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For a moment, there was a thought of taking the column written after the Toronto Maple Leafs exit in previous seasons and doing a quick copy and paste, because the result is eerily similar. The 2-1 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday in Game 7 came not as a surprise, not with anger or indignation, but with expectation and resignation.
The Leafs dealt with unforeseen hurdles in just over two weeks, most notably the illness and injury to their top two scorers and to the goaltender that got them to a deciding game with excellent performances in Games 5 and 6, but after their seventh first-round exit in eight seasons, the club’s fanbase is not interested in excuses, they are not interested in “we are close” and “we believe in this group”, they expect accountability for failure and tangible and significant change, and unlike seasons hence, they may actually see that happen.
(Today is the anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster, which seemed like good symbolism for the Toronto Maple Leafs end-of-season media availability.)
We could go over the quotes of the players and head coach Sheldon Keefe from Monday morning with a fine-tooth comb, but there was no ‘eureka moment” or insight to be gleaned from similar generalities that were expressed after the losses to Washington in 2017, Boston in 2018 and 2019, Columbus in 2020, Montreal in 2021, Tampa Bay in 2022, and Florida in 2023. There just seemed to be a feeling that for this group, this will be the last time.
The team assembled under the Shanaplan over the last eight seasons has some excellent parts, but overall, it is a flawed construct. It has doubled down on the same hand over and over and over and keeps running into a dealer that flips 21 every single time. The least surprising news over the next 48 hours will be the announcement of the dismissal of Keefe and most or all of his coaching staff. Keefe’s fate is all but a fait accompli after more than four seasons and there are already rumors that Cup winners Craig Berube or Joel Quenneville are leading candidates.
The club strategically held the availabilities for players and Keefe today, and that “management” will talk to the media on Thursday, but at this point, we do not know what management it will be, whether just GM Brad Treliving will speak, or will it include Team President Brendan Shanahan and/or MLSE Chairman Keith Pelley.
Pelley has had a month to take stock of the current situation and with another Leafs early exit, it provides him a further illustration of the issues facing the club. Shanahan has been at the helm for a decade and has to be given credit for convincing the MLSE board to tank in 2015 and 2016, which allowed Toronto to draft Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews, but since then, he has been seen as the gatekeeper of the core group and obstinate to the possibility that spending more than half of the club’s salary cap on four forwards and not being able to adequately address other areas of need was a recipe for disaster.
Former GM Kyle Dubas seemed to be open to finally tinkering with the core group after the loss to the Panthers, and after his dismissal, the club lost their last chance to deal Marner before his no-movement clause kicked in and did not seem open to dealing William Nylander before signing him to an eight-year contract extension. The current mess of the Leafs roster is more of Shanahan’s making than anyone else, and it may be impossible for Treliving to dig them out of it.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Monday that if Shanahan is fired, Pelley may not fill the role of Team President created by Tim Leiweke in 2014, which would likely give Treliving more sway over the direction of hockey operations. The Leafs must make consequential changes because where they currently are is a kind of hockey purgatory, and if Shanahan is a roadblock to that change, he has to go.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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