Photo Credit: Maple Leafs Hotstove, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Shanahan Needs To Find A New Job
Brendan Shanahan was hired in April 2014 and tasked with a mandate of turning the Toronto Maple Leafs from one of the worst teams in the league into a contender.
It has now been almost ten years and the Toronto Maple Leafs have yet to win so much as even a single playoffs series.
Shanahan failed.
What Has Shanahan Even Done?
Nothing.
Shanahan's entire tenure has been defined by failure and loss while he sat idly by watching as the prime of the team's generational talent has been wasted.
The biggest accomplishment Shanahan has to date is coming in last place so they could draft Matthews.
Um, congratulations, I guess.
Six first round losses later and here we are: a team mired in mediocrity and facing an uncertain future.
The best chance at winning the cup in a lifetime pissed away.
The Shanaplan Was A Shanascam
There never was a Shanaplan.
That's a myth propagated by those who employ Brendan Shanahan. A narrative invented to give fans false faith this phony had a clue how to run an NHL team. The truth of the matter is that Shanahan has no idea what he's doing and drove the team into last place because of incompetence rather than by design.
The first year of Shanahan's employment all the smart executives with loser teams were looking to tank for a shot at either McDavid or Eichel.
Not Brendan Shanahan.
Shanahan wanted to compete that first year. Carlyle was only fired once the Leafs were in the middle of a losing streak. Horachek was brought in to stop the bleeding but only made it worse. Shanahan then fired everyone from Nonis down in the offseason and tried again.
Shanahan never did realize that group was a bunch of losers.
Nobody got traded except Kessel. And that was only because he was a cancer in the dressing room. We all remember Kessel skating around telling the rest of the team not to salute the crowd.
Otherwise everyone was kept instead of being traded for assets. If Shanahan really intended to tank the team he would have traded off everyone to accumulate picks and prospects. Lucky for the fans the team still finished last place and were able to draft Matthews.
But that was a product of gross negligence moreso than intended purpose.
The Dumbnamic Duo's Dumb Decisions
It's been nothing but a comedy of errors.
From the firing of Lou and Babcock, to the signing of Tavares, to watching the team lose six times in the first round, and everything else that has happened in between.
One dumb decision after another.
It doesn't take ten years to rebuild a team into contenders. It just doesn't. Not unless management is of the truly special brand of incompetent.
Like Shanahan.
It's ok for Dubas to call the fans idiotic. Yet he and Shanahan are the ones failing at their jobs. It's just been one bad descision after another.
The modus operandi of this team for years has been to let the players go unsigned the final year of their contract. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Kyle Dubas doesn't have a contract and will not be coming back next year if the team underperforms again.
As far as I'm concerned Shanahan should be right beside him in the unemployment line.