Recapping This Week’s 2 Crazy Toronto Maple Leafs Press Conferences
By Conrad Jack
The Toronto Maple Leafs held their season-ending media exit press conferences this week after being eliminated from the 2023 NHL playoffs.
In addition to now ex-GM Kyle Dubas on Monday and President Brenden Shanahan on Friday, there were many current Toronto Maple Leaf players who came up and spoke, players like Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, Noel Acciari, Morgan Reilly, and Ryan O’Reilly were some key names that spoke this week.
Each player had something to say when asked questions by the media, all of them had their headlining topics, but none beat out trade talk or contract talks.
On Monday, the headliner to it all was Kyle Dubas and Sheldon Keefe coming up to speak, both Dubas and Keefe did not mince words either.
The former Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas was busy at the trade deadline, bringing in Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues, Jake McCabe, and Sam Lafferty from the Chicago Blackhawks.
Dubas would then follow these trades up by trading Rasmus Sandin to the Washington Capitals for a 2023 first-round pick and Erik Gustafsson.
Pierre Engvall was next up when he was traded to the New York Islanders for a 2024 third-round pick. To put the cherry on top of it all, Kyle Dubas would acquire former Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn from the Vancouver Canucks.
Leafs head coach Sheldon had many great combinations to choose from, and none of them seemed to stand out from the others. A significantly talented roster that seems too bottom-heavy, a balance that should, in theory, help you win games.
This roster has a carousel of decisions to make, one of them isn’t addressing your goaltending situation next season. Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll give a bright future for the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. The carousel of decisions is likely to happen before July 1st, 2023, as there are three notable players who will have either a full no-movement clause or a modified no-movement clause.
The media-exit press conference that happened this week showed less concern than in previous years. Players like Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Noel Acciari were notable names that expressed how much they wanted to continue playing with the Leafs.
Ryan O’Reilly seemed to have a decision to make, whether or not he wants to test the free agency market on July 1st or stay with his hometown team.
The carousel doesn’t stop only at the roster. Kyle Dubas is now out as general manager, and one of Dubas’s assistant general managers, Brandon Pridham, is also due for a new contract.
There are questions surrounding the future of Sheldon Keefe as Toronto Maple Leafs head coach, making this seem more of a nightmare than it actually is.