Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> under\u00a0Brad Treliving\u00a0weren\u2019t a well-oiled machine churning in concert toward their common aim of winning a Stanley Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\nA\u00a0general manager that stopped going on road trips and being available to speak to reporters. A coach announcing there will be no scratches of potentially traded players hours before three potentially traded players get scratched.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The gaslight framing of prolonged losing skids and ghastly defensive metrics as necessary \u201cadversity.\u201d Merely a byproduct of tough scheduling and nagging injuries.<\/p>\n
In isolation, none of these red flags were cause for panic. But always something felt\u2026 off. Unsettled and disconnected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we had the right leadership in place,\u201d\u00a0Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment president\/CEO Keith\u00a0Pelley\u00a0said Tuesday at his press conference to announce a new leadership search.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout getting into the detail, I honestly believe that we didn\u2019t have the alignment, we didn\u2019t have the culture, we didn\u2019t have the structure that we needed to be successful.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the things that happened this year shouldn\u2019t happen in the Leafs culture, and it won\u2019t going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rare would a week pass without cause for suspicion, a reason to doubt that lofty expectations would not be met. Something you couldn\u2019t all the way trust.<\/p>\n
This nail-in-the-coffin campaign began with chasing crumbs for Mitch Marner, then throwing millions at the mere idea of an aging Brad Marchand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mattias Maccelli, Dakota Joshua, Nicolas Roy, and Michael Pezzetta. Doubling down on Max Domi and Steven Lorentz. Maybe together would all check those mystery boxes of grit, grind, and greatness.<\/p>\n
Or maybe all those small red flags would get stitched together and dyed into a big white one.<\/p>\n
Treliving\u2019s\u00a0moves mirrored the players\u2019 on-ice performance, too often reactive instead of proactive. Half-measures disguised as solutions.<\/p>\n
Why demand a top-10-protected pick when top-five is offered? Why make a coaching change when it\u2019s cheaper and less disruptive to fire an assistant coach? Why tank with purpose when you can half-tank?<\/p>\n
Cayden Primeau? Sure, he\u2019s free.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And we\u2019ll just take whatever we can get for (now 26-goal man) Bobby McMann because we thought we\u2019d come flying out of the Olympic break and delayed an obvious trade to the last minute.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I bear all the responsibility,\u201d Pelley said, turning the page. \u201cThe\u00a0definition of success for my role is about wins and losses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Structurally, Pelley remains open to his next hockey operations setup, which he hopes to have in place by May\u2019s combine or, at latest, well in advance of June\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n
Pelley wants a \u201cdata-centric\u201d mind involved high in the decision-making, which, he vows, will be supported by the company\u2019s deep financial resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s aiming to gather more draft picks and prospects yet also jump right back into divisional contention.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the foundational pieces in place, which gives you the confidence that we can contend very quickly. And if we put the right person in place with the right structure and hockey ops, then I\u2019m convinced even we can do it,\u201d Pelley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m comfortable doing anything that gives the Toronto Maple Leafs the best chance to win the Stanley Cup. Period. End of story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Certainly, the Leafs\u2019 predicament isn\u2019t all Pelley\u2019s fault. He inherited someone else\u2019s vision in a time of a major ownership flip. The players, coaches, and managers are all eating a juicy slice of the blame pie.<\/p>\n
But, today, the Maple Leafs are Pelley\u2019s\u00a0problem to solve.<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s window closed gradually, creaking over years. Does\u00a0Pelley\u00a0try to pry it open for one or two more years? Or will he be amenable to crafting a new window entirely?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pelley must hire Brendan Shanahan\u2019s long-delayed successor, then remain mostly hands off, as he said Tuesday he will when it comes to major player files. Like that of Matthews (UFA 2028), with whom Pelley exchanged texts\u00a0Tuesday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next Leafs hockey ops chief must come with vision, be prepared for pain and patience, and set realistic expectations and timelines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A smart fan base will understand.<\/p>\n
Jim Nill, a heckuva option, has already\u00a0been ruled out<\/a>. So, scuttlebutt names like Doug Armstrong, Mark Hunter, Chris Pronger, Mike Gillis, and Kevyn Adams may gain traction. Pelley spoke highly of Eric Tulsky, an out-of-the-box but insulated hire by Carolina.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe\u00a0successful\u00a0candidate\u2019s next step will be to flesh out a brain trust built on keen, collaborative minds. Create a culture up top, then find the best coach who grasps the vision, then remold the roster.<\/p>\n
Welcome turnover and ideas.<\/p>\n
Manage the assets, not vice versa.<\/p>\n
Treat picks and prospects with the preciousness they deserve. And stop treating talented players with a preciousness they haven\u2019t earned.<\/p>\n
Knock this next hire out of the park, and Pelley can one day lay claim to a piece of that mythical banner after all.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt\u00a0the end of the day,\u201d Pelley said, \u201cthis is the most important decision that I will likely make it in my tenure at MLSE.\u201d<\/p>\n
On that, we should all be aligned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re lucky, the end comes so quick, it\u2019s nearly romantic.\u00a0 In an instant, you realize your window…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5106],"tags":[5,20,5172,4,66,31,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-533991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-maple-leafs","10":"tag-mapleleafs","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-toronto","13":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","14":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116327390421127563","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533991","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=533991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}