After 11 years with the Maple Leafs, Brendan Shanahan is set to consult for the NHL head office in hockey operations. Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
Brendan Shanahan is back in the NHL.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was first to report on Thursday’s Insider Trading segment that the former Toronto Maple Leafs president and Hockey Hall of Fame player has been hired to consult in NHL Hockey Ops.
A league source confirmed the news to The Athletic as well.
The role is similar to what Ken Holland did last season before being hired as the Los Angeles Kings general manager.
Like Holland, the hope for Shanahan is to have a chance to run an NHL club again at some point. He parted ways with the Maple Leafs in May after 11 seasons as president. For now, he returns to the league office where he once worked before as the head of NHL Player Safety. You can expect to see Shanahan at the next NHL Board of Governors meeting in Colorado Springs in December.
According to league sources, and as previously reported, Shanahan did speak with the New York Islanders after leaving Toronto last spring, but nothing came of that as the Islanders went on to hire Mathieu Darche as GM and president of hockey operations.
As a player, Shanahan helped lead the Detroit Red Wings to three Stanley Cup championships and also helped Canada win gold in the 2002 Winter Olympics and 1994 World Championships. He is thus a member of the Triple Gold Club.
Oct 23, 2025
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