Friedman: Maple Leafs are headed towards some ‘very uncomfortable conversations’ barring turnaround

The Toronto Maple Leafs reached what was probably their lowest point of the 2025-26 season thus far with a 4-0 loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. The power play went 0-for-5, the top line got caved in, and for the first time all season, head coach Craig Berube directly singled out his team’s passion levels and cited it as the reason the team lost.

“We had power play opportunities, the power play was not good, it’s gotta be a lot better,” Berube told reporters postgame. “To me, they played with more passion than we did tonight. That’s what it boils down to. It looked to be like they had way more urgency in their game, way more passion in their game, that’s the difference.”

When asked how to explain the lack of passion, Berube said to ask his players instead. It’s the first real boiling point we’ve seen in Berube’s tenure with the Leafs, and they’re quickly veering towards panic territory without many signs of life. On the latest edition of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, host Elliotte Friedman speculated that if the Leafs don’t get things turned around soon, there will be consequences down the line.

“The way this one unfolded and the way Berube spoke postgame, Toronto is headed towards a lot of very uncomfortable conversations if they don’t sort this out. What’s our direction? Where are we going? What do we think about some of the players on his roster? You know, if this season doesn’t turn around, it’s the kind of season that has consequences. I know the coach is under a lot of heat right now, and that’s fine, that’s life in the big city. But this is not all on the coach. I see games like this, and nobody walks away unscathed.” -Friedman

The problem with midseason speculation like this is that nobody truly knows what these consequences are. The fact that the Leafs didn’t fight tooth and nail to keep Mitch Marner last season could have been seen as a message of some sort, but Marner also left on his own terms, so that point is kind of moot. Is it Berube who’s on the hot seat? Maybe, but what gives general manager Brad Treliving the right to fire another coach when it’s his roster that’s currently constructed? Does owner Keith Pelley step in and make a move to send a message to the front office? If so, why wouldn’t he wait until the end of the season so the Leafs can properly change course? And where do the players fall into the share of the blame?

There are lots of questions to be asked about the state of the Leafs right now, and it doesn’t seem like the air is going to clear anytime soon.

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