Today a new interview has surfaced with former Toronto Maple Leaf Carlo Colaiacovo where he revealed the biggest issue with the Brendan Shanahan era. The Toronto Maple Leafs have not been as successful particularly in the playoffs as they would like to be. For many years there has been debate over what the issue is within how the Maple Leafs construct their roster. For many people the blame was placed on Mitch Marner and the coaching staff. However, today Carlo Colaiacovo dug in and found another area where blame could be placed. The construction of the Toronto Maple Leafs roster is of course very top-heavy with several forwards making a ton of money. This means that players like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander are relied on more heavily. It also means that the front office needs to find cost-efficient ways to surround the stars. This is the area where Carlo Colaiacovo sees the biggest failure from Brendan Shanahan. <h3>Carlo Colaiacovo blames Brendan Shanahan for lack of success</h3> In a new podcast segment, Carlo Colaiacovo spoke about the Toronto Maple Leafs. In his discussion, he talked about the idea that Brendan Shanahan's lack of ability to draft and develop players has severely hindered the Toronto Maple Leafs. Both in the Kyle Dubas era and beyond the Maple Leafs have not been successful at finding talent in the draft. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/FirstUp1050/status/1821206599853125682'> </a></blockquote></div> Whether it is a lack of offensive ability from players like Timothy Liljegren or failing to put a player like Nick Robertson in a place to succeed there is a major problem. In the case of Nick Robertson, he consistently shows promise in the AHL with several seasons near or above a point per game. Despite this Nick Robertson has not been given significant opportunity at the NHL level. He played 56 games this season but was rarely used in the top six where his talents would be best applied. On defense, the Maple Leafs just refuse to take high upside swings with their picks. The closest thing was the selection of Timothy Liljegren. Then yet again this season they take a big smooth skating defenseman with a lack of offense when picking Ben Danford who had 33 points in 64 OHL games which ranked 3rd among defensemen on his team the Oshawa Generals. It is easier to find players who are defensively sound in the free agent market but finding high-end offensive defensemen needs to happen through the draft, particularly with the Maple Leafs salary structure. If the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to take the next steps as a franchise they need to more consistently hit on draft picks and create a path for those players to come into the NHL. It will be interesting to watch prospects like Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten who have had success in juniors but could struggle to find a lane to the NHL. As this year goes on it could be a make-or-break year for Brendan Shanahan if things do not work out. He now has a new General Manager and Head Coach in place. If things go wrong he is the final constant. Source: Hockey DB <a href='https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=262218' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Ben Danford Stats</a>