Brad Treliving
The final main culprit to the Leafs’ undoing this postseason happens to be from the head honcho himself in Brad Treliving. As the general manager of the team, Treliving was expected to make the necessary moves at the trade deadline to help transform the Leafs into a legitimate playoff team once and for all. With that in mind, Treliving went out to add some grit with an offensive touch in Scott Laughton, as well as a big-bodied, stay-at-home top-pairing defenseman in Brandon Carlo. With some valuable draft picks and prospects sacrificed for those two major acquisitions, they were expected to pay huge dividends for the Leafs once the postseason rolled around.
However, both Laughton and Carlo just didn’t pan out exactly as planned in the end. For Laughton, there is no question that he played a strong defensive game for Toronto, laying more than 40 hits and putting his body on the line by registering double digits in blocked shots. But when it came to the complementary big-game offensive output that many were anticipating, it never showed up as the 30-year-old forward ended up with just two assists in 13 games. In fact, dating back to the regular season, he managed only two goals and four assists in 33 total games with the Leafs, which was way off his 0.4 ppg average for his career.
As for Carlo, he was definitely solid for Toronto down the stretch and heading into the playoffs. Nevertheless, he would choose to have his worst game as a Leaf during Game 7 in the series against the Panthers by being on the ice for the first three goals by Florida. That was enough of a momentum swing such that the Leafs were never able to recover from as they feebly lost the match 6-1.
As a result, Treliving’s two biggest deadline acquisitions flopped at the worst possible times, doing in the Leafs season. With much more moves now expected this offseason for Toronto following their playoff failure, the spotlight will be on Treliving to right the ship and make the team a more convincing and legitimate contender.