LEAFS A WORK IN PROGRESS, SHANAHAN SAYS.

The author of the Shana- plan won’t allow himself a moment to stop and smell the playoff roses.

There is still too much work to be done, Brendan Shanahan said in a lengthy interview. In his third season on the job as Maple Leafs president — the first to assess, the second to strip the roster down and essentially tank, the third to remarkably qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs — Shanahan calls this rather stunning season as “just another positive step in the process.

“In the moment, like on Saturday night, it feels fantastic,” he said. “And then everyone involved, including the players, immediately switches to ‘What’s next?’

“We’re like everybody else. We enjoyed that game and the nature of it. But five minutes after it’s over, it has to be ‘What’s next?’”

What’s next begins Thursday night in Washington, in a Stanley Cup playoff series against the best regular-season team in hockey. What’s next will be the first exposure many of his young Leafs have had to this new game called playoff hockey.

He hopes the playoff run, however long it lasts, will give some perspective. He doesn’t just want to build a playoff team, as he already has. He wants to build a team capable of competing for the Stanley Cup every year. That doesn’t happen quickly. But this will be his first playoff look as part of t his Leafs’ management team, the first for general manager Lou Lamoriello, the first for head coach Mike Babcock.

As proud as Shanahan is of the progress made by the Leafs this season, he is just as proud of the people who work around him.

In particular, he singled out assistant general man- ager Mark Hunter and Babcock for the impact they have had on the worst to wild- card season of t he Leafs.

“I think for me, Mark Hunter coming on, and taking it upon himself to revamp the way we draft and the way we view the draft and bring his skill set to the draft has been large.

“I say this often, his coming here is no less important than bringing in a Mike Babcock or some of the other moves we’ve made. We had some talent ( when I got here). We needed more. Development was a huge thing. You have to attend to that. You don’t forget or ignore a Connor Brown because he doesn’t have draft pedigree or isn’t 215 pounds.

“You can’t forget about a guy like that. You have to give players the opportunity to see who they are and what they have,’’ Shanahan said.

“We have a diverse group of people, and you have to include Kyle ( assistant GM Dubas) in that group, who work well together, who come from different views of the game and different backgrounds.

“I think everybody has contributed but the big one is Mike ( Babcock) because he’s on the front lines. He’s on the bench every day. So much of the responsibility is on him and has been ever since he got here.

“I had an opportunity to watch him, play for him, saw him in very heated environments in Olympics, it’s not just Toronto media, it’s all of Canada, second- guessing you and doubting you, and he always had a plan and he always stuck to it. He’s just got a great energy. He’s been everything we’d hoped he would be here. And he has done great work in developing his young players.

“I think they’ve got a great relationship with their coach,” added Shanahan. “Mike having kids around their age, helps. I think when I played for Mike, his kids were little. Now Mike’s kids have all gone through playing college sports and I think hearing them come home and talk about their teams and their coaches, how they think, how they prepare, I think it’s made him an even better coach as far as understanding young players.”

Babcock said there would be “pain” when he was hired as coach two seasons ago. There was a season of purpose, not necessarily pain, ending up with the drafting of the wunderkind Auston Matthews as first pick. This season has been about joy and discovery, about promise and delivery, about entertainment, about defying the odds, about a cast of freshman on one team unlike any who have played in the NHL before.

On the opening night of the NHL season, Matthews astounded the hockey world by scoring four goals against the Ottawa Senators. The four goals are not what Shanahan admires most. It was Matthews’ post- game reaction that has stuck with the Leafs president; that told him that he didn’t just have a special player, but a special person.

“He scores four goals and the first thing he says when he comes to face the press is he let his man go in overtime,” said Shanahan. “As much and you walk away from that night and you remember that incredible rookie debut, I think that spoke almost as much to us and to his teammates and to other players in the league. He was telling you who he was. He’s never wanted to be away from his teammates or be separated from his teammates. And that’s what we’re trying to create here: a team.

“Saturday night was a great example of all the different players on the team who had to step up big in the moment.’’

“None of it is done without ( Curtis) McElhinney, without ( Kasperi) Kapanen, without Naz’s ( Kadri) forecheck, without ( Roman) Polak’s blocked shot, without (Zach) Hyman’s pass.”

And t hen he went on to single out James van Riemsdyk, Brown and William Nylander “for probably being our best forward.” All that from one game. And now a best of seven against the Presidents’ Trophy winners. Washington won 55 games. The Leafs won 40. Matthews had a remarkable season, finishing with 69 points. Alexander Ovechkin had a rather dreadful season, finishing with 69 points.

What does Shanahan expect against Washington?

“We’ve been very good all year at playing our game, which is a pretty balanced attack,” he said. “We’ve responded well to adversity. We’ve had some tough games and tough moments and I’ ve been i mpressed with how they’ve responded the next game.

“I don’t know that any of us have been surprised. That would be the wrong word. We’re pleased at how the entire team has responded. Sometimes we talk too much about the young guys and we forget about the guys that were here during some very difficult times. I understand the narrative of the young guys, but our veteran players have been huge for us. We’re going to need everybody going (against Washington).”

It’s all part of the plan, the process, Shanahan likes to call it. This is the beginning of playoff life for the Leafs.

“What happens next?” he asks rhetorically. “Do they ( the players) take on the personality of ‘ That was fun, what’s the next thing?’ To me, it’s always about taking the next step.

“Where do we want to be? We want to be a team that’s capable of winning the Stanley Cup. None of us really know when that is. People always ask me for a number. It would be easy to throw out a number. But my attitude has always (been) if I don’t know the answer, I don’t know the answer.”