Brendan Shanahan's Toronto timeline didn't end with playoff success
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Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment’s board meeting on Thursday wasn’t to be all about the Maple Leafs.
But let’s bet the team’s troubles have moved to the top of the agenda, and the imminent departure of club president Brendan Shanahan, after bottoming out in Game 7 of the playoffs again.
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A source has confirmed to Postmedia it’s not a hockey-specific meeting, but pre-scheduled to discuss all aspects of the organization. For all the lucrative playoff revenue from seven home games, there are some brutal optics from another playoff push that couldn’t get beyond two rounds.
News that the rudderless New York Islanders have sought permission to talk to Shanahan will relieve the execs of a decision on their decade-long club president, whose contract is up next month with two playoff series wins to show for his ground zero rebuild.
President and CEO Keith Pelley is then expected to join general manager Brad Treliving in a media availability, likely on Friday. Pelley could have a Shanahan update and the GM can weigh in on matters such as pending free agents Mitch Marner, John Tavares and RFA Matthew Knies.
Shanahan has been involved in almost all such spring post mortems. But his future, whether the board lets him walk, replaces him or leaves the position unfilled and spreads duties around, is not clear.
A timeline of Shanahan’s Maple Leafs tenure
April 2014: The Mimico native is hired as Leafs president after a Hall of Fame NHL career and stints as an NHL executive (VP of business development, senior VP of player safety and hockey operations).
MLSE president Tim Leiweke heralds Shanahan’s arrival, saying: “I’m not sure the Leafs have (the right culture). I definitely sense that we lack an identity, and right now we’re a team that lacks a direction and we want to change that.”
The Toronto Sun dubs it ‘The Shanaplan’.
July 2014: Shanahan hires 28-year-old analytics whiz Kyle Dubas as assistant general manager.
May 2015: Shanahan signs Detroit Red Wings’ Stanley Cup winner Mike Babcock to an eight-year, $50-million contract, a record dollar figure for a head coach.
July 2015: Shanahan and an ad hoc management group trade top scorer Phil Kessel in a multi-player deal with Pittsburgh.
July 2015: Shanahan hires Lou Lamoriello, his former boss in New Jersey, as GM.
October 2015: Mark Hunter is hired as director of player personnel, later promoted as a second assistant GM.
June 2016: Last-place Leafs win the draft lottery and select Auston Matthews first overall. With fellow first-rounders Morgan Rielly, William Nylander and Mitch Marner, Toronto ended a 13-year playoff drought the following spring.
October 2016: Shanahan oversees the official number retirements of 19 Leafs greats, including Dave Keon after decades of alienation of the franchise’s best player. For the club’s centennial season, the top 100 in franchise history are named by a team and media panel.
January 2017: In the first outdoor game Toronto hosts, Shanahan leads the cheers at BMO Field as Matthews scores in overtime to defeat the Red Wings.
October 2017: Shanahan gets permission from the NHL to enlarge the Leafs logo and change elements of the crest.
May 2018: Shanahan promotes Dubas to GM at the expense of Lamoriello and Hunter.
July 2018: Shanahan and Dubas land free agent John Tavares in a seven-year, $77 million US deal, the birth of the Core Four. They name him captain after a plan to promote Matthews is scuttled by his off-ice brush with the law.
November 2018: Shanahan flies to Arizona during a road trip to fire Babcock, as the team struggles and Babcock’s relations with Dubas and younger Leaf players soured. Sheldon Keefe was promoted from the Marlies.
May 2022: After the Leafs’ sixth straight first-round exit, Shanahan refuses to make changes at the top.
“As players, management and ownership we share everyone’s frustration in not getting the job done,” he said. “There is always going to be new faces (on the roster), but that said, we won’t be making changes simply for the sake of saying we made changes.
“Kyle built a very good team and made excellent adjustments along the way; Sheldon is an excellent coach. I see both as extremely important to getting us to the next level.”
November 2022: Shanahan commissions a medallion to be given for distinctive service to the Leafs, presenting the first to Borje Salming during the Swede’s final visit to Toronto and later to 2020 first-round pick Rodion Amirov, before he died of a brain tumour.
May 2023: Shanahan fires Dubas in a contract dispute and, after a brief search, hires Treliving as GM.
May 2024: After another Game 7, first-round exit, Treliving fires Keefe, but despite one series win in eight playoff years, new CEO Pelley elects to keep Shanahan.
“Our playoff results have not been good enough. That’s on me,” Shanahan said. “The results that we’ve had, our players know, I know, we know, they’re unacceptable. They’re unacceptable to our fans and those who support the Leafs.”
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