Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said the solution to dealing with the team's bad start is not to point fingers and dig in together. But they seriously need Marner's two-way play right now.
Mitch Marner’s name was not mentioned a single time in the news conference Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving held with reporters at the quarter mark of the season on Tuesday. But read between the lines.
With the team mired in a five-game winless streak and tied for the worst record in the Eastern Conference standings, it’s clear that Marner’s absence is all over this disastrous start.
“The reality is that it’s hard to replace top people,” Treliving told reporters. “The reality is when you’re missing top people, those are big shoes to fill.”
Treliving was answering a question about injuries when he said the above quote. But 19 games in, it’s not captain Auston Matthews, goalie Anthony Stolarz or injured defensemen Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo that the Leafs have missed the most. Rather, it’s a player who has left a 102-point hole in the lineup.
The Leafs, who host the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night, could use Marner’s offense these days. More importantly, a Toronto team that is giving up the fifth-most shots per game and second-most goals per game could use also his ability to defend, turnover pucks, kill penalties and everything else he brought on a nightly basis.
Not that this is a surprise.
You don’t say goodbye to a $12-million player and not expect there to be repercussions. But it’s fair to say that no one — not Treliving, not coach Craig Berube and certainly not the fans, some of whom spent Marner’s final game in a Toronto uniform booing him off the ice — expected his absence to be this great.
Without Marner, the Leafs are off to their worst start in a decade. Eight of their 11 losses have been against teams that did not make the playoffs last season. The Leafs have lacked consistency. They no longer seem to have an identity. They don’t play fast anymore. They don’t wow you with their skill. And worse, they don’t work hard enough to grind out wins on nights when the bounces aren’t going their way.
As Treliving said, “There’s been too much vanilla.”
Part of the blame for that has to go to Berube, who in his second year behind the Leafs’ bench seems to be delivering a message that isn’t being received.
'I Fully Believe In Craig (Berube)': Brad Treliving Isn't Interested In A Coaching Change Despite Maple Leafs' Early Struggles
Treliving opened his first quarter of the season availability, taking full responsibility for the team's start.
But if you are pointing fingers, then let’s start with the guy whose fingerprints are all over this mess.
"We’re not where we want to be, and I take full responsibility for that,” said Treliving.
Treliving is right. After all, he’s the one who traded Marner to the Golden Knights at the end of the season. More importantly, he’s the one who failed to convince Nikolaj Ehlers, Jack Roslovic pr another impact free agent to sign with Toronto.
Instead, Treliving used Marner’s cap space on three forwards who have done little to make Leafs fans forget about what they gave up.
Nicolas Roy, who was acquired from Vegas in the trade for Marner, has a goal and four points in 19 games.
Dakota Joshua, who was supposed to add size and skill to the fourth line, has two goals and five points.
Matias Maccelli, who at times as played in Marner’s spot on the top line, has four goals and eight points.
Combined, they are a minus-10.
Marner, meanwhile, has four goals and 20 points and a plus-9 rating for a Vegas team that is currently holding down a wild-card spot in the West.
“They need to be better,” Treliving said of the new players that were brought in. “We’re not airlifting in 15 new people tonight. This is the group we’ve got.”
Indeed, the message in Tuesday’s news conference is that help is not on the way. A trade is not in the works. The coach is not getting fired — yet.
Give it another couple of weeks, and all options will likely be on the table. But for the time being, if the Leafs hope to turn things around, then they better put their hard hats on and get to work.
“Craig didn’t become a bad coach overnight,” said Treliving. “I think when you go through difficult times, the easy thing — and the natural thing — is you’re going to pick off the coach, the manager, whatever. The way out of it, to me, is to not point fingers but digging in together.
“I’ve got all the faith in our coach right now. So I don’t look at that as the issue. When you go through things like this, understandably everything gets talked about and looked about. But my job is to support our coach, support his message and support our group. And push the group.”
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.