MLSE CEO Keith Pelley met with the media on Friday afternoon and spelled out why the decision was made to not renew the contract of Team President Brendan Shanahan and what the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs organization will be.
The decision to move on from Shanahan was in part due to the failing of the Leafs to have the ultimate success, winning only two playoff series in 11 years, but also signified a changing of the guard in ownership and management in MLSE under Rogers Communication, who will be buying out Bell Media and eventually Larry Tanenbaum and is streamlining the management structure of Toronto FC, the Leafs and possibly the Toronto Raptors.
“At the end of the day, Brendan has added a lot to this organization, he has revamped, he has put it in a good position in so many ways,” Pelley said. “But it’s about results, this is a results-driven business, and it’s about winning championships, and sometimes you need change to get to the next level and that’s what we feel we needed now.”
Pelley expressed confidence in GM Brad Treliving and head coach Craig Berube and indicated that at this time that the Leafs will not be filling Shanahan’s position, and that possibly down the line there might be an elevation of Treliving’s title, but that he will be more involved in the day-to-day operations.
“My role is to be a sounding board and is to try to create a culture and the chemistry within that organization that builds a culture of winning championships,” Pelley said. “I’m not going to be deciding who we are going to draft, and what free agents we are going to sign. That will be decision of the hockey operations group.”
On changes to the roster, which includes the decision of pending free agents Mitch Marner and John Tavares, Pelley said that he will discuss that with Treliving (who is in Calgary attending the graduation of his daughter), but did seem to signal the need for a shakeup from the core group that has been together since the signing of John Tavares in 2018.
“Change is natural in sport, but change is hard.” Pelley said. “Today is not easy….but we’ve made a lot of change over the last year in this team and we’ve made a lot of progress…..Further change will probably be needed to get to the next level, and yesterday was the first step in that direction.”
