Now that the Toronto Maple Leafs have had some time to digest the terrible end to their 2013-14 regular season, new team president Brendan Shanahan has to be chomping at the bit when it comes down to getting to work and reshaping his team. The Hall of Fame inductee has arguably the most difficult front office position in the entire NHL as the new president of the Maple Leafs organization and is under a lot of pressure to make some immediate changes.

Whether it’s figuring out a goaltending situation that had Leaf Nation up in arms during the final weeks of the season or finding a way to get highly regarded free agents to sign with the struggling franchise, Shanahan needs to put together a plan of action that will turn things around in 2014-15.

First thing’s first, getting rid of James Reimer as the hockey club’s backup goaltender is an absolute must. After Jonathan Bernier went down with an injury that kept him out of the lineup for roughly two weeks, Reimer’s inability to steal a victory was exposed and the Leafs proceeded to lose eight straight games. Reimer can’t be blamed for the whole fiasco but it goes without saying that he should definitely be the main culprit when it comes down to the Leafs’ downward spiral. The Leafs need a backup goaltender that is both skilled and mentally tough. Unfortunately for Reimer, being a nice guy wasn’t enough for him to put up nice numbers and wins for his team.

It would be an understatement to say that Toronto is a tough place to enjoy life as a professional athlete. The championship-starved city hasn’t been able to win a major sports title since 1992 and 1993 when the Toronto Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series championships. The longstanding drought that Toronto fans have had to experience has done nothing but create a sense of anxiety that fuels the fire whenever their beloved Maple Leafs take a loss. If someone is going to be successful in a Maple Leafs’ uniform, they need to be mentally tough. Shanahan needs to find players both on the offensive and defensive ends of the ice that don’t mind playing under pressure, whether they are winning or not.

Fortunately for Shanahan and the Buds, there are a lot of mentally-sound free agents that will seemingly be available once the playoffs have been completed and the Stanley Cup is lifted. Whether these free agents can be lured to Canada’s biggest city is a whole other story. Because of the amount of pressure that comes with the territory of playing for the Leafs, Toronto isn’t necessarily the most desirable place to be a professional hockey player. There have been numerous cases where available free agents just don’t give the Leafs’ front office the time of day, simply because of the intense amounts of pressure put on the players by the fans and media.

This is where Shanahan needs to step up and change this particular culture that currently surrounds his team. Shanahan needs to make the Leafs an appealing organization to play for once again. Given the fact that he is already a well respected individual within the league and the hockey world as a whole, the Leafs stand a greater chance than they have in a long time to land well-rounded players such as Brooks Orpik and Dan Boyle. These are two players that can solidify a defense that struggled this past season.

A mentally tough identity is something that the Leafs have lacked over the past 10 years or so. Making a change in this department as well as getting a backup goaltender that can successfully relieve Bernier whenever he needs a break is beyond important. The Leafs have made the Stanley Cup playoffs once in the past nine years. If Shanahan wants to recreate the identity of his team and put a better product on the ice that every fan of the blue and white deserves, he must take into account mental toughness and a new backup goaltender when constructing his plan of action.