The Toronto Maple Leafs are staring down a harsh truth as the season barrels toward its second half: outside of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Matthew Knies, no one on the roster should be considered untouchable. That’s not waving the white flag-it’s acknowledging where things stand and asking the hard questions about what comes next.
This isn’t a teardown-for-the-sake-of-it situation. It’s about setting the table for a quick reset, something akin to what the Bruins pulled off not long ago. The key is figuring out what assets you can move, what pieces you can realistically add, and how you retool without blowing the whole foundation to bits.
But before the Leafs even start shopping names or talking trade packages, there’s a more fundamental question looming over the franchise:
Is Brad Treliving the right person to lead this reset?
That’s the million-dollar question. And right now, there’s plenty of reason to wonder.
Treliving’s Resume Brings More Questions Than Answers
Let’s be honest-Treliving’s track record when it comes to rebuilds or resets isn’t exactly sparkling. In Calgary, he spent years trying to keep the Flames in the playoff hunt, often doubling down on the core rather than reshaping it.
Even the blockbuster Matthew Tkachuk deal, which brought in Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar, wasn’t a move aimed at long-term transformation. It was a patch job designed to keep the team competitive in the short term.
That plan didn’t pan out, and the Flames are still trying to clean up the mess.
Now in Toronto, Treliving was brought in to push an already-talented team over the top. Instead, the Leafs are six points out of a playoff spot, and the pressure is mounting. The fanbase is restless, the media spotlight is scorching, and the direction feels muddled.
Treliving’s Fingerprints Are Already All Over This Team
There’s a narrative floating around that Treliving hasn’t had enough time to truly shape the Leafs. But let’s not kid ourselves-he’s already made significant changes.
Last summer, he stripped away familiar pieces on the fringes of the roster and brought in players who fit a new identity: bigger, tougher, more experienced. The goal was to build a team that could thrive in the grind of playoff hockey, one that matched head coach Craig Berube’s hard-nosed style.
So far? That vision hasn’t come to life.
The Leafs are older, slower, and more injury-prone. Secondary scoring remains a glaring issue.
And while some of that can be chalked up to bad luck, a lot of it is by design. This is the blueprint Treliving chose.
If this is what he builds around a win-now core, it’s fair to ask what a full reset under his leadership would even look like.
The Berube Fit Has Been a Tough Sell
Craig Berube is a respected coach with a clear identity-he wants his teams to play heavy, physical, structured hockey. That worked wonders in St.
Louis in 2019. But trying to replicate that success with this Leafs roster has been a square-peg-round-hole situation.
Toronto simply doesn’t have the personnel to play that kind of game night in and night out. The wear and tear is showing, and the injury list keeps growing.
It’s not just a matter of effort-it’s a matter of fit. You can’t ask finesse players to suddenly become bruisers, and the toll is evident.
And because Treliving handpicked Berube and built a roster to match his style, the two are inextricably linked. When the system doesn’t work, it reflects on both the coach and the GM. You can’t separate one from the other.
This Is the Blueprint-And That’s the Problem
When people say Treliving hasn’t had time to implement his vision, the answer is right in front of us: we’re already seeing it. This is the team he built.
This is the identity he wanted. And it’s not working.
The Leafs aren’t just underperforming-they’re doing so in a way that raises serious questions about the direction of the franchise. If the first wave of Treliving’s moves led to a slower, more fragile, and still inconsistent group, it’s fair to wonder what a full-scale reset under the same philosophy would look like.
A successful reset requires more than just moving pieces around. It demands a deep understanding of what’s broken-and a clear plan to build something better. So far, there’s little evidence that the current regime has that figured out.
The Clock Is Ticking
Treliving’s seat is getting warmer by the week. If the Leafs continue to stumble, it’s hard to imagine him sticking around beyond this season. And if a reset is indeed on the horizon, the organization has to decide whether he’s the right architect to oversee it.
Because this isn’t just about salvaging a season-it’s about charting the course for the next five years. And that means the decisions made over the next few months could define the franchise for a long time to come.