Sep 14, 2026 · 1 hr 23 min · 12 segments
The summer brought shakeups. And The Leafs are under pressure. On this week’s episode of *The Leafs Lab Podcast*, we recap the summer’s biggest surprises, from the firings of Hayley Wickenheiser and…
Let's, let's start with the firings, 'cause I'm more ex- not, I wouldn't say excited about someone losing their job.
The firings moved me more than the hiring did, but I wanna hear your thoughts on the firing of Leach and, uh, Hayley Wickenheiser.
Right.
So I think Leach is by far the more surprising one, just because we heard, like obviously it's too early to say anything about the Leafs draft from 2026, but by all accounts people were suggesting that it was a good one.
You know, they punched above their weight class, so to speak, in terms of the value of the picks they added versus the, versus the prospects that they added.
Like, they added Alexander Bilicki and, like, I think his name's Ethan McKenzie, like some of these guys that were in the second and third round who look like, who can be legit guys further down the line.
So I was surprised that Leach was let go because he was also just hired, like, two years ago.
Maybe it was-
Yeah
... maybe two, three years ago, whenever West Clark left.
I think he left after 2024, so this was probably his only second draft with the Leafs.
But then you kinda look at it deeper and they added Judd Brackett to be their sort of player evaluation assistant GM.
And so it kind of makes sense that Judd would wanna bring in his own people to round out his staff, which I understood a little bit more.
But then it's also like they had a good draft, but then people were saying that it wasn't Leach that was running the draft, it was Judd Brackett.
So then if that's the case-
He's fired.
Mm-hmm.
You never really know, but if that's the case, then okay, it kinda seemed like he was getting pushed out the door a little bit.
And, you know, we'll see a couple years down the line if, if this draft class pans out and Judd looks like he's a really smart talent evaluator, then it's all moot, you know? But I was definitely very surprised-
Yeah
... that Leach was gone after such a short time.
I'm surprised at both, to be honest.
Like, when I said it moved me, I, I don't mean, like, good or bad.
It's just I was shocked they let go of both Wickenheiser and Leach simply because, like, first with Leach, everything you mentioned.
Let's, let's start with the firings, 'cause I'm more ex- not, I wouldn't say excited about someone losing their job.
The firings moved me more than the hiring did, but I wanna hear your thoughts on the firing of Leach and, uh, Hayley Wickenheiser.
Right.
So I think Leach is by far the more surprising one, just because we heard, like obviously it's too early to say anything about the Leafs draft from 2026, but by all accounts people were suggesting that it was a good one.
You know, they punched above their weight class, so to speak, in terms of the value of the picks they added versus the, versus the prospects that they added.
Like, they added Alexander Bilicki and, like, I think his name's Ethan McKenzie, like some of these guys that were in the second and third round who look like, who can be legit guys further down the line.
So I was surprised that Leach was let go because he was also just hired, like, two years ago.
Maybe it was-
Yeah
... maybe two, three years ago, whenever West Clark left.
I think he left after 2024, so this was probably his only second draft with the Leafs.
But then you kinda look at it deeper and they added Judd Brackett to be their sort of player evaluation assistant GM.
And so it kind of makes sense that Judd would wanna bring in his own people to round out his staff, which I understood a little bit more.
But then it's also like they had a good draft, but then people were saying that it wasn't Leach that was running the draft, it was Judd Brackett.
So then if that's the case-
He's fired.
Mm-hmm.
You never really know, but if that's the case, then okay, it kinda seemed like he was getting pushed out the door a little bit.
And, you know, we'll see a couple years down the line if, if this draft class pans out and Judd looks like he's a really smart talent evaluator, then it's all moot, you know? But I was definitely very surprised-
Yeah
... that Leach was gone after such a short time.
I'm surprised at both, to be honest.
Like, when I said it moved me, I, I don't mean, like, good or bad.
It's just I was shocked they let go of both Wickenheiser and Leach simply because, like, first with Leach, everything you mentioned.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.