Despite having only one playoff-round win to his name in 10 years as Toronto Maple Leafs president, Brendan Shanahan is staying on in Toronto.
New Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment CEO Keith Pelley delivered the news during Friday’s season-end media availability with Leafs management.
“Brendan Shanahan is the president of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s a champion,” Pelley said.
When asked, Shanahan declined to clarify his contract status – including the length remaining on his current deal.
“My contract status will not be a distraction,” Shanahan said.
Shanahan sat between Pelley and Leafs general manager Brad Treliving. Just as former head coach Sheldon Keefe did multiple times before being fired on Thursday, Shanahan took the blame for the lack of postseason success during his tenure with the Leafs.
“The ultimate responsibility is on me. The accountability is on me,” Shanahan said. “Our playoff results have not been good enough. That’s on me.”
All three executives struck a solemn chord, attempting to show visible frustration with the Leafs’ recent results.
“Good is simply not good enough,” Pelley said. “We need to win. Nothing else matters. No doubt you’ve heard that before. But I am 1,000 percent committed to it.”
Pelley seemed intent on sticking with what he’s seen and not making change for change’s sake. How will that be done?
Under Shanahan, the Leafs have qualified for the postseason in the last eight seasons. Their lone series win came in 2023 over the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Leafs have lost in the final, series-deciding game of the opening round in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024 under Shanahan’s watch.
Pelley said he has seen enough since beginning his post on April 2 to continue with Shanahan at the top of the Leafs management structure.
“I’ve always believed that the formula for success is great skill combined with chemistry and unity. And in the midst of facing adversity in the first series down 3-1, I got a full glimpse of the chemistry and unity that (Treliving) and (Shanahan) have,” Pelley said. “I cannot comment on what has transpired over the last number of years but I can tell you that chemistry and unity is the critical components that add with skill in order to be successful. And winning is winning the Stanley Cup.”
“I wake up every day with the goal of trying to add and make the Maple Leafs better,” Shanahan added.
GO DEEPER
Sheldon Keefe is out. Brendan Shanahan’s case to stay has never been weaker
Keith Pelley speaks publicly
Friday was the first public appearance in front of the media for Pelley.
He didn’t field as many questions as Treliving and Shanahan, but he did outline his vision for the Leafs while also insisting the fanbase shouldn’t get in the habit of hearing from him often.
“Good is simply not good enough,” Pelley said. “I can assure you that is the collective position of ownership. When I asked during the interview stage, ‘What was the definition of success to the owners?’ One of them said immediately and emphatically, ‘Just win.’”
Pelley admitted winning in the NHL “where rules and regulations promote competitive balance” is difficult but suggested the Leafs will continue to spend heavily on resources surrounding the roster, as they long have.
At least publicly, Pelley said all the right things.
He tried to downplay the notion that the Leafs organization is comfortable with complacency.
“We are not here to sell jerseys. We are here to win. We are going to do everything we possibly can to do that,” Pelley said.
And he was resolute in his belief that results have to come – and soon – for the Leafs under his watch.
Serious roster change could be coming
Nine years ago, Shanahan truly planted the seeds of the “Shanaplan,” as it has been commonly referred to.
“The challenge here in Toronto is not to come up with the plan. The challenge in Toronto is to stick to it,” Shanahan said in April 2015.
From that point on, Shanahan has continually bet on his core players getting results and preached patience with his team amidst continuous playoff defeats.
But on Friday, Shanahan showed the first signs of needing to break from his plan.
“I still believe there are times when patience is the suitable call. However, when you see patterns persist, and the results don’t change, you have to adjust the way you think about things,” Shanahan said.
“We will look at everything this summer. We will consider everything this summer. All with the intention of the one thing we are here for: To make the Maple Leafs better and to win.”
Without saying it explicitly, the #leafs leadership/management couldn’t have made it more clear reading between the lines that they’re going to explore moving one or more members of their core this summer.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 10, 2024
Shanahan declined to address possibly moving specific members of the team’s core who have one year left on their respective deals – Mitch Marner and John Tavares – but when pressed, did double down on his desire to at least investigate changing the Leafs roster.
Significant roster changes like the ones Leafs management have designs on often happen around the NHL Draft in late June and in free agency days later.
But when it comes to changes to the roster, what could be expected are more of the type of players Treliving targeted in free agency: Players who can match the requisite amount of skill with high levels of competitiveness and physicality.
“I think Brad brought in some guys last summer — not necessarily with Stanley Cup rings on their fingers — but he brought an element to the team that we were in alignment with and had a lot more grit,” Shanahan said. “Quite frankly, Brad demanded that the players play more like a brotherhood and a band of brothers. I think they did embrace that.”
“You score differently in the playoffs than you do in the regular season. Is it systematic? Is it personnel?” Treliving added rhetorically. “We haven’t scored enough. Our special teams haven’t been good enough. And we seem to be turning the other team’s goalie into the first star every night.”
Sheldon Keefe out, next head coach is coming
On Thursday, the Leafs fired Keefe. Keefe had won the team’s only playoff round since 2004, but the continued lack of playoff success was enough for Shanahan and co. to show Keefe the door.
Treliving insisted he believed in Keefe, but change was still necessary.
“I felt strongly that a new voice was needed,” Treliving said. “That’s the unfortunate part of this business.”
Treliving’s first task ahead of him, in what could be a busy summer, will be finding a new coach. He declined to comment on specific names of coaches available, such as Stanley Cup winner Craig Berube, but said, “We want to be thorough but we also understand there are other openings.”
And so by the sounds of it, Treliving won’t immediately rush into any decision despite the likes of Berube and other coaches with lengthy resumes such as Todd McLellan and Gerard Gallant available.
But Treliving is also cognizant of the fact that if they wait too long, some of the best candidates could be scooped up with the New Jersey Devils, Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets among the teams in the market for a new head coach.
“There’s some good coaching candidates out there. We intend to explore them,” Treliving said.
Goaltending situation
Treliving was at his most animated when discussing the state of the Leafs’ goaltending situation moving forward. The Leafs were bested by an elite-looking Jeremy Swayman in their series loss against the Bruins and have previously come up against better goalies in their other series losses including Andrei Vasilenskiy and Braden Holtby.
The need for improvement between the pipes is high on his priority list.
“We have to put ourselves in a position where we don’t have the second-best goaltender in each of these series,” Treliving said.
First, reading between the lines, it seems evident that Treliving and the Leafs won’t seek to make Ilya Samsonov a contract extension offer.
“Ilya’s contract is up,” Treliving said succinctly.
The focus then will be finding someone to play alongside Joseph Woll.
“I’ve got faith in (Joseph Woll),” Treliving said.
In his first full season with the Leafs, the 2016 third-round draft pick posted a .907 save percentage through 25 regular-season games. He suffered a high ankle sprain midway through the season. When called upon in the playoffs in relief for Samsonov, Woll showed his best stuff and posted a .964 save percentage through three appearances.
But Treliving was quick to note that he has questions about why Woll has continually gotten injured since joining the Leafs organization in 2019.
“We’d like to dig into that. Sometimes bad luck happens. Is there a training issue we have to deal with?” Treliving said.
And so whether Treliving will seek a true No. 1 to play ahead of Woll or a goalie to play as part of a tandem remains to be seen. But like other spots within the organization, change is coming to the goaltending position.
Injury updates
Treliving provided some recent injury updates:
• Auston Matthews became ill toward the end of Game 2 against the Bruins with a virus that stayed in his system in Game 3. During Game 4, he suffered a hit that then presented the possibility of what Treliving called “head injury issues.” Matthews said those issues cleared just ahead of Game 7.
• Bobby McMann suffered an MCL sprain on his knee during an April 13 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. The Leafs anticipated he would have been available had they qualified for the second round of the playoffs.
• William Nylander suffered from “serious migraines” before the playoffs began. The Leafs considered the possibility that he suffered a concussion.
• Joseph Woll suffered a back sprain at the end of Game 6.
• Connor Dewar underwent shoulder surgery on Friday. Treliving anticipated that Dewar would be available for training camp, which also suggests that the RFA will remain with the Leafs.
(Photo of Brendan Shanahan and Brad Treliving: Dan Hamilton / USA Today)