MLSE CEO Keith Pelley hints at Maple Leafs going big on trade market after Mitch Marner exit: “It’s go time”

After the Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the Florida Panthers in May 2025, the team made major changes. MLSE announced in May that Brendan Shanahan’s contract as team president would not be renewed. Since then, MLSE CEO Keith Pelley has been receiving direct updates from general manager Brad Treliving and coach Craig Berube.

Currently, Treliving is in charge of hockey operations, and under him, forward Mitch Marner was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights. Pelley spoke on Wednesday about the Marner trade staying at the center of media coverage.

"I guess the story has to be over sometime soon in terms of people asking questions about Mitch," Pelley said at NHL Board of Governors meeting, via The Athletic.

Pelley said Marner was a great player, but the team must focus on the future.

"Mitch is a prolific scorer," Pelley said. "He was a great Toronto Maple Leaf player for so many years. We didn’t win the Cup. We move on."

Pelley also discussed the Leafs' challenges at the 2025 trade deadline because of having limited cap space. So now, they are very conscious of their salary cap.

“There’s no question we didn’t have as much cap room last year at the playoff (trade) deadline," Pelley said. "That perhaps we needed to make a move that might have even taken us further. But we’re really conscious of cap room. We definitely have flexibility. And it’s go time now for us."

This is the go time because of the Maple Leafs’ age. On average, the Leafs players' age is 28.83 years per Elite Prospects. So, they need to keep adding talented young players to the team from the Market.

Pelley said Treliving and Berube can help guide the team in the coming seasons.

"You know the age of this team. It’s go time." Pelley said. "And I think we have two leaders, in Brad and Chief, to hopefully take us to the promised land."

Maple Leafs are ready to make moves to strengthen the roster and compete for a Stanley Cup.

Brad Treliving has already talked about the DNA change for Maple Leafs

General manager Brad Treliving has already said in May that the team needs to change its DNA. The Leafs have won only two playoff rounds since 2004.

"There's some DNA that has to change in our team," Treliving said, in late May, via NHL.com, "If you keep getting to the same result, there's some DNA that needs to change. That's on me going forward."

Now, with Shanahan and Marner's exit, we can expect more changes from the management. It is expected to be gradual as Maple Leafs try to make deep playoff runs.