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The Toronto Maple Leafs made their long-awaited front-office shuffle Friday, but it wasn't as dramatic as anticipated.

Instead of appointing a senior adviser to general manager John Ferguson, the Leafs promoted Jeff Jackson to the position of assistant general manager and director of hockey operations. In effect, Jackson's promotion gives the Leafs two assistant GMs, since Mike Penny also retained his job and title as well.

"That may end up being kind of a new [organizational] model," Jackson said. "The only thing I'm going to be doing more of is help Mike manage the [Toronto] Marlies and be more involved with our prospects playing in the American [Hockey] League, and maybe do a little more scouting with the players we drafted.

"Really, day to day, nothing's really changing."

Jackson joined the Leafs as the director of hockey administration in June of 2006.

In a prepared statement, Ferguson called Jackson "an invaluable member of our organization" and noted "Jeff has excelled at the numerous duties he has held for the past 14 months. With his past experience in the National Hockey League and his knowledge of the business side of the game, we feel he has a tremendous future in management. Jackson's responsibilities will continue to include collective bargaining related duties, contract negotiations, salary arbitration and cap management."

Jackson, 42, was a second-round draft choice, 28th overall, by the Maple Leafs in the 1983 NHL draft. The native of Dresden, Ont., played in 77 games for Toronto and recorded nine goals, 10 assists and 90 penalty minutes from 1984 to 1987. In 263 career NHL games with the Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Quebec Nordiques and Chicago Blackhawks, he scored 38 goals and added 48 assists for 86 points. He retired in 1991-92.