The Toronto Maple Leafs have officially ended the Shanaplan. The team announced that it won’t be renewing team president Brendan Shanahan’s contract for next season.
According to USA Today, MLSE CEO Keith Pelley stated:
"“It was determined that a new voice was required to take the team to the next level in the years ahead.”"
That statement effectively puts the kibosh on the Shanaplan as it was originally conceived in 2015. I recall the promise of “years of pain.” And boy, was Shanahan right.
Except the pain that he promised didn’t come in the way of a long rebuild a la Detroit Red Wings or Buffalo Sabres. Said pain came in the way of excruciating playoff exits with insulting efforts in crucial games.
So, with Shanahan out of the picture, does that mean that a new voice will be taking over?
Not necessarily.
NHL insider David Pagnotta made an appearance on NHL Network on Thursday evening, discussing what the future holds for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Pagnotta underscored that a new era is about to begin in Toronto. However, the team is in no rush to name a successor to Shanahan.
He stated:
"“I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency at the moment… where this team is at, with the improvements they have made on the ice with respect to the roster. Bringing in Craig Berube and making those additional changes that complement his style, his structure, from a roster perspective, again, everything is on Treliving’s shoulders.”"
Pagnotta made it clear that pivotal decisions such as Matthew Knies’ next contract will fall squarely on Treliving’s shoulders.
Judging from Pagnotta’s understanding of the situation, it seems that Leafs management is content with the Treliving-Berube duo, making the search for a new team president a secondary choice.
Pagnotta concluded:
"“From a roster side of things, there is no sense of urgency because the guys are already there to lead the way from a management perspective.”"
Check out Pagnotta’s comments from the beginning till the 4:15 mark.
Marner, Tavares’ future with Maple Leafs now depends solely on Treliving
Pagnotta made an interesting comment regarding how the decisions regarding Mitch Marner and John Tavares now depend solely on Brad Treliving.
From a functional perspective, that’s evident. With Treliving not having a line manager so to speak, he’ll be reporting directly up the food chain. In that case, it seems that the powers that trust Treliving’s judgment to make calls on Mitch Marner and John Tavares.
This situation is quite interesting because, reading between the lines, the hold-up with Marner and Tavares all this time could have been Shanahan’s influence. Perhaps Marner and his camp were turned off by Shanahan’s hand in negotiations.
Similarly, John Tavares would have signed an extension long ago but Shanahan might have been holding it back. That’s just speculation on my part, but it seems to me that MLSE has tacitly made it seem that Shanahan was the problem.
He was the guy that needed to fall on his sword.
Otherwise, Shanahan and Treliving would have both been shown the door. But keeping Treliving at the helm suggests to me that MLSE identified a disconnect between Shanahan and Treliving. In the end, the organization felt Treliving was the guy.
My spider senses tell me MLSE will go through the motions in searching for a new team president. But in my estimation, Treliving will be in line for a promotion. His big audition will be free agency and the NHL Draft.
In the meantime, Leafs Nation should expect a politically correct speech from Keith Pelley on Friday. But what Pelley doesn’t say will reveal far more about the team’s future moving forward.