Leafs Add Bonvie, Three Others to Team Personnel

[Thrillhouse]

Cliff Fletcher, General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced Tuesday that the team has named Corey Hirsch as goaltending coach and Graeme Townshend as skating coach. Dennis Bonvie and Tom Watt have also been added as pro scouts under the direction of Mike Penny, the Leafs’ Director of Pro Scouting.

Hirsch, 36, most recently was the goaltending consultant for Hockey Canada where he was a member of the coaching staff which won Gold Medals at the 2007 and 2008 World Junior Championships and the 2008 Under-18 World Championships. He also worked as a goaltending scout for the Canadian Men’s National Team at the World Championships. During his playing career he appeared in 108 NHL games for the New York Rangers, Vancouver, Washington and Dallas, compiling a record of 34-45-14 with a goals against average of 3.12 and four shutouts.

Townshend, 42, spent the past four seasons with the San Jose Sharks as the team’s skating coach under the guidance of Ron Wilson and his staff. Townshend played 45 career NHL games (1989-94) for Boston, the New York Islanders and Ottawa collecting three goals and seven assists. Both Hirsch and Townshend will work with players on both the Maple Leafs and Toronto Marlies, as well as with the organizations drafted prospects in North America.

Bonvie, 35, recently retired from playing professional hockey at the conclusion of 2007-08 season. He played in 92 career NHL games registering one goal and two assists, along with 311 penalty minutes. Bonvie is the AHL’s all-time penalty minutes leader, accumulating 4493 penalty minutes in 871 games.

Watt was most recently a pro scout with the Florida Panthers. He has a vast amount of coaching and scouting experience, having won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year with Winnipeg in 1981-82 and winning a Stanley Cup with Calgary in 1988-89.

[caps05]

That's a nice gesture by the Leafs, letting Bonvie continue in hockey.

Kind of weird, however, since they're one of the weakest organizations toughness-wise in the NHL.

[DUSTER76]

Glad to see Bonvie ended up with a position other than , "at the end of the bar".

[MrFrost]

Of all the teams Bones goes to....

[Grittzkey]

So many jokes are running through my bind atm.

[Cat Smasher]

If you can’t get excited about what the Leafs are doing on the ice, you should at least be able to acknowledge that their front office has received a meaningful and significant face lift, so stfu.