Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan holds a news conference in Toronto on Monday, April 13, 2015.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan says more changes are coming in Toronto as he starts to build a "resilient" team with "character."
Shanahan addressed the media a day after a housecleaning that saw the firing of general manager Dave Nonis, interim head coach Peter Horachek and key members of the scouting staff.
Shanahan said the players as a group failed to deliver this season.
"They know it, we know it, everyone in here knows it," he said, adding the players know more changes are coming.
The president stressed the need to build a resilient team and coaching staff that can handle the pressures of playing in Toronto, where fan expectations and media scrutiny can be intense.
"We have an incredibly loyal, resilient fan base. We need to have an incredibly resilient group of players who love to play in Toronto," he said. "We need an incredibly resilient group of managers from top to bottom that are committed to doing this in Toronto in spite of any perceived difficulties that this is harder than other markets."
Shanahan said the challenge isn't coming up with the long-term plan to win, it's sticking to that plan.
"As far as having the patience to do what's needed to be done? Yeah, you have to have the stomach in order to get through it in a place with this much passion," he said.
The Maple Leafs finished a dismal 30-44-8 season with a 4-3 home shootout loss to Montreal on Saturday.