Free washer | Does Shanahan deserve the confidence of Icelanders?

The one we have just disrected about his title as president of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, Brendan Shanahan, will therefore be free to join the New York Icelanders, for a similar position. They had indeed asked the Toronto organization the day before the permission to chat with him.

“A new voice was necessary to bring the team to the next level in the coming years,” said Keith Pelley, president and chief executive officer of Mlse, while thanking Shanahan for his contribution in the last eleven seasons.

Shanahan therefore left his post a few days after the elimination of the leafs during the 7^e Match in the second eliminatory round, a 6-1 thawed against Florida’s panthers. It was also a seventh defeat in a row in an ultimate match under the leadership of Shanahan.

Curious anyway that it is reproached for a lamentable failure in a place, but that you have it elsewhere to hire him, even before the expiration of his contract. A similar situation occurred two years ago with the former director general of the Leafs, Kyle Dubas, promoted to president at Pittsburgh.

Does Shanahan deserve so many respects from another organization of the National Hockey League after eleven years at the head of the Leafs?

This former NHL striker must be given a certain merit. Shortly after his hiring, in April 2014, he dared to undertake an unprecedented approach in Toronto: carrying out a reconstruction.

The previous decade had been lamentable. His little creative predecessors were content to clog the gaps with free agents overpayed or by sacrificing choices and hopes for veterans at the end of the route.

Toronto missed the series nine times in ten years between 2005 and 2014 without ever being able to invoke a phase of rejuvenation to explain its poor results. We bet on Phil Kessel, Dion Phaneuf and James Van Riemsdyk to shoot the team, good players, of course, but not locomotives.

Defender Morgan Rielly had been drafted in fifth row two years earlier, in 2012, and the Leafs held the eighth choice in 2014 a few months after the arrival of Shanahan. We opted for William Nylander.

Director General Dave Nonis was dismissed a year after the arrival of Shanahan, in April 2015. The latter formed a triumvirate made up of Lou Lamoriello, Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter.

Kessel and Phaneuf were exchanged in the year that was going to follow for young people, choices or bad temporary contracts. James Van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak would be the next.

There was a big internal debate during the 2015 draft, when choosing in fourth row. A group of leaders, supported by coach Mike Babcock, wanted a defender. The names of Noah Hanifin and Ivan Proorov have been put forward. Zach Werenski, drafted eighth, now the best in the lot, was a little further on the lists, it seems. Mark Hunter insisted for Mitch Marner, whom he had drafted beforehand in the junior ranks, with London.

With hindsight, Brendan Shanahan and the Leafs did well to listen to Hunter, despite the reproaches that can be made to marner. In 657 games, Marner, 28, raised 741 points, while excellent defensively. But his lack of series productivity remains a black spot in his file.

With a striking training in 2015-2016, Nylander in the American League for an important portion of the season, Marner in the Junior Rows, Rielly still a little green and Jonathan Bernier in front of the net, Toronto sank in the ranking and kept the first choice in June 2016: Auston Matthews.

Lamoriello obtained a solid goalkeeper, Frederik Andersen, of the Ducks of Anaheim, for a choice of end of the first round, acquired in the exchange of Kessel in Penguins in 2015, and a choice of second round.

The results

So far, the plan worked wonderfully. Toronto had three most promising attackers in NHL, Matthews, Marner and Nylander, a solid offensive defender, Rielly, all aged 22 or less.

We even reached the playoffs in 2016-2017 with this new group of first young people. Matthews scored 40 goals in her first year, Marner and Nylander have raised 61 points each.

Then we wrapped up and weighed on the accelerator. Probably too early. Patrick Marleau, 37, was hired on the market for autonomous players on July 2, 2017 for three years, for 6.25 million per year, after two seasons of less than 50 points in San Jose.

Kyle Dubas replaced Lou Lamoriello in 2018. The pivotal moment has arrived. We hired John Tavares on the autonomous players’ market for seven years, at 11 million per season. Tavares represented one of the best NHL offensive centers, no one can deny it.

Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were both going to be in the last year of their recruit contract in 2018-2019. William Nylander was going to start negotiations for a new contract.

You therefore have three promising recruits, paid at a base salary of $ 925,000, before the Bonis, on the eve of a new agreement, and you bring the wolf into the sheepfold at more than 11 million per year. The arrival of Tavares obviously caused mad inflation. They will all join or almost tavares in terms of annual salary in the following year. Ceiling management is a headache for Leafs to date.

To pay for her young trio, we have to drop Marleau and her ugly contract by giving up a first-round choice in 2020 to the Hurricanes of Caroline, which will allow them to recover Seth Jarvis at 13^e Rang, and exchange Nazem Kadri and his annual salary of 4.5 million in return from Alex Kerfoot and Tyson Barrie.

On the deadline for transactions, in 2019, Dubas cede his first round choice and the young defender Sean Durzi to the Kings of Los Angeles for experience defender Jake Muzzin. Durzi will become a first pair defender in Arizona. Muzzin was repeatedly injured. He retired in October 2023.

After having so much bet to win in the shorter term, there was no longer a question of retreating. Toronto sold his first round choices in 2021 (the rental player Nick Foligno), 2022 (drop the contract of Petr Mrazek, we nevertheless recover a second round choice) and 2023 (the rental player Ryan O’Reilly). Toronto will not recover in the first round this year either, neither in 2026 nor in 2027…

The Maple Leafs have participated in the series in the last nine seasons, of course. The economic situation has not always been favorable to them. But in the end, they will have won only two eliminatory laps in eleven years during the reign of Shanahan.

If he has learned from his mistakes, he will undoubtedly be more patient with the Icelanders, provided they join them, of course.