s one of those sort of alpha male adjacent type shows that’s like it’s it’s like in every man there’s a there’s a rabbit or there’s a bunny and there’s a wolf and and I just got to ask you something are you it’s a term I learned from The Joe Rogan podcast and it’s and it’s a very ironic because Joe is now the number one perpetrator of this [ __ ] is uh woo pedaling woo pedaling woo pedaling what is that you’re just pedaling stuff that makes you go woo and that’s all that’s exclusively what he does he’s the biggest hypocrite in podcast there was a there was a tweet about uh about Joe Rogan I think it was about the UF UFOs thing like years ago he had some UFO files guy and somebody’s like somebody tweeted like there’s a person standing outside of Planet Fitness right now smoking a Jay going that’s crazy bro and you know what he should invite on a sand hook Lex is very very successful but it’s such a bizarre thing to go with when you’re West Clark because West Clark’s tweeted like 10 times in the past four years and again like I said uh don’t eat with people you wouldn’t starve with again you know just it’s cool man that’s great um but it was interesting to me because most of the time you get a hey thank you to my former team I’m now leaving appreciate appreciate the fact that you gave me my shot in the NHL which the Leafs organization did Wes came in and I think 17 or 18 joined the staff was not thee of it until 2021 the the checks that West cash did not say Kyle dubis on them they said Maple Leafs on them right and so um I just thought it was very very interesting that there was no thank you to LEF for giving my first shot at the NHL level I’m sure his resignation said that um but I think I’m not gonna trash the guy but I think it’s a bit weird I’m allowed to say that it’s Weir it’s obnoxious it’s obnoxious no because it I think what he meant was for it to be he loves Kyle yes and that’s great I meant yeah of course why wouldn’t you um but it comes across as I’m blowing this Popsicle stand and it’s like oh okay cool thanks bro sure have a lot of confidence in the Integrity of all the pics you just right it does it does feel like that but what I will say is and people were like oh this is a huge loss um there’s an entire staff of Scouts Player Development people uh that work under West Wes didn’t go to Every OHL game this will shock you he was not at every OHL game West didn’t go to Every uh CHL game every uh NCAA game he didn’t watch it there’s an entire staff of people that have built a good culture and they come to a consensus pick based on what the team needs are as Direct Ed by the general manager M and when Wes leaves it’s just like when the last guy left I think his name was Dave Morrison um when they had so much turn they will have somebody else who gets in and gets to be the next West Clark there’s no reason to freak out about that yeah I’m I’m not going to walk back all the praise that we had for West Clark like throughout the certainly not I just thought it was a weird way to leave and everything it was definitely a weird way to leave but um like as as much as I like uh how he did I thought he did a good job with not very much you know what I mean yes he did and that’s he had all the resources in the world at his fingertips I’m not saying that I’m saying he was like the head of scouting and had no picks right um so he did a pretty good job uh with those picks we think right early Returns on those picks have been good Easton Cen and Fraser mitton and Matthew n oh the Matthew n pick was a really good one n gankin uh is hopefully pretty good um who’s the goalie Aram masim AR akimov but I don’t think that was you’re saying 2021 onward yeah I don’t think that was him he would have been on the staff but he didn’t pick that exactly yeah yeah yeah um you know we’re just going to gloss over the 2020 draft which was not great um uh I he did a good job with not very much um but like you said all the infrastructure and the the framework and the staff they’re still there sure so um you know is this a loss for the leaves yeah and he’ll be replaced with someone who either learned from him or someone who is going to have the same staff as him and he got a promotion by the way he’s well that’s the only way he can yeah the only way you can leave with jobs in the NHL is if they’re going up you know you can’t really move laterally uh they can’t get you out of your contract but like you say it’s a loss but just based it’s strictly based on the tweet and nothing else it sounds like it’s not because you don’t want people within your organization who don’t want to be there and it sounds like he’d rather go work for Kyle than be with the leaf so I’m like it’s not a loss we can all move on from this gentleman I don’t want to I don’t want to put words in his mouth yeah that’s why that’s why I he he put that out there Steve that’s I I have a feeling it didn’t come out the way he meant it but the way it came out was insulting why I are you a pizza or are you a mouth that’s like just [ __ ] I think it’s important so weird I think it’s important to preface like everything with it’s simply one tweet and you can’t like take everything from that and extrapolate from the single tweet of a podcast clip but it’s it’s strange you don’t think the organization on the way out it’s strange that you’re your final move as as Leafs in the Player Development staff is to talk about how happy you’re you are to leave and if anybody is leaving a company that I’m at and like oh that you’re you’re just happy to leave I’m like okay so then you shouldn’t have been here and then I’m happy then I’m happy that we can bring in someone now who’s a part of our team and wants to be on our team team so I assume they’ll upgrade in some way it’s you you contrast West Clark’s departure or social media departure with Sheldon Keefe who literally looked like he was FaceTiming us from the afterlife yeah he ran down the day he gets let go he runs down to a tobico goes to Lake Shore and films his little video like that’s one way that’s one hell of a way to go out hello leafes Nation I am at peace now no longer having to deal with the trials and tribulations of the Toronto media only dead know the end of war and I just wanted to say thank you and farewell and he flies away he looks like an angel Jess you guys are so right on that and and and and so listen I think Jesse makes a great point you don’t want people here that don’t want to be here I think that that you know I think you got your conspiracy theory hats on if you think that Wes is like you know what guys I know I’m leaving in 10 days I’m just going to uh I’m just going to tank all the Le you’re not going to do that because part part of it is professionalism the other part of it is there’s like isn’t there like 10 15 people on that staff who would be like what are we doing no I know yeah there’s balances here I did say something along those lines and like I don’t think he would do that but if someone leaves on what you think are tumultuous terms there’s going to be at least a little party that goes oo were you giving it your all I hope you were I think he was yes and even if he wasn’t his St was and and that’s what matters and and I think we got to look at this in a bigger context of you know whenever you see a department head who are the ones obviously on these teams that get the most play and the fact that it’s it’s a very Toronto thing for your head Scout to be on multiple interviews at the draft and and to we shouldn’t know who this person is right yeah it’s it’s weird for us to be starting a podcast about this gentleman like it’s it’s so ter it’s the fake NHL is where we’re living yeah tell your dad yeah stop pause the show and tell your dad they don’t care they don’t way we’re talking about a tweet of a staff member who’s leaving like weird I like it I like it I like being this in depth I like caring this much I ially definitely more fun it’s way more fun and I look at this and I think okay um what a great opportunity for somebody else uh and I think that that in Pittsburgh he’s got a lot of work to do you know that’s one of the the Le the worst ranked systems for development in the entire NHL because you know they’ve tried to continue to be successful and hexall and Burke were a disaster for the P Pittsburgh Penguins he has to do in Pittsburg what he had to do with the Leafs all right Wes you’re in charge of making all our picks okay how many picks do we have ah well you’ve discovered the problem right so you’re GNA have to do a good job with not very much it’s odd it’s just an odd way to go and uh it was notable and I thought we should bring it up I good for him I think um yeah also congrat you got that hired at a better job yeah like you got an upgrade got that’s great awesome hopefully you don’t starve yeah well well oh the eating the the eating thing don’t don’t eat with people you wouldn’t starve with would you guys starve with me I no because you’re a good hunter gatherer oh ah thank you right it would be impossible to starve with you right it’s true Jesse do you feel the same uh I would hope that You’ be smart enough to get food for us okay and eat it’s a difficult question for me to answer Adam uh you can tell I haven’t done a whole lot of starving I don’t think Wes and Kyle have either to be honest more starving than does doesn’t Kyle make like seven million bucks a year like I I don’t think he’s going to be starving any is Kyle dubis GNA hire a GM like or is he just going to be like oh no I get to do everything that cuz here’s the thing you know he’s got a lot on his plate right so I have to tell you um it it it’s weird that it’s weird that there seem seems to be a bit of a and this is floating around that there’s a little bit of they like to have that group that person that management likes to have people that agree that is floating around that’s out there more than one person okay and I don’t blame them for that I will tell you that the tension sometimes the tension of two people who disagree with each other is so much that they can’t work together so you don’t want that but tension in hey have you considered something else outside of your square box which is part of the problem the Leafs have because they never do uh and Kyle built a lot of that yeah um I I think that you know that that is you know whether they like it or not whether it’s fair or not that’s out there I think you’re right I think that sentiment is right for the wrong reasons um that it it to me is also dub’ biggest crime like to me as a Lea fan because sometimes it’s easy to look back at dubis as he arrived in 2018 when he became the general manager that’s not true he arrived to the Leafs in 2014 as the assistant GM ran a draft and well and stuff immediately started getting attributed to him right away like I I want to say the day he became AGM or the day after like Jake Gardner got extended and it was a decent extension we were all like oh I’ll do this who and he’s going to be so smart and he’s going to do this and he’s going to do that and he’s going to do that and oh he hired all his friends like every other hockey guy ever like you look at Brad TR living I mean he’s hired all his friends like he’s hired people that he Chris tanov yeah oh like even someon some of the players yeah guys he knows from Calgary guys he knows from Arizona those are the players and then there’s Shane Don and uh there was someone else I can’t remember the name and which is by the way fair if they can do a good job right but to me we’ve done that Dub’s biggest crime to me is he was touted as such an outside the box thinker and after a while it just became more and more obvious oh no he’s just some other hockey guy he just dresses a little better and knows how to read like it’s it he’s just another hockey guy and that’s okay thinks he’s really right hires all his buds we’ll just see like he’s just another hockey we’ll see how it all plays out in Pittsburgh because you know when you look back at it uh well it’s not going great yet how’s it going and how’s it look like it’s going to go the the Leafs handed you know Kyle dubis was a part of it but when he became general manager they handed him the keys to a a Ferrari that was already warming right you had three great young players then he goes out and he Nails the Taris signing right he absolutely nailed that he did that was a great signing 11 million bucks when he was getting offered 13 I mean it scor 47 goals in his first year it like people are not understanding like how many teams are guaranteed a playoff spot every year for basically the duration of a contract like the moment he signed that deal it’s like oh we don’t got to worry about making it anymore being a contender sure you got to worry about that but like you have a onew of Matthews staris you’re not missing the Playoffs yeah how how are you going to pull that off you’re not going to be able to do it right but no one’s going to look at it like that right now

Steve Dangle, Adam Wylde and Jesse Blake discuss Toronto Maple Leafs Head Scout Wes Clark’s decision to leave the team and join the Pittsburgh Penguins under Kyle Dubas.

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