2025-26 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion
- Thread starter herman
- Start date
If nothing is changed in the next couple of weeks or sooner, Berube would be in a lot of danger in terms of keeping his job.
If they're heading to miss the playoffs, I would expect Treliving would be in a lot of danger before the trade deadline.
The media sharks smell blood in the water.
L K
Well-known member
I feel like a coaching change late would be a terrible idea. Either the team gets out of the funk or they continue to plummet. You have to aim for the high lottery at that point and hope for McKenna to come in and replicate Marner. Get an offensive defenseman for the PP and hope for better healthier years from the existing core.
The move has to come right after Christmas or should wait until the offseason
The move has to come right after Christmas or should wait until the offseason
azzurri63
Well-known member
Some interesting stats. Player stats over the last 20 games.
William Nylander has 5 goals, 11 assists and a plus-minus of -10 in his last 20 games.
Auston Matthews has 9 goals, 6 assists and a plus-minus of 0 in his last 20 games.
Matthew Knies has 3 goals, 11 assists and a plus-minus of -4 in his last 20 games.
John Tavares has 6 goals, 6 assists and a plus-minus of -9 in his last 20 games.
Morgan Rielly has 3 goals, 9 assists and a plus-minus of -4 in his last 20 games.
Total Leafs core 26 goals, 43 assists combined -27.
Connor McDavid has 16 goals, 22 assists and a plus-minus of +4 in his last 20 games.
William Nylander has 5 goals, 11 assists and a plus-minus of -10 in his last 20 games.
Auston Matthews has 9 goals, 6 assists and a plus-minus of 0 in his last 20 games.
Matthew Knies has 3 goals, 11 assists and a plus-minus of -4 in his last 20 games.
John Tavares has 6 goals, 6 assists and a plus-minus of -9 in his last 20 games.
Morgan Rielly has 3 goals, 9 assists and a plus-minus of -4 in his last 20 games.
Total Leafs core 26 goals, 43 assists combined -27.
Connor McDavid has 16 goals, 22 assists and a plus-minus of +4 in his last 20 games.
Guilt Trip
Well-known member
So what? Leafs are struggling, we all know that. What's your point?
Just some facts for you...
McD only has 4 more EVP then Nylander and has played 6 games more. 6 more pts then Tavares and Knies who both have played less games. McD is well behind all 3 in 5v5 pts/60. He's not in the top 50.
The Oilers are only 7pts up on the Leafs and have played 2 games more. Their PP is operating at 30%. You think the Leafs might have won more games with a PP going at that rate?
I mean do they really want to bring in a new coach midway for this team? If you do want to wipe the slate then you can't let Tre bring in a new coach. You can only do that if you want him to stay because he's isn't getting gassed 40 games into hiring a new coach.
If we are ready to move on from Tre you let them sit in it and can fire both him and Berube in the off-season. That way you have a GM who brings in his coach from the start and isn't stuck with the last guys hire.
herman
Well-known member
This is a terrible solution, but maybe he remembers the Tampa PP scheme
Do a reverse of it with Nylander as Kucherov on the low half wall and Tavares as Point in the bumper and Matthews as Stamkos at the opposite circle. OEL as Hedman maybe. The handedness works other than OEL.
Edit: wait
Do a reverse of it with Nylander as Kucherov on the low half wall and Tavares as Point in the bumper and Matthews as Stamkos at the opposite circle. OEL as Hedman maybe. The handedness works other than OEL.
Edit: wait
I wonder if someone like DeBoer would even want to come to Toronto at this point, especially in the middle of this type of season. An old, slow team with deep seated motivational issues "led" by a $13 million superstar who may never be the player he was. Sounds risky. Then again, money talks and these guys (coaches) do have egos so he might believe he can fix things.
Arn
Well-known member
I looked at who’s signed for next season:
Forwards - Matthews, Nylander, Knies, Tavares, Domi, Joshua, Roy, Lorentz, Cowan
The D: Rielly, McCabe, Tanev, Carlo, OEL, Benoit, Myers, Mermis
Goal: Woll, Stolarz, Hildeby
Cap projected at $104m, that roster has a hit of $83 with 5 slots to fill.
We also have on the current roster Laughton, Robertson, Maccelli and McMann whose contracts end this year.
There’s room to do quite a lot next summer. I’d ditch Treliving and Berube ASAP. I’d get a new GM in, with their own coach to allow them to assess up to the deadline and then end of the season.
I really think the D needs a complete overhaul mostly to get some more puck moving ability and mobility back there.
The pending free agents and the guys in bold I’d be amenable to trading for probably the best as close to NHL ready prospects we can get who can fill out the roster, or just for other roster options depending on what the new GM/coach want.
Then during the summer there’s some decent potential UFAs about who could be chased also for “bigger” roles.
So that’s not a complete tear down. More of a retool. But it needs to be by a new GM and coach.
Forwards - Matthews, Nylander, Knies, Tavares, Domi, Joshua, Roy, Lorentz, Cowan
The D: Rielly, McCabe, Tanev, Carlo, OEL, Benoit, Myers, Mermis
Goal: Woll, Stolarz, Hildeby
Cap projected at $104m, that roster has a hit of $83 with 5 slots to fill.
We also have on the current roster Laughton, Robertson, Maccelli and McMann whose contracts end this year.
There’s room to do quite a lot next summer. I’d ditch Treliving and Berube ASAP. I’d get a new GM in, with their own coach to allow them to assess up to the deadline and then end of the season.
I really think the D needs a complete overhaul mostly to get some more puck moving ability and mobility back there.
The pending free agents and the guys in bold I’d be amenable to trading for probably the best as close to NHL ready prospects we can get who can fill out the roster, or just for other roster options depending on what the new GM/coach want.
Then during the summer there’s some decent potential UFAs about who could be chased also for “bigger” roles.
So that’s not a complete tear down. More of a retool. But it needs to be by a new GM and coach.
azzurri63
Well-known member
My point is that the core have been horrible the last 20 games. I'm comparing one guy vs our 5 best players. We are in this mess because they have been absent for a long period of time. Ya their numbers would be better if our PP was better. But who's fault is that? I guess Savard. All falls on the players. Earn your pay because right now none of them are.
Guilt Trip
Well-known member
We all know they've been struggling. And if you think this is just a players issue you're sadly mistaken.
Guilt Trip
Well-known member
Made me laugh...
mr grieves
Well-known member
Classic Freidge!
Presumably this would mean Lalonde's taking a bit of a step back from PK duties. Hopefully Van Ryn can keep up the performance there. It's been by far our biggest bright spot over the past 1.5 months (1st in the NHL since Nov. 12th).
There have been reports in media (how credible I am not sure) that DeBoer is not interested.
He is currently being well paid by Dallas.
He is currently assisting Team Canada's Olympics effort.
The Leafs situation is not very enticing as a rebuild might make more sense - they're not a team close to the cusp of winning it all where a coach like DeBoer would help to take them over the top.
By the spring, DeBoer should have several options for next season to pick from.
I do not know the credibility of that report but all four of those are established facts or close to it.
Currently, their 83.3% PK (5th best in NHL) for this season is the best PK% and ranking in the Matthews era.
2023-24 (76.9%, 23rd) and 2024-25 (77.9%, 17th) were two of their three worst seasons for PK during that time.
In a season of multiple poor results, they have clearly made some progress with the PK.
Goaltenders are the #1 PKer so they deserve some or a bunch of the credit.
If Lalonde could get similar results with their PP without the PK falling off, they'd have a good shot at making the playoffs.
Maybe I'm reading too much into this:
There was one or more reports that a thrust of their upcoming PP improvement efforts was to get Matthews more productive on the PP. If that is true and accurate (I'm not sure it is), I took that as potentially a bit encouraging - that the team believes Matthews is healthy enough to respond - that it isn't his injury that is holding him back. I guess we'll find out soon enough.
mr grieves
Well-known member
Just quoting this bit because it resonates with a thing Mirtke, Siegel, and others have been pointing out lately: the Leafs have been slow to move off coaches versus, say, Edmonton, who blew through 2-3 times as many coaches.
We really should’ve been doing more of that, rather than this commit to the coach/process stuff. Once Keefe’s Leafs blew that Habs series: “With THIS talent, you can only get THAT far!!? GTFOH!!” Rinse and repeat till you get somewhere.
It is really astonishing that this 100+ year old franchise lucked into the greatest collection of talent it’s had in those 100+ years, and then didn’t even really try to get anywhere with it.
I'm not sure about that. NHL coaches tend to get axed after ~2 years. That is an eyebrow raising number. Makes me wonder.
Until last season, what goaltending did these coaches have to work with? No coach could help Samsonov or Campbell, who are both now out of the league, stop pucks.