Maple Leafs Rank Near Last Place in The Athletic's Fan-Voted Front-Office Confidence Rankings
The Florida Panthers, Dallas Stars, and the Tampa Bay Lightning are among the top teams in the rankings.
Fans don't appear confident in the Maple Leafs front office.
In a recent survey from The Athletic — which had nearly 10,000 responses from fans ranking their favourite NHL team and 250 answers ranking every club — Toronto placed 30th out of 32 NHL teams for front-office confidence from those who enjoy the sport.
Each organization was graded in roster building, salary cap management, drafting and development, trading, free agency, and vision.
The Maple Leafs received a D grade, only better than the Los Angeles Kings (31st) and the New York Islanders (32nd). Toronto was graded a D in roster building, D+ in cap management, C in drafting and development, D- in trading, C- in free agency, and D in vision, all from the fan base.
From the public, the Maple Leafs had a C in building a roster, D- in managing their cap, C in draft and development, D+ in trading, C in free agency, and D+ in vision. According to the survey which compared the rankings to last year, the Toronto fan base is 51 percent less confident this year, while the public is 53 percent less confident in the team.
23 percent of the fan base is more confident and the public confidence vote is 12 percent compared to one year ago. The Maple Leafs ranked 27th in this survey by The Athletic last summer.
"Treliving deserves credit for trying a taskmaster coach and rolling the dice on an efficient Stolarz/Woll combo. But when you look at last year’s puzzling trade deadline acquisitions on a win-now team and some of the last two years of free agency decisions, it’s hard to think the roster that can get 100-plus points blindfolded is being given its best chance for success," one person wrote in the survey.
During the height of NHL free agency, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving signed defensemen Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, forwards Max Domi and Connor Dewar, and goaltenders Anthony Stolarz and Matt Murray, among others.
Toronto also signed Alex Nylander to an AHL contract in late July, which could become an NHL deal if he impresses at Maple Leafs training camp.
"Overall, while the Shanahan/Treliving duo has been far from disastrous, it has proven underwhelming. A few diamonds in the rough, a few misses for sure, but more or less the same strategy of the previous regime," another fan added.
Right above Toronto in the rankings at 29th is former Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas and his Pittsburgh Penguins, who were ranked 10th last year.
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