In his end-of-season press conference, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving was vague about plans for his team’s off-season. But one comment he made was particularly interesting.
“There’s some DNA that has to change in our team,” he told reporters Thursday.
Now, many observers would interpret that to mean notable roster changes are coming for the Maple Leafs. However, it’s fair to ask that the DNA of Leafs management in the post-Brendan Shanahan Era must also change.
If Treliving wants his players to have more of a killer instinct on the ice, he and his management team should have a similar, more aggressive way of dealing with the Maple Leafs’ roster.
It’s been clear that Toronto has catered to its core players in recent years.
On some levels, you can understand why. Leafs brass wanted to create an environment players would want to be part of – and you don’t get that by going full scorched-earth in player relations. You need buy-in from your most important employees, and that’s what Treliving & Co. have been trying to do.
But if you want a team to follow the lead of organizations that have gone further in the Stanley Cup playoffs than the Maple Leafs have, you absolutely want to see more of that assertiveness when making personnel decisions.
Look at the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers, for instance. Vegas became a Cup champion with a cold-blooded approach that regularly jettisoned players as they tried to find the winning lineup.
The Panthers, meanwhile, made major moves, including trading Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar in a package for Matthew Tkachuk and walking away from Brandon Montour due to salary cap reasons.
They were proactive on numerous fronts, including picking up Brad Marchand and Seth Jones this season. And now, the Panthers are back in the Cup final. It’s not a coincidence that Vegas and Florida got to where they are right now. It’s a function of the philosophy they’ve used in building and changing as needed.
So when we’re talking about the Maple Leafs changing their management’s DNA, Leafs fans should want to see Treliving being willing to walk away from players they might not have walked away from in the past. Whether that means parting ways with stars Mitch Marner and John Tavares when they become UFAs a month from now, or whether that means convincing defenseman Morgan Rielly to waive his no-trade clause, the bottom line is there can be no more sentimentality ruling the day when it comes to figuring out a new core to build around.
This means going to Marner and Tavares with a certain dollar figure and, in essence, telling them, “If you want to stay in Toronto, it’s going to be on our terms.”
So if Marner wants to set a new bar for the Leafs’ salary structure, and he doesn’t want to take less money than Auston Matthews’ $13.25 million cap hit or as much as star right winger William Nylander’s $11.5 million, then Treliving must be prepared to move on without Marner.
The days of half the Leafs’ roster getting some form of no-trade or no-move clause also have to end. Suffice it to say, they cannot improve as easily when so many players who should be traded are locked in with the Maple Leafs. Maybe that means handing out only modified no-trade clauses and not offering them to depth players, but limiting them would be another instance of management having a different DNA.
Again, we’re not suggesting Treliving take on a dictatorial tone with each relationship he’s got with his players. But on some foundational level, there cannot be a country club atmosphere any longer in Toronto. When you see teams like the Panthers and Golden Knights being strong-willed when it comes to player relations, that’s a path you clearly should want to follow.
So yes, by all means, let’s see the Maple Leafs continue to evolve their on-ice approach to be much tougher to play against. But without a DNA change in the ways Leafs management works with its players, Toronto’s struggles are bound to continue.
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