page_title: History of the Toronto Maple Leafs
section_title: Brendan Shanahan era (2014–present)
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Toronto Maple Leafs / Brendan Shanahan era (2014–present)
caption_attribution_description: NHL 2017 Playoffs, Round 1, Game 5: Capitals 2, Toronto Maple Leafs 1
context_page_description: The history of the Toronto Maple Leafs spans more than a century whose origins begins with the establishment of the National Hockey League. The Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL arose from disputes between Eddie Livingstone, owner of the National Hockey Association's Toronto Blueshirts, and the other owners of the Association. In November 1917, the Toronto Arena Company was granted a temporary franchise from the NHL, a new ice hockey league made up of the other NHA owners that had disputes with Livingstone. The franchise was later made permanent by the NHL in October 1918. Playing at Arena Gardens, the Toronto Arenas won the 1918 Stanley Cup Finals following the inaugural 1917–18 NHL season.
  In 1919, the club was sold to the St. Patrick Hockey Club. Under new ownership, the club was renamed the Toronto St. Patricks. Although the St. Patricks won one Stanley Cup, in 1922, the club was again put up for sale due following a series of litigations from Livingstone. The club was eventually sold to Conn Smythe in 1927, who immediately renamed the team to the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club.
context_section_description: Shortly after the end of the 2013–14 regular season, Brendan Shanahan was named as the president and an alternate governor of the Maple Leafs. On January 6, 2015, the Leafs fired Randy Carlyle as head coach, and assistant coach Peter Horachek took over on an interim basis immediately. While the Leafs had a winning record before Carlyle's firing, the team eventually collapsed. On February 6, 2015, the Leafs set a new franchise record of 11 consecutive games without a win. At the beginning of February, Shanahan gained the approval of MLSE's Board of Directors to begin a "scorched earth" rebuild of the club. Both Dave Nonis and Horachek were relieved of their duties on April 12, just one day after the season concluded. In addition, the Leafs also fired a number of assistant coaches, including Steve Spott, Rick St. Croix; as well as individuals from the Leafs' player scouting department.
  On May 20, 2015, Mike Babcock was named as the new head coach, and on June 23, Lou Lamoriello was named the 16th general manager in team history. On July 1, 2015, the Leafs packaged Kessel in a multi-player deal to the Pittsburgh Penguins in return for three skaters, including Kasperi Kapanen, a conditional first round pick, and a third round pick. Toronto also retained $1.2 million of Kessel's salary for the remaining seven seasons of his contract. During the following season, on February 9, 2016, the Leafs packaged Phaneuf in another multi-player deal, acquiring four players, as well as a 2017 2nd-round pick from the Ottawa Senators. The team finished last in the NHL for the first time since the 1984–85 season and secured a 20 percent chance at winning the first overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. They were also guaranteed to pick no lower than fourth. They subsequently won the draft lottery and used the first overall pick to draft Auston Matthews.
  In their second season under Babcock, Toronto secured the final Eastern Conference wildcard spot for the 2017 playoffs. On April 23, 2017, the Maple Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs by the top-seeded Washington Capitals. With a score of 2–1 in the sixth game of the first round, Marcus Johansson scored the winner for the Capitals 6:31 into overtime. Toronto finished the 2017–18 season with 105 points by beating Montreal 4–2 in their final game of the regular season, a franchise-record, beating the previous record of 103 points set in 2004. They faced the Boston Bruins in the First Round and lost in seven games.
  Following the playoffs, Lamoriello was not renewed as general manager and was transitioned to senior advisor. Kyle Dubas was subsequently named the 17th general manager in team history. During the 2018 off-season, the Maple Leafs signed John Tavares to a seven-year, $77-million dollar contract. Tavares was subsequently named an alternate captain for the Leafs, alongside Morgan Rielly, and Patrick Marleau.  On April 1, the Maple Leafs clinched a division berth for the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Maple Leafs were eliminated in the First Round of the 2019 playoffs on April 23, after losing to the Bruins in a seven-game series.
  On October 2nd, 2019, Taveres was named as the team's 25th team captain prior to the Leafs' 2019–20 season opening game. On November 20, 2019, Shanahan and the Leafs announced the firing of Babcock as head coach, following a six-game losing streak. At the time, the Leafs had a 9–10–4 record and were outside of the playoffs, despite high pre-season expectations. During his tenure as Leafs' head coach, Babcock had a record of 173-133-45 in 351 games with the Leafs. Babcock was replaced by Toronto Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe.
caption: The Maple Leafs faced the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 2017 playoffs.
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