The Toronto Maple Leafs decided a new approach was needed. Keith Pelley has decided it’s time to move on from Brad Treliving. Although Treliving had heard the rumblings, he asked Pelley to speed up the process and make an announcement. But it seems Pelley is in no mood to rebuild; instead, you choose a new tool.
It’s going to be an exciting first season of change for the Toronto Maple Leafs
When he met with the media, Pelley talked about having the basic pieces and putting the right pieces in place to be successful. The problem is that the Maple Leafs went 10 years without a Stanley Cup, won only two playoff rounds and fell short in the big time.
Is that a culture thing, a player thing, a management thing, an idea thing, and so on? As Pelley said, alignment and formation 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 team. 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 this combination, then went to Pittsburgh. Brad Treliving came in, and tried to change the mix, maybe too much. But Treliving and Shanahan are gone now, and the former left the team in a worse position than he found it, as there is nothing left in the future.
When the Toronto Maple Leafs were burned to pieces in 2014, Nazem Kadri, Nylander, Marner, and Morgan Rielly were in the program. They won the draft lottery and got Auston Matthews. There was a group of young players who were developing. But year after year, first picks and prospects walk out the door with none other than Joseph Woll, Easton Cowan, and Matthew Knies.
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Toronto failed to address its biggest needs during the Core Four’s heyday: scoring and defense. But they are worried about losing to the Florida Panthers and the Boston Bruins and they are exploited that this past year, the Maple Leafs have been old and slow. Now there are more questions than answers as the fate of the team rests in the hands of the new head of hockey ops.
Also, what is the direction? There are a lot of holes on this roster, and you can’t trade six top guys. As Chris Pronger said on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio Wednesday, there’s still a long way to go and a lot of work to be done in such a short amount of time.
“There is a lot of work ahead of them, I don’t think there is an easy way to say it, there are a lot of holes that need to be closed. They have a lot of questions. I think the ups and downs of their list is first and foremost, what will Auston Matthews do in two years from now?
And I think as you go down the list, you have a number of players that don’t have move categories, and they’re going to have to see what they’re going to do with them. How they are part of the solution, or they will have to move on and find them a new home. And those tough decisions will have to be made quickly as you approach retirement and free agency. “
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As we have seen in other Canadian markets, rebuilding is not the end of the heart. The Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Winnipeg Jets accepted at the same time. To a lesser extent, the Vancouver Canucks need to accept. In the East, the Ottawa Senators knew it had to be done, and the Montreal Canadiens were a prime example.
But the ownership told Montreal fans that there will be a few years, but in 4-6 years, we will be competing, and after that, we will be successful. Will MLSE accept losses again for many years?
Like we did with the San Jose Sharks and the Chicago Blackhawks, when you’re down, it’s not good. So the Maple Leafs need to decide if they are a tool for the Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, and Pittsburgh Penguins or if they should do what the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, and Detroit Red Wings did and build from the ground up.
“So there’s a lot of discussion, and there’s a lot of planning that needs to happen to understand who and what’s going to be a part of this,” Pronger said on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio. “Rebuild, recycle, whatever people want to use, people want to use. Just words. At the end of the day, how do you rebuild this business, both from a front office standpoint, to the ice, and then to what you hope will be championships?”
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This won’t be an overnight fix for the Toronto Maple Leafs. As Keith Pelley said, who he brings in to run hockey operations is the most important decision in his tenure with MLSE. They have to get it right. Pelley should be okay with not hearing the answers he wants, but by the sounds of it, he wants to recycle and stay competitive.
That’s not easy and sometimes takes longer than an actual rebuild. As usual, nothing comes easy for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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