The Maple Leafs have officially parted ways with team president Brendan Shanahan, further opening the door for the respected hockey executive to potentially land a similar role on Long Island in the Islanders’ front office.
The decision came on Thursday after a board meeting held by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment — the parent company of the Leafs — which ultimately resulted in the organization feeling that a “new voice was required” after Shanahan had served as team president for an 11-year run.
“Brendan is one of the most respected leaders in the game and he has instilled many of the traits that were the signature of his Hall of Fame career throughout the organization, uniting this storied franchise in the ‘Honour, Pride and Courage’ that it was founded on,” MLSE President & CEO Keith Pelley said in a statement. “Our responsibility and driving motivation, however, is to add a new chapter to the Maple Leafs’ championship history, and it was determined that a new voice was required to take the team to the next level in the years ahead. The franchise will be forever grateful for Brendan’s contributions and wish him and his family every success and happiness in the future.”
That future very well could take Shanahan to the Islanders, who were granted permission to speak with him for their vacant front office positions on Wednesday after the Isles parted ways with former president and general manager Lou Lamoriello earlier this offseason.
Shanahan’s name has popped up in connection with the role of president of hockey operations for the Islanders amid the team’s roughly monthlong search for a new general manager following an ugly 2024-25 season.
The now-former Leafs president has plenty of Islanders connections, having a pre-existing relationship with Isles executive John Collins from their time working at the NHL.
Shanahan was also the one to hire Lamoriello as GM in Toronto in 2015.
While Shanahan would bring a wealth of experience to the Isles’ front office, he had limited postseason success during his tenure in Toronto.
The Maple Leafs made the playoffs in nine straight seasons under Shanahan, but they never made it past the second round, which included this year when they were knocked out in the conference semifinals by the Panthers in seven games with a star-studded lineup that included Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares.
Still, Shanahan had built up a talented pool of homegrown players that have developed into some of the biggest names in the NHL — William Nylander, Marner and Matthews — along with landing one of the most coveted free agents during the 2018 offseason in Tavares.
“While I am proud of the rebuild we embarked on starting in 2014, ultimately, I came here to help win the Stanley Cup, and we did not,” Shanahan said in a statement. “There is nothing more I wanted to deliver to our fans, and my biggest regret is that we could not finish the job.”
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Thursday’s news created a clearer path for him if he was to take a role with the Islanders and would provide more clarity on the organization’s front office situation as they inch closer to the NHL draft next month.
Marc Bergevin and Mathieu Darche are believed to be front-runners for the Islanders’ general manager position, with both candidates having been brought in for a second round of interviews.
The Athletic’s Arthur Staple reported that the Islanders were “narrowing in” on a general manager prior to meeting with Shanahan.
The Islanders’ front office search has been one of the more interesting stories during the offseason as the organization has taken its time with its hires.
There’s also been speculation that Lamoriello won’t be entirely divorced from the organization, though The Athletic reported last week that even if Lamoriello still had the ear of Islanders’ owner Scott Malkin, he would have no role in hockey ops.
The front office decision will be even more vital for the Islanders, who, shockingly, won the No. 1 overall pick in June’s draft during the lottery last month.
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