What changes will come for the Leafs if season continues to spiral?
The streak had to end at some point. The Toronto Maple Leafs have made the playoffs for nine straight seasons, an impressive run despite having only won two playoff series’ over that time. This season, however, is shaping up to be to the one that puts an end to Toronto’s annual postseason appearances. Injuries, inconsistent goaltending, the loss of star forward Mitch Marner, and an overall diminished roster have conspired to make this a season to forget for Leafs fans.
After losing their fifth straight game against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, Toronto sits second last in the Atlantic Division with 57 points in 53 games. They’re eight points back of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and have just a 4.5% chance of making the playoffs, according to MoneyPuck. With the NHL’s Olympic break and trade deadline fast approaching, general manager Brad Treliving has to decide to either sell off players and effectively punt on the season, or hold onto his cards and hope for a late-season run.
On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by The Fourth Period‘s David Pagnotta to discuss what approach Treliving will take ahead of the deadline.
Tyler Yaremchuk: What’s Brad Treliving going to do here? Is there a scenario where he waves the white flag to an extent, and sells off pieces? Or are they just going to kind of go down with the sinking ship and pray that at some point they go on a heater and salvage this thing?
David Pagnotta: I think this next week, this four-game road trip that they leave on later today, is going to dictate what they are going to do. If they win three of four, or go 3-0-1, or win all four, then obviously the narrative shifts to “Well, we were in a slump and now we’re back in it.” But if they don’t make up significant ground over these next four games before the Olympic break, then you have to have those conversations.
They’ve reached out to Bobby McMann’s camp about what a deal might look like. There’s nothing pressing there, nothing is imminent there. Same thing with Scott Laughton, they haven’t had any meaningful discussions in terms of negotiations yet with his camp. I think they’re kind of in waiting mode just to see how these next few games go. We know guys like (Max) Domi, (Matias) Maccelli, (Brandon) Carlo, their names have been out there this season because they’ve been looking for ways to improve. But with how they’ve performed, this is going to be a point where if things go south over this road trip, I think you have to look at making some moves. You have to look at recouping some assets and seeing how you can recover for next season.
You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Wednesday’s episode here…