I think Shanahan’s ego loves the idea of being the guy that brought the cup to Toronto. He wants to win. He’s a Stanley cup champ and knows what it takes to win. Unfortunately the core is rotten and they are not playoff warrior types.
Let’s hope for a McDavid signing to the leafs next summer and rebuild around him
My ego loves the idea of Shanahan being the guy that brought the Cup to Toronto.
Make no mistake, I want the Cup if it means outspending the other competition or outsmarting the league's parameters.
Apart from being a Leafs fan, consider the size of Toronto's market in this sport. Consider our history. When we win -- and I've said this repeatedly -- any successive Cups won't matter as much as the first. Why? Well, the obvious reason:
You can only end the drought in the largest hockey market in the world ONCE. If Shanahan left, came back and won the second, third and fourth after another President won the first, it wouldn't mean as much.
You would think that there would be a sports psychologist who would impress upon the room that salient fact. For some reason it's not apprehended in the way it should be. It's no more properly apprehended than is the idea of building slowly and carefully until we have maximized our considerable resources to a point that would make our acquisition endeavors almost inevitable.
If only every person involved in bringing the Cup back to Toronto had the kind of ego you believe Shanahan to have, we might have had a fanbase, a media center and whatever shadow cabinet moves our management, on board with those interconnected elements and serious about that singularly momentous opportunity that once it happens changes everyone's lives to unthinkable levels.
Shanahan could run for PM and win. Nylander could probably do the same eventually in Sweden. Time would be divided for everyone involved by that championship date. I don't think the scale of the feat has been properly considered or cultivated in the least.
With all due respect to every other club, while meaningful in an absolute sense to those involved, a Cup win in Toronto is worth more. So of course he's holding on for dear life. And he will continue to if realizes what follows IF we win.