If this isn’t rock bottom for the Maple Leafs, we’d hate to see what awaits below.
The Leafs lacked structure and spirit in their latest fall, a 5-2 loss at the Bell Centre in Montreal against the Canadiens on Saturday night.
It’s a killer combination that has done in the Leafs, one point ahead of the basement-dwelling Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference, on too many nights in 2025-26.
The Leafs have won once in their past eight games and have one win in seven road games. They will drag themselves home for a couple of practices before heading out on a five-game trip starting Wednesday in Columbus.
Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe didn’t return to the game after he was hit on the face by the puck midway through the second period.
The Leafs, already beset by numerous injuries, wouldn’t go past calling it an upper-body injury. After the game, coach Craig Berube told media in Montreal that he had no timeline regarding McCabe.
Three takeaways from the loss:
CONSISTENTLY INCONSISTENT
Last Tuesday, Leafs general manager Brad Treliving took “full responsibility,” he said, for the Leafs’ tough start to the season.
At the same time, Treliving gave Berube a vote of confidence, which, we all know, often is the kiss of death for the coach of a team that has not been playing anywhere close to expectations.
Treliving refused to use injuries as an excuse for the Leafs’ failures. And it’s a long list. McCabe joined captain Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, Nicolas Roy, defencemen Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo and goalie Anthony Stolarz on the sideline.
Players in uniform can’t look at the injuries and say that’s why they’re playing with next-to-no connectivity or with less than 100% effort. That’s what the Leafs are getting no matter who is in the lineup. A lineup with Treliving’s fingerprints all over it.
On Saturday, it was even worse as the quicker Canadiens exposed the slow Leafs on seemingly every shift to build a 4-0 lead before Berube mercifully pulled goalie Joseph Woll.
That had to be done, if only because Berube didn’t have the option of benching 18 players at the same time.
“He was excellent,” Berube said. “We were just giving freebies to them. I just had enough.”
The first three Canadiens goals came from defencemen Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson, who scored two.
A goal by Josh Anderson — who added an empty-net goal late in third period after Oliver Ekman-Larsson and William Nylander scored for the Leafs — chased Woll.
“Getting some people back in the lineup, that is definitely going to help,” Berube said after the game, “but until we decide to dig in and play the right way for 60 minutes on a consistent basis, it’s going to be hard to pull yourself out of anything.
“When we get down a couple of goals, we don’t play with any urgency or confidence. This is a veteran hockey team. It’s inexcusable. It’s on me too. With a veteran team it shouldn’t happen.”
WOULD COACHING CHANGE MATTER?
Just over six years ago, on Nov. 20, 2019, Mike Babcock was fired after the Leafs started the 2019-20 season with a record of 9-10-4.
The Leafs now sit at 9-10-3, but if Treliving were to make a change behind the bench now, even if it was for, say, Peter DeBoer, how much would that make a difference? This is not taking anything away from DeBoer, or whoever the replacement in theory would be.
It’s the same players, and it’s going to be the same players, as Treliving reminded us last week that it’s difficult to make trades.
A trade wouldn’t fix the Leafs problems.
These players are what they are. Morgan Rielly, who did nothing to move Oliver Kapanen out of the front of the net on Dobson’s first goal, won’t suddenly become a better defender.
Max Domi isn’t going to figure it out on offence after putting up six points in 22 games.
McCabe isn’t the same player without Tanev as his partner.
Two newcomers acquired by Treliving, Dakota Joshua and Matias Maccelli, have made no difference.
Berube inserted Sammy Blais, a waiver pickup in October, and benched Jacob Quillan because the coach wanted more physicality in the lineup as he anticipated the game might unfold that way. Blais has no impact, registering one of the Leafs’ 20 hits. The Canadiens had 25.
If Treliving changes his mind and decides to tie the can to Berube, he first has to take a long, hard look in the mirror.
Defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, at the age of 34, plays with more snarl than any of his teammates.
“I wish I knew,” Ekman-Larsson said of the Leafs’ inability to put together three or four good games. “It’s something we are working toward, working to get the full 60-minute game. It has been better lately, but not good enough.”
KEEPING COWAN
If it’s true that the Leafs think of Matthews, Nylander, Knies and John Tavares as untouchables where trades are concerned, 20-year-old forward Easton Cowan should be added to the list.
Cowan had an assist in Montreal, bringing him to one goal and five assists in 14 games. Like a lot of high-scoring junior players who make the adjustment to playing in the National Hockey League, Cowan is getting accustomed to not seeing his name on the scoresheet as often.
He can’t get frustrated by that, though. His instincts allow him to be confident, and we saw it again early in the game when he kept the puck and got it to McCabe for a scoring opportunity.
The Leafs don’t have another similar forward among their prospects. Using Cowan as a trade chip would be slapping the team’s future in the face. Again, we don’t think that any trade would really change the Leafs’ fortunes now. Dealing Cowan would hurt the club in the present.
X: @koshtorontosun