For the first time since he was relieved of his duties as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs in late March, Brad Treliving  stepped into the public eye to look back at a turbulent, ultimately disappointing chapter in his hockey life.

Guesting on TSN’s OverDrive on Wednesday, Treliving did not shy away from the fallout of a 2025-26 campaign that saw the Maple Leafs plummet from a 108-point powerhouse to a 78-point, division-basement afterthought. The shar decline  cost Treliving his job, triggered a front-office overhaul with newly installed GM John Chayka and advisor Mats Sundin, and culminated just last week in the dismissal of head coach Craig Berube.

Currently overseas in Switzerland serving as Co-GM of Team Canada at the 2026 IIHF Worlds, Treliving used the appearance to dissect what went wrong in Toronto, defend his relationship with Berube, and offer illuminating thoughts on the futures of core pillars Morgan Rielly and John Tavares.

When looking at the stark contrast between Toronto’s run to Game 6 of the second round against the Florida Panthers last spring to missing the playoffs this season, Treliving didn’t have a clean answer. Instead, he views the unraveling as a slow, agonizing erosion.

"To me, a little bit of a death of a thousand cuts," Treliving said. "But at the end of the day... I don't think our record was indicative of the type of team that we had there. We see what the team was able to accomplish the year before."

Treliving was quick to shoulder his portion of the blame while acknowledging that a systemic failure of this magnitude left a mark everywhere.

"When you're the manager you take responsibility for it, so the responsibility is mine," Treliving said bluntly. "But I always say management, coaching, players, we all share, right? We all got 33 percent here."

The excuses were readily available. Toronto's crease was decimated early on, forcing the club to navigate critical stretches without their top netminders, alongside a rotating door of injuries. Yet, Treliving refused to let those structural hurdles hide the deeper, cultural deficiencies that plagued the roster from opening night.

"I certainly think that, you can look and say there was injuries, the beginning of the year, the goaltenders were, we had lost the goaltenders, but everybody goes through injuries," Treliving noted. "To me, those were an excuse. There was a fall off there, we didn't have the buy-in."

From the outside looking in,  the eye test in Toronto often mismatched the scoreboard during the early months of the winter. The Maple Leafs were picking up occasional points, but the process appeared to be broken. Treliving confirmed that the front office was seeing the exact same red flags as early as November.

"The biggest challenge for me was, when I talked a little bit about it in November, as even the games we won on the scoreboard we weren't winning," Treliving explained. "Whether it be shot share, controlling play, driving play."

Under Berube's system, the Maple Leafs severely regressed in advanced metrics. They lost their identity as a team that could choke out opponents through possession, transitioning instead into a group that surrendered high-danger chances at an alarming rate.

"That's something that you know maybe not for today but in the future here I'll be able to, you know, dissect a little bit further and give a better, more intelligent answer," Treliving said. "But certainly over the last little bit, it was a quick turnaround, left Toronto and jumped into this pretty quick. But certainly doing a lot of reflecting on, on my time there, disappointing it came to an end for sure. Loved every minute of it, but it, listen, I understand it was a tough year. And when you go through a year like that there's consequences."

A central narrative surrounding the Leafs' downfall was the rumored friction between the general manager's office and the bench. When Chayka fired Berube last Wednesday after just two seasons in Toronto, speculation intensified regarding whether Treliving and Berube had truly been aligned on the team's tactical and structural direction.

Treliving pushed back against reports of internal discord, painting a picture of a healthy, communicative partnership that survived the market's intense pressure cooker.

"T there was never a time where we weren't on the same page," Treliving insisted. "You debate with the coach and the manager, I think that's the most important relationship in the organization, right? You're always going to have debates on certain things but I consider Craig a good friend, a close friend, we talk regularly."

Perhaps the most eye-opening segment of Treliving's interview centered on longest-serving Maple Leaf Morgan Rielly. His  future has become a lightning rod for debate as Chayka and Sundin look to speed up the defense.

Treliving, who spent hours in close quarters with Rielly during their shared time in Toronto, offered a candid assessment of the immense psychological toll that playing in the Toronto fishbowl exacts on its leadership group.

"Listen, he's been there a long time," Treliving said. "I think there's a heaviness that goes with it. He's a guy that he feels a real responsibility in Toronto. No question the last couple years and he'd probably be the first to tell you that it hasn't been perfect by any stretch."

While Rielly's defensive vulnerabilities and declining foot speed became glaring issues during the Leafs' second-half collapse, Treliving remains adamant that the 32-year-old defenseman is far from finished as an impactful NHL contributor. Crucially, however, Treliving dropped a subtle hint that Rielly's remaining years might be best spent outside of Ontario.

"I think there's lots of game left in Morgan," Treliving said. "As you get older you got to do different things in terms of your conditioning levels and how you take care of yourself. But even you know, you see it here, you get him around a different environment... he's been real solid. We've had a chance to spend some time over here, him and I," Treliving shared. "I know how much he cares about the Leafs, the market, but I do think, I do think hockey there and who knows what the future holds, but sometimes a change is good for everybody, right? So I don't know what the future holds for him, but I still think there's a good NHL defenseman there."

While Rielly’s future in blue and white appears murky, John Tavares may found a blueprint for his own longevity while playing for Team Canada overseas. With Canada’s roster bursting at the seams with natural center icemen, Tavares has shifted to the left wing, playing alongside old postseason ally Ryan O'Reilly.

"I think we've got, of our 14 forwards, I think we've got 11 natural centers," Treliving noted. "So somebody's got to go to the wall."

The tactical shift isn't entirely unprecedented. Treliving reminded listeners that the seeds for this transition were planted during the 2023 playoffs under Sheldon Keefe following the trade deadline acquisition of O'Reilly.

"It's something that we talked about as a staff over the last year and a half,” Treliving said aout the idea of revisiting Tavares at left wing.

For a player whose skating stride has faced intense scrutiny as he enters his mid-30s, the move to the flank has unlocked a rejuvenated version of the former Leafs captain.

"He's been really good, you know, and even on the big ice, John's moving well," Treliving observed. "He's playing with Ryan O'Reilly. There's been some chemistry there. I think John scored in every game. And he's been a leader. He's been a big influence for a lot of these young guys. So it is something."

With Toronto moving into an era defined by a need for cap efficiency and tactical flexibility under a yet-to-be-named new head coach, Treliving strongly suggested that Tavares' international experiment should become a permanent reality when he returns to Toronto.

“it might be something that, you know, when he gets back to Toronto and as he carries on, that they look at because he's been real good."