{"id":431243,"date":"2026-01-27T21:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T21:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/431243\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T21:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T21:03:13","slug":"what-happened-during-leafs-closed-door-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/431243\/","title":{"rendered":"What happened during Leafs’ closed-door meeting?"},"content":{"rendered":"

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger joins Gino Reda to discuss the closed-door meeting Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube<\/a> had with the team\u2019s leadership, the timeline for William Nylander<\/a>\u2019s return from injury and how the Sabres should handle contract talks with pending UFA Alex Tuch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reda: Craig Berube<\/a> calls his team leaders into his office. What happened in there?<\/p>\n

When will Willy Nylander be back on the ice and not upstairs flipping the birds? What do the Sabres do with Alex Tuch<\/a>? <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Insider Darren Dreger.<\/p>\n

For more on those topics, Dregs, let\u2019s begin in Toronto where things are so desperate, Berube actually had a closed-door meeting with his team leadership. What happened?<\/p>\n

Dreger: The message that I received from some inside that meeting was that everybody is on the same page. The focus has narrowed to the task at hand and that starts with playing the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> tonight on TSN and then into the teeth of a real important road trip, which starts Thursday in Seattle.<\/p>\n

It could be a season-changing road trip, frankly, in terms of direction as to what Brad Treliving, the general manager, goes in depending on the outcome of the next five games.<\/p>\n

So, the focus is where it should be. But as they say, the results have to come on the ice, so a lot of people internally interested to see how this leadership group responds, Gino, to that meeting and where they\u2019re at, because where they\u2019ve been at the last four or five games hasn\u2019t been good enough.<\/p>\n

Reda: Alright, let\u2019s get to Willy Nylander. Hasn\u2019t been around for the last five games, got a $5,000 fine. Now he just wants to get back onto the ice. He hasn\u2019t played in almost two weeks, Dregs.<\/p>\n

The Leafs have got a big game tonight as you mentioned, then a huge road trip before the Olympic break. Do we have any idea about his timeline to return to the ice?<\/p>\n

Dreger: Well, we have an idea, but there\u2019s no guarantee and the hope is that William Nylander<\/a> would be able to return as early as Seattle. So that is Thursday.<\/p>\n

The fact that he\u2019s been on the ice is a step in the right direction. We know that he aggravated a groin issue and that takes time to settle down and to heal. But skating is a big part of the process of getting him back into the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a>\u2019 lineup.<\/p>\n

I think best-case scenario would be as early as Thursday, and you know that he is real eager to get back into the mix as he referred to his frustration flipping the bird on Sunday when he met the media on Monday, it was directed at the fact that he\u2019s not playing and he\u2019s not able to help his teammates or contribute.<\/p>\n

So, the Maple Leafs need him. He wants to get back. Best-case scenario would be Thursday in Seattle.<\/p>\n

Reda: Better to take out his frustration on the ice than up in the booth.<\/p>\n

Six weeks ago, the Sabres were at the bottom of the East, clear-cut sellers. Eighteen wins though, Dregs, in the last 22 games. Now they\u2019re in the hunt, six points up on the Leafs for a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

Alex Tuch<\/a>, their second-leading scorer, is a pending unrestricted free agent. So now they\u2019ve got to make a tough call. Any sense of which direction they\u2019re headed?<\/p>\n

Dreger: I don\u2019t think that Jarmo Kekalainen<\/a>, Gino, has any choice but to let this thing ride out.<\/p>\n

Obviously, if it was easy as the organization saying, \u2018Yes, we\u2019ll agree to your terms, your contract demands and let\u2019s get an extension done.\u2019 They just did that recently with Josh Doan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, I know we\u2019re talking about a different stratosphere in terms of the dollars. Alex Tuch<\/a> is an incredibly important piece of the success story that is this season for the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> and where it gets tricky is the obvious. I mean, you remove a piece like that, if you\u2019re even remotely willing to consider a trade, is a significant decision.<\/p>\n

Now what are you getting back for Alex Tuch<\/a>? It would have to be a meaningful piece or pieces that could help this team this year. That seems like a bit of a stretch. And then the flip side to all of that is, who are the partners that you\u2019re talking with if you\u2019re willing to consider? Jarmo Kekalainen<\/a> is not going to strengthen another team in the East by sending them Alex Tuch<\/a> and, again, if he sends him to the West, best-case scenario to get a return if that is paramount to the direction of the Buffalo Sabres<\/a>. But you do that and you weaken your existing roster.<\/p>\n

I think back to Kekalainen, Gino, with the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> back in 2019. When he knew that the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> were a playoff-worthy team, he thought that they could go deep. So, he didn\u2019t trade away [Artemi] Panarin or [Sergei] Bobrovsky. Now, it came at his expense because, as we know, those players moved on in the off-season. But he may have to steal a page from his old playbook in Columbus, specific to Tuch.<\/p>\n

Reda: Alright, that\u2019s it for the early edition of Insider Trading. The full version with Dregs, CJ and Pierre is coming up on the early edition of SportsCentre as we get set for the Leafs and Sabres on TSN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger joins Gino Reda to discuss the closed-door meeting Maple Leafs head coach Craig…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4759,32571,5,4,32428,32467,34339,34972],"class_list":{"0":"post-431243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-buffalo-sabres-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-7","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-nhl-sports-hockey-league-nhl","13":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-10","14":"tag-vancouver-canucks-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-23","15":"tag-william-nylander-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8477939"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115969091470435059","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}