Toronto Maple Leafs: Tim Speltz promoted and Scott Bell hired
By James Reeve
The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced the promotion of Tim Speltz to Head of Amateur Scouting and the hiring of Scott Bell as an area scout in Minnesota.
Tim Speltz is entering his third season with the Toronto Maple Leafs organisation, having spent 26 years as General Manager of the Spokane Chiefs in the Western Hockey League.
His time in the WHL saw him win the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as the best Executive in the league twice, after the 1995-96 and 1999-2000 seasons.
Speltz also had the unique honour of seeing his team win the Memorial Cup in his very first season in charge.
The @MapleLeafs announced today the promotion of Tim Speltz to Head Amateur Scout and the hiring of Scott Bell as Area Scout based in Minnesota.
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) August 2, 2018
His experience and knowledge of hockey in the Western side of Canada and the USA saw him hired as Director of Western Area Scouting for the Maple Leafs in 2016 – seeing him somewhat reunited with his former head coach Mike Babcock, who led the Chiefs between 1994 and 2000.
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His promotion continues the summer trend of Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan reshuffling their scouting staff, and they didn’t stop there.
Scott Bell has also been hired as an Amateur Scout for the Minnesota area.
Bell, a Minnesotan himself, joins after spending last season as an assistant coach for the University of Minnesota.
The 47-year-old’s playing and off-ice careers have largely been spent in the minors of American and Canadian hockey and, in particular, at the college level.
The former winger earned 81 points (41 goals and 40 assists) in 146 games for the University of Minnesota and he has also been the head coach of NCAA Third Tier program Hamline University.
Bell also brings with him five years of amateur scouting experience in the NHL, all of it spent with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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What do you think Toronto Maple Leafs fans? Are you happy with the team’s off-ice reshuffling? What do you think the team should do moving forward? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.