Toronto Maple Leafs promote Jim Paliafito, add three new amateur scouts
By James Reeve
The Toronto Maple Leafs continued their off-season work with the addition of a number of backroom personnel, including the promotion of Jim Paliafito.
Jim Paliafito has been announced as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ new Senior Director of Player Evaluation, having spent the past three seasons in the junior role for the organisation.
Paliafito has worked in a number of roles in the hockey world since joining the Indiana Ice of the USHL as Director of Player Personnel.
He has worked as a scout, assistant general manager and general manager for the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League, working for the major junior club between 2009 and 2015, before leaving to join the Leafs.
The @MapleLeafs announced today the promotion of Jim Paliafito to Senior Director of Player Evaluation and the hiring of Chris Roque, Grigori Shafgulin and Olegs Koreskovs as amateur scouts. #TMLtalk
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) July 25, 2018
As well as the promotion of Paliafito, the Leafs hired three new amateurs scouts in the form of Chris Roque, Grigori Shafgulin and Olgs Koreskovs.
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Roque has had a long career in hockey scouting, starting back in 2003 with the Sudbury Northern Wolves of the NOJHL – having originally worked as an assistant coach for the Espanola Screaming Eagles in the same league in the 2000-01 season.
He then spent the next 12 seasons working in the OHL, first with the Kingston Frontenacs, before he joined Kyle Dubas’ Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
The Dubas-Greyhounds connection appears to be working in the Leafs’ favour with a number of on, and off, ice personnel joining the team this off-season.
Koreskovs also joins the Leafs after spending the past few seasons working as a scout, primarily with the Chicago Steel and the Coulee Region Chill in the USHL and NAHL respectively.
The 33-year-old Latvian has also spent a number of years as a player, with spells in France, Spain, Turkey and Belarus.
The former right-handed forward also spent brief spells in the USA, with the USHL the highest level of North American hockey he experienced.
Koreskovs has also worked as the head coach of the Wilkes-Barre Miners and Bracebridge Blues, but scouting has been the area of off-ice operations he has worked in since retiring as a player in 2014.
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Toronto Maple Leafs fans, what do you think of Paliafito’s promotion and the addition of the three new amateur scouts by Dubas? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!