Maple Leafs hire Guy Boucher, Mike Van Ryn as assistant coaches

The Toronto Maple Leafs have finished filling out their coaching staff for the 2023-24 season. They announced Thursday morning that they added Guy Boucher and Mike Van Ryan to work as assistant coaches under Sheldon Keefe, joining a staff that also includes assistants Dean Chynoweth and Manny Malhotra, goaltending coach Curtis Sanford, and video coaches Jordan Bean and Sam Kim.

“One of my goals every offseason is to put together the best staff possible to help give us the greatest opportunity for team success,” Keefe said in a team release. “With (former Leafs assistant coach) Spencer Carbery’s departure to become the head coach of the Washington Capitals, I’m thrilled to add experienced and accomplished coaches like Guy and Mike, as well as how the roles and responsibilities will now be shared amongst our coaching staff moving forward.”

While new GM Brad Treliving opted to keep Keefe as head coach, Keefe doesn’t have a contract extension beyond 2023-24 at this time, and it’s noteworthy that he’ll now have an experienced former head coach working under him. Boucher, 51, compiled a 191-186-46 record as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2010-11 to 2012-13 and the Ottawa Senators from 2016-17 to 2018-19. He coached two teams that came within a single victory of reaching the Stanley Cup Final: His 2010-11 Lightning and 2016-17 Senators squads lost in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final. Boucher’s career has also included coaching stints in AHL and Swiss NLA, but he hasn’t been employed as a coach at any pro level since the Senators fired him during the 2018-19 season. Boucher was close to being named the Leafs head coach in 2015 before Mike Babcock accepted the position.

Van Ryn, 44, joins Keefe’s staff after working as an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues since 2018-19. His five-year stint included winning a Stanley Cup in 2018-19. Van Ryn also skated in 353 NHL games in a player, including 27 with the Maple Leafs in 2008-09.