The Toronto Maple Leafs have completely lost their identity this year.
Former GM Kyle Dubas built a fun-to-watch Toronto Maple Leafs team while current GM Brad Treliving has torched that philosophy, thanks to the hiring of Craig Berube.
Berube is a Stanley Cup winning coach, but his coaching philosophy does not work on this current Leafs team. When the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup under Berube's guidance in 2019, that team fit his coaching style. Some of their best players were Ryan O'Reilly, Brayden Schenn, Alex Pietrangelo, Jaden Schwartz and Colton Parayko who were all defensive-first players who played a physical style of hockey.
They had some offensive skill, but they could beat you down and win games 2-1, playing a style that fit Berube perfectly. Unfortunately for Berube, the Leafs are not built that way and they're making their best players play a style of hockey that doesn't fit their skillset.
Whether you're a hockey team or you work in an office, you're going to suceed if each person plays to their strength. You're not going to make your accountant cold-call people and make sales in an office setting and you shouldn't turn Auston Matthews into Patrice Bergeron.
Sure, Bergeron is a past Stanley Cup winner himself, but Matthews should be playing more like Alex Ovechkin, who may I add, also won a championship.
Leafs have zero identity and are not fun to watch
Berube's coaching style has turned this team into a boring, less explosive version of themselves. For years, the Leafs have always been one of the highest-scoring teams in hockey, but now they're 11th in goals for. That number would be fine if they were first in goals against, but they're 18th in that category.
This current version of the Leafs is lifeless and there needs to be change immediately. Obviously I'll be rooting for this team to win when the playoffs start, but part of me just wants it to end badly. A sweep would be demoralizing but it may be the best thing for this team moving forward.
With one month left in the regular season, Berube needs to give this team a leash to play free. They need to abandon this defensive-first mentality and play the free-flowing offensive-first game that they're great at. They are built on skill and the core-four shine when they play that way.
I really hope they start winning down that stretch, but I don't think I've hated a Leafs team this much in a long time and it sucks to see another year of Auston Matthews wasted.