Maple Leafs fan therapy week 8: Toronto might have to tank for a top-5 draft pick

So when I signed up to write a weekly column as a Toronto Maple Leafs fan at the start of this season, I was quite excited. As I wrote about in my first column, I really felt that this season was the start of something new, not a fresh page, but at least a new chapter. 

Turns out I was right, although very much not in the way I was expecting. After 22 games in the 2025–26 NHL season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a record of 9–10–3. They currently sit 15th in the Eastern Conference, four points out of the second wild card spot, and if Buffalo wins on Sunday night, they will be last in the Conference and 28th in the league. 

The Leafs are clearly in trouble, except that nobody seems to know what to do about it. At the start of the season, I wrote how the main narratives had finally gone away. Mitch Marner was no longer a Leaf; there weren’t any massive contracts that needed to be ironed out, and the Core Four era was finally over. Well, it seems a new narrative has emerged, and that would be what happens with our first-round pick this year? 

What should Toronto do now?

Yes, the Leafs, a team that has made the playoffs every single year since 2017 (2020 doesn’t count), are currently in danger of being a lottery team. Last season, the Leafs sent Fraser Minten, a 2025 4th-round pick, and our 2026 1st-round pick to the Boston Bruins, a divisional rival, for Brandon Carlo. At the time, while the price was high, the Leafs needed to bolster their blueline, and it became a real strength for them. This year, however, we’re checking the return policy. 

Brandon Carlo has been atrocious to start this season, which doesn’t matter now that he’s injured, along with half of the Leafs roster. Even worse than realizing the asset you traded for is not what you expected, is finally comprehending the true price of what you gave up. It bears repeating that the Boston Bruins hold the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 1st round pick in this 2026 NHL Draft. By some act of God, the pick is top-5 protected, which at the time was a hilarious addition, but might be what saves this franchise. The Leafs are currently a bad enough hockey team for this to be a major consideration. 

The worst-case scenario is the one that we currently see playing out. The product Toronto is icing is currently a bottom-five team in the league. But even when half the team wasn’t out, they didn’t look like a playoff team anyway. There is a world where the Leafs continue to lose while injuries continue to decimate them. But once we get the stars back, there may be too big a hole to fill. We then move into a scenario where the Leafs miss the playoffs, and hand a top-10 or even the sixth pick straight to Boston. 

Berube has lost the room

Craig Berube, speaking after the game on Saturday night, outlined the alternative: 

“Obviously, getting some people back in the lineup is definitely going to help, but until we decide to dig in and play the right way for 60 minutes on a consistent basis, it is going to be hard to pull yourself out of anything.”

That’s a quote from a coach who has lost the room. That is inexcusable. The main problem with the Leafs is not the personnel, although that’s a huge issue (Max Domi cannot play centre, he just can’t). The main problem with the Leafs is not pressure, they aren’t even the main team in their own city (talk to me when you’ve made it to Game 7 of the World Series). It’s not injuries, or opponents, or even the coach. The main problem with the Leafs is culture. They are not working as hard as the other team on the ice. 

Fans are right to be angry. This team, this organization, has no goodwill left with this city. They have wasted it at every single turn, spurning the fans and those who prop up the most valuable franchise in the league. On Saturday night, on Hockey Night in Canada, against the Montreal Canadiens, the Toronto Maple Leafs told their fans to screw off.