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Next Great Leafs Writer Audition. #3. . Jeremy’s “Shanaplan” |
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Ek’s Note: we really are getting a bunch of great submissions for the Toronto Maple Leafs position here. Today we introduced Jeremy our third contestant. If you want to go for this position pleasee e-mail eklund at hockeybuzz.com amd put: Leafs writer in the title.
As the shock of yet another spectacular playoff failure continues to reverberate through Leafs Nation, many fans have begun to console themselves with the idea that this may finally be the end of the “Shanaplan”. After over 11 years at the helm of the organization, Brendan Shanahan’
s Maple Leafs have delivered just two playoff series wins in total, all while inflicting what feels like the maximum amount of pain possible. Each time they lured us into thinking that “this year feels different” only to find new and exciting ways to crush the souls of Leafs Nation. Through it all, we have seen changes at the management level, behind the bench, and on the ice, with little impact on the final outcome. Year after year the mistakes of the Shanaplan have compounded, and it may finally be time for the man himself to pay the piper.
Part I: Management
Perhaps Shanahan’s greatest strength as President has been his ability to distance himself from the decisions of his General Managers, ultimately escaping the bulk of the criticism. While this has allowed him to keep his hands relatively clean over the course of his 11-year tenure, it may be time that he be held to account for the mistakes made at the managerial level. From inheriting Dave Nonis from the previous regime, to hiring Lou Lamoriello, promoting Kyle Dubas, and eventually swapping him out for Brad Treliving, Shanahan’ s choices for the GM chair have had a major impact on the club’s success (or lack thereof).
While it can be argued that taking Nonis for a test-drive prior to hiring Lou Lamoriello in 2015 was a prudent move, the timing of Sweet Lou’ s departure was anything but. Throughout his career,
Lamoriello has been widely regarded as a notoriously tough negotiator. Claude Lemieux, Sean Burke, Pat Verbeek, and Bill Guerin were all sent packing by The Godfather following various holdouts and contract disputes. With second contracts on the horizon for three major pieces (William Nylander, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner), it would stand to reason that you would want a seasoned negotiator handling those deals. In a dramatic departure from logic, Shanahan decided to relieve Lou of his responsibilities as General Manager and promote his inexperienced Assistant GM Kyle Dubas to the big boy chair in 2018. Dubas would proceed to get raked over the coals in the subsequent negotiations with the Big Three, condemning the Buds to perpetual salary cap hell. With his veteran savvy and willingness to move off of players who refuse to fit within a team salary structure, Lamoriello would have undoubtedly been the more favourable choice to shepherd the team through the first wave of major contract negotiations.
As Dubas was considered one of the brightest young minds in the game, the Leafs were understandably afraid to lose him, in the event they elected not to promote him. T eams such as the ColoradoAvalanche, Buffalo Sabres, and Arizona Coyotes were rumoured to have sought permission to interview Dubas prior to his promotion by the Leafs. Although retaining such an up-and-coming hot shot executive may have seemed logical in the moment, in hindsight Dubas was clearly not the right guy to carry out the Shanaplan. Over the course of the next five seasons rumours of friction between Dubas and President Shanahan escalated. From conflicts over coaching decisions to ideological differences over roster construction, the two seemed frequently at odds. There has even been speculation that Shanahan directly vetoed trades brought to him by Dubas, including a 2022 blockbuster that would have landed Marc-Andre Fleury and Brandon Hagel. While it can certainly be debated whether or not such a move would have benefitted the club, the lack of autonomy granted to Dubas indicates a front office rife with dysfunction. This ongoing turmoil ultimately led to a power-struggle atop the Leafs hierarchy, with Dubas reportedly seeking the ability to bypass Shanahan entirely, and directly access the Board of Governors. In the end, Dubas’ Game of Thrones-style power grab was thwarted by the Lannister-ian Shanahan, and he was relieved of his duties as GM. Following Kyle Dubas ’ tumultuous tenure at the helm of the Maple Leafs, Shanahan hired Brad Treliving as his replacement on May 31, 2023. While it is far too early in Treliving’ s tenure as Leafs’ GM to determine the success of his hiring, Shanahan should most certainly be scrutinized for the timing. The organization was staring directly down the barrel of a Mitch Marner trade decision, as his full No-Movement Clause was set to kick in on July 1, 2023. This would have been an incredibly difficult deal for even the most tenured GM to pull off, let alone one in his first few weeks on the job. Treliving was thrown into the deep end in his first offseason, tasked with evaluating an entirely unfamiliar organization from top to bottom, and ideally orchestrating one of the most significant trades in Leafs ’ history... all in 31 days or less. While seven straight seasons of playoff futility were clearly screaming for change, the overwhelming pressure of a trade of that magnitude under such time constraints proved too tall a task. This revealed that Shanahan’s front office was either unable or unwilling to make the necessary changes for success. Swapping GMs at such a critical juncture for the franchise forced the Leafs to stay the course with Marner, further demonstrating the Shanaplan’s mismanagement when 16 walks for free this summer.
While Shanahan’ s GMs have taken the bulk of the criticism over the course of his 11-year reign as President of the club, it is finally time that he be held responsible for the mistakes he has made at the management level. Although Dave Nonis was inherited from the Brian Burke era, the timing of both the Lamoriello and Dubas dismissals were disastrous, and fell firmly under Shanahan’
s control. While the Leafs’ lack of playoff success is certainly reflective of mistakes in both coaching and roster construction, Shanahan’ s GM decisions have been fundamentally flawed, and are undeniably central to their repeated postseason failures.
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