Latest news with #KeithPelley
National Post
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- National Post
Rory McIlroy: 'If I can win the Masters, the Maple Leafs can win the Stanley Cup'
CALEDON, Ont. — Rory McIlroy has given heartbroken Toronto Maple Leafs fans a reason for optimism. Article content The golf superstar and two-time RBC Canadian Open champ is at TPC Toronto this week looking to notch his fourth win of the season. Article content Article content On Wednesday, McIlroy played in the tournament pro-am with MLSE top boss Keith Pelley, who gifted the five-time major champ a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. Article content More on that in a minute. Article content 'I haven't hidden my sort of aspirations for national Opens and where I would like them to be, what their standing is in the professional game of golf. So this has meant a lot,' McIlroy said. 'I first came here in 2019, once the date changed. It used to be that week after the Open Championship, which wasn't ideal for a lot of players. I honestly love the date change. I love that it's the week leading into the U.S. Open. Article content 'Playing in front of the Canadian fans and everything that goes along with that and the enthusiasm, you guys only get to see this sort of golf once a year, so I think once it does come along, it's really appreciated. Article content 'Then I think that atmosphere is really appreciated by the players that get to play in front of those fans.' Article content
Toronto Sun
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Rory McIlroy: 'If I can win the Masters, the Maple Leafs can win the Stanley Cup'
After golf superstar wore a Toronto Raptors jersey in 2019, the Raptors won the NBA championship. Get the latest from Jon McCarthy straight to your inbox Rory McIlroy looks on as Keith Pelley, President and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) putts on the second green during the RBC Canadian Open Pro-Am at TPC Toronto. Getty Images CALEDON, Ont. — Rory McIlroy has given heartbroken Toronto Maple Leafs fans a reason for optimism. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The golf superstar and two-time RBC Canadian Open champ is at TPC Toronto this week looking to notch his fourth win of the season. On Wednesday, McIlroy played in the tournament pro-am with MLSE top boss Keith Pelley, who gifted the five-time major champ a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. More on that in a minute. 'I haven't hidden my sort of aspirations for national Opens and where I would like them to be, what their standing is in the professional game of golf. So this has meant a lot,' McIlroy said. 'I first came here in 2019, once the date changed. It used to be that week after the Open Championship, which wasn't ideal for a lot of players. I honestly love the date change. I love that it's the week leading into the U.S. Open. 'P laying in front of the Canadian fans and everything that goes along with that and the enthusiasm, you guys only get to see this sort of golf once a year, so I think once it does come along, it's really appreciated. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Then I think that atmosphere is really appreciated by the players that get to play in front of those fans.' Back to the Leafs jersey. TSN's Bob Weeks pointed out to McIlroy that after he wore a Toronto Raptors jersey in 2019, the Raptors won the NBA championship, and asked if perhaps the golfer could be the secret ingredient to ending the Leafs' 58-year Cup curse. 'If I can win the Masters, surely the Maple Leafs can win the Stanley Cup,' McIlroy said. From Rory's lips to Lord Stanley's ears. Read More Toronto & GTA Toronto & GTA Celebrity Golf Olympics
National Post
7 days ago
- General
- National Post
SMMONS: Challenge for very honest Treliving is finding a way to change Leafs' DNA
Article content Brad Treliving is fully aware of all that needs to be done. Article content Accomplishing it – and pulling it off over the next few months – is now the gigantic challenge for the general manager of the Maple Leafs, now in total control of the Toronto hockey operation. Article content Treliving hit on two significant areas of contention in his shockingly candid end-of-season, beginning-of-off-season media availability Thursday morning. Article content He said the Leafs need a new and stronger mindset as a team. Article content Article content He made both those points after doing his first deep-dive on the Leafs playoff elimination — and all that has gone on emotionally since. Article content It has been a rather tumultuous time since the Leafs eliminated themselves in Game 7 of second round the Stanley Cup playoffs some 10 days ago. Article content The long-standing team president, Brendan Shanahan, has been fired. Shanahan hired Treliving to be GM. Now, Treliving is the senior hockey executive with a new boss to get to know in Keith Pelley. Article content There's an emotional side to all of this, relationships and all, watching your team fail, hoping for more and getting less, seeing the man who hired you, your close friend, let go. Article content And all this, with a hockey club that led the indestructible Stanley Cup champions 2-0 in their playoff round, had a 3-1 lead in the third period of Game 3. They had everything going their way momentarily until it wasn't. Article content Article content And then Game 7 hit — after the sucker punch that was Game 5 — and your head starts spinning and your mind starts racing and you watch the replays over and over again, slowing them down and speeding them up, and you try and make sense of what doesn't always make sense. Article content Article content This is the life of every general manager in every sport. It is Treliving's existence now with concepts to juggle, but no real way of altering the two largest long-term failings of the Maple Leafs.
New York Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
The Maple Leafs should be looking for a new president. Here's what they need
When Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment hired Keith Pelley to be the organization's new CEO and president last year, he had a big decision on his plate with the group's flagship team. The Toronto Maple Leafs were about to have yet another postseason disappointment — a first-round loss to the Boston Bruins — and the fan base was clearly getting restless. The question for Pelley was, with the head coach soon to be fired and a new one with a Stanley Cup pedigree brought in, was that going to be enough? Advertisement With little time to bring in a high-profile new hire at the top, the options Pelley considered were threefold: 1. He could stick with the status quo, having then-president Brendan Shanahan run out the final year of his contract in 2024-25 and giving GM Brad Treliving a second season to prove his worth. 2. He could fire Shanahan, after 10 years on the job, and promote Treliving to president with one of his many underlings moving into the GM chair. 3. He could fire Shanahan and take a more hands-on approach, with Treliving reporting directly to him. The problem for Pelley was that the timeline was condensed. He started the job on April 2, 2024. The Leafs were eliminated a month later on May 4. And after years working overseas as CEO of the PGA European Tour, he'd hardly gotten his feet wet in figuring out his new role managing one of the biggest sports organizations in the world. Plus, MLSE ownership is in the midst of a massive transition, with Rogers set to become the sole owner after years with a three-headed monster in charge. There was a lot going on in Toronto. There still is, a year later. As we now know, Pelley punted on the decision, going with option one. A year later, with more information — some of it gleaned by sitting in the stands during an ugly Game 7 loss to the Florida Panthers, when fans booed and threw jerseys on the ice — he went with option three, letting Shanahan go last week. Far more than last season, Pelley is now on the clock. And there's no buffer between Treliving and the big boss, whose stated goal is finally putting the Leafs 'on the pathway to winning the Stanley Cup.' I saw some interpret Pelley's press conference on Friday as a significant endorsement of the current regime, but I don't think that's exactly right. Yes, if the Leafs are a huge success over the next six to 12 months, there's a world where Treliving gets a promotion and can pick his own GM and get some job security. Advertisement But Treliving only has two years remaining on his contract and was hastily handpicked under strange circumstances in 2023 by the man just shown the door. The GM is believed to have less term on his deal than coach Craig Berube right now — an unusual situation — and he has to be feeling the pressure here with how complex the Leafs offseason is going to be. Press conference platitudes or not, there's a very plausible scenario where Pelley wants to put his stamp on the team in 2026 with his own hire atop the Leafs. Someone with a deeper pedigree. Someone who has built a championship organization and who can clean up and bolster what's become a cluttered management group. I'm not saying that's going to happen for certain at this point, but it would make a lot of sense. I know there's been a lot of talk lately about streamlining and efficiency around MLSE, and more cuts are definitely coming, but dropping Shanahan freed up more than $5 million in the annual budget. With the Leafs' contention window open — potentially only for another two or three more seasons — it hardly makes sense for the richest franchise in the NHL to skimp on hockey operations talent, especially at the top. What moving on from Shanahan allows Pelley to do is begin a search for an upgrade. Start doing some due diligence on which of the best management talents might be available, looking at the most successful franchises in the league. Rather than trying to mimic the Panthers' success — or the Lightning's, Avalanche's or Golden Knights' — by acquiring their depth players or overpaying their few stars who get to free agency, why not go to the top of the organization and see if they can pluck out the mastermind behind that rise? St. Louis Blues president Doug Armstrong is one name that has long been connected to Toronto, although it appears that may be a pipe dream given his contractual situation there. But there are other strong candidates around the league, including among the four teams still playing right now. MLSE should have the resources to offer a team president the highest hockey operations salary in the league. They're already paying Raptors president Masai Ujiri $15 million a season, which would blow every NHL exec salary around the league out of the water. If you can identify the right candidate, why not get similarly aggressive with the Leafs? Advertisement Even with the usual playoff disappointments, the Leafs' annual revenues are approaching $350 million (U.S.), the highest in the league, giving them a considerable advantage (and profit margin) in a league with a $95.5 million salary cap. Compare that to the Raptors, who bring in a similar figure thanks to the NBA's lucrative TV package but have a dramatically higher payroll than the NHL allows, including individual players making nearly $40 million a season. Streamlining the Leafs front office is fine if what you're looking for is a better decision-making process and not to simply save money. That kind of penny-pinching shouldn't be on the agenda here, not with executive salaries one key area where MLSE can outspend the competition. Maybe at the end of the day, Pelley decides the brain trust he wants running the Leafs is still Treliving supported by his handpicked lieutenants, Derek Clancey and Shane Doan. Treliving had a stronger second season in Toronto than his first, with key additions like Anthony Stolarz and Chris Tanev helping lead to a six-point improvement in the standings. But his tenure in Calgary was underwhelming at best, and even with the Leafs there have been contractual misfires (John Klingberg, Jani Hakanpää, David Kämpf, Ryan Reaves, Max Domi etc.), some of which need to be cleaned up this offseason. We should get a pretty good idea of this front office's effectiveness over the next five weeks, which might be some of the most challenging this franchise has faced in quite some time given the likely exit of Mitch Marner in free agency. If they fall short here in this pivotal window, Pelley needs to start exploring his options — if he isn't already. (Photo of Keith Pelley and Craig Berube: R.J. Johnston / Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bowen powers West Ham ahead against Ipswich
'The Coach Has To Be Involved More': Why MLSE CEO Keith Pelley Wants Maple Leafs Coach Craig Berube To Have More Say In Key Decisions Hours after Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan's dismissal, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment president and CEO Keith Pelley had dinner with head coach Craig Berube.
