The Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving had the absolute worst summer of any team in the NHL last season, and that played out as expected over a very long, highly disappointing 2023-24 season.
I wasn't surprised or upset that the blame fell on Sheldon Keefe, as it likely was time for a new voice in the room, but he wasn't to blame for the Toronto Maple Leafs problems in the least.
After promising change in the end-of-season press conference, firing the coach seems to be about the biggest change we are going to get.
Because the team owns the media that covers then, most of the coverage has been pretty positive, but I arguably speak with more Leafs fans on a day-to-basis than anyone alive and I don't know a single person who is happy with the direction of the team.
I am certainly not.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Off-Season Has Been Straight Up Garbage So Far
The Leafs have made a series of big contract committments without making their team better.
They have taken big risks - Domi, Tanev, Stolarz/Woll, OEL - that don't offer the upside necessary to make them.
Their draft was bad because they should have used their pick to get better now, and instead they used it on a guy whose ceiling is second-pairing number-four defenseman.
Aside from the plethora of idiotic contracts they handed out, the Leafs didn't really get any better in free-agency. Their goaltending is the same or worse, and even if their Tanev bet pays off, it's impact is lowered by losing Bertuzzi whose underlying numbers were a lot better than his raw totals. He will be missed.
They managed to alienate their highest-ceiling prospect who has asked for a trade.
They have a clogged roster that doesn't look like it's going to be developing very many, if any, young players.
They have let the Mitch Marner situation fester and get absolutely toxic to the point where they can't win no matter what they do.
They did improve their blue-line and thankfully realized the error of loading up on guys who can't move the puck, but they still don't have the most important feature of a contenting team: a number-one defenseman.
Of the 12 teams who made the Stanley Cup Final in the last six years, 11 of them had a better defenseman on their roster than the Leafs currently have. Only the flukiest team of all-time, the bottom0-feeding 2020 Montreal Canadiens made it to the Finals without a defenseman better than Rielly or Tanev.
So to recap: Bad spending, bad drafting, little upside, a poor understanding of the concept of risk vs reward, no creativity, no trades, barely any improvement, and they didn't get the number-one dman, the starting goalie or the third-line centre they needed.
My original grade for the Leafs after free-agency was a C- but honestly after a few days to think about it, I'd like to rate it an F-, the lowest possible score.
The reason is this: in a best case scenario where Tanev and Woll stay healthy, Marner, Matthews and Nylander all have the same contributions they had last year, Kniews breaks out, and Tavares and Rielly avoid any serious decline how close is this team to being a top Cup Contender?
I'd say outside of the top five for sure. If that's the case, they they failed, as simple as that.
The Toronto Maple Leafs off-season doesn't have one single move that you can look to and be happy about. The best they've done is make you say "hey if everything goes well, we might get to play Florida, Tampa or Boston in the opening round on the road again."
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!