Episode 4: "Best Laid Shanaplans"
Players featured: William Nylander and Brendan Shanahan
Episode synopsis: The pressure is on for former Toronto Maple Leafs team president Brendan Shanahan and star forward William Nylander as they enter another NHL postseason. The Maple Leafs get by Ontario rivals, the Ottawa Senators, but the defending champion Florida Panthers are a steep hill to climb in the second round. The result could trigger major changes in Toronto.
Funniest moment: Nylander brings the cameras along as he goes furniture shopping for his home. The Maple Leafs star reveals he’s really good at testing chairs as soon as he arrives at the store. When a sales person comes to help, Nylander reveals he needs just about everything. He then jokes with the employee he isn’t the one he should be shopping with.
“Usually, my mom does the furniture shopping. My mom would be the one you should be doing this with,” Nylander said. The salesperson then jokingly asked when Nylander’s mother’s show is coming out.
Moving moments: Shanahan gives a tour of his hometown, Etobicoke, where he opens up about the influence his dad had on his life. When driving past a building, Shanahan stops the car to point out a brick he wrote his name on as a kid that his dad caught him while performing the act. “Man’s ambitions must be small to write his name upon a wall,” Shanahan quoted his father saying to him.
Shanahan talked about how his dad would bring him to the rink as a kid and it became his father’s sport. He then shared his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when Shanahan was 14 and by the time he reached the NHL his dad couldn’t remember his name. “You want to share the good times with him, but you also wanted to share some of the harder times,” Shanahan said.
Quotable: “I don’t think I ever used that word in a sentence,” Shanahan on the phrase “Shanaplan.”
This is Hockey Life: After the Maple Leafs fell to the Panthers in Game 6 of the second round, Shanahan’s contract with the team is not renewed. Four days later, he gives his first interview to the camera crew since the news.
“When your season ends and you are not the winner, you are devastated. I came here 11 years ago, and I had two goals: I wanted to rebuild the Toronto Maple Leafs organization on and off the ice, and I wanted to win a Stanley Cup. I’m disappointed I wasn’t able to finish the job, but I think we rebuilt the Toronto Maple Leafs.”
Shanahan reflects that his late father would’ve been more impressed by his job with the Maple Leafs than his playing career because his dad wouldn’t have predicted it.
“It was the honor of a lifetime. I leave here now with nothing, but gratitude,” Shanahan said.
Hockey players, they are just like us: Nylander enjoys lunch with his dad, Michael, and his brother, Alex, after the first round series win. His dad tells the forward to pick out his lunch for him. Nylander opens up about how his father wasn’t around a lot when he was growing up due to his dad’s 15 season in the NHL and how special the times were when his dad did make it to one of his games.
“Now I think he’s giving all that back from the times he missed. Gives you a little extra boost,” Nylander said.
