The Maple Leafs lost their sixth straight game on Friday since coming off the Olympic break.
By the sounds of it, Craig Berube's future as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs is in jeopardy.
In Berube's first season behind the bench, the Maple Leafs won the Atlantic Division for the first time and made it to the second round of the playoffs. It appeared that Toronto might have found the right guy to lead this group of players to a Stanley Cup, finally.
But as we all know, that hasn't occurred. Quite the opposite, actually.
They're going to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2016, with some of the NHL's top talent on their roster in Auston Matthews and William Nylander. At one point earlier this season, they were dead last in the Eastern Conference, too.
In less than a year, the Maple Leafs went from one of the NHL's best teams to one of the league's worst.
"Definitely frustrated. Pissed off," Berube said, following his team's 4-3 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. "The games are right there and we don't push as a team hard enough to win them."
On Friday, general manager Brad Treliving cited "roster construction issues" as one of the many reasons why they failed this season. But what about his head coach, who, in some instances this season, appears to have lost his players?
"Well, like everything else, we all take responsibility for it. And I think Craig's a terrific coach. It hasn't worked, right?" Treliving said after Friday's trade deadline.
"So when it doesn't work, we all share a blame, and we all share responsibility in it, right? So it starts with myself, it's the coaches, it's the players. We all are partners in this thing, and when it goes poorly, we all got responsibility for it.
"But, you know, again, to do a summation right now, I think is premature. But like everything else, we'll review at the end of the year."
As we sit here following the NHL's trade deadline — where Toronto recouped a pick in each of the first five rounds across the next two drafts for Nicolas Roy, Bobby McMann, and Scott Laughton — fans will wonder what shoe is next to drop.
Is it Berube being let go? Is it Treliving? Is it both?
Treliving was hesitant to discuss the future of this team. Maybe it's because he doesn't know whether he'll be around after this season. Whether that's the case or not, Maple Leafs fans deserve clarity on the future of their team.
I think we'll learn that sooner than later.