The Toronto Maple Leafs held a press conference on Friday morning with MLSE CEO Keith Pelly, Team President Brendan Shanahan, and General Manager Brad Treliving to address another year of playoff shortcomings.
The three key figures at the press conference, MLSE CEO Keith Pelly, Maple Leafs President Brendan Shanahan, and General Manager Brad Treliving, reiterated the team's unwavering commitment to winning and returning the Stanley Cup to Toronto.
They also discussed the factors that led to the firing of Sheldon Keefe and provided detailed updates on the injuries that affected William Nylander, Auston Matthews, Bobby McMann, and Joseph Woll during the playoffs.
In all of this talking, it is evident that the front office still needs to have a plan past trying to find a head coach and somehow avoid taking accountability for some of the decisions they did or did not make this past season.
Let’s understand what was and wasn’t said in this morning's press conference.
Watch the full press conference on TSN here.
MLSE CEO Keith Pelley’s First Press Conference
Pelly was named CEO and President of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment in January of this year, and today was the first time he spoke publicly at a Maple Leaf press conference.
He opened the press conference by saying he returned to Toronto “to win” and that “good is not good enough.” He further detailed that it can be hard to win in a league that promotes competitive balance (the salary cap). He reiterated that the Maple Leafs will continue to provide every resource for their team to win outside of those boundaries.
Reading between the lines, he tells any head coach looking for a big payday to call the Maple Leafs. It is also reassuring to know that the Maple Leafs will continue to be aggressive in their pursuit of a cup. Even if they blow up the core four, they will do it in a way that will try to better the team rather than fully punting and rebuilding from the ground up.