<p>In early May, the Toronto Maple Leafs leadership brass held their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dx29lZAM6k">end-of-season media availability</a>, which included general manager Brad Treliving, freshly minted CEO Keith Pelley and president Brendan Shanahan. Everyone had lots to say, but nobody more than Shanahan, who sparked everyone&#8217;s interest when he confirmed <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/brendan-shanahan-upcoming-leafs-offseason-we-look-everything">&#8216;everything is on the table&#8217;</a> this summer for the Maple Leafs.</p>
<p>Two months later, not much has changed.</p>
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<p>When Shanahan made his remarks in May it felt like there were catastrophic changes coming to the on-ice product. Auston Matthews and William Nylander felt safe, but besides the Leafs&#8217; star duo, based on what Shanahan was implying, everyone else wasn&#8217;t safe.</p>
<p>The catchphrase led many to believe it was Mitch Marner who was getting moved in the coming weeks, which then turned to the Maple Leafs potentially asking Morgan Rielly or John Tavares about a list of teams they&#8217;d accept a trade to. Or, Tavares handing over the captaincy to Matthews, striking a serious shift in the leadership dynamic of the hockey club. That would be quite the change, however so far, there have been some slight changes around the edges of the roster, but nowhere near the level at which Shanahan was implying.</p>
<p>Craig Berube is the new bench boss, which, yes, is a major change that could have lasting impacts on a number of players. Was this what Shanahan meant? Berube&#8217;s coaching style will be much different than Sheldon Keefe&#8217;s as the intensity meter is going way up behind Toronto&#8217;s bench. What about the likes of Anthony Stolarz, Chris Tanev, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson? Three newcomers who should help improve the hockey team next season, but again, is this what Shanahan meant when he shouted to the clouds that &#8216;everything was on the table&#8217;?</p>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t just Shanahan who implied more than surface-level changes were coming. Pelley mentioned at the press conference, &#8216;good is simply not good enough!&#8217; For the past eight seasons, the Leafs have been good, they haven&#8217;t been anywhere near good enough to go deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They&#8217;ve won one playoff series and crumbled in so many others.  And frankly, adding only Tanev, Stolarz and Ekman-Larsson this summer, while bringing back essentially everyone else from last season, is borderline insanity. Eight years of banging the same drum and expecting a different sound. There has to be more coming, right?</p>
<p>As a reminder, Shanahan laid it all out at the press conference in May, stating &#8220;When you see patterns persist and the results don’t change, you have to adjust the way that you think about things. We will look at everything this summer, and we will consider everything this summer, all with the intention of the one thing we are here for, which is to make the Maple Leafs better and to win.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Maple Leafs are nowhere close to being an elite hockey club. As it stands right now the same group of forwards are coming back, sans Tyler Bertuzzi. The defence corps is still made up of Rielly, Simon Benoit, Jake McCabe, and Timothy Liljegren, meanwhile, Tanev and OEL replace Mark Giordano and TJ Brodie. Stolarz replaces Ilya Samsonov in net, while the often-injured Joseph Woll and Matt Murray are returning to the mix.</p>
<p>This offseason in Toronto has been baffling. Senior leadership made it feel like they had come to their wits ends with how much this team has underperformed and while all indications pointed to the core of the roster changing, that hasn&#8217;t been the case at all and the team appears set to once again, run it back.</p>
<p>So much for a major trade involving a core player. Instead, there&#8217;s been plenty of chatter surrounding extensions for Marner and Tavares. Rielly&#8217;s signed long-term, Nylander and Matthews aren&#8217;t going anywhere. Liljegren, David Kampf, and Nick Robertson, however, are all considered prime trade candidates. A bottom-pair defenceman, a fourth-line center and a one-time top prospect who wants out.</p>
<p>So much for &#8216;everything is on the table&#8217;.</p>
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In early May, the Toronto Maple Leafs leadership brass held their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dx29lZAM6k">end-of-season media availability</a>, which included general manager Brad Treliving, freshly minted CEO Keith Pelley and president Brendan Shanahan. Everyone had lots to say, but nobody more than Shanahan, who sparked everyone's interest when he confirmed <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/brendan-shanahan-upcoming-leafs-offseason-we-look-everything">'everything is on the table'</a> this summer for the Maple Leafs.

Two months later, not much has changed.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2106" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="324"></div>
When Shanahan made his remarks in May it felt like there were catastrophic changes coming to the on-ice product. Auston Matthews and William Nylander felt safe, but besides the Leafs' star duo, based on what Shanahan was implying, everyone else wasn't safe.

The catchphrase led many to believe it was Mitch Marner who was getting moved in the coming weeks, which then turned to the Maple Leafs potentially asking Morgan Rielly or John Tavares about a list of teams they'd accept a trade to. Or, Tavares handing over the captaincy to Matthews, striking a serious shift in the leadership dynamic of the hockey club. That would be quite the change, however so far, there have been some slight changes around the edges of the roster, but nowhere near the level at which Shanahan was implying.

Craig Berube is the new bench boss, which, yes, is a major change that could have lasting impacts on a number of players. Was this what Shanahan meant? Berube's coaching style will be much different than Sheldon Keefe's as the intensity meter is going way up behind Toronto's bench. What about the likes of Anthony Stolarz, Chris Tanev, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson? Three newcomers who should help improve the hockey team next season, but again, is this what Shanahan meant when he shouted to the clouds that 'everything was on the table'?

It wasn't just Shanahan who implied more than surface-level changes were coming. Pelley mentioned at the press conference, 'good is simply not good enough!' For the past eight seasons, the Leafs have been good, they haven't been anywhere near good enough to go deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They've won one playoff series and crumbled in so many others.  And frankly, adding only Tanev, Stolarz and Ekman-Larsson this summer, while bringing back essentially everyone else from last season, is borderline insanity. Eight years of banging the same drum and expecting a different sound. There has to be more coming, right?

As a reminder, Shanahan laid it all out at the press conference in May, stating "When you see patterns persist and the results don’t change, you have to adjust the way that you think about things. We will look at everything this summer, and we will consider everything this summer, all with the intention of the one thing we are here for, which is to make the Maple Leafs better and to win."

The Maple Leafs are nowhere close to being an elite hockey club. As it stands right now the same group of forwards are coming back, sans Tyler Bertuzzi. The defence corps is still made up of Rielly, Simon Benoit, Jake McCabe, and Timothy Liljegren, meanwhile, Tanev and OEL replace Mark Giordano and TJ Brodie. Stolarz replaces Ilya Samsonov in net, while the often-injured Joseph Woll and Matt Murray are returning to the mix.

This offseason in Toronto has been baffling. Senior leadership made it feel like they had come to their wits ends with how much this team has underperformed and while all indications pointed to the core of the roster changing, that hasn't been the case at all and the team appears set to once again, run it back.

So much for a major trade involving a core player. Instead, there's been plenty of chatter surrounding extensions for Marner and Tavares. Rielly's signed long-term, Nylander and Matthews aren't going anywhere. Liljegren, David Kampf, and Nick Robertson, however, are all considered prime trade candidates. A bottom-pair defenceman, a fourth-line center and a one-time top prospect who wants out.

So much for 'everything is on the table'.
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What happened to ‘everything is on the table’ for the Maple Leafs this offseason?

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