The Toronto Maple Leafs are shaking things up after their latest playoff nightmare ended with a Game 7 loss to the Florida Panthers on home ice.
The first domino has fallen: Team president Brendan Shanahan is out after 11 years with the organization.
It’s probably just the beginning of major changes for a team that can’t seem to get it done when it matters most.
When Shanahan first arrived, the Leafs were basically the NHL’s punching bag. They were going nowhere fast. But he turned things around – at least during the regular season.
His biggest wins came through three straight drafts from 2014-16, when the Leafs landed William Nylander, Mitch Marner, and Auston Matthews. Then they added John Tavares as a free agent in 2018.
These guys became known as the "core four" and made the Leafs relevant again. But that’s where the success story hits a wall.
The numbers tell a pretty brutal story. In nine playoff appearances since 2016-17, the Leafs have won just two series. They’ve never won more than seven games in a single postseason.
To put that in perspective: You need 16 wins to lift the Stanley Cup. The Leafs haven’t even gotten halfway there.
Here’s the really tough part: These forwards are some of the highest-paid players in hockey. But when the pressure’s on, the goals seem to dry up.
The front office deserves some heat too. They kept running back the same group, hoping for different results. They never found the right supporting cast or made the hard decisions needed to push this team over the top.
Shanahan was brought in to end Toronto’s Stanley Cup drought, which stretches all the way back to 1967. He couldn’t do it.
Now the question is: What’s next for the Leafs? More changes are coming, and they’ll likely involve some familiar faces on the ice.
After all, doing the same thing over and over hasn’t worked out so well.
