The Maple Leafs’ offseason has not paid off thus far
After losing their fourth game in a row for the first time since 2019 with a 4-3 overtime defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings, things are going very poorly for the Toronto Maple Leafs. While life without Mitch Marner was expected to have some struggles, nobody anticipated it would be this bad, as they now sit seventh in the Atlantic Division and 14th in the Eastern Conference.
Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton talked about the Leafs start to the season, and how their overhaul in the summer has produced ugly results.
Carter Hutton: Where things have gone with [the Leafs], you look at the setback, they’re 8-8-2 in the Atlantic. You look at the Atlantic Division right now, you have Montreal Canadiens humming along, the Ottawa Senators, the Boston Bruins. It’s kind of flipped on its ear.
Again, I don’t really think it’s total panic mode right now where you’re at in the standings, but I do think it’s panic mode based on what their personnel is and who they are. They really don’t have a number one d-man. You think Morgan Rielly, he’s pretty long in the tooth. But then you look at all these other teams that have that young, electric defenseman or someone that can be a game changer. And I don’t see the Toronto Maple Leafs having that.
And then they lose Mitch Marner, who is their 100-point guy. And again, you can make that argument that Mitch Marner hasn’t got it done in the playoffs. He hasn’t been able to push them over the top. But you also got to win to get in the playoffs. You got to play a certain brand of hockey. And that is what Mitch Marner brings to the table.
Then you look at their additions. Dakota Joshua. Nicolas Roy. Right now, they both have 18 games played. They have a combined nine points between the two of them, and a combined -11. These were the bodies that they wanted to bring in. And I get where it was coming from when they signed them being like, “Dakota Joshua, bigger body. Nicolas Roy, bigger body.” They can play in that Atlantic Division. They can have a little more size, they can compete. But now all of a sudden you’re a lot slower and you aren’t as fast, and you don’t know how to create space as much.
And then when I look at their back end and the way that they’ve been defending without Joseph Woll, Anthony Stolarz having to carry the mail, it’s been ugly. It’s not just the losing, it’s the way they’re losing. So I think that would be the most concerning thing for me if I’m Brad Treliving right now in Toronto.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah. And again, this isn’t just bad luck. They’ve made their swings. Especially when you talk about the blueline struggling the way it has been. Again, we can roast the Marner thing. 5-on-5 scoring has not been their issue. Matthew Knies has stepped up. He’s having a very productive year at 5-on-5. John Tavares defying Father Time once again. He might score 40 again for the Leafs. As much as Marner is a focal point, the offense hasn’t been an issue.
The goaltending’s banged up. That’s maybe a bit of bad luck on the part of Treliving, but he took a swing on Brandon Carlo. And then we hear Dave Pagnotta, our insider on the show, going “maybe they’re looking to move on from Carlo already”. You spend a bunch of money on Chris Tanev, who is a 35+ defenseman, and now he’s on IR already.
I don’t know, he’s made some swings on the blueline and they’re not working. For me, that’s where I point the finger at Treliving. If you’re going to give up the first round picks and you’re going to dedicate salary cap to a guy like Tanev and you’re sitting here with, again, question marks on the blue line, that’s where it’s not good for Treliving.
And how many future assets can you dump into this team right now that’s sitting there at 8-8-2 on the year, sitting right in the thick of that mush in the Eastern Conference? It’s not good for the Toronto Maple Leafs right now, and obviously everybody knows that.
You can watch the full episode here…