from the Globe and Mail,

On Friday afternoon, he spent two hours meeting with the Leafs’ first-round pick, William Nylander, and his father, Michael, reminiscing with a former teammate but also doing some last-minute due diligence.

Then, when Saturday’s trade began coming together with the St. Louis Blues for defenceman Roman Polak, Shanahan was in the video room and making calls to hockey minds who have a close eye on one of his former teams and knew the big man well.

“I still have some friends in St. Louis whose opinions I trust,” Shanahan said.

This will be, in other words, no figurehead position – not for any length of time.

Shanahan intends to provide as much help as possible to Nonis and Co., even on days like the draft when, he admitted, many of the kids chosen had already finished their seasons by the time he took the Leafs top job this spring.

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