For the first time in nine seasons, it looks like the Leafs will not earn a playoff spot.
Some members of the team’s fan base would call it “the season from hell” with the number of player injuries and the team’s underperformance.
While not mathematically eliminated yet, the Leafs currently sit at 28-27-11 with 67 points in 66 games, 12 points out of the last playoff spot.
After the Olympics, the Leafs had just one win out of the nine games. And now, they have lost their captain, Auston Matthews, for the rest of the season.
Matthews suffered a Grade 3 MCL tear and quad contusion Thursday night against the Anaheim Ducks, after a knee-on-knee from Ducks’ defenceman Radko Gudas, who got a five-game suspension for the hit.
With Matthews’ injury as the final straw in the disaster of a season, fans and the media think that the team’s offseason will start earlier than everyone in blue and white had thought or hoped it would go.
I don’t think MLSE owners need to tear this all down and start over, but they do need to be open to change or a retool.
For example, the Boston Bruins went through this last season, and they are now back in a playoff spot.
For the Leafs, I would look at possibly something similar to Boston’s approach.
The team could fire Coach Craig Berube, and although he is not the main problem, the team’s play is part of it, and he is responsible for what happens on the ice.
Another possibility is trading Morgan Rielly, the longest tenured player on the roster.
If you want to go even further, get rid of GM Brad Treliving, who is behind the construction of this current roster. One complaint Calgary fans had about Treliving while he was with the Flames is that his team was older and slower.
As someone who has watched almost every game this season, I agree with that.
Leafs management made drastic changes in the off-season last year, after the Leafs lost a seven-game series to the Florida Panthers in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
That included trading star player Mitch Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights for forward Nicolas Roy in a one-for-one swap, and then during the summer, they acquired Matias Maccelli from Utah and Dakota Joshua from Vancouver.
Even though it was highly possible the team would take a step back offensively, losing a 100-point player like Marner, issues like lack of team performance, and injuries have appeared this season as well.
The Leafs had some good netminding last season, mostly from the tandem of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz, who combined for a team total of 2.79 goals against average and a save percentage of .912.
The tandem has not been as strong this season because of injuries and underperformance. Stolarz has been struggling since he suffered an upper-body injury, and the team's total went to 3.44 goals against average and a lower .901 save percentage.
The plus-minus margin also hasn’t looked good this year. The Leafs are minus 24. After plus 37 last season, this is reason to believe that the team is missing a player who had the highest plus margin last season for them.
That player was defenceman Chris Tanev, who had the highest plus-minus of players for the team last year with a plus 31. Tanev also had the sixth most blocked shots in the NHL with 189, and was the defensive anchor for the team.
But Tanev suffered a core muscle injury this season that put him out for the rest of the year,.
Nothing seems to be going in the Leafs’ favour.
And then there are the contracts.
Matthews is entering the third year of his four-year, $53-million contract.
He shouldn’t be on the table not only because he is one of, if not the biggest, pieces of the team, but he is also the captain and has said how much he enjoys playing here.
It doesn’t make sense to deal with Matthews, especially since he's coming off a down season. The organization won't fetch high value for him because of this, and more so now with his knee injury that requires surgery.
William Nylander, John Tavares, and goalie Woll should also stay off the table, especially if you want to get back to competing next season.
Easton Cowan and Matthew Knies are young and up and coming, so they should also be untouchable.
I don’t know if I want Treliving to be the one to make any trades for the future of this team, especially with his recent decisions to trade valuable players that got the Leafs little in return.
Those players are Bobby McMann and Scott Laughton. For the Leafs, they gave up a first and a prospect for Laughton, but only received a conditional pick.
With McMann, who is a 20-goal scorer, they couldn’t get what he was worth either, which is a first. They got a conditional second instead.
Which is why the Leafs must be open to a retool or some sort of change.
Whether it is firing Berube, Treliving or moving on from a player like Rielly, change will be needed for Toronto this upcoming offseason, especially if they want to get back to playoff aspirations next season.
