The preseason is wrapping and the final cuts haven’t been made, but that doesn’t mean the pressure isn’t on for a good chunk of the NHL. With plenty to prove for most NHLers on any given night, Frank Seravalli took a look around the league and highlighted the 10 people with the most pressure. With there being no shortage of impatience and stress in Toronto it might be surprising that there were only two Toronto Maple Leafs personnel on the list.
Mitch Marner
Whether you agree with it or not, there wasn’t any shortage of fans calling for Marner’s head after his latest playoff performance. Combine that with the perception that he made it clear that he wouldn’t waive his no-movement clause and prevented the Maple Leafs from trading him this summer and there are more Leafs fans mad at him than ever before. Oh yeah, and it’s a contract year and while the current information that has been put out there is that he is willing to negotiate in season, the previous rumour was about how he wouldn’t sign until the summer of 2025. None of this has helped from a PR standpoint but also ignores that Marner regularly puts up a 90-point pace while being strong on both sides of the puck and that everything he is doing is within the parameters of his contract. There’s also the fact that the Leafs are worse off if Marner isn’t playing well, so presumably even if you are upset with Marner, you’ve realized it is in your best interest as a Leafs fan for Marner to continue being effective.
Maybe that’s how it should work, but the reality is there will be pressure to see something from Marner that provides optimism for the playoffs. If there are any contract numbers leaked that exceed those of William Nylander’s contract there will likely be some outrage, and when it comes to the playoffs, oh you better believe that pressure that Frank is talking about will be there in abundance.
It seems like there will be a lot of wait-and-see on Marner until April and beyond. There isn’t any reason to believe that Marner won’t deliver as he always has in the regular season and despite history, it is still premature to get made at a player of his talent over the playoffs and his contract.
Brendan Shanahan
It almost feels like a small miracle that Brendan Shanahan is still around. There have been plenty of questionable moments with the exits of Lou Lamoriello, Kyle Dubas, and even Mark Hunter raising some flags about what is going on in Hockey Ops under his watch. He’s been the guy for the Maple Leafs for the bulk of the Rogers Sportsnet TV contract and the fact that he has provided their shared owner with exactly one playoff-round victory, he’s managed to stick around.
Kyle Dubas wanting more autonomy and lobbying to take Shanahan’s job after Shanahan gave Dubas his NHL break showed the sour working relationships that exist in the Maple Leafs front office, and while saying that it is entirely on Dubas or entirely on Shanahan isn’t possible nor is it likely to be accurate, there is something to be said for the “Shanaplan” failing to yield even one Atlantic Division win. (They’ll always have the North Division though.)
With Rogers now the 75% owner of MLSE and unquestionably having the controlling stake, along with a new (and rumoured to be impatient) MLSE CEO in Keith Pelley, the Leafs are in a win-now mode if Shanahan wants to make a case for his contract being extended.
On the flip side of that, you could say that Brendan Shanahan might have done the impossible and managed to survive the entire length of his contract in Toronto. If he chooses, he can be a free agent next summer and there could very well be a team that is interested in a Cup-winning player who managed to survive stints in the Department of Player Safety and the MLSE head office. This year could be about updating his resume and taking a lot of lunches with different owners around the league to determine what’s next. It seems doubtful we’ve heard the last of Brendan Shanahan and it really all comes down to how much he wants to stay in Toronto that determines the pressure that is on him.
Other pressure points
Those were Frank’s picks, now here are mine.
Brad Treliving should be one of the guys facing the most pressure as he needs to find a way to push the Leafs over the top, considering they are one of the first teams mentioned when talking about who is a cup contender. He needs to find a way of getting an amicable deal done with Mitch Marner’s camp, and if things go sideways for the Leafs this year, he needs to have instilled enough confidence that he is the right guy to rework the Leafs lineup without missing too much of a step. That seems like a lot.
Chris Tanev has been brought in to save the Maple Leafs defence. That’s no easy task and I’d imagine there is a lot of pressure there.
I think there is a tremendous amount of pressure on the tandem of Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll, who have been promised as the answer in net, but come with numerous question marks regarding workload and strength of competition.
Really, the answer is obvious and like pretty much every other year, the Maple Leafs are under the most pressure to improve. With Kyle Dubas and now Sheldon Keefe removed from blame and the role of President of Hockey Operations being a black box to most, the pressure in Toronto is going to be a lot more evenly distributed and it will be interesting to see how it is dealt with over the next 7-8 months.
