Brendan Shanahan
Finally, we have the man that has been running the whole show just prior to the beginning of the Auston Matthews era in Toronto with Leafs president Brendan Shanahan. Hired in 2014 to help get the team back on track by enduring a full-blown rebuild, the plan was to build and convert the Leafs into a legitimate perennial contender that could eventually win the Stanley Cup perhaps even more than once within the coming decade.
Through Shanahan, it was how the Leafs’ “core four” materialized, starting with the drafting of Nylander, Marner, Matthews, then finally the recruitment of bonafide superstar John Tavares in free agency during the 2018 offseason. Added to the defensive staple in Morgan Rielly, Toronto had their main core in which they would maintain while trying to find the proper pieces to support them in their quest for a championship.
However, no matter what Shanahan and his group tried, whether it be recruiting veteran star players like Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Mark Giordano and others, or promoting young players such as Kasperi Kapanen, Connor Brown, Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren to name a few, they all either didn’t end up working out and/or they were eventually moved to star on other teams. But through all of that, Shanahan insisted on keeping the “core four”, or “core five” if including Rielly, together. This mentality was similar to how the Washington Capitals managed their team with Alex Ovechkin and company until they finally won the Cup.
But the main difference has been that despite the initial failures, the Capitals kept competing hard while staying course and doing minor tweaks along the way. However, the current Leafs’ core have been already lacking that ultimate compete level and killer instinct a few years ago, making it a bit hard to justify keeping the core intact. To make matters worse, Shanahan even put some of their hopes into the hands of a young and inexperienced Kyle Dubas instead of three-time Cup champion Lou Lamoriello, who had proven previously that he could get it done. Nevertheless, now almost a decade has gone and the Leafs have nothing to show for it other than making it to the second-round in the playoffs just twice.
With things clearly not working with Shanahan, the Leafs need a new mindset and the right winning mentality going forward to get them back in the proper direction. Even Luke Fox of Sportsnet has called for it with obvious reasons, so it may finally be the time to make the major change higher up to help re-establish a new focus and winning strategy for the organization as a whole.