Trying again at one of the best and worst of Maple Leafs’ Shanahan period

After 11 years of tumult, progress and plateauing, the Brendan Shanahan period in Toronto got here to an in depth Thursday because the Toronto Maple Leafs parted methods with the Corridor of Famer who had served because the staff’s president and alternate governor since 2014.

The exit got here days after the Maple Leafs had been ousted within the second spherical of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, bounced by the Florida Panthers for the second time in three seasons. However the path that led to the top of ‘The Shanaplan’ started a lot earlier, years in the past, because the membership descended right into a sample of run-it-back, hope-for-the-best seasons that yielded little in the way in which of improved outcomes.

The Mimico, Ont., product leaves the Maple Leafs having authored a major chapter within the membership’s historical past. It was Shanahan, within the early years of his tenure, who tipped the staff right into a scorched-earth rebuild that wound up netting Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, starting a brand new period for the blue and white. Behind the scenes, it was Shanahan who repaired the bridge to the group’s previous, re-establishing a connection to the membership’s storied alumni.

Nevertheless it’s the final half-decade of his Toronto tenure that set Shanahan and the group on the trail to parting methods due to a string of repeated first-round playoff exits and the membership’s cussed adherence to going all in on a core of 4 extremely paid forwards.

Shanahan was instrumental in taking Toronto from the playoff fringes again to the highlight. However the incapacity of the group he constructed to get any additional than that, to transition past mere playoff participant, introduced the necessity for a brand new voice.

As his tenure in Toronto involves an finish, right here’s a take a look at one of the best and worst of the Maple Leafs’ Shanahan period.

Bringing nice expectations again to the Maple Leafs

Whereas there are many misses and missteps to cowl, the larger image right here can’t be ignored. Earlier than Shanahan arrived in Toronto, the Maple Leafs had made the playoffs as soon as within the earlier decade. They completed sixth within the Atlantic Division and missed the post-season the yr earlier than he was employed — earlier than that, they’d completed exterior of their division’s prime three in six of eight seasons, their solely playoff look ending within the notorious ‘It was 4-1’ Sport 7 heartbreak.

In Shanahan’s third season on the helm, Toronto returned to the playoffs. It is certified yearly since, ending top-three in its division for the previous eight years and successful it twice. Whereas the Maple Leafs haven’t but managed to transition into the following echelon — from making the post-season to occurring deep playoff runs, hanging banners — Shanahan’s guided the membership to a spot the place these lofty expectations are each warranted and practical. For a very long time earlier than his arrival, that wasn’t the case.

The checklist of high quality younger skills the Maple Leafs have drafted over the previous decade — exterior of the core — isn’t prolonged. However Shanahan and his entrance workplace hit large on one on the 2021 NHL Draft once they chosen Matthew Knies within the second spherical, 57th general. The younger winger has emerged as a key member of this membership’s new core, and has already proven potential to be an incredible Leaf for years to come back. Although he heard his identify known as at No. 57, thus far Knies has been a top-10 expertise amongst his draft class, having amassed the sixth-most objectives, ninth-most factors and ninth-most NHL appearances of anybody chosen in 2021.

Buying and selling for defender Jake Muzzin, the Maple Leafs’ ‘conscience’

On the time, it appeared an important step ahead for Toronto. In 2019, the Maple Leafs acquired Jake Muzzin from Los Angeles in change for a first-round choose, Sean Durzi and Carl Grundstrom. Muzzin was just a few years faraway from lifting the Stanley Cup with the Kings and from serving to Canada win the World Cup of Hockey on Toronto’s ice. He emerged because the Maple Leafs’ greatest defenceman, and extra importantly, grew to become the staff’s “conscience,” as Sheldon Keefe described it — one of many few Leafs who was keen to carry the membership accountable within the powerful moments. If not for key accidents at key occasions, notably within the post-season, the veteran would possibly’ve made a good higher affect throughout his tenure.

Signing netminder Anthony Stolarz, the brand new No. 1

It’s maybe an indication of the problems at play right here that a few of Toronto’s greatest strikes got here simply this previous low season. After Shanahan introduced in Brad Treliving to exchange Kyle Dubas, the brand new GM hit some high quality photographs in his second season on the job, notably in signing netminder Anthony Stolarz. The backup for Florida’s 2024 Cup run, Stolarz got here in and seized his alternative, posting a league-leading .926 save share and serving to lead Toronto to a division title. Like Muzzin, accidents derailed his likelihood to have an much more important affect, as he was sidelined after Sport 1 of the Leafs’ second-round loss to Florida.

Rebuilding the Maple Leafs’ blue line, beginning with Chris Tanev

As made clear by Toronto’s current run, there may not have been a extra impactful current addition for the membership than veteran defender Chris Tanev, who not solely performed extremely properly himself since becoming a member of the blue and white, however did so with an sincere, hard-nosed method that unfold to the remainder of the blue line corps, too. Past Tanev, Treliving and Co. managed over the previous couple off-seasons to construct what was clearly one of the best defence corps of the Shanahan period, buying Brandon Carlo and inking Simon Benoit and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, too. It was primarily due to this stable blue-line group that the Maple Leafs trustworthy went into these playoffs with renewed hope (earlier than it was squandered as soon as once more).

Bringing in veteran expertise to information the younger core

For a membership whose success was so unavoidably tied to the event of three younger, marquee skills, the group did properly in offering them high quality veteran mentors. There have been absolutely some misses — Joe Thornton, Nick Foligno, paying Patrick Marleau upwards of $6 million per yr — however there have been hits, too. Marleau would possibly’ve been overpaid, however he turned in a 27-goal marketing campaign. Jason Spezza joined the membership after a high quality half-decade in Dallas and gave Toronto some good years on a discount deal. Max Pacioretty did the identical this previous season, and got here up with some memorable post-season moments, together with a series-clincher.

There’s no query probably the most impactful veteran addition up entrance, although, was John Tavares. Again in 2018, touchdown Tavares appeared like a coup for the Maple Leafs, a crucial step ahead. He was a two-time Hart Trophy nominee, a perennial All-Star. He gave Toronto a bona fide one-two punch down the center, and appeared to characterize a step ahead for the younger core. The hometown boy put up 47 objectives and 88 factors in his debut season in Toronto, went on to function a dutiful captain for the franchise and amassed almost 500 complete factors in a Maple Leafs sweater. For his half, it’s powerful to argue No. 91 didn’t ship what was requested of him.

However larger image, signing Tavares in 2018 would possibly’ve been the primary crack within the Shanaplan. First, there was the query of whether or not the centre was really what Toronto wanted, given the possibly elite younger expertise it already had up entrance. There was an argument to be made that you can by no means have too many top-end forwards — however the lack of significant post-season success that’s adopted appears to undercut that. Extra importantly, although, had been the ripple results of the choice to signal Tavares to an enormous seven-year, $77-million deal, and the affect that may have on the hefty extensions to come back. Which brings us to our subsequent part.

Mishandling essential contract negotiations with The Core

Rewind again by the years, and you’ll hint a lot of what’s ailed this Maple Leafs period to the negotiations with the membership’s younger core forwards — William Nylander, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews. In all three circumstances, followers had been left with the impression that the entrance workplace capitulated to its gamers’ calls for and allowed the younger stars to max out financially, resulting in a cap scenario that’s hampered this membership’s means to construct a successful staff.

It’s primarily the negotiations with Nylander and Marner to which followers level, the sense that each gamers held the group’s toes to the fireplace and finally noticed the membership cave. Each gamers held out for a spell when negotiating their first big-ticket extensions, and ultimately, appeared to max out on their potential worth. Matthews had extra leverage as a primary general choose and an elite scorer from the leap, however there’s nonetheless the truth that his present deal allowed him each a cap hit that made him the league’s highest-paid participant and a time period of solely 4 years, quite than the eight years that contemporaries like Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl opted for.

What resulted from that front-office method was a Maple Leafs squad with 4 forwards incomes upwards of $10 million per yr, a singular scenario in comparison with the remainder of the league, and one which has seemingly made constructing an entire staff round much more tough.

Buying and selling away Nazem Kadri, and watching him turn out to be a winner

In case you think about exactly the kind of participant Toronto presently covets — that Sam Bennett-Brad Marchand kind, the playoff canine who can mesh elite ability with on-the-line chew — you possibly can already image what it will appear like in a Maple Leafs sweater, as a result of Toronto had it in Nazem Kadri.

A seventh-overall choose for his boyhood membership, Kadri’s 10-year tenure with the Maple Leafs descended into one among annual fanbase and front-office frustration over repeated playoff suspensions. So, in 2019, Toronto shipped him off to Colorado in change for a bundle highlighted by Tyson Barrie and Alex Kerfoot. Neither Barrie nor Kerfoot managed to make a significant affect in Toronto, whereas Kadri emerged as a key piece for the Avs, taking part in a pivotal position of their 2022 Stanley Cup run.

Letting Zach Hyman stroll and turn out to be a 50-goal scorer in Edmonton

Talking of hometown skills who had been pushed out the door, there’s the mishandling of Zach Hyman, too. If not for the way it ended, Hyman would’ve been a transparent win for the Shanahan period, having acquired him in change for Greg McKegg again in 2015 and growing him right into a promising NHLer.

However when Hyman hit unrestricted free company in 2021, the Maple Leafs determined towards giving the two-time 20-goal-scorer too hefty a elevate on his $2.5 million annual wage. As a substitute, the winger signed with Edmonton for $5.5 million per yr. He scored a career-high 27 objectives in his first season as an Oiler, a career-high 36 the following and a career-high 54 the yr after that. Now, he’s presently in his second straight deep post-season run with Connor McDavid and Co. 

Gifting away depth scorers for seemingly no purpose

Buying and selling away Kadri for assistance on the blue line was one factor, however different cases of asset mismanagement appeared to take potential offensive assist off the roster with out purpose. In 2020, there was the commerce that despatched Mason Marchment to Florida. Toronto had signed the undrafted Marchment to an AHL deal half a decade earlier, developed him with the Marlies and given him temporary photographs within the large leagues. However earlier than really seeing what he might do on the NHL stage, the Maple Leafs traded him to Florida for Denis Malgin. Malgin performed solely eight video games for Toronto throughout that stint, failing to document a degree. In the meantime, Marchment went to Florida and established himself as a high quality depth piece earlier than signing as a free agent in Dallas for $18 million.

The subsequent yr, there was the Jared McCann scenario. Acquired from Pittsburgh in a discount deal, McCann got here to Toronto having simply scored at a 25-goal, 60-point tempo with the Penguins whereas seeing time on Sidney Crosby’s wing. Nonetheless, the Maple Leafs left him uncovered within the 2021 Enlargement Draft, the place he was chosen by the Seattle Kraken, as an alternative selecting to guard Kerfoot and oft-maligned defender Justin Holl. McCann put up 27 objectives in his first season with the Kraken, and 40 objectives the following. In the meantime, Toronto’s continued to seek for depth at left wing.

Lacking out on drafting high quality younger expertise as a result of unforced errors

The Maple Leafs had been removed from the one membership who took on a win-now method and shipped out first-round picks to attempt to land deadline game-changers. The primary-rounders given up to herald the likes of Ryan O’Reilly and Nick Foligno would possibly’ve been misguided in hindsight, however the motivation was clear. Much less comprehensible had been the first-rounders given away in pursuit of correcting the membership’s personal errors.

In 2022, Toronto traded a first-round choose to Chicago as a method of convincing the membership to take netminder Petr Mrazek off their books. The Maple Leafs had signed Mrazek to a three-year, $11.4-million deal a yr earlier (the identical summer season they let Hyman stroll). A couple of years earlier than that, in 2019, Toronto traded away a conditional first-round choose together with Marleau to Carolina in a deal made to supply the Maple Leafs with much-needed cap aid. It was good storm for the Dubas Period — Marleau had arguably been overpaid on his preliminary deal, the membership had signed its core to hefty offers of their very own, and now they had been compelled to lose a first-round choose to maneuver out Marleau so they may re-sign the likes of Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson, each of whom had been traded the following yr.

The Canes used the Maple Leafs’ first-round choose acquired in that Marleau deal to pick Seth Jarvis, who’s since posted two 30-goal campaigns in Raleigh and helped Canada win gold on the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Standing pat for too lengthy, as proof mounted that change was wanted

Above all else, the first misstep of the Maple Leafs’ Shanahan period was the membership’s hesitance to make any important modifications, even because it grew to become clear that some measure of change was wanted. To start with, Shanahan did properly in ushering in a brand new chapter for the franchise, bringing in a wave of younger, elite expertise who may lead Toronto again to the promised land. However once they hit a wall, stumbling by yr after yr of disappointing first-round exits, the Maple Leafs refused to regulate their method, opting to maintain operating it again with the Core 4, hoping the identical group would possibly finally discover completely different outcomes.

Nevertheless it prolonged off the ice into the entrance workplace, too. After he took over as GM in 2018, changing veteran Lou Lamoriello and beating out fellow assistant GM Mark Hunter for the job, Dubas oversaw 4 straight first-round exits — together with notably disappointing losses to Columbus and Montreal. He was finally let go after Toronto broke by that first-round wall solely to get instantly bounced by Florida. The identical went for Keefe, who was there for a lot of that run — quite than shifting on from the coach the identical summer season the membership parted methods with Dubas, when it appeared clear a brand new voice and a brand new path was wanted, Keefe was signed to an extension. One other first-round exit the following yr led to his eventual exit, too. The outcome was a rising notion among the many fanbase that the group gave the impression to be resigned to complacency, permitting the identical decision-makers to information the identical group, at the same time as significant outcomes eluded them.

Now, as Shanahan’s tenure involves an in depth, that aversion to alter has led to what would possibly wind up the best failing of this entrance workplace’s period — dropping Mitch Marner for nothing.

Within the wake of a Leafs chapter outlined by an unyielding perception within the Core 4, Toronto arrives on the 2025 low season with Marner trying more likely to stroll away as an unrestricted free agent. That marks one other good storm of this tumultuous period — a product of Shanahan’s entrance workplace falling brief in constructing a successful staff round him, of not getting him signed to extension earlier than it reached this level, of refusing to commerce him when a change appeared wanted, and of turning over the entrance workplace when the timing for such a commerce appeared proper earlier than the no-move safety in Marner’s contract kicked in.

Consequently, the Maple Leafs appear poised to lose a premier asset for nothing — a 100-point, Selke Trophy nominee, a highlight-reel expertise who sells jerseys and tickets and who absolutely might’ve fetched a sizeable bundle on the commerce market. Or, No. 16 will return, signal a brand new deal and Toronto will run it again another time.