Daniel Alfredsson was reportedly rejected by the Leafs as new information surfaces

That miss is quietly the best thing about the hire.

Alfredsson confirmed he interviewed with general manager John Chayka and senior adviser Mats Sundin before Toronto handed the bench to Jim Hiller, then circled back with an associate role he accepted once his Ottawa contract lapsed on June 30.

The coverage has fixated on the Battle of Ontario betrayal and the old Swedish rivalry now sharing an office. Both story lines are real.

Neither explains why this specific job, for this specific coach, lines up so cleanly.

Alfredsson spent the last three seasons as an Ottawa assistant under Travis Green, where the power play was his brief. That unit finished eighth in the NHL last season at roughly 24 percent.

Toronto's finished 15th despite a roster stacked with finishers. A head coach owns everything and answers for everything; an associate can be pointed at one broken thing and told to fix it.

Alfredsson's thin bench résumé, the knock that likely cost him the top chair, matters far less in a specialist seat where his actual strength is the whole assignment.

The detail nobody is connecting: Alfredsson coached William Nylander at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February and once played alongside his father, Michael, for Sweden.

Toronto did not import a legend for nostalgia. It slotted a man who already knows its most gifted, most streaky forward into the exact role that most directly shapes how Nylander is used.

Missing the head job kept Alfredsson out of a seat that would have exposed him and dropped him into the one that fixes what Toronto actually needs fixed.

That is not a consolation prize. That is deliberate aim.

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