Leafs hire Loiselle as assistant GM

The Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday announced the hiring of former player Claude Loiselle as their new assistant general manager.

Loiselle, 47, previously served as an assistant GM with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He also spent seven years working in the NHL's hockey operations department, and did some scouting for the Maple Leafs this season.

He was rumoured to be among the candidates for Tampa Bay's vacant GM job, which went to Steve Yzerman last week.

Loiselle had a reputation as a hard-nosed player during his 13 seasons as an NHL forward, including parts of two seasons with Toronto in the early 1990s.

His new responsibilities include dealing with contract negotiations and salary-cap management.

"We are extremely pleased to have Claude join our front office team," Leafs GM Brian Burke said in a statement Tuesday. "Along with Claude's experience as a player in the National Hockey League, his knowledge of the business side of the game will be a great benefit to our team."

The Leafs had been without an assistant GM since Jeff Jackson left the team in March.