Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving says to expect changes in the off-season after another playoff bust.
And not just to the roster, but “between the ears,” too.
Using the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers as an example, Treliving said at a season-ending availability Thursday that there must be changes in the “DNA” of a team that continues to fold in big playoff moments despite regular-season success.
“We’ve got to continue to change and evolve our mindset, and we’ve got to find a way to create the team … to be our very best at the most critical moments,” Treliving said.
Toronto finished the regular season in first place in the Atlantic Division and defeated the Ottawa Senators in the first round for just their second playoff series win in the last 20 seasons.
The Leafs looked poised for a breakthrough when they won the first two games of a second-round series against the Panthers and went up 3-1 in Game 3, before handing the momentum back to their opponent and ultimately losing in seven games.
Part of the collapse included painful 6-1 losses at home in Games 5 and 7, made more frustrating by a 2-0 win in Game 6 in Florida in what was perhaps the most complete Leaf performance of the season.
“Champions have the ability to be calm and at their very best when it matters the most,” Treliving said. “That is an area we have to improve in.”
Treliving said the Game 7 loss “is going to live with me.”
“I felt really good that morning,” he said. “The vibe around the team … and then we had the result we had.”
Treliving credited Florida, which just polished off Carolina in five games in the Eastern Conference final to advance to their third straight Cup final, with always finding a way to perform in the moments that matter.
“There’s a reason why they’re the champions, there’s a reason why they’re going back again for their third crack at it,” Treliving said. “They’ve set the bar in our division, they’ve set the bar in the league. And that’s what we aspire to.”
The changes have already started in Toronto, with the team declining to renew the contract of president Brendan Shanahan after 11 seasons. Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment president and chief executive officer Keith Pelley said he will not replace Shanahan and instead work more closely with Treliving and head coach Craig Berube.
Under Shanahan, the Leafs rebuilt a foundering team around the “Core 4” forwards of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares.
While the team found individual and regular-season success — the Leafs have advanced to the post-season in each of the last nine seasons and Matthews has won the Hart Trophy as league MVP and three Rocket Richard awards as the top goal-scorer — the Leafs have faltered in the post-season.
They are 0-6 in Game 7s over the last eight seasons, with two of those defeats coming on Treliving’s watch. Players seem to wilt under the pressure to deliver for a rabid fan base that has not celebrated a Stanley Cup victory since 1967.
Treliving made some changes before the season to try to address that issue, adding stalwart defenceman Chris Tanev and goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who had a fantastic season before being injured in Game 1 of the second round. Berube, a no-nonsense coach who led the St. Louis Blues to a Cup title in 2019, was brought in to replace the popular but ultimately unsuccessful Sheldon Keefe.
The changes this off-season are likely to be more significant, with both Marner and Tavares set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1.
Marner is expected to be one of the top prizes on the market, and Treliving faces a tough task re-signing him, even if the Leafs brass believe he still fits into the team’s future plans.
Treliving called Marner, who has borne much of the Toronto fan base’s anger at the myriad playoff failures, a “star.” And he called himself a “huge John Tavares fan.”
But his short answer when discussing the future of the UFA’s — “We’ll see.”
“It’s emotional right now,” Treliving said. “My discussion with Mitch is ‘Let’s all take a step back, let’s all take a deep breath. I need to decompress.”
