The Toronto Maple Leafs have decided that a new direction is needed. Keith Pelley decided it was time to move on from Brad Treliving. Though once Treliving heard the rumblings, he asked Pelley to accelerate the process and make the announcement. But it appears Pelley is not in the mood for a rebuild; instead, he is opting for a retool.
It will be an interesting offseason of change for the Toronto Maple Leafs
When meeting with the media, Pelley spoke about having foundational pieces and putting the right pieces around them to be successful. The problem is the Maple Leafs did that for 10 years without a Stanley Cup, winning only two playoff rounds and coming up short in the biggest moments.
Is that a culture thing, a player thing, a management thing, a vision thing, and so on? As Pelley mentioned, the alignment and structure are off with the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, under the President of Hockey Operations, Brendan Shanahan, there was a refusal to change the core of the group. Rightly or wrongly, the core four of William Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares were the guys they wanted to win with.
Kyle Dubas tried to fix the mix-up, and he left for Pittsburgh. Brad Treliving came in, and he tried to change the mix, maybe too much. But Treliving and Shanahan are gone now, with the former leaving the team in worse shape than he found it, given there is nothing left in the cupboard that is coming up.
When the Toronto Maple Leafs went scorched earth in 2014, Nazem Kadri, Nylander, Marner, and Morgan Rielly were in the system. They won the draft lottery and got Auston Matthews. There was a group of young players who were progressing. But year after year, first-round picks and prospects went out the door with nobody coming outside of Joseph Woll, Easton Cowan, and Matthew Knies.
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Toronto failed to address its biggest needs during the height of the Core Four: goaltending and defence. But they are obsessed with losing to the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins and being bullied that this past year, the Maple Leafs became older and slower. Now there are more questions than answers as the fate of the team is in the hands of a new head of hockey ops.
Again, what is the direction? There are a lot of holes on this roster, and you can’t trade for six new high-level elite guys. As Chris Pronger said on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio on Wednesday, there is a long road ahead with a lot of work to do in such a short amount of time.
“There is a lot of work ahead of them. I don’t think there’s an easier way to say it. There are a lot of holes that need to be filled. They’ve got a lot of question marks. I think up and down their lineup is first and foremost, what is Auston Matthews going to do in two years now?
And I think as you kind of go down the list, you’ve got a number of players that have no move clauses, and they’re going to have to figure out what they’re going to do with them. How they’re either a part of the solution, or if they’re going to have to move on and find a new home for them. And those difficult decisions are going to have to be made pretty quickly as you get closer to the draft and then on into free agency.”
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As we have seen in other Canadian markets, rebuilding is not for the fate of heart. The Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Winnipeg Jets accepted it at one point. To a lesser degree, the Vancouver Canucks need to embrace. Out East, the Ottawa Senators knew it needed to be done, and the Montreal Canadiens were the best example.
But ownership told the fan base in Montreal that there will be some lean years, but by years 4-6, we will be competitive, and after that, we will have sustained success. Will MLSE accept losing again for many years?
As we have with the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks, when you bottom out, it is not pretty. So the Maple Leafs need to decide if it’s a Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, and Pittsburgh Penguins retool or if they have to do what the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, and Detroit Red Wings did and build from the ground up.
“So there’s a lot of conversations, and there’s a lot of planning that needs to take place to really understand who and what are going to be a part of this,” Pronger said on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio. “Rebuild, retool, whatever people want to term, people want to use. It’s just words. At the end of the day, how can you reshape this franchise, both from a front office perspective, to the ice, and then on into what you hope will be championships?”
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This will not be an overnight fix for the Toronto Maple Leafs. As Keith Pelley stated, the person he brings in to run hockey operations is the most important decision in his tenure with MLSE. They have to get it right. Pelley has to be ok with not hearing the answers he wants, but from the sounds of it, he wants to retool and remain competitive.
That is not easy and sometimes takes longer than an actual rebuild. As per usual, nothing comes easy for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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