Recapping This Week’s 2 Crazy Toronto Maple Leafs Press Conferences

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.

Toronto Maple Leafs End of Season Press Conference

This Toronto Maple Leafs roster is one of the best we’ve seen in recent years, but it still didn’t have enough to make it out of the second round.

This team had everything they needed to make a case come playoff time, Luke Schenn, Ryan O’Reilly, Sam Lafferty, Jake McCabe, Erik Gustafsson, and Noel Acciari were critical additions. The contact length attached to Jake McCabe and salary retention made him even more of a critical addition, Noel Acciari and Ryan O’Reilly brought valuable playoff experience to the team.

So, where are we now? This team won a playoff series this year and exceeded expectations against the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, there is one major issue, Kyle Dubas’ replacement has less than $9,000,000 to work with next season and a ton of expiring contracts.

Alexander Kerfoot, Ryan O’Reilly, David Kampf, Noel Acciari, Michael Bunting, Wayne Simmonds, Zach Aston-Reese, Justin Holl, Luke Schenn, and Erik Gustafsson are all unrestricted free agents on July 1st, 2023. Victor Mete and Ilya Samsonov are restricted free agents with arbitration rights, Samsonov is a more worrisome contract at face value for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Other contracts set to expire next year are Auston Matthews and William Nylander, the year to follow sees John Tavares and Mitch Marner’s contracts expiring.

Luke Schenn, Erik Gustafsson, Noel Acciari, and Jake McCabe who all stated how much they hope to be back with the organization next year.

Ryan O’Reilly didn’t really make it known if he wants to test free agency this off-season or see what Toronto has to offer. While O’Reilly’s comments seem like he is leaning towards testing the free agent market on July 1st, it’s hard to say for sure.

Toronto Maple Leafs Enter Age of Uncertainty

The most interesting thing to come to the now legendary press conference was Kyle Dubas act the job had on his family life, and his surprising hesitation to return as GM, which seems to be a major factor in his ouster three days later.

It was surprising to hear Dubas get so personal, and actually shocking to hear that he wasn’t 100% certain he wanted to come back.  Shanahan said Friday that he hadn’t considered not bringing Dubas back until after he saw him speak.

Sheldon Keefe’s future is uncertain too because now that that the Leafs have fired Dubas, it doesn’t seem like Keefe will be back.  The new GM is going to want to hire his own coach, and Keefe might not have been back anyways.

The uncertainty has grown larger, as the Toronto Maple Leafs organization announced on May 19th that the team has parted ways with Kyle Dubas. Dubas’s contract is set to expire on June 30th, which creates more uncertainty. The question that we must ask now is? Is Dubas done today or on June 30th? Who takes over for Dubas? Brandon Pridham is likely to be next in line if the job goes to someone in the organization.

Rumours persist that he may get a shot with a different team, and the Leafs may want to go with a more experienced candidate after letting Dubas learn on the job.

As for Keefe, if he goes, who’s next in line to become the new bench boss for the Toronto Maple Leafs?