Report: MLSE board to meet with Brendan Shanahan on Thursday

Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan will meet with Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment’s (MLSE) board of directors on Thursday to discuss his future with the organization, The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reports.

Shanahan’s existing contract is scheduled to expire at the end of June. He’s been the longest-tenured executive figure overseeing this past Maple Leafs decade.

Toronto was eliminated in brutal fashion, collapsing 6-1 against the Florida Panthers in Game 7 on Sunday. Jerseys and other objects were thrown onto the ice and the fans booed the team upon their salute to the crowd, following the handshake line. It was a performance that embarrassed the ownership group and the board of directors, Johnston reports.

Craig Berube, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander, Matthew Knies, Chris Tanev, Morgan Rielly, Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz met with reporters Tuesday for their end-of-year media availabilities. It’s widely expected that Shanahan, MLSE CEO Keith Pelley and Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving will address reporters at a time to be determined later this week.

Shanahan was announced as the Leafs’ president and alternate governor in April 2014 and his tenure was initially viewed optimistically. The core tenets of his reign include his loyalty to the team’s Core Four, consisting of Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander, with a strict adherence to the idea that this quartet would eventually lead the Maple Leafs to a Stanley Cup. And while you could argue there was some incremental progress made under Berube this season, two outright capitulations in Game 5 and Game 7 essentially negated any sense of progress.

There is still some cache attached to Shanahan, and the New York Islanders are interested in speaking to him about their vacant president of hockey operations role, Johnston reports. It’s unclear what Shanahan’s official title would be, as the Islanders still are searching for their next general manager as well.

This could mark the end of Shanahan’s tenure with the Maple Leafs. The Leafs Nation will continue to update this story as more details emerge.