Brendan Shanahan officially hired as Maple Leafs president
Hall of Famer and NHL executive will be introduced Monday
The Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday morning officially announced the hiring of Brendan Shanahan as the team's president and alternate governor.
Shanahan, 45, will be introduced by the Maple Leafs at a press conference Monday at 11 a.m. ET.
Shanahan will oversee all operations for the Maple Leafs, from both the hockey and business perspectives.
He follows the likes of Steve Yzerman (Tampa Bay), Cam Neely (Boston) and the recently hired Trevor Linden (Vancouver) as former NHL stars who've assumed positions of front-office authority despite a relative lack of business experience.
The Etobicoke, Ont., native played 1,524 NHL games with New Jersey, St. Louis, Hartford, Detroit and the New York Rangers, earning entry into the Hall of Fame last November with 656 goals and 698 assists in his regular-season career.
Shanahan won three Stanley Cups as a member of the Red Wings and a gold medal with Canada at the 2002 Olympics.
After retirement, he joined the NHL’s head office in December 2009 as vice president of hockey and business development, later moving to the position of chief disciplinarian for the league.
The NHL announced Friday that former player Stephane Quintal will take over Shanahan's role at the Department of Player Safety effective immediately and through the rest of the playoffs. Quintal joined the department in 2011.
Leafs swoon
The Maple Leafs appeared to be headed for a second straight playoff berth for much of this season, but the team's weaknesses and depth issues came into focus during a prolonged late-season swoon that knocked them out of contention.
Toronto now could finish as low as 12th in the Eastern Conference, missing the playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons.
Shanahan will be tasked with building a team that can win the franchise's first Stanley Cup since 1967, a goal that was elusive for the likes of Cliff Fletcher, Pat Quinn, Ken Dryden and Brian Burke during their tenures as president.
Shanahan's first major decisions with respect to the team will involve whether to retain general manager Dave Nonis and head coach Randy Carlyle.
Nonis was given a five-year contract extension last summer by Tim Leiweke, the president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Leafs.