Brad Treliving cites lack of collective buy-in as a reason for Maple Leafs struggles
Going into the season, the consensus among the fans, media, and the team was that they could still compete for the Stanley Cup despite losing Mitch Marner and the roster getting a bit older. That ended up not being the case as the Leafs fell to fifth last in the NHL, resulting in many changes to the organization in recent weeks which included the firing of Treliving on March 30th.
“I certainly think that, you can look and say there was injuries, the beginning of the year, we had lost the goaltenders. But everybody goes through injuries. To me, those were an excuse,” he said. “There was a fall off there. We didn’t have the buy-in. You can debate how we played a little bit. The biggest challenge for me – and I talked a little bit about it in November – was even the games we won on the scoreboard, we weren’t winning. Whether it be shot share, controlling play, or driving play.”
The Leafs were near the bottom of the league in just about every advanced metric, and how they looked on the ice might have been even more difficult to stomach on a nightly basis. They were routinely outshot, out-possessed, outplayed, and usually came up on the short end of the stick. Former head coach Craig Berube may have been able to find success in his first season in charge, but the numbers back then were also bad and foreshadowed a major regression, which ended up being the case.
While the struggles of the team don’t fall squarely on the coach, his lack of meaningful adjustments didn’t do the Leafs any favours. Yet despite it becoming clear that the coach and the players were disconnected, Treliving never felt the need to make a change behind the bench.
“There was never a time where we weren’t on the same page. You debate with the coach and the manager. I think that’s the most important relationship in the organization, right? You’re always going to have debates on certain things, but I consider Craig a good friend, a close friend, we talk regularly,” he said. “ Was sad to see things happen there. But we all know the business, and Craig’s been around a long time. Been in this game a long time, and understands when you go through a season like that, and then specifically when there’s change in the regime, those things happen.”
With Treliving gone, the Leafs have opted to go in a new direction with John Chayka as GM and Mats Sundin as senior executive advisor. At the time of filing, they are not close to deciding who will replace Berube, but the early signs seem to indicate that it will likely be a fresh face with different ideas.
“I think there’s lots of game left in Morgan. As you get older, you got to do different things in terms of your conditioning levels and how you take care of yourself. But even you know, you see it here, you get him around a different environment, he’s been real solid,” he said. “We’ve had a chance to spend some time over here, him and I. I know how much he cares about the Leafs, the market, but I do think there’s hockey there. And who knows what the future holds, but sometimes a change is good for everybody, right? So I don’t know what the future holds for him, but I still think there’s a good NHL defenseman there.”