Who will replace van der Heyden on CTV Montreal?

The news today that Todd van der Heyden, currently the co-host of CTV Montreal's noon and 6 p.m. newscasts, is moving to the media capital of Canada - Toronto- to join  CTV News Channel was  not a big surprise. I had been hearing rumours of his potential departure for weeks.

Todd van der Hayden

Paul Karwatsky

Van der Heyden will be joining the network full time as co-anchor with Amanda Blitz, hosting Express, weekdays from 1 to 4 p.m. His last newscast in Montreal will take place on Dec. 30 and he will begin his new role at News Channel on Jan. 16. He's been with CTV Montreal since January 2000,  initially as a reporter and backup anchor. In October 2003, he was promoted to reporter/producer of the new feature investigative  segment "On Your Side." Two years later he became the co-anchor of the 6 p.m. weekend newscast, joining  Tarah Schwartz. His big break came nearly five years ago when he moved from anchoring weekends to weekdays at noon, co-anchoring with veteran newscaster Mutsumi Takahashi. Then  in August 2008, he assumed the co-anchor chair of the flagship weekday 6 p.m. show, again teaming up with Takahashi.

Andrew Peplowski, shown here visiting LaurenHill Academy in St. Laurent.

I have always liked Todd, as a reporter, anchor and of course a person. He  will be greatly missed. So now what does news director Jed Kahane do to replace him? It appears very likely that he will continue the male/female duo which places Paul Karwatsky at the head of the class. He succeeded van der Hayden as Schwartz's weekend co-anchor. He's young, handsome, talented and homegrown. If Kahane goes outside of the station, it would not be shocking to see the likes of Andrew Chang  from CBC be given a look? A real wise choice, in fact, would be Andrew Peplowski. He has vast radio and TV experience, anchored Global TV's former This Morning Live Show for years, has a great TV presence, a fabulous on air personality and great following these days at CJAD.

There is already a draft Mose Persico movement underway. The stylish and popular entertainment reporter  could add an interesting dimension to the program.

Will Kahane pull the trigger on a replacement quickly, insert Karwatsky in on an interim basis or have Mutsumi fly solo for a bit? It will be interesting to watch this story unfold.