The Maple Leafs will not be renewing the contract of team president Brendan Shanahan, the club announced.
In the announcement, MLSE President and CEO Keith Pelley wrote:
“Over the past 11 seasons, Brendan Shanahan has made countless contributions to the Toronto Maple Leafs on the ice, off the ice, and in the community. Brendan is one of the most respected leaders in the game, and he has instilled many of the traits that were the signature of his Hall of Fame career throughout the organization, uniting this storied franchise in the ‘Honour, Pride and Courage’ that it was founded on. Our responsibility and driving motivation, however, is to add a new chapter to the Maple Leafs’ championship history, and it was determined that a new voice was required to take the team to the next level in the years ahead. The franchise will be forever grateful for Brendan’s contributions and wishes him and his family every success and happiness in the future.”
In a follow-up statement provided by Jonas Siegel of The Athletic, Shanahan said, “While I am proud of the rebuild we embarked on starting in 2014, ultimately, I came here to help win the Stanley Cup, and we did not. There is nothing more I wanted to deliver to our fans, and my biggest regret is that we could not finish the job.”
Although the Maple Leafs never advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals under Shanahan’s leadership, the organization embarked on a meaningful return to relevancy. Before Shanahan took on the role as team President, the Maple Leafs had only qualified for the postseason once in the previous decade.
Shanahan helped put the pieces in place for the development of the ’Core Four’ in Toronto, although the team selected William Nylander a year prior to Shanahan’s hire. The quartet has combined for a plethora of individual hardware, and has pushed the Maple Leafs to the postseason in nine consecutive years.
Still, as Shanahan mentioned, the team hasn’t had much success in the postseason. Toronto has only made it out of Round One twice during that span, and has accumulated a playoff record of 31-39 under his stewardship.
Outside of Shanahan, all signs indicate that the Maple Leafs aren’t localizing this summer’s changes in the executive suites. There’s expectation that the team will let winger Mitch Marner walk during this year’s free agency, opening up financial room to explore other options.
Shanahan shouldn’t be available for long. Reports yesterday indicated that the New York Islanders have already been granted an interview with Shanahan for their top leadership position.
Ding dong the witch is dead.
How many “witches” is that in the past 57 years?
Should have been gone three years ago
As much as Dubas was to analytical over practical/physical skills he was only fired cause he wanted to change things. Shanny needed to go instead of Kyle. But in Tre I trust
5+ years ago. You get two to make it your team
Three more to run it back, that crazy loon.
Bring back Luo Lamoriello
you nuts?
yes, he is nuts
While not exactly wrong. That ship sailed awhile ago
Wait, is water still wet?
I can’t point to a single accomplishment credited to Shanahan as an executive.
He got a bunch of people fired.
To the Islanders he goes?!
The only way people learn is to fire the wrong guy to keep the guy who is so hilariously in over his head and allow him to run the franchise off a cliff.
Jarmo Kekalainen was outstanding in Columbus, He drafted really well, And was able to bring in star players, But when he had to hire coaches, He was really bad. I hope Kekalainen gets the gig on Long island.
I’d rather he go to Toronto. Screw the Islanders
We can criticize a number of Dubas’ moves, but this team was pushed into the corner one final time when Shanahan fired him. It resulted in a new GM with little time to acclimate himself to his new team before the draft/free agency and the clock ran out on trading Marner, who would have given Toronto a total haul.
I’m glad this is happening and the team can get a reset.
Treliving was hired two years ago. how is that little time. I get last year that being the argument but he’s had a whole season to move Marner… and tried.
Marner’s NMC kicked in three weeks after Treliving was hired and he was explicitly told not to trade him. All of that is on Shanahan. Of course Marner isn’t going to want to get moved so Toronto can save face.
Figure head position. Shanahan did absolutely nothing but collect a fat paycheck.
There is one thing he did. He travelled (to Arizona I believe) to fire Babcock because the boy wonder couldn’t.
“Maple Leafs Won’t Renew Brendan Shanahan’s Contract” A softer headline than NHL.com’s “Shanahan out as president of Maple Leafs”. For Shanny, it’s like the same fall off the 12th story ledge, but on a nice, comfy pile of pillows. His thought bubble read, “What team can I screw up next?” GMCD at MSG was heard yelling at him, “Get lost! I got here first!” Easy, boys. Remember the old saying, “Misery loves company.”
will be interesting which retread they elevate to keep waisting more matthews years
And the Boston Bruins’ goal horn is sounding the death knell …
the Panthers literally broke an entire franchise in under 2 weeks.. wow. Considering this Panthers team may go down as one of the best ever (easily one of the most talented ever whether they win the cup or not)… and the Leafs took them to 7 games, forcing them off their game early in the series….. I am floored at how arrogantly stupid this fan base / franchise is… this is what.. the 4th knee jerk reaction in as many years while never changing the roster.. just everything else around it? lol
No one was fired in 2022. “We’re so close” was the common saying in the locker room cleanout interviews. The players AND organization were on the same page.
2023, Dubas was let go when he said he wanted to break up the band and he made a powerplay for Shanahan’s job. Tre was brought in and explicitly told not to trade Marner in the sixty day window he had before Marner’s NMC kicked in.
2024, Keefe let go as coach, after leading the team to their most successful regular season in history, Berube brought in.
2025, Shanahan’s contract expired and wasn’t renewed.
AND in-between all this, the team was sold to a company that likes to do things a certain way, lean front office, only one figurehead for the organization, etc, that wasn’t compatible to how to the Leafs were run in the Shanahan era.
Of course there were going to be changes, unless you’ve been living under a rock or are the type to immediately hurl a criticism at the mere mention of the Leafs anywhere. It’s boring.
Sure, the team was never broken up, but it’s not like the organization from top to bottom was on board with this. And that organizational failure rests on Shanahan, the man in charge.
you realize you just made excuses for everything I said right? The Panthers were the president’s cup winners in 2022…. they then got bounced in the 1st round because they didn’t play defense and had no power play….. they were basically EXACTYLY what the leafs are now… a Ferrari when you need a mack truck … Paul Maurice was that Mack Truck for the panthers.. out goes one of the leagues top scorers Justin Huberdeau, in comes the leagues “bad guy” Matt Tkachuk … a philosophy change is installed … they’ve won the east last two years, the cup last year, and might be on their way to a third finals and second cup….. they changed how they play on the ice.. not the people deciding who was in the sweaters.