Report: Brendan Shanahan to join NHL hockey operations department

Former Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan will be joining the NHL’s hockey operations department in an advisory capacity, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports.

Shanahan’s contract wasn’t renewed by the Maple Leafs at the end of the 2024-25 season, after joining the organization in April 2014.

“Sources say Brendan Shanahan will be joining the National Hockey League’s hockey operations department,” Dreger stated on TSN’s Insider Trading. “He will spend time in the New York office, he will spend time in the Toronto office. He will attend general manager meetings, board meetings in an advisory capacity, another experienced voice as part of that process. He’s following a path that Ken Holland went down not that long ago, en route to becoming the general manager of the Los Angeles Kings. If an opportunity presents whereby a team decides it’s going to make a significant change atop its hockey department, I would suggest Brendan Shanahan would be a leading candidate for a job like that as well.”

Shanahan was also reportedly considered to be in the running for the New York Islanders’ general manager vacancy, before the club hired Mathieu Darche.

“When your season ends and you’re not the winner, you’re devastated,” Shanahan said to The Athletic’s Chris Johnston in October. “I came here 11 years ago and I had really two goals: I wanted to rebuild the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, on and off the ice, and I wanted to win a Stanley Cup.”

“I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to finish the job, but I think we’ve rebuilt the Toronto Maple Leafs.”

It seems like a logical move for Shanahan, who has experience in various managerial roles within the NHL ecosystem and if he’s angling for a general manager position, this could be the next step for him. Shanahan previously served as the NHL’s senior vice president in charge of player safety, vetting out suspensions and supplementary discipline.