BIG DECISION: Time for the Toronto Maple Leafs to fire Brendan Shanahan and others.

Time for the Toronto Maple Leafs to fire Brendan Shanahan and others.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a complete mess and a total disaster.
After a second consecutive messy and disastrous performance, Sheldon Keefe is now on loan as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After spending $20 million in offseason spending, Brad Treliving has established himself as a poor general manager who has no idea how to run a hockey team in 2023.
Not only have the Leafs gotten worse since he took over, but the Calgary Flames have been pretty bad as well.

That person has to go too.
But that alone is not enough.

Brendan Shanahan assumes the role of president.
After stealing the spotlight from Kyle Dubas at last year’s trade deadline, the Leafs made one mistake after another because they were afraid to fire the guy who was supposed to be their job.

It’s time for Brendan Shanahan to go.
Time for the Toronto Maple Leafs to fire Brendan Shanahan and others.

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ problems were so bad because they were so obvious and predictable.
At the time John Klingberg signed, many people pointed out that declining 31-year-olds don’t typically return to the pro level.
A lot of people said the same thing about Jake McCabe.
When they signed Domi, many pointed out that statistically he was a replacement player and was paid three times as much.

When they signed Reeves, many people pointed out that signing a 36-year-old enforcer was a bad idea.
When David Kampf was signed, many people said they shouldn’t spend the deadline and money on a very one-dimensional fourth-line center.

As the season began, almost everyone pointed out that the blue line was terrible.
Because the blue line lacked the depth and elite players needed to win.
Entering the season, the blue line was criticized for having only one physical player, another 30-year-old, who appeared to have regressed dramatically from last year.

The analysis showed that all of Treliving’s moves were more likely to succeed.
The best of them, Tyler Bertuzzi, is overrated and unable to do what is expected of him.

Yes, he didn’t sign Neylander and he didn’t get eight years from Matthews.
I wrote about all of this dozens of times between July and October here at Leaf Editors.
Many media outlets pushed for it because “analysis” had become a bit of a dirty word, but it was clear to anyone who followed the team and didn’t want to buy into the new regime’s propaganda.
Here’s what’s disappointing about the Leafs right now: Any problems that arose were completely predictable during the summer.
The struggles of every struggling athlete? Totally predictable.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will need a big break if they don’t want to lose another tremendous season from three of the best players in franchise history.
Just firing a coach is not enough.

It’s not enough to fire the GM, but they both need to be involved in cleaning house.
Brendan Shanahan is done.
It will be ready now or in a year. So before we waste any more time, let’s fire him and get someone new in here.