A few days after the Maple Leafs lost to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of a 2024 first-round playoff series, a box arrived on the desk of Keith Pelley, the recently installed CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
Inside were sweaters bearing the names of Mats Sundin and Wendel Clark and Auston Matthews. There were scarves and hats and the like. Basically, someone had sent Pelley a closet full of well-worn Leafs apparel.
Inside was a letter. Pelley, during a Thursday speech to the Empire Club of Canada at the Royal York Hotel, pulled the piece of paper from his pocket and read from it.
鈥淚鈥檝e been a dedicated and passionate fan of the Maple Leafs for over 50 years,鈥 Pelley read. 鈥淚鈥檝e had enough. I鈥檓 sending you my memorabilia, as I can鈥檛 take it anymore. I鈥檓 done. I鈥檓 through. I don鈥檛 want to watch a s—-ty hockey team anymore.鈥
Pelley laughed as hard as anyone in the room. Along with milking some comedic mileage out of the surefire playoff-time punchlines, the CEO was making a point about the power of sport. Yes, it can drive a diehard to despair. It can also, Pelley said, 鈥済alvanize an entire city. It can take over an entire nation. And it can make people feel great. And we鈥檙e seeing that right now with the 海角社区官网Blue Jays.鈥
You know it鈥檚 a new era of 海角社区官网sports when the head of MLSE talks more effusively about the Blue Jays than he does about the teams under his purview. Now that Rogers, the sole owner of the Blue Jays, owns 75 per cent of MLSE, it鈥檚 not hard to fathom that a coming together of Toronto鈥檚 big-league sports properties is nigh. Pelley, who said he鈥檇 just come from breakfast with Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro, led the audience in a cheer of 鈥淟et鈥檚 go Blue Jays!鈥
Keith Pelley sat down for a fireside chat with Michael Landsberg, the former TSN host and mental-health advocate, for a wide-ranging chat on Thursday.
Nick Lachance/海角社区官网StarAfter that Pelley sat down for a fireside chat with Michael Landsberg, the former TSN host and mental-health advocate. The title of Pelley鈥檚 appearance was 鈥淭he Courage to Change in Pursuit of Championships.鈥
鈥淪ometimes you need change,鈥 Pelley said. 鈥淎nd obviously with the Leafs we鈥檝e made major changes with Mitch Marner leaving and that whole media creation of the Core Four.鈥
Landsberg pushed back: How, precisely, was the Core Four created by the media?
鈥淚 think it was created 鈥 well, I wasn鈥檛 here 鈥 but either by social or by media, but it wasn鈥檛 something that was created by the Leafs,鈥 said Pelley, who assumed his current role in April of 2024 after most of a decade running the European golf tour. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no way the Leafs would ever, ever have created a strategy around four players, because that alienates all the other players around them.鈥
Landsberg pointed out that the Leafs created exactly that strategy by paying four players approximately 50 per cent of their salary cap.聽
But Pelley鈥檚 point was less about cash than team chemistry. He made the case Marner鈥檚 departure will enhance it.
The veteran blueliner said he made it his mission to 鈥渓eave no stone unturned to try to bounce back and have a great year鈥 as Maple Leafs training
The veteran blueliner said he made it his mission to 鈥渓eave no stone unturned to try to bounce back and have a great year鈥 as Maple Leafs training
鈥淚t changes the culture. So now you no longer have Core Four. Now you have the opportunity to showcase all these players. It鈥檚 a team,鈥 Pelley said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to win with two good lines. You need that chemistry and culture where everybody can step up, where everybody believes they can. But if you think that (you鈥檙e) only going to rely on the Core Four, that makes it difficult.鈥
In a wide-ranging chat, Pelley gave his take on the idea that NHL teams in no-state-tax jurisdictions, most notably the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, have an unfair advantage.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 an excuse,鈥 Pelley said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to focus right now on utilizing the advantages we have as the 海角社区官网Maple Leafs.鈥
And when it was suggested the Raptors are at a disadvantage as the only NBA team outside the U.S., Pelley argued geography is less important than some think. In discussions with the brass of the Buffalo Bills, with whom MLSE recently announced a strategic partnership, Pelley said a salient point was made.
鈥淓verybody wants to come to play in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills. But nobody wants to come 鈥 to play with the Buffalo Sabres,” Pelley said. “The difference is culture, and the difference is the culture of winning. The onus is on us to be more like the Buffalo Bills and less like the Buffalo Sabres.鈥
Pelley also touched on the impending enormity of next summer鈥檚 FIFA World Cup.
鈥淭he six games (in Toronto) will be like six Super Bowls 鈥 I still don鈥檛 think everybody understands what is going to happen,鈥 he said.
For all that, it always came back to the Leafs, and to Pelley鈥檚 repeated insistence that his top priority is 鈥渢he relentless pursuit of championships.鈥
鈥淚f we don鈥檛 win and we don鈥檛 contend for championships on an annual basis, I don鈥檛 expect to be here,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd that is as honest as I can be.鈥
And what of the fed-up fan who bid adieu to that big box of Leafs gear?
Said Pelley: 鈥淲e might pay (him) a visit with that Stanley Cup when we win it.鈥
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