Saying that the Toronto Maple Leafs are in a pickle right now is like saying Rudolph has a red nose. The team’s current situation is hardly a joke. The alarms are blaring, and Leafs Nation is demanding something to be done.
But the sad reality is that there is no quick fix. As much as fans would like GM Brad Treliving to do something now, the time to make major moves was five years ago.
That’s the sentiment that insider Pierre LeBrun conveyed in a December 22 piece in The Athletic. In the article, LeBrun pinpointed two precise moments when the Maple Leafs should have made wholesale changes, but didn’t.
The first opportunity came about five years ago, following that disastrous loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the 2021 playoffs. LeBrun wrote:
“Losing to Montreal in the first round in 2021 after being up 3-1 in the series. The Leafs resisted big changes in the aftermath of that unforgivable collapse when perhaps the red flags with that core were impossible to ignore. I still believe the impact on the psyche of the top players from that loss still lingers today.”
The consensus is that opportunity was the best one this Maple Leafs core had to win a Stanley Cup. They were in a weakened Canadian division. They steamrolled Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers during the regular season. They had a seemingly inferior Canadiens team on the ropes.
Yes, the loss of John Tavares was awful. But it was a winnable series. Following the debacle, making major moves would have been appropriate. Instead, the Maple Leafs’ brain trust at the time doubled down on running the same thing back.
That led to the second pivotal moment in which inaction led to Toronto’s downfall:
“After a second-round loss to Florida in 2023 in which the Leafs were no-shows, Marner’s full no-move kicked in July 1. Did Toronto miss the boat by not moving him before then? Considering how it all played out with Marner after that, including him saying “No” (which was his right) to a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes before the deadline last season, well, yes, the Leafs should have moved him before July 1, 2023. Easy to say now, I get it. However, the circumstances were that a GM change had just been made and you can hardly blame Treliving for not wanting to trade his second-best player four weeks after taking over. That call should have come from Shanahan.”
I agree with LeBrun. That was the best moment to blow things up. The GM change was a good start. But the coaching change should have followed as well.
Then, there’s the Marner trade. It was clear that the now-Vegas Golden Knights forward had checked out for quite some time. He was running out the clock and hoping that his individual performances would parlay into a big payday. He got that, so good for him.
But this thought isn’t about beating a dead horse. It’s about focusing on the missed opportunities to make major changes to salvage the Maple Leafs’ playoff chances.
The Leafs brass didn’t make those changes, and, well, now there are two paths ahead: Keep rolling with the current team until Auston Matthews skips town, or rebuild the Maple Leafs in Craig Berube’s image.
If the latter is the route, Maple Leafs fans could be in for some long seasons ahead.