Brendan Shanahan let his affable general manager do most of the talking on Wednesday, as well as his new coach, new team captain and several veterans.
But you couldn’t help wondering how nervous the team president was as this season gets underway. It’s now 10 years for Shanahan on the job, with a parade of GMs and now a third coach, as they’ve huddled on various personnel moves and strategies that were supposed to pay off at playoff time by now.
In return Shanahan has one series win to show his bean counter bosses. And now that hierarchy could change with Rogers buying Bell’s stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, though incoming MLSE president Keith Pelley gave Shanahan a vote of confidence last spring.
Asked about his personal frustration at not seeing better results by now, with an enviable stable of first-round draft picks, Shanahan chose instead to look at the coming season and the arrival of Craig Berube to renew his faith.
“Craig’s going to be a big help. And his staff. We have a new person running our power play (Marc Savard), a new person running the penalty kill (Lane Lambert). I don’t want to put it all on Craig, but changing the coach, changing almost the entire staff with people Craig wanted here can have a profound effect on a group.
“I think the players have bought into him a bit during the summer. I expect there will be adjustments, because with change comes adjustments. I don’t know if it will be smooth every day. We know what our goal is at the end.”
Berube teased a new system that he’ll get to work on Thursday and maybe a tweak to the power play units after they fizzled in the playoffs.
Shanahan defended keeping the Core Four intact, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and mostly the embattled Mitch Marner.
“I think we had a busy off-season, I’m very pleased with the work we did,” Shanahan added. “ We come back with the same goal we had the last several years and the determination of where we want to be. Like several teams, our goal is to win the Cup. That’s what we thought about with every decision we made — does this make us better and closer to our goal? We’re pleased where we are today, knowing we have a lot more work to do, starting (this week).”
HERE’S LOOKIN’ AT YOU, KIDS
Treliving had words of encouragement for younger Leafs, especially those who might feel their chances of full-time improvement will be hampered by the camp PTO contracts given forwards Max Pacioretty, Steven Lorentz and just before camp, goaltender Jon Gillies.
That’s in addition to three new veteran defencemen, Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jani Hakanpaa.
“Go out and play well,” Treliving challenged prospects such as Easton Cowan and Nick Robertson. “It’s the NHL. If you can help us win, I don’t care if you’re 18 or 38.
“We do feel we have young players that are coming. It’s not just age. Bobby McMann, Robertson, Pontus Holmberg, Simon Benoit … if I remember correctly, all didn’t make our opening day roster last year, all played very significant roles for us throughout the year.
“I’m sure everyone’s got their names on a napkin of who plays with whom, but we’ll see. Let’s be honest, Auston, Willy, there’s a few guys we’re pretty sure will be on the team. But there is competition.”
COWBOY COWAN IMPRESSIVE
While Fraser Minten has a high ankle sprain and will likely be with the Marlies later this autumn when healthy, Berube says he’s enjoyed what he’s seen in Cowan’s play, through rookie camp and the two games versus the Canadiens freshmen in Montreal.
“He has produced in junior (with the London Knights) and the one thing watching the rookie games, this guy works. Having said that, he has to be detailed. A lot of players coming out of junior hockey still have their junior habits and he needs to show us that he doesn’t.”
MO EXCITEMENT FOR NEW PARTNER
Defenceman Morgan Rielly is cautiously optimistic with the idea of being a full-time partner of free agent Tanev, should Berube match them right away in camp. Rielly called Tanev right away when the Leafs acquired his rights.
“A great piece, any team that acquires him for their defence corps becomes much stronger,” Rielly said. “I’ve played with him before at world championships, I know him as great guy and great teammate.
“I process that I’m going to get a chance to play with him, but ultimately, the over-arching thought was just that he’s going to make our team better. (At the worlds), he improved our corps and out penalty kill overnight. He obviously knows Toronto well (an East York native) and it’s been great skating with him the last couple of weeks.”