The intriguing concept of Brendan Shanahan joining the Maple Leafs has been rattling around the restless mind of Tim Leiweke for months.

But after an explosion of speculation from a variety of media outlets in the past 48 hours forced the idea to be fast-tracked, that concept is about to turn into reality.

Shanahan, according to multiple sources, will resign his position as the NHL’s director of player safety as early as Friday and immediately join the Leafs this weekend as the team closes out a disappointing season.

While his precise job could not be confirmed, sources suggest the Hall of Fame winger will likely be named president of the Leafs hockey club, not only president of hockey operations.

A formal press conference to announce his hiring could happen as early as Monday in Leiweke’s latest eye-popping maneuver.

What do you think?

Shanahan has been toying with the idea of joining the Leafs for weeks. His preference, it’s believed, would have been to stay in his current job until the end of the Stanley Cup final in June.

However, it is unlikely commissioner Gary Bettman, even with the Leafs not involved in the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, was comfortable with Shanahan remaining on the job if the hockey world knew he was soon going to take an executive position with a member club.

When rumours about Shanahan and the Leafs began to fly on Wednesday, Leiweke apparently believed he had to act immediately and Bettman reluctantly agreed.

There has been much conjecture about what role the 45-year-old Shanahan would have, particularly after another ex-star, Trevor Linden, was named president of hockey operations of the Vancouver Canucks.

However, it’s believed Shanahan will have an even more senior role that will extend beyond over-seeing general manager Dave Nonis and the hockey department. Being named president, as opposed to president of hockey operations, would mean he would be involved in other business and league matters, such as the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Leafs.

He may even be groomed to become the heir apparent to Leiweke as CEO of the entire MLSE sports conglomerate.

Clearly, the top priority of his new assignment, given the recent words of Leiweke, will be to try and transform the culture of the Leafs into that of a winning, successful hockey club. Leiweke has already created positive change with the NBA’s Raptors and Toronto FC, both also owned by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and given the shocking collapse of the Leafs down the stretch, he knew he had to act now.

After blowing a three-goal lead in the third period of Game 7 of their first-round playoff series with Boston last spring, over the past month Randy Carlyle’s club has again stumbled badly and will miss the playoffs for the eighth time in the past nine seasons.

Leiweke’s belief is that Shanahan’s long NHL career and multiple championships — he’s a member of the elite Triple Gold Club for winning Olympic gold, a world championship and a Stanley Cup — will provide a blast of focus and ambition for a team that hasn’t won a Cup since 1967 and hasn’t been to a conference final since 2002.

It’s a gamble by Leiweke, given Shanahan’s absence of NHL executive experience. That said, the former power forward has three Cup rings, he knows the league extremely well and has developed a thick hide while handing down NHL suspensions over the past three seasons.

Shanahan has close ties to the Detroit Red Wings organization, which has graduated several former players and front office types to top jobs around the NHL. Former Wings captain Steve Yzerman is GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, former assistant GM Jim Nill is in his first season as GM of the Dallas Stars and former Detroit assistant coach Paul MacLean is head coach of the Ottawa Senators.

Shanahan, a native of Mimico, never played for the Leafs, of course. Last spring, he flirted with the notion of joining the Calgary Flames in a senior executive position and was initially approached about taking a position with the Leafs last fall.

Assuming he quits now, the league will likely to turn to either Mike Murphy or Kris King to rule on discipline and suspensions during the playoffs.

Leiweke is convinced that while the hockey club needs to make changes on its roster, a larger overhaul is necessary and a new philosophy of excellence is required.

While the Leafs have brought in a wide variety of big hockey names over the past quarter century, hiring Shanahan is most similar to the hiring of another executive neophyte, Hall of Fame goaltender Ken Dryden in 1997.

Dryden led the Leafs to two Final Four appearances and engineered the move from the Western Conference to the Eastern Conference.

Like Shanahan, Dryden had no experience running an NHL team, or any hockey club at any level. That, however, allowed him to think outside the box and engineer significant moves like the hiring of Pat Quinn as head coach and the signing of free agent goaltender Curtis Joseph.

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What’s clear, given the events of last spring and the past month, is that the Leafs need either a new leadership group or another layer of leadership to support the current administration and roster.

Shanahan immediately becomes the face of the franchise, a symbol of hope for Leaf Nation that mediocrity will soon turn into a much higher level of competitiveness.

He scored 656 career goals. He won those Cups. He’s itching to help his hometown team win and isn’t afraid of the daunting challenge.

If he brings a little luck of the Irish with him, he might even pull it off.

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