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NHL

Brendan Shanahan Takes PWHL Advisory Role With Kilmer Sports Ventures

The former NHL forward and Maple Leafs president will advise Larry Tanenbaum’s company on its PWHL investment.

By TSP Staff
Brendan Shanahan wearing a dark coat at a Toronto Maple Leafs outdoor practice.
Brendan Shanahan at a Toronto Maple Leafs outdoor practice in January 2020. File photograph; scaled and cropped for display. · Credit: Nickbarden / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0

Brendan Shanahan has joined Kilmer Sports Ventures as a strategic adviser on its investment in the Professional Women’s Hockey League, the company announced Thursday.

The appointment reunites the Hockey Hall of Famer with Larry Tanenbaum, Kilmer’s chairman and the former co-owner of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. Shanahan served as Toronto Maple Leafs president and alternate governor for 11 years before his contract ended in May 2025.

Kilmer became a PWHL strategic capital partner in June. Shanahan’s assignment concerns that investment. The Canadian Press reported that he will continue his consulting work with the NHL and other hockey projects.

Shanahan told the news agency that the people involved and his interest in women’s hockey made the opportunity appealing. He had previously worked with PWHL executive Jayna Hefford through her role leading the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association.

Shanahan played 21 NHL seasons and won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 1997, 1998 and 2002. He also played for New Jersey, St. Louis, Hartford and the New York Rangers.

He retired as a player in 2009 and entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013.

Sources and notes

  1. Photo: Nickbarden. File photograph, January 2020; scaled and cropped for display under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SHANAHAN.jpg
  2. Photo licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/