4 takeaways from Brad Treliving’s 1st-quarter press conference

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving held his quarterly press conference at Scotiabank Arena prior to Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Blues, which dually served as a de facto state of the union. Treliving expressed confidence in head coach Craig Berube, while taking responsibility for the team’s 8-9-2 start to the season.

“As we sit here today, we’re not where we want to be or where we envision to be,” Treliving stated during his opening remarks. “Obviously, we’ve underperformed to this point. And I take full responsibility, I’m in charge of the hockey department, I put people in place on the ice. So, the responsibility lies with myself. And we start today and every day trying to get back up and going and improve where we are. There’s a lot of areas that need to improve on, and my job is working with Craig [Berube], the coaching staff and our players to get us back going and playing to a level that I believe we’re capable of playing.”

Treliving spoke at length on a number of pressing topics, and we’re not going to waste your time with preamble.

Here are four takeaways from Treliving’s quarterly media availability:

Treliving provides Craig Berube with a vote of confidence

Craig Berube isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. Berube’s second year behind the bench with the Maple Leafs is off to a poor start, with some calling for his firing amid the five-game losing streak. It’s important to note that Berube was selected by Treliving to take over from Sheldon Keefe, and was widely considered the best head coaching candidate on the market at the time of the Leafs’ vacancy.

“Yeah, I’ve got all the faith in our coach right now, so I don’t look at that as the issue,” Treliving said to conclude his press conference. “We go through things like this, understandably. My job right now is to support our coach, support his message, support our group.”

Berube’s north-south tactics have been criticized at times, for taking a turbo-charged collection of offensive talent and turning them into a more pragmatic group with an emphasis on getting pucks to the net. Toronto ranks tied for 5th with 67 goals scored but have surrendered 72 goals, the fourth-worst total in the NHL.

“Craig didn’t become a bad coach overnight. I think when you go through difficult times, the easy thing is to pick off the coach, the manager. The way out of it, to me, is not pointing fingers, digging in together. Craig and his staff are working hard at it, I support him and have all the faith in the world.”

Treliving emphasized that a new voice was needed upon hiring Berube. 18 months later, the Maple Leafs are free-falling and while Berube has been lauded for his tactics in the past, it’s possible that he’s getting tuned out. Berube led a fiery practice on Monday and he’s effectively been granted some room to breathe. Don’t expect MLSE CEO Keith Pelley to operate with infinite patience if the losses continue to pile up.

Don’t expect an immediate upgrade, despite Treliving constantly assessing the roster

Everyone knows the Maple Leafs sorely lack draft capital and while Treliving has navigated his cap space well to create some breathing room, don’t expect an immediate upgrade. Easton Cowan, Ben Danford and Toronto’s 2028 first-round pick are the club’s only real assets that hold national value, which makes it difficult to receive the top-six forward, or top-four defenceman that has become an urgent need. Cowan isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon, as the bridge between the team’s win-now present and an uncertain future.

“You’re always looking to make your team better. The reality in the business is that you’re not trading your way out of problems. Whether we were sitting where we are today, whether we’re sitting we were last year, the manager’s job is always looking at ways to get better

Treliving also noted that inactivity isn’t necessarily a sign of patience, but patience may be required amid these turbulent times. Toronto holds $3.2 million in cap space at the moment per PuckPedia, but this also accounts for Chris Tanev being on LTIR.

TSN’s Darren Dreger reported on Leafs Morning Take that the Leafs are looking to make player-for-player trades, rather than deal future assets. Treliving and the Maple Leafs will continue to express interest on several veteran players, but it may be easier said than done, and help isn’t immediately on the way.

The new guys simply need to contribute more

The cursory idea surrounding the 2025-26 Maple Leafs can be explained as such: with Mitch Marner traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Maple Leafs would account for his impact in the aggregate, through Nicolas Roy, Matias Maccelli, Dakota Joshua. To summarize, it simply hasn’t worked through 19 games.

We don’t want to add insult to the injured Roy, but one goal and four points in 19 games isn’t going to cut it. Roy will miss a couple of games due to an upper-body injury and is being replaced by Jacob Quillan on Tuesday. Maccelli at this best is meant to offer high-end playmaking with some scoring touch and he’s been prone to bouts of inconsistency, with four goals and eight points in 18 contests. The real culprit may be Joshua, who is among the NHL’s hits leaders, but with two goals and five points in 19 games, hasn’t produced enough.

“The new guys, they would tell you, and I’m not here to start singling out people, but there’s a different level they can get to,” Treliving said.

“They need to be better. We have to give them a path to be better. The expectation is that they can and they will be better.”

There are a lot of new faces in Tuesday’s lineup, with Cowan and Quillan likely getting extended minutes, while Troy Stecher will make his Leafs debut. John Tavares and Matthew Knies have lived up to their end of the bill, but the Leafs need greater contributions across the board from the newcomers who were expected to help change the identity of the team.

The defensive side of the puck remains a major concern for Treliving and Berube

Toronto’s descent into the NHL’s worst defensive team has been the main storyline surrounding the club through 19 games, and it’s an area Treliving had to address Tuesday.

“Starting defensively, we’ve given up too much, and that’s on our whole group. We’ve given up too much defensively. That wasn’t this team last year. We’re not playing connected. And when I talk about connected, it’s on both sides of the puck. Generating offence, we’re scoring goals but we haven’t done things to generate offense on regular basis. Conversely, we haven’t done the things that you need to do collectively as a group to prevent the other team from scoring.”

Berube previously issued a thesis statement following a November 9 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, stating that the Maple Leafs don’t value the defensive side of the puck. Chris Tanev is out of the lineup indefinitely, Brandon Carlo was placed on injured reserve, while Anthony Stolarz also remains on injured reserve as well. Will Treliving use his limited capital to find another NHL-caliber defenceman? Right now, Treliving is betting on internal improvement, with his faith placed in Berube’s pedagogy. Time will tell if the Maple Leafs are able to right the ship through the second quarter of the year.