TORONTO (Jan. 28) — I’ll give Keith Pelley credit, wherever he is (and we could hear from him soon). During his news conference as the CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (May 10, 2024 after the Leafs had been eliminated again in Game 7 of the opening round by Boston) — just more than a month after taking the job — he made no promises about the future of the club. Yet, Keith entered the pantheon of memorable Leaf quotes with a couple of doozies: “I’m not looking to replace Brendan Shanahan.” And, most enduringly, “we’re not here to sell jerseys.” Ranking right up there with former general managers Floyd Smith (“I have nothing to say and I’m only going say it once”); Cliff Fletcher (“draft schmaft”); Brian Burke (“I’ve had dips, slumps and rough patches, but this is akin to an 18–wheeler going right off a cliff”) and Brad Treliving (“we need more snot”). Shanahan, the Leafs president from 2014 to 2025, chimed in with “we are going to get this done” — gallingly, amid the lingering stench of the 2021 COVID playoff collapse against Montreal (blowing a 3–1 series lead to the inferior Canadiens).
After which, unquestionably, fracturing of the Corpse–4 should have begun.
Instead, here we are, nearly five years later, and the Leafs, derailed by horrible roster management, are walled in on all sides. They are nosediving toward the basement of the Eastern Conference — still seven points clear of the last–place New York Rangers, but only two ahead of Ottawa and Columbus — with nowhere to go. The club cannot get better (just watch the games) and cannot get worse (minus first–round draft picks until 2028). Fans are clamouring for a swap meet before the Mar. 6 National Hockey League trade deadline, urging Treliving to unload (for futures) anything on the roster that walks… and doesn’t possess a no–movement clause. In other words, the revolving and interchangable riff–raff with which management fills out the roster each summer beneath such overpaid, underperforming “stars” as Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly, who are largely stealing a combined $32.25 million this season. The trio cannot be touched (neither traded, waived, nor sent to the minors without permission). Matthews can hold the Leafs hostage for two more years; Nylander for six more (gulp!). Rielly has two more years (double–gulp!) of full protection, then can submit a 10–team no–trade list in the final two seasons of his pact. Chris Tanev, whose body is broken at 36, has full movement protection for another four seasons (triple–gulp!). Jake McCabe has two more years of full trade protection until he can submit a 16–team(!) no–trade list over the final three years. Even Brandon Freakin’ Carlo, subject of the worst Leafs trade in ages, has some leverage this year and next (three–team no–trade list). If the Leafs hang on to goalie Joseph Woll for two more years, he’ll be able to submit an eight–team list in the final season of his contract. Like McCabe, Anthony Stolarz can submit a 16–team ledger this season; 10 teams in the next two years; then five in his final year.
So, if Treliving cannot realistically touch any of Matthews, Nylander, Rielly, Tanev, McCabe, Woll and Stolarz for at least the next couple of seasons, how does the team improve? It’s a question without an answer.
Have we mentioned Zach Hyman and Mitch Marner leaving for bupkis?
So, we return to Pelley, who had nothing to do with the calamitous decisions of former GM Kyle Dubas, yet bears responsibility for Treliving, even if the current GM was hired by Shanahan. Therefore, if MLSE doesn’t exist to sell Leaf jerseys, how can Pelley hang onto Treliving… or the largely handcuffed coach (Craig Berube) Treliving hired? These are issues a progressive club might address sooner rather than later. The Leafs, with no economic motivation to change, will likely stumble along until the end of the season, after which another two unsuspecting souls will volunteer to try and repair the chaos. With nothing to show until Matthews either consents to a trade… or walks as an unrestricted free agent in 2028. Whichever comes first is an absolute necessity for the club. Not in my lifetime have the Maple Leafs possessed such an ill–suited captain — in many ways a fraud, given his complete lack of emotion and fire… and, of course, his demonstrated inability to perform when the stakes increase.
Stripping the ‘C’ from John Tavares and gifting it to Matthews might rank as the stupidist decision in club annals.
Fast–forward to mid–January of this year and the Leafs became rather Ballard–esque, which is not a compliment. Both Matthews and Nylander, the club “leaders”, flashed their true colors. Matthews, cranky as ever, seemed envious of the attention directed toward his prolific former linemate, Marner, and refused to meet with reporters after a home–ice spanking by the Golden Knights. In so doing, he offered his most–insightful commentary of the season. At his very best, the captain provides cliché–driven claptrap, such as this after Wednesday night’s embarrassment at home to Buffalo: “I think the belief in the room is there. We can’t look any further than what’s in front of us. It’s about the next game against Seattle and making sure we are ready to go; realizing how important these points are.” Of course, Auston will be unprepared to challenge the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday (Sportsnet, 10 p.m. EST). I repeat, for the thousanth time: the sooner he wears a rival NHL jersey, the quicker the Leafs can recover from this bogus decade. Why the media coddles and pampers No. 34 is an unsolved mystery.
Nylander, though superbly gifted, showed he has neither the inclination nor maturity to help the Leafs when it matters. There was nothing mysterious about his one–finger salute. It was just No. 88 being sillly Willie. His forged “apology” was swallowed by most when, in fact, someone from management quickly texted him about being a fool in front of TV cameras. And prompted him to fib through his teeth about “frustration”. Had Nylander said “I was just being my normal, goofy self”, it may have resonated. Otherwise, it was an ignorant gesture for which the league fined him $5,000. Akin to one of us being docked roughly eight cents in salary. I did the math: Willie pulls in $11.5 million a season. Divided by 82 games, he earns $140,243.90 per match. Divide that number by 60 and we get $2,337.39 per minute. The NHL forced him to cough up 2½ minutes of pay. Clearly a major deterrent (sigh).
As to why hockey players in Toronto believe they are immune to professional comportment, check out this Tweet from my former FAN–590 running–mate, David Alter, who does lots of good work for The Hockey News:
Owning up to it, David? What should silly Willie have done? Deny the finger salute, seen by millions of people, either live or on tape? This is precisely what leads to the entitlement that annoys fans of the hockey club.
So, honestly, what is Keith Pelley thinking?
The circus is back in town. The Leafs have gone straight into the dumper on his watch. They cannot soar; they cannot stink. The team is suspended in purgatory after a decade of the worst decision–making in franchise history. How can anyone unravel the mess with no draft choices and blasé, uninspired athletes protected by ridiculous contracts? Pelley’s silence has been deafening. We’re likely to find him, very soon, in front of TV cameras thanking Treliving and Berube for their efforts. Where it goes from that point is anyone’s guess.
FROM THE VAULT — THE RIVAL WHA
IN MY COLLECTION, I HAVE MEDIA GUIDES (ABOVE) FROM ALL SEVEN SEASONS OF THE WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION: 1972–73 TO 1978–79. SEVERAL OF THE GREATEST NAMES IN HOCKEY HISTORY SKATED IN THE WHA, INCLUDING WAYNE GRETZKY, GORDIE HOWE, BOBBY HULL AND MARK MESSIER. BELOW ARE SOME PAGES FROM THE INAUGURAL WHA GUIDE, 53 YEARS AGO:
FRONT AND REAR COVERS OF THE FIRST WHA GUIDE.
THIS CHARTER MEMBER OF THE WHA (ABOVE) RELOCATED TO OUR CITY AFTER ONE SEASON. THE TORONTO TOROS PLAYED A YEAR AT CRAMPED AND ANCIENT VARSITY ARENA BEFORE MOVING TO MAPLE LEAF GARDENS. THE FRANCHISE LEFT FOR BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA AFTER THE 1975–76 SEASON. BELOW: HULL WAS THE MARQUEE NAME IN THE LEAGUE WITH THE FIRST WINNIPEG JETS.
THE FIRST PUCK–DROP IN WHA HISTORY OCCURRED AT THE OTTAWA CIVIC CENTRE (STILL ATTACHED TO THE MAIN GRANDSTAND OF TD PLACE STADIUM; FORMERLY LANSDOWNE PARK). THE NATIONALS HOSTED THE ALBERTA OILERS ON OCT. 11, 1972.
EMAIL: HOWARDLBERGER@GMAIL.COM
Burn it to the Ground and rewrite the ring with JT.
Psst… Mark Hunter anyone???
Waiting for the shoe to drop. The easiest moves are firing the GM and the coach.
Berube is an inspirational leader, but he’s not an X’s-and-O’s guy. Toronto needs to commit to a defensive system and stop constantly tinkering with the lines. Chemistry takes time, and players need consistency to develop it.
Treliving made the moves that built the team for this season. In totality the record of transactions and decisions is disastrous, stupid. Treliving must go. Berube can stay.
Can’t disagree with anything you wrote. Matthew plays like he is only waiting for the Olympics to start. And, Nylander should have been fined by the team as well. Glad they won’t make the playoff. It deserves MLSE right not to have their team make that extra cash from the playoffs. For all the bad decisions over the past 10 years the bubble has burst.
at the break i would let the coach go let the assistants run the bench. head coach search over the summer. approach AM34 about a trade out of TO.i do not think Treliving should be incharge of the teardown.PELLY needs to hire a gm asap.recoup what you can picks players and go into next season with a different approach
What would it take to bring in the Hunter brothers? Who better with the knowledge of previous and upcoming players. They have years of success and I’m sure they as best as anyone else could bring it with them.
they have a dynasty in LONDON i do not believe they want this mess.owners and gm only report to themselves. a good idea though
What’s Kieth Pelly thinking Howard? He’s probably trying to figure out how to charge extra for the ketchup, mustard or relish packets for the hotdogs, or perhaps the cups for the beer. He’s tasked with maximizing the fleecing without over-exerting the shear.
He has no more clue about running a hockey team or building a competent hockey front office than me or any of your readers. It’s hard to believe that firing Shanahan could have been the wrong decision but….
Apparently Chris Drury met wth Artemi Panarin and told him the Rangers would not resign him and would work with him to find a suitable new team. The Rangers are working to make the Rangers better, however that may be. Do the Leafs have a retool strategy and the same balls as Drury and Co. have? Absolutely not. Just sayin’…
Howard,
Excellent writing. Were you ever at the Star or Sun? Pardon me but left Muddy York 27 years ago. IMHO AM + MM are or were the locker room cancer. MM gone. AM needs to go. Once another $12.25M is freed up then MLSE can do something…just to reright the ship. As far as playoofs and pursuing the cup? That requires major orthopeadic replacments….BT has to go. Not sure the Berube “System” works. Dump and chase is not this teams salsa. But at least he seems to coach in a non invasive style. Lets keep him until a new GM can give him better pieces to use. Well said. 10 years and a lot of fans $$ wasted. so sad. God bless.
Very well articulated, Howard. Wondering if, a) Pelley actually will say or, at least, do something. b) Is it not possible for management to make life just miserable enough for the Big 3 that they actually acquiesce and allow a trade? At the very least, their lives will likely be much less stressful somewhere else.
Saw an article this morning that the Leafs once had top doctors to help keep the players healthy. But, since Pelley took the helm, the top doctor left and was not replaced. There’s a pattern here. Shanahan was not replaced, Masai Ujiri was not replaced. Looks like Pelley is cutting costs and perhaps receiving lucrative bonuses for doing so?
It should be obvious that Treliving has no idea how to manage in the big leagues. The Leafs are a joke now and need to rebuild but the deals Trevliving made last year make that impossible. Mats Sundin never complained when he had to play on a line with Hoglund and Berezin and I always wondered what he could have done with legitimate 1st line linemates. I bet Sundin was frustrated but he never showed it. Matthews is not Sundin and his frustration playing on a line with fourth liners like Domi is hard for him to hide.
The onus is on the players. The GM and Coach don’t take a shift every game (although I’d love to see Chief lace em up and show em how a real man plays). The GM has made a myriad of mistakes, however he inherited a bare cupboard of prospects and draft picks and some shi**y contracts. Having said that, it’s time to force the hand of Matthews, Nylander, Reilly etc and drive em out of town. We need to change the leaderahip culture immediately. Bring back Lou!
Agreed!!
Treliving never made sense as GM. He was just available. Dubas was also a ridiculously inexperienced and flawed choice. The richest team in hockey should be able to get the best people available. Why aren’t they? Nothing short of that should be Pelley’s stated mandate. Better late than never.
Memories: I was doing the radio play by play on CkFH the night Sittler registered the 10 points!
R
Cool!
Welcome Back Friend. (I for one, miss your insightful prose)
I’m still hoping the Pelley has the guys/balls to hire Gretzky and Messier to lead this team – Throw them on the ice if it makes the team more competitive. I don’t care in what capacity, but Toronto needs decisive change at the top.
What happened in Calgary with Treliving is happening here. It needs to stop.
Right on the money about Matthews!! Ditto for Nylander. They need to be replaced with good leaders before this team will be good enough, as a tuned team, to go far in the playoffs.
I doubt Keith Pelley can handle a difficult situation such as the Maple Leafs are in now. Treliving deserves the door and things cannot improve until he’s fired and a competent person is hired as GM. How long will it take? Treliving’s moves since March 2025: Laughton Carlo Tavares Marner Holmberg Steeves Maccelli Joshua Kampf. Nine moves, all mistakes.
I truly wish you or someone like you Howard could crystallize, once and for all, exactly what it is that creates the incompetence at MLSE. In a world of data and analytics, 59 years without so much as even being to a Stanley Cup final screams inept but what else? More recently, it’s the same. Through all the Matthews/Nylander/Marner years, you’d be lying to yourself if you ever saw the Leafs as anything better than the fifth or sixth best team in the NHL. Here’s an idea for a short book: Go to Burke, JFJ, Treliving after he’s canned, Sundin, Gilmour and Sittler and ask one question for attribution: Ask them why? Or what gets in the way? There is a systemic issue here. Is it greed? Is it delusion? Is it culture? Is it simply the often repeated fact that fans show up regardless? What is it? What the bloody hell is it?