\u201cWe are excited to have him back,\u201d Daly told Postmedia. \u201cWe understand that this may not be where he stays long-term, but Shanny\u2019s overall level of hockey knowledge and experience is hard to duplicate, and will clearly add value.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is plenty of speculation as to which team might consider bringing Shanahan in. Although the Maple Leafs won\u2019t be replacing him with another president any time soon, there is word other teams wouldn\u2019t mind having an eye in the sky in the same, or a similar, position.<\/p>\n
The Maple Leafs might not have had a deep playoff run under Shanahan, but his 10-year run with the team did include nine consecutive playoff appearances, so he will remain an attractive candidate to hire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The most obvious team that may be interested in him is the Buffalo Sabres, an organization in dire need of some credibility and leadership \u2014 and owner Terry Pegula knows it. It sounds like Shanahan would consider taking a job there, but it would have to come with the same autonomy he enjoyed with the Maple Leafs. However, after losing their first three games, Buffalo has gone 5-1-3 since and so some immediate pressure has been relieved, for now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If not Buffalo, what about Chicago? While the Blackhawks are also off to a decent start, many believe GM Kyle Davidson could use some support from above and so Shanahan\u2019s name has surfaced there as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Nashville Predators are another team to keep an eye on. While GM Barry Trotz\u2019s job as GM seems on solid ground, another poor stretch through American Thanksgiving would lead to more speculation that the team could use another voice and vision up top.<\/p>\n
Shanahan has made plenty of money in his time as both a player and executive, so some may wonder why he’d want to get back in with an NHL franchise. The fact is that he’s a competitive person and wants to prove he can help lead a team to the Stanley Cup again.<\/p>\n
![\"Real](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SNPodcast_RealKyperBourne_1280x720-640x360.jpg\")
Real Kyper and Bourne<\/p>\n
Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne talk all things hockey with some of the biggest names in the game. Watch live every weekday on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ \u2014 or listen live on Sportsnet 590 The FAN \u2014 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n
Full episode<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 Barring a miraculous run by the Sabres, this likely will be head coach Lindy Ruff\u2019s final year coaching, which coincides with the end of his contract. If Ruff doesn\u2019t outright retire, we could see him finding another role within the organization.<\/p>\n \u2022 While we know Flames centre Nazem Kadri isn\u2019t going anywhere before his 1,000th career game \u2014 which he\u2019ll play on Wednesday night \u2014 a league executive did tell me that hasn\u2019t stopped GM Craig Conroy from telling teams he\u2019s open for business.<\/p>\n If Conroy gets an offer he can\u2019t refuse, he could very well move Kadri before the trade deadline in March. Kadri has been linked to multiple teams, but we have to specifically mention the Carolina Hurricanes, who have been in a relentless pursuit for a top player since falling short on Mikko Rantanen and Mitch Marner last season. For now, the Hurricanes seem an unlikely destination for Kadri, as they are on his 13-team no-trade list.\u00a0<\/p>\n Vancouver and Montreal are also interested in landing a top-two centre, and a potential trade to either of those destinations appears easier than a move to Carolina, since the two Canadian teams are not on Kadri\u2019s no-trade list. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Could the Canucks and Canadiens be focusing on the Bruins’ Pavel Zacha<\/a>? \u00a0There is a tremendous shortage of top-six centres available this season and next. He\u2019s off to a good start, which has caught the eye of many, including Vancouver and Montreal.\u00a0With one more year after this remaining on Zacha\u2019s deal, the Bruins have time to watch him closely before committing on re-signing him or trading him for assets.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Macklin Celebrini<\/a> is getting serious consideration to be included on Team Canada’s Olympic team, which will be a 25-man roster (compared to 23 for the 4 Nations). Having such a highly skilled player who is mature far beyond his years is very attractive for GM Doug Armstrong and Co.<\/p>\n For now, Celebrini has a significant leg up on Connor Bedard<\/a> for a spot. Despite a good start to his season, Bedard is not on the Olympic team’s radar for now. Unless he goes lights-out for an extended stretch, there is just no space for him. <\/p>\n \u2022 The Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 first month has changed how they expected to approach the rest of this season. Evgeni Malkin<\/a> has been going. Sidney Crosby<\/a> leads the team in goals. Anthony Mantha, Justin Brazeau<\/a>, Erik Karlsson, Tristan Jarry, you name it, everyone has been contributing to the Penguins\u2019 8-4-2 record, which has them sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference. So what do they do from here?<\/p>\n There is some mystery whether this team will be sold or not, and that factor also leaves GM Kyle Dubas in a bit of limbo, not knowing who is potential new boss could be or what their vision is. But if the Penguins keep going as they have, it\u2019s going to take Malkin, Bryan Rust<\/a> and Rickard Rakell<\/a> out of the trade-rumour talk. Instead, they\u2019ll be wondering if they can make the playoffs. Because if the Penguins keep going strong into the new year and then are close to the playoff race leading up to the trade deadline, are you going to tell Crosby \u2014 who’s missed the playoffs the last three years \u2014 you\u2019re selling? Not likely.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Artemi Panarin<\/a> has a similarly sticky situation. His future could depend on the team’s status in the playoff race. <\/p>\n The pending UFA has made it clear to the Rangers that he is not interested in a pay cut from his current $11.642 million, and that has shut down any chance of negotiations. The Rangers don’t want him at that same rate again.<\/p>\n If it gets as far as a trade being on the table, Panarin has been linked to both Carolina and Minnesota.<\/p>\n However, I don’t get the sense he wants to leave New York at all for now, so he holds all the cards with a no-movement clause. If the Rangers don’t eventually hit his price tag, he might be content to play out the remainder of his contract and test the market in free agency.<\/p>\n \u2022 As we get into the second month of the season, teams are starting to figure out what they need. But while the Maple Leafs would ideally like to add a scoring winger, their hands are tied by the fact they don’t have as many assets to trade that can match other teams. Many teams will come calling for Easton Cowan<\/a>, which is a non-starter for now. Ben Danford is another prospect of theirs who could be more attainable, but there are mixed feelings around the league whether he’s going to be a bottom-pair NHL defenceman, or someone who can get himself into a top-four role one day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Though Brendan Shanahan\u2019s run with the Toronto Maple Leafs is over, make no mistake: he sees some unfinished…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-262104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}