​​LeBrun: NHL offseason in full swing, with big changes coming for Penguins and

Tis the season.

We’re down to four teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which means for 28 other teams around the NHL, the offseason is in full swing.

The Penguins have been busy conducting interviews as they seek to fill out their front office. They’re looking to hire both a president of hockey operations and a general manager.

They chatted with a dozen or so people via Zoom in the first round of GM interviews and are cutting down the list to a shorter group for in-person second-round interviews, according to league sources. Some of the first-round candidates were informed Tuesday that they are no longer in the running.

I’ve confirmed seven people who were part of the first-round Zoom interviews: Marc Bergevin (Kings), Eric Tulsky (Hurricanes), Peter Chiarelli (Blues), Jason Karmanos (Sabres) and a hat trick of Devils front-office people: Dan MacKinnon (senior vice president/AGM), Kate Madigan (AGM) and Meghan Duggan (director of player development).

Again, there are other names, as well. I wasn’t able to confirm rumored names such as Lightning AGM Mathieu Darche nor Kraken AGM and former Penguins AGM Jason Botterill, but I would be surprised if they weren’t candidates.

I was also told the Penguins wanted to include Brad Treliving as part of their first wave of Zoom interviews but the Flames denied them permission, apparently telling Pittsburgh it would have to wait until Treliving’s contract expired June 30 — which, well, is a little bizarre of the Flames if you ask me. Treliving is leaving the organization, so why would they care?

In the meantime, as our Penguins columnist Rob Rossi wrote this week, the club is looking to hire a president of hockey operations and one name that keeps being mentioned is former Coyotes GM John Chayka. However, I’ve also been told Chayka could potentially surface with another NHL organization over the next few weeks. So TBD on that one.

Coaching candidates

Now that the Maple Leafs are out of the playoffs, there’s no question that teams will be reaching out about Toronto assistant coach Spencer Carbery, and I believe the Capitals, his old organization, have already sought permission to interview him for their vacant head coach position, although neither organization would confirm that Tuesday. We’ve previously reported the Caps’ interest in Lightning assistant coach Jeff Halpern. I’m told the Caps have also interviewed other coaching candidates, so this isn’t a two-person field.

Carbery has one year left on his contract with the Leafs. I believe at least one other team wants to talk to him, and it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the Ducks. Anaheim has cast a pretty wide net and has had preliminary discussions with several coaching candidates, but I think it’s a process that still has a lot to play out. GM Pat Verbeek is currently at the World Championship, so that’s paused the interview process to some degree.

The Blue Jackets, Flames and Rangers are the other teams…