The firing of general manager Brad Treliving last week is clearly the first blow to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ownership and MLSE President and CEO Keith Pelley have made that clear. Insider Elliotte Friedman gives us the latest insider information about a recent meeting that has left employees around the organization on high alert.
Following the change in general manager, Keith Pelley held a Zoom call with members of the hockey operations department. And after it's over, and from talking to several people over the past few days, it's pretty clear that they're expecting big changes.
I asked, 'Did Pele say anything specifically about 'change' there?' And it wasn't that much Wordit was about how he talked. One of the things he mentioned was, 'We're going to use our resources to our fullest capacity.' And he got the feeling that (Pelé) felt he wasn't doing it. So I think people are expecting there to be more changes.
The Leafs are believed to have some strong analytical people on their staff, including special assistant to the general manager Darryl Metcalf and hockey research and development analyst Cam Charone. This is probably a big part of what the team president was referring to by reiterating that they were not utilizing their resources to their full potential.
More 'big changes' coming for Leafs front office
Pelé cited during his big press conference last week that he has plans to find a more 'data-centric' head of hockey operations. It seems like he's looking for someone like... Kyle Dubas. Leafs fans have probably heard of this guy.
Dubas, who has the Pittsburgh Penguins on the verge of clinching a highly unlikely playoff berth this season, was the man who hired players like Metcalf and Charron for the Toronto front office. Dubas is the one who led that strong analytics department.
Of course, previous Leafs corner office ideologues decided to drop Dubas after the 2022-23 season, after seven seasons of playoff failures that included only one series win. The postseason decline continued for nine years following Dubas' departure, and has now resulted in a complete ban on the playoffs this year.
For now, assistant GMs Brandon Pridham and Ryan Hardy are co-managing the Leafs on an interim basis.
Pelé and his staff have a lot of work to do to turn this around. From the sounds of it, a lot of people in that front office will be looking over their shoulders.
The irony is that the Leafs may have still won something by losing on Saturday night. By allowing the Los Angeles Kings to steal two points in an overtime win, LA remains in a tie for the final wild card berth in the Western Conference. If the Kings make the postseason, the third-round selection sent to Toronto for Scott Laughton at the trade deadline becomes a second-rounder.
