Toronto Maple Leafs Management Addresses Another Year Of Playoff Heartbreak
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.
Brendan Shanahan Remains As Toronto Maple Leafs President
Like Pelley, Shanahan reiterated the Maple Leafs' commitment to win, but that's what anyone in his position would say.
Those comments only need to be taken seriously by those controlling the money.
However, Shanahan took some blame for the Maple Leafs shortcomings in the playoffs, saying, “Our results in the playoffs have not been good enough. That’s on me”.
He then addressed the firing of Sheldon Keefe before making some concerning comments regarding the future of this team.
Shanahan was quoted saying,
“There is a time when you look at the age and development of players and you talk about patients. But there comes a time when you see certain patterns and repeat themselves, results repeat themselves and that’s what we have to do this summer.”
Shanahan continued by refusing to single any specific players out.
While the Maple Leafs need to make some significant changes, they need to be smart about it, considering they need to get Mitch Marner and John Tavares's contracts off the books. This aggressiveness that the front office is discussing needs to still be thought out with the best interest of this team's future in mind.
Shanahan should know it better than anybody at this point with the Maple Leafs and all the different players that they have had. Winning a Stanley Cup is hard. There is no reason to go all in if it will jeopardise your ability to compete in future years. Outside of Tavares’s, the core four are still very young and technically just entering the prime ages of their career. Breaking them up now could be a massive mistake.
Brad Treliving Clarifies Mysterious Maple Leaf Playoff Injuries
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not Brad Treliving's biggest fan, but I respect that he came out publicly and ultimately decided to say it was his decision to fire Sheldon Keefe.
Although we could assume that was the case, hearing him thank Keefe and take that accountability was nice.
One spot where I felt Treliving could have taken more accountability was when he addressed the Maple Leafs “turbulent” goaltending situation throughout the season.
It felt like he brushed past this with a ‘Can’t do anything about that’ mindset, but realistically, he could have at the trade deadline when the Calgary Flames were shopping Jacob Markstrom and the Nashville Predators were fielding offers for Jusse Saros.
I would just like to know when this “we need to win” mindset decided to kick in because going into the playoffs with a starting goalie that Treliving put on waivers in the middle of the season doesn’t scream we need to win.
Finally, Treliving clarified the injuries that ailed the Maple Leafs in the playoffs. He said that William Nylander had already made public that he was dealing with migraines.
He said Auston Matthews was sick following game two and sustained a head injury in game four. Bobby McMann was dealing with an MCL sprain in his knee, and Treliving said they were expecting him to return to the lineup in the second round had the Maple Leafs got past the Bruins. Finally, he noted that Joseph Woll had sprained his back in game six and that Connor Dewar would be having shoulder surgery.
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Ultimately, it was nice to hear reassurance from the Maple Leafs front office that they will aggressively pursue winning. But this is nothing we haven’t heard before. We will see their commitment when they start making moves this offseason.