The Toronto Maple Leafs are currently far out of a playoff spot, and that leads to the uncomfortable reality: almost no one is untouchable. Outside of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Matthew Knies, the organization has to be open to almost anything.
This isn’t surrender. It’s honesty. If you’re trying to set yourself up for a quick reset next season, you start by asking the same questions the Boston Bruins asked last year: what can you move, what can you add, and how do you reshape the roster without blowing the whole thing apart?
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But before you even get to the “who,” there’s a bigger question that matters even more.
Who Do You Trust to Lead the Reset?
If the Maple Leafs are headed toward a sell-off and a reset, the real question is whether Brad Treliving should be the one running it.
(Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
It’s fair to ask. His track record doesn’t include a successful rebuild. In Calgary, he spent years trying to keep the Flames competitive. Even the Matthew Tkachuk-for-Jonathan Huberdeau-and-Mackenzie Weegar deal — which looked acceptable on paper — wasn’t a move aimed at resetting anything. It was meant to keep them afloat. That didn’t work, and the organization is still dealing with the fallout.
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Now he comes to Toronto with the mandate to push a contender over the top, and instead, the team is six points back, the pressure is boiling, and everyone is pointing in different directions.
Treliving Has Already Put His Stamp on This Team
Some fans argue he hasn’t been given enough time. But in reality, he already did plenty.
Last summer, he tore down the edges of the roster, moved out familiar pieces, and brought in players who matched the “new DNA.” These players were tougher, heavier, and older. He wanted a group that fit Craig Berube’s style and created an identity that would hold up in the playoffs.
That vision hasn’t materialized. The team is older, slower, far more frequently injured, and still searching for secondary scoring. That’s not bad luck. That’s the blueprint he chose. If this is what he builds around a win-now core, what would he build in a reset?
The Berube Coaching Fit Hasn’t Helped
Berube is a strong coach with a clear identity, but there’s a real question about whether his style fits the roster. The Maple Leafs are being pushed to play a heavy, grinding game, but they don’t have the bodies to sustain it — the roster isn’t built for this kind of wear and tear.
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You can make a fair argument that the demands of the system are wearing players down, and the injury list tells its own story. Trying to recreate the 2019 St. Louis Blues with a completely different roster has proven to be a tough ask. Clearly, it hasn’t worked this season.
And because Treliving hired Berube and built a roster to match him, the two issues are tied together. You can’t separate the coach’s struggles from the general manager’s choices.
This Is the Maple Leafs Chosen Blueprint; And That’s the Concern
When people say Treliving hasn’t had a chance to shape the team yet, the answer is simple: Yes, he has. We’re watching the results of his choices right now.
If the first round of moves created a roster that’s heavier, older, more fragile, and still inconsistent, it’s reasonable to wonder what a full-scale reset under the same philosophy would look like. A reset only works when the person leading it understands what’s broken — and how to build something different. So far, nothing about the “new DNA” experiment suggests that’s the case.
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Sometimes the early returns tell you everything you need to know about the finished product. Sadly, it would be a surprise if he lasts past this season. Now the real question is whether he’ll embrace a reset knowing what that will mean for his tenure as the Maple Leafs general manager.