The Toronto Maple Leafs season came to an end on Saturday, May 4, when they fell to Boston in Game 7 of their first-round matchup against the Bruins.
That’s the Leafs’ season on the ice because off of it things are ongoing with a few critical businesses still to be taken care of and Toronto “gearing up for a significant announcement” on Friday, May 10, according to Jim Parsons of The Hockey Writers.
This year, following their early Stanley Cup playoffs exit, Toronto decided to split its end-of-season media availability into two different sessions.
The Leafs players (headlined by Mitch Marner, who wants an extension) and head coach Sheldon Keefe (who said he wants to stay in Toronto) held the first one on Monday, May 6, and a second one was initially scheduled for Thursday, May 9, but it was delayed for Friday, May 10.
According to Parsons and NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, all signs point toward Toronto making a huge announcement on May 10, and everything suggests it will involve coach Keefe’s firing.
Leafs to Fire Sheldon Keefe and Brendan Shanahan on May 10?
Parsons didn’t mince his words when addressing the upcoming media availability of the Maple Leafs scheduled for May 10, sounding assertive and convinced of the news the franchise will make official before the weekend.
“The Toronto Maple Leafs are gearing up for a significant announcement on Friday,” Parsons wrote. “A decision to remove [Keefe] is expected because Keefe will not attend on Friday.”
Parsons also mentions the other possibility discussed during the past few days leading up to Friday’s media availability: the firing of team President Brendan Shanahan. That, however, sounds improbable to Parsons.
“Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment CEO Keith Pelley, President Brendan Shanahan, and General Manager Brad Treliving prepare for a joint press conference,” Parsons wrote in his story. “There’s also speculation about Shanahan’s future. There are some rumblings that he should not escape the axe.
“Since he’s scheduled to be at the meeting, [Shanahan] will likely remain with the team.”
Elliotte Friedman’s Information Points Toward Sheldon Keefe’s Firing
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman discussed the Maple Leafs’ situation on the latest episode of his podcast 32 Thoughts on Wednesday, May 8.
Friedman said that he believes the franchise made Wednesday, May 8, an “important day in terms of meeting and planning.”
Whether or not Friedman knows more than what he revealed in his podcast, he said “Wednesday is a day where they’re really going to start to drill down on where things are going to go here over the next little while,” teasing changes coming to Toronto sooner than later.
“Everyone wanted to wait a couple of days but now it’s time to start moving everything forward,” Friedman said.
Interestingly, Friedman also shared two little details that might have gone unnoticed by the broader audience and Leafs’ fans but that could have been important enough to force the franchise into pushing the final media availability of the Leafs one day further down the road.
“Tuesday was draft lottery day,” Friedman started. “I don’t think the league wanted a lot of news on that day, but the league didn’t want too much to interfere with the [Macklin] Celebrini (consensus best prospect in the 2024 draft) celebration.
“Also Sheldon Keefe was inducted into the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday night and the Maple Leafs are very sensitive of that.
Those two events, paired with the delay of the press conference, might be the final clue pointing toward Keefe’s firing on Friday, May 10.
Will the Toronto Maple Leafs Try to Trade Mitch Marner?
If the Leafs decide to retain Keefe, who has a two-year contract extension starting next August, then it’s expected that Toronto will explore the trade market for superstar forward Mitch Marner.
Marner, however, has a no-move clause baked into his contract and could block any trade.
On Monday, May 6, after the Leafs conducted their end-of-season media availability for players, Friedman released an episode of his 32 Thoughts podcast.
One of the topics Friedman discussed was related to the rumors about a potential departure of Mitch Marner via trade as he enters the final season under contract with the Leafs.
Toronto is “going to be in the mix for them,” Friedman said about Chicago Blackhawks’ Seth Jones, Carolina Hurricanes’ Brett Pesce, and Florida Panthers Brandon Montour, as potential trade targets in a Marner move.
Marner announced on May 6 that he plans to sign a long-term extension as long as the Leafs offer him a new contract.
Like Heavy.com’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy.com
The post Leafs ‘Gearing Up For Significant Announcement’ on May 10: Reports appeared first on Heavy.com.