A familiar face was behind the bench for the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Prospect Showdown in Montreal.
It had previously been announced that the Toronto Marlies’ coaching staff — consisting of John Gruden, Michael Dyck, Steve Sullivan, and Hannu Toivonen (goaltending coach) — would be overseeing the group of prospects at the mini tournament.
However, when a camera panned to the bench after the second period of Sunday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, former Maple Leafs defenseman Mark Giordano was spotted standing alongside the other coaches.
The 41-year-old was confirmed to be behind the bench for the Maple Leafs, but it’s unknown what his role was within the personnel who travelled to Montreal this past weekend.
Maple Leafs assistant GM, player development, Hayley Wickenheiser, was asked about Giordano’s role earlier this summer after he had been seen around the club’s facilities at development camp.
“Mark’s been around. I’m not sure what he’s worked out with (Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving) in terms of moving forward with a role, but he certainly knows the organization. He’s been around, and I think is interested in the coaching, development side of things.”
Takeaways From Maple Leafs’ Win Over Canadiens At Prospect Showdown
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ prospects had a better result after losing their first game of the Prospect Showdown in Montreal to the Ottawa Senators.
Giordano was seen chatting with several players and staff during the camp in July, and even put together a speech for the prospects. He spoke about his journey from being an undrafted defenseman to winning the Norris Trophy in 2019.
“I think there’s a lot of players sitting and listening to Gio that said, that’s me, and that could be me. The career that he had being undrafted coming in and eventually winning a Norris Trophy, is really an incredible story,” Wickenheiser said in July.
“But when he starts to speak about the road and how much commitment and effort and what he learned along the way, I think probably those players sitting there listening go, ‘I can do it, but boy, it takes a lot of work to get there.’ And so it’s nice to have these guys around that can just share stories very informally with the players. I think they get a lot out of it.”
Giordano spent parts of three seasons with the Maple Leafs, from 2022 to 2024, after being acquired by the club during the 2022 NHL trade deadline. He would suit up for 144 regular season games for Toronto, tallying nine goals and 45 points while averaging 18:14 of ice time.
The veteran defenseman also appeared in 18 playoff games, helping the club defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games during the 2023 postseason, the first time they’ve gotten out of the first round win since 2004.
Giordano hasn’t formally retired from pro hockey, yet he has taken on several roles since his last season with the Maple Leafs in 2024. He joined TSN for their trade deadline coverage earlier this spring and was 2025 first-overall pick Matthew Shaefer’s defense coach this summer.
It remains to be seen whether Giordano will have a role with the Maple Leafs for the upcoming season as the NHL camp opens up this week.
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