The Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves in unfamiliar territory - and not in a good way.
Sitting 10 points behind the Bruins, Canadiens, and Sabres in the playoff race, the Leafs are staring up at a crowded Atlantic Division with no signs that any of those teams are about to hit the skids. That gap, combined with their recent slide, puts Toronto in a position they haven’t been in for years: potential sellers at the trade deadline.
With the March 6 deadline just over a month away, the conversation around the Leafs has shifted from “Who can they add?” to “Who might they move?”
This pivot comes after a turbulent stretch that included the firing of assistant coach Marc Savard in early December. The move was a response to the team’s sputtering power play and overall inconsistency.
At the time, GM Brad Treliving made it clear he wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. Toronto was sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic and second-last in the Eastern Conference, but there was still a runway - time for a turnaround, time for the standings to shuffle.
“We’re not here waving a white flag,” Treliving said back on December 23. “You continue to monitor your team, what’s going on in the league.
You’re having discussions with different teams. If you can find somewhere to help your team, from bringing a player in or making a deal, obviously, that’s what you look to do.”
But he also made one thing clear: the biggest fix needed to come from within. “When you’ve got people who are underperforming, the best way to turn it around is to get people playing to the level that they can.”
Since that statement, the Leafs have gone 9-6-4 - a respectable stretch that ties them for the sixth-most points in the league during that span. But that stat doesn’t tell the whole story.
Zoom in on the most recent stretch, and it’s a different picture: six straight losses. That’s the kind of skid that raises red flags, especially for a team already on the outside looking in.
Treliving joined TSN1050’s OverDrive on Thursday and was once again asked the big question: When does the front office decide whether this team is buying or selling?
His answer was layered and pragmatic.
“We’ve got a three-week break for the Olympics. We come back and we’ve got a handful of games before the March 6 deadline,” Treliving said.
“You’re always evaluating the short-term. You’re evaluating the long-term.”
He acknowledged that the Leafs have spent a lot of assets in recent years chasing a deep playoff run - and that this season feels different.
“You take all of that information, you’re continually talking throughout the league and seeing what’s in front of you,” he said. “You’re planning based on where your team’s sitting and what you think is in front of you. You’ve got four months of information already in the rearview mirror, and you make decisions accordingly.”
Translation: the Leafs aren’t rushing to make a call, but the clock is ticking - and they know it.
During Thursday night’s broadcast of the Toronto-Seattle game, insiders Nick Kypreos and Elliotte Friedman added fuel to the fire. According to their reporting, the Leafs could start selling even before the Olympic break, depending on how this road trip unfolds.
“We assume it’s business as usual,” Kypreos said. “But the thought would be now, as you watch carefully tonight and through the weekend, they may be in a position to be selling.”
Friedman echoed that sentiment, adding that the front office is already gauging the market.
“They’re going to try and figure out, ‘Okay, what’s the value of our guys? What can we really do, and what’s available to us?’ And I think they’ve started to send that signal out.”
And there are certainly pieces that could move. Pending unrestricted free agents like Bobby McMann, Scott Laughton, and Troy Stecher could draw interest from contenders looking for depth. And if the Leafs decide to go all-in on a retool, there are likely other names that could be in play.
But it all hinges on what happens next. The road trip looms large, and so far, it hasn’t inspired confidence.
So here we are: the Maple Leafs, a team that’s spent years trying to push past the playoff hump, now forced to consider whether it’s time to pivot - not toward a Cup run, but toward the future. The next few games won’t just shape their season. They might reshape their entire strategy.