Shanahan Was Right to Veto Maple Leafs’ Fleury Trade

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had some interesting goaltending troubles in recent seasons. Matt Murray, Ilya Samsonov, and Petr Mrazek are just three names that come to mind when thinking about goaltenders who haven’t lived up to expectations after they joined the Maple Leafs. Samsonov still plays on the team, Mrazek was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks where he has revived his career as an NHL goaltender, and Murray is out with an injury and on the Long Term Injured Reserve but is still owned by the Maple Leafs. A team as strong on paper as the Maple Leafs shouldn’t be fighting to keep themselves in a playoff spot like they are, but rather should be dominating their division.

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The Maple Leafs have one of the most loyal fanbases in the entire NHL and have proven that they remain in win-now mod by making several trades and signings in hopes of making a run for the Stanley Cup. The team has brought in Mark Giordano, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Max Domi to bolster their lineup, and even signed Ryan Reaves to counter the argument that the team lacked consistent physicality. While most of these moves have benefited them, the team still has a question mark between the pipes as nobody within their system has proven to be a consistent starter at the NHL level.

A story came out recently from John Shannon on the Bob McCown Podcast in which he references a failed 2022 trade between the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks which would have sent legendary goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to the Maple Leafs in exchange for Mrazek, Matthew Knies, and multiple first-round picks. In the podcast, he mentions that while the deal could have had some steam, it was vetoed by Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan. As Darren Dreger had stated in his tweet, the deal never got to a stage where Fleury was asked to waive his no-trade clause.

While Mrazek ended up being traded to the Blackhawks anyway, the Maple Leafs have to be happy they decided to hang on to Knies. While he was unproven at the time, he has since become a solid top-nine forward and has been able to provide solid offensive production as a young gun while also playing well in the defensive end.

Shanahan Was Right To Veto Deal

While Fleury may have helped the Maple Leafs in the short term, Knies seems to be a future star who can help the Maple Leafs for the foreseeable future…