The Toronto Maple Leafs held their final press conference of the season on Friday morning, with Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment CEO Keith Pelley, President Brendan Shanahan, and General Manager Brad Treliving speaking to the media. The media availability was originally supposed to be held on Thursday, but it was pushed to Friday following the firing of Head Coach Sheldon Keefe on Thursday morning.
After falling short of a round win for the seventh time in eight years throughout the Auston Matthews era, the Leafs face a pressure-filled offseason. It may sound like a broken record considering their continuing trend of seasons ending in disappointment, but with a larger sample size of this type of roster construction not being able to get it done in the playoffs and contract negotiations pending for both Mitch Marner and John Tavares, they find themselves at a crossroads for the first time. There’s no pressure to lock up a young star like there was with Marner and no giant opportunity to bring in a star with hometown ties.
With Matthews and Nylander locked up long-term, they’ve committed to two of their players for at least the next four years. But the same couldn’t be said about Keefe, and the same can’t be said about Marner and Tavares. There’s nothing indicating the Leafs will actively pursue a trade up front, but Shanahan isn’t leaving anything off the table.
Brendan Shanahan says the #leafs will look at everything this summer and considering changing everything. He says the patterns have become too familiar to stay patient.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 10, 2024
What makes this quote somewhat polarizing to hear is that former general manager Kyle Dubas said virtually the exact same thing last season. Days later, he lost his job. After that, Shanahan got in touch with the Core Four and informed them that they wouldn’t be going anywhere. The Leafs were eliminated in Round 2 in 2023-24 almost the exact same way they were against Boston this past season, other than playing two extra games this year. They were goalied and their offence dried up when it mattered most, so the indication that everything is on the table gives the aura there was a plan that was delayed by a year for no reason.
Shanahan was also asked about his contract negotiations and says it’s not at the front of his mind.
“I wake up every day with the goal of trying to make the Toronto Maple Leafs better. My last contract was not renewed until a month before it expired. It wasn’t a distraction to me then, and it won’t be a distraction to me or the team now.”
Shanahan signed a six-year contract to stay on with the Maple Leafs in 2019 that will expire after this season.
