OverDrive - LeBrun on Shanahan out from the Maple Leafs, the overview of his tenure and Marner's future team

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joined OverDrive to discuss Brendan Shanahan's conclusion with the Maple Leafs, the end of the era with the team, Brad Treliving's role in the franchise, Mitch Marner's future and his market around the league, the value of the contract and more.

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Powered by North by Northeast. Taking place June 11 to 15 across Toronto. iHeart New Music. Discover new music. Stream now online on your smart speaker and on the free iHeart Radio app. Here's Pierre Lebrun, our TSN hockey insider. Pierre, at what point in the last few days did you think and maybe believe this was coming that Shanahan was going to be out in Toronto? I mean, I kind of felt all year was the more probable scenario unless the least went deep

in the playoffs and, you know, deep being passed the second round. But then when the Islanders were granted permission yesterday to speak with Shanann, I mean, I guess you had to read into that, right? I mean, why would MLXD let the Islanders give them the green light if they thought they were going to resign the Brendan Channington extension. So that was kind of the slam dunk there. And you know, listen, you guys have done a great job. You lost a couple hours going over all this stuff. I mean, at the end of the day, I start with, it's been 11 years. So regardless of whether you're glass half full or glass half empty with

Shannon, at the end of the day, if he was on with us, he would say, not getting this team deep in the playoffs, and you can't argue that. I mean, that's a big disappointment. But regardless of how you feel about all the other things he did, he certainly leaves a team that's better run than it was when you got here. 11 years is a long time.

I mean, a lot of people don't get 11 years to be a president of a sports team. So it's not very sexy, but but honestly i just feel like the contract expiring in being here 11 years was probably the biggest reason yeah and you know you look at what this could mean for the the maple leaves moving forward what do you make of the uh... announcement that you know brad trillivan will stay in as gm and as of now they're not going to immediately replace Shanahan and do you think this is the

end of the president's role with this team what do you think MLSC is going to do here well that's what's interesting is that you know there's a quote in the statement from Keith Pelley and we'll hear more from him tomorrow and that's the key is to understand how Keith Pelly puts it tomorrow at his own news conference. But does he really have to hire a replacement for Brendan Shanahan? And Keith Pelly wasn't here when Brendan Shanahan was hired. So does Keith Pelly feel that there needs to be an in between him and the GM? And maybe he does, maybe he doesn't.

But I don't think that's clear right now. Um, right. And so that's why what he has to say tomorrow will be important, but it may very well be that at least for a while anyway, that unless there's an obvious candidate that jumps out at him, maybe he's comfortable not having Brendan Chen had replaced. Um, number two, I mean, you mentioned Brad tree living, like, you know, obviously he hasn't spoken since the season ended. But I would imagine today's a tough day for him in the sense that Brendan Channan hired

him. Hockey guys, they go into a foxhole together. Just because Treeliving wasn't let go today, I can't imagine it's a great day for him anyway. day. I can't imagine it's a great day for him anyway, because he's probably, and this is just me relaying what I've seen with other GMs over the years who lost the guy who hired them. You probably feel a little less secure moving forward about what it all means. So that's the other thing to keep in mind here. Pierre, what if any impact could Shanahan leaving have on the two key UFAs? Could it change someone else's perspective?

Could it affect that at all? I don't think so. I mean, I think reliving is really the key figure in those conversations. In a way, and John Tavares made a point the other day I was at the clean out locker day and he made a point of saying that he had just had a meeting with Tree Living as all the players did but for his exit meeting and that he came out of it feeling pretty positive about his chances of staying a Leaf so we made a point of mentioning

Tree Living even though you know we haven't asked Tavares about that. So, I think that's still the GM's job. And I mean, I don't even think we need to have a conversation any further about whether or not there's a chance Mitch Marner stays. I think pretty much it doesn't deal with going to market. But okay, going to market means he's leaving for sure? That's your opinion?

Well, nothing's for sure. Like that's your opinion that that marna's Nothing's for sure in life. I mean, right. I I think I definitely if you were Putting a gun to my head. I would say that uh, it's very very likely that that marna leaves in my mind Now you never know again, uh, it could be After marna said he wanted to decompress over the next few weeks and go over everything. Maybe he comes out of it on the other side feeling differently after the emotion is out of it. But my sense is he's going to market. For Shanahan, Pierre, you know, obviously the Islanders have reached out. He's got the built in relationship with Lou Lamarrillo, who's still hanging

around as a advisor to the Islanders president. Do you see a fit there in that management team for Brendan Shanahan? For sure and I think really the person the key on is actually John Collins, Dave, because John Collins when he was at the league you know work with Brendan Shanahan right? I mean they were both at the league office at the same time and John Collins is along with with ownership, spearheading the search here for the New Hawk administration. So I think that's probably more the key relationship to focus on. There's no question in my mind that Shanahan,

when he feels the time is right here over the next number of days, will meet with the Islanders. Whether or not he feels that job is for him we'll see I can't answer that but I will say that you know my sense is you know some people have wondered will Shannon maybe take a year off and and reset I don't think so I think he wants to get right back into it with the team if he can so if the Islander job sounds good to him and everything around it sounds good to him, you know, may very well be that he filled up for him. We'll see. Well, they've got the first overall pick and they've got some cap space and we were trying

to connect, you know, Mitch Marner to Brendan Shanan shanahan in the islanders could you see a connection there like if you think maris going to going to hit the market two or three teams in mind that you think which show interest in him but also he would show interest in them yeah hard to tell i i i don't know that i would put the island in their own because i think that whoever and up there whether it's mark burge then are not you'Arcy as GM and then whether or not Chan Han is in there as president, I think they need some form

of retool, not necessarily a rebuild. I don't think ownership there wants a rebuild, but I think a retool. So I don't know about splurging on July 1st as your first act in the retool. But again, let's see who they end up hiring. It's hard to answer the vacuum without knowing who the outers end up hiring to run their team. But, you know, I think a lot of the usual suspects, if I had to guess, for Marner, I mean, I think I mentioned some of these teams last week. I mean, you know, no doubt in my mind that, you know, teams like Anaheim and Detroit and Chicago will want to get in on it. I had a piece today come out with Ken Holland, interviewed Ken Holland today and he obviously wouldn't get into names but

we ended our interview by him saying the Kings are absolutely intent on being aggressive here. We know Ken Holland likes to swing for the fences so I would surmise that the Kings would be one of the teams too and they got Kaepern that we'd be in on Marner. But aside from that, I think Marner himself, if he, if he goes to market, which I think is likely, we'll probably look at the real suspects, you know, Florida, Vegas, all the teams that we always ended up keen on where players seem to love to go. I mean, I think those teams would, would probably be on his list as well.

Yeah. And yet those teams aren't going to give him $14 million a year. So how does that drive? Right. Let's see what he wants. What's that? Let's see what he wants and let's see what he prioritizes. Oh, that would be sickening if he signs in Florida for $9.5 million. He will just never be able to come back here ever ever not saying that's gonna happen no i understand

i'm just saying if he does if that happens there will be no alumni a coming back good to see it like that it'll just be the end it'll be over and finished because you know the thought is well he's gonna want all the money and you know Austin got this and Willie got that and That's what I just like that's what I'm having a tough time figuring out Like if if Mitch is about if he wants to win those teams make a lot of sense You know and I could I could understand that like if he's like hey listen. I just decided I want to win Okay, you know he never said he wants to redeem himself in Toronto and I want to prove I can win here, but maybe you want to win somewhere else. Yet if you're going to

do that with those teams, like they don't run their cap that way. And you know, they're not going to give you more money than their top dogs, but it may actually be a perfect spot because you'd go in there and he wouldn't be the man. You know, like if you went to four, it'd be fourth or fifth in line in terms of importance on that team. Yeah. I mean, again, regardless of how this ends up playing out, I do feel like he sounds like a guy that needs to change the scenery. Yes, so I'm not disputing that. So, I mean, you know, if you had the power in you, Brian, to hypnotize and convince him

to resign with the Leafs, would you really want to? Knowing that when he wakes up from that trance that means realizing that's not where his heart is anymore. Again, I don't want to speak for him, but that would be where I read on the situation right now. Yeah, no, I agree with that. I'm ready to move on. I think most people are.

I think it's in the best interest of him, the team. I'm curious about what the negotiation looks like like that's why I guess what I'm saying Like because I've always looked at at Mitch and all of them not him alone as he better pay me I better get my money. I better get my contract Like how how does that possibly stop on July 1st when he's a ufa like everyone, you know? Saying he's gonna make all this money. Well, he's not if he goes to vague I don't think he will he goes to Vegas or he's not. I don't think he will. If he goes to Vegas or Florida or Tampa, I don't see how he could.

Yeah, it really depends where he ends up. No question. I can just say this, regardless of how you rate his playoff performance, I can absolutely assure you he's not affected his free agent stock. How is that possible, Pierre? How is that possible, Pierre? Because of the market. Because of the market forces.

What? Look at the list of players available July 1st. Yeah, but that's where... If only one Apple was available at the market, and you were craving an apple, but so were 10 other people. Would you not be willing to overvay for it? For sure. I just don't know what it says to your fan base. Well, this is the only guy available, so we just gave him a boatload.

And once we're going to get good in the playoffs come around, he might not play that good, but we did it anyway. So yeah, but oh, some teams are just trying to get into the playoff. Not everyone just gets to start the season next over and say boy i can't wait to see what happened this year in the pot some things you like we haven't been in forever which marlon help get in and that's what i'm saying i guess that's where i'm driving at is if like if you're florida and you look at up you don't need marter

no mark okay sure you'll take them but why would you pay him more than you pay sam Reinhardt? Do knowing why would you ever have a more than that? They have a kid coming up in the minors that might fill a void. They probably do. Yeah, they probably have something in the system That's just like we have that guy or you'd look at and say why wouldn't we just keep Brad Marsh and like look what he's doing For us right now. Absolutely possible in the playoffs The one thing I would say about Florida and it's not necessarily Absolutely possible in the playoffs

The one thing I would say about Florida and it's not necessarily tied to anyone in particular, but they will be interesting to watch yet again and Bill Gito I Would assume will be nominated for GM of the Year here in the coming days along with Jim Mill and a few others But you know, they've not been able to extend Sam Bennett for whatever reason, right? And again, that's not the end of the world that it hasn't happened yet. As you remember, Sam Reinhardt went right to June 30th of Midnight last year, right after they won the cup. So that one, they had to sweat that one out before they finally resigned Reinhardt. But they've not been able to extend Bennett yet. And,

and I get it Bennett's a totally different player than Marner, different position, different attributes, and obviously not quite the same offensive impact, of course, as Marner different positions, different attributes, and obviously not quite the same offensive impact of course as Marner. But if they can't re-sign Bennett, which is absolutely possible just based on the fact they haven't been able to extend them during the year, it does open up some cap space. Not huge cap space, but certainly more cap space than they had a year ago when they kept the guys they did. So just keep that in mind with Florida is that they actually, and the cap's going up,

the cap is not staying still like it did the last four years. So Florida between the possibility of losing either Bennett or Eklat or both, and again they may sign those guys, but if they lose them and the cap is going up, they suddenly have more capper than they've had for several years. And who knows, they might be coming off another cup. So keep that in mind, too. Crazy the statement you just made, Pierre. Like you said, Marner is in a different stratosphere other than San Pa...

Offensively. Offensively. No, no. Let me just finish. Let me finish. If you had to pick one guy to get you through a playoff series and you were GM Pierre Lebrun, who would you want to sign? It would depend on what I feel my grade is. No, no.

But I mean it's important. So the Leafs, 10 minutes. On how they've played in the playoffs at crunch time they need that kind of guy but there are other teams who would actually need marner more if they can't score like it depends on what kind of player you need it's it's hard to answer those things in the vacuum there's no question the

least need a sandman at five player uh... whatever that looks like okay so if if playoff stats don't matter pierre what is the market for john taveras who showed up on the score sheet only one of the seven games against the panthers in his turn of thirty five in september well it's contract with different thing in front of it then it would on july

first of no question about that uh...eeves loved this guy but it's not with him. It doesn't even sound like he wants to talk to anyone. He just really wants to stay elite and he got it. You have to acknowledge that with John Taveras. He's been really consistent in his desire to remain here at home but you know that means that there has to be a number that works. I believe that at the start of the year, I think I reported this, if I haven't, but the hell, I'll just blurt it out, but last September at camp, I think DeVaris and his camp totally used to be ready to extend right then and there.

I think they probably would have signed for around five million a year. But then he went out and had a huge season. So, you know, I don't know that the number can stay there from where it was in September because of the points he put up this year. But on the other hand, he's kind of hurting his own leverage by saying, I don't want to go anywhere. And this is where the Leafs have to, they've not done this a lot with their guys, but i think they got to be a bit mister me here and say well if you really want to say this is the number and i really do think that the police have to do here

i agree with that right here well we'll see it's been a crazy week and we're only that was still the third round of more games tonight was still weeks away the draft not to uh... off the edmontonon on Saturday gonna catch a couple games of the Western Conference final looking forward to that All right, buddy. Enjoy it. We'll do it soon. All right guys, Pia LaBonna TSN hockey and Saturday introducing Brian Adams radio

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