The Maple Leafs won’t be renewing the contract of staff president Brendan Shanahan, the membership announced.
Within the announcement, MLSE President and CEO Keith Pelley wrote:
“Over the previous 11 seasons, Brendan Shanahan has made numerous contributions to the Toronto Maple Leafs on the ice, off the ice, and in the neighborhood. Brendan is without doubt one of the most revered leaders within the sport, and he has instilled most of the traits that have been the signature of his Corridor of Fame profession all through the group, uniting this storied franchise within the ‘Honor, Pleasure and Braveness’ that it was based on. Our duty and driving motivation, nevertheless, is so as to add a brand new chapter to the Maple Leafs’ championship historical past, and it was decided {that a} new voice was required to take the staff to the following stage within the years forward. The franchise might be perpetually grateful for Brendan’s contributions and needs him and his household each success and happiness sooner or later.”
In a follow-up assertion provided by Jonas Siegel of The Athletic, Shanahan stated, “Whereas I’m happy with the rebuild we launched into beginning in 2014, finally, I got here right here to assist win the Stanley Cup, and we didn’t. There may be nothing extra I needed to ship to our followers, and my greatest remorse is that we couldn’t end the job.”
Though the Maple Leafs by no means superior to the Jap Convention Remaining below Shanahan’s management, the group launched into a significant return to relevancy. Earlier than Shanahan took on the function as staff President, the Maple Leafs had solely certified for the postseason as soon as within the earlier decade.
Shanahan helped put the items in place for the event of the ’Core 4’ in Toronto, though the staff chosen William Nylander a yr previous to Shanahan’s rent. The quartet has mixed for a plethora of particular person {hardware}, and has pushed the Maple Leafs to the postseason in 9 consecutive years.
Nonetheless, as Shanahan talked about, the staff hasn’t had a lot success within the postseason. Toronto has solely made it out of Spherical 1 twice throughout that span, and has accrued a playoff file of 31-39 below his stewardship.
Outdoors of Shanahan, all indicators point out that the Maple Leafs aren’t localizing this summer season’s modifications within the government suites. There’s expectation that the staff will let winger Mitch Marner stroll throughout this yr’s free company, opening up monetary room to discover different choices.
Shanahan shouldn’t be accessible for lengthy. Reports Wednesday indicated that the New York Islanders have already been granted an interview with Shanahan for his or her high management place.
