After two minor-league championships in the span of roughly a calendar year, Laurence Gilman stepped out of the Marlies’ locker room three hours before puck drop on a new season to say this was the start of a new era.



This season, Gilman’s second full year in charge of the Leafs’ affiliates alongside his role as the NHL club’s assistant general manager, was “definitely” the first with a true three-tier system, he said.



The formulas that turned the organization’s two affiliates into models for their respective leagues were old news. The Leafs think they’ve found an even better path forward.



“We’ve referred to it as a baseball model where our players will begin their professional careers at the Double-A level in Newfoundland with the Growlers, and good examples of that is with Joe Duszak, Mac Hollowell and Justin Brazeau,” Gilman said. “They’ll start their careers there,...