The word Dave Hopkinson kept coming back to, over and over, was frustration.

The fans were frustrated. The board was frustrated. Everyone, really, in all of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment was frustrated for much of a difficult, lost year for the company's flagship franchise.

In the end, that made it easier to tear it down, a process that began in earnest when Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan fired the general manager, head coach and dozens of others on the day after the season ended two weeks ago.

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It was likely the most dramatic house cleaning the team has ever had.

And it's not over.

Hopkinson is MLSE's chief commercial officer, the man charged at the end of the day with sales and marketing of all four of their teams, including the once-believed-to-be-bulletproof Leafs. Judging from the way Toronto's season ended – with fan apathy at an all-time high, as attendance and ratings become an issue for the first time in decades – he has his work cut out for him.

But Hopkinson believes the Leafs have something to sell their season-ticket holders that hasn't been there in recent years, with a mediocre team that perennially pursued short-term goals.

They can sell hope. Real, long-term hope that things will improve.

"What's amazing to me is in talking to our fans over the last eight, nine days since Shanny made the changes, the response has been overwhelmingly positive," Hopkinson said. "They get where this is going. That this is not a small change. This is not a half-measure. That this is broad organizational change. And that's what they want to see."

According to Hopkinson, 99 per cent of Leafs season-ticket holders have renewed for next season, meaning most of those who bought last year and weren't showing up to games late in the season haven't been scared off.

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One of the biggest reasons why is they were guaranteed major changes that extended beyond the front office to the players on the ice, a core group that many fans soured on throughout what became an ugly 68-point, 27th-place season.

There were not only Leafs jerseys thrown on the ice, but one high-profile incident in which the team didn't salute the fan base after a win, a snub that turned into a media firestorm in November.

That preceded all the losing – the Leafs won only 11 of their final 51 games – but it was a black eye that resonated within the organization.

"The fan base in many ways said to us: 'That's enough with these guys. We want to try something else,'" Hopkinson said.

"We've had other years that were very frustrating. This was the most. This was the year where it felt like it boiled over. The jerseys on the ice … the big deal that got made when the players came out one night and didn't salute the fans. This was a marketplace where that frustration was evident [everywhere].

"I think [the relationship with the fans] has been really strained. There's no one, no stakeholder, that is happy with the performance of the Maple Leafs this past year. That strains relationships. What they want to see is there's a plan to get better and we're taking this very seriously. And we are."

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That plan is unlike anything the Leafs have undergone in their nearly 100-year history. Shanahan has essentially told the MLSE board that he intends to rip out the foundation of the staff and roster and start again, pursuing a path that almost guarantees they will struggle mightily in the short term.

He has been given total autonomy – and full financial backing – to do so.

"He told us, 'This is going to be hard,'" Hopkinson said. "We're living it right now and it is hard. He's right. But he's committed. And we're committed to doing what it takes to have a winner."

The Leafs will now focus on the draft and developing those drafted, a process that had often been deemed too tedious and painful for hockey's craziest market to suffer through by both ownership and management in the past.

But after missing the playoffs in nine of the past 10 seasons and courting outright rancour from the fan base, MLSE has had its come-to-Jesus realization this spring. The organization finally doesn't see another option other than trying to follow the lead of a franchise such as the Chicago Blackhawks, one of the teams believed to be their model.

Chicago bottomed out about 10 years ago before drafting captain Jonathan Toews third over all in 2006 and Patrick Kane first over all in 2007. They have since won two of the past five Stanley Cups and are in the mix again this season.

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What's different about the Leafs going this route is they will continue to have the highest ticket prices in the league and, given most fans have re-upped, will continue to sell out games and rake in the NHL's highest revenues.

Despite essentially guaranteeing they'll be bad on the ice, the Leafs are attempting to sell that lack of success as a positive. Instead of being bad aimlessly – as they have for years, including several when they didn't even have a first-round pick – it's now with a purpose.

After last season, Hopkinson explained that the Leafs need a "repositioning in the marketplace," something that will likely be evident in a new marketing strategy that will emphasize the future promise of the young team Shanahan puts on the ice.

It stands to reason they'll attempt to mimic the success MLSE has had with the "We The North" slogan with the Toronto Raptors, albeit with a different focus. Many in the organization realize a quick turnaround will be harder for the NHL team, given there is a larger roster and the fact drafted players take longer to make an impact.

Whether the Leafs' extensive rebuild works and holds the fans' interest over that span will come down to whether the team begins an upward trajectory two, three or more years from now. But the notion floated out there over the years that Leafs fans don't have the patience for this kind of process will finally be put to the test.

After Shanahan's mass firings, the higher-ups at MLSE feel the fan base is onboard.

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They wanted change and a new vision, and they got it.

"If we can say to every one of our fans, look, I can't tell you the next two or three years [will be] fun, but I guarantee within a relatively short period of time, we've got a team that is consistently competing for the Stanley Cup, every one of our fans would take it," Hopkinson said.

"Our Leaf fans are undyingly loyal. They're going to stick with their Leafs through thick and thin. And it's pretty thin right now. But they believe it's going to get thick again, and they're with us."