While it is the very best time of the hockey season for 16 NHL teams and their fans, the Toronto Maple Leafs and 13 other NHL organizations must watch from the sidelines. General managers and coaches have and will be fired from the 13 other NHL teams while with the Leafs it is more a question of who is left standing.
Last year the post-season moving out day had more of an optimistic and upbeat vibe as MLSE president and CEO Tim Leiweke spun yarns of changing the Leafs losing “culture.” His big announcement was naming Brendan Shanahan as the new president of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Following that, the most-asked questions of me by Leafs fans were along the lines of, “What is Shanny going to do?” and “What moves is he going to make to the roster?” and “Are Carlyle and Nonis secure?”
You get the drift. My consistent answer was “I have no idea.” Shanahan stayed in the background and was not one to make himself available to the media. So I really did have no idea.
This year, the moves came quick after the Leafs season ended. And whether you agreed with them or not, they at least spoke to the Shanahan regime now being one of action rather than evaluation.
When Shanahan was named to head the Department of Player Safety with the NHL league office, the saying was “there is a new sheriff in town.” Even though he has already been here for a year, that was the thought I kept having as he addressed the media last Monday. Leafs fans have heard it before—”this time we are going to build the right way”— but this was the first time from Shanahan. He flexed his muscle with the mass firings of a general manager, coaches and scouts. He didn’t have to say “my way or the highway”—a sea of empty offices in the Leafs front office indicated that a great many were already making that journey.
I asked Shanahan about him assuming the general manager title along with being president. He quickly dismissed that notion but I did get the sense the door is open a little bit if needed in a few months. I just find it difficult to think of a candidate who could fully support the credo of the team president and also be willing to inherit the organizational structure Shanahan will insist on, with Mark Hunter and Kyle Dubas being his top aides. That is why I think it would be best for Shanahan to at least think about taking on the role of GM in the short term.
I like that he emphasized taking away excuses from the players about how difficult it is to play in Toronto. While Brian Burke said that Toronto players were under so much pressure they should have an earlier trade deadline to help alleviate it, Shanahan made it clear that there are no excuses for players with this sheriff in office, including complaining about the media. I have always maintained that the opposite is more damaging, that any little success is met with too much adulation. I went through that in the 1980s. Strong playoff runs in 1986 and 1987 masked (with the fans) that the Leafs still weren’t a very good team at the time. Same with the Game 7 playoff loss in Boston two years ago. Only problem was the management group thought the same as the fans, that the team was on the right track.
We have come to realize that the 18-wheeler hasn’t just lost control and driven off the road for a short term over the past four seasons, it never truly was on the road to being with.
