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Maple Leafs GM Tossed Overboard of Sinking Ship

Originally posted on Inside The Rink
By Jeremy Ridgewell | Last updated Mar 31, 2026 2:37 PM ET

The Toronto Maple Leafs season is capsizing, so GM Brad Treliving has finally been cast overboard. It appears that MLSE is actively looking for his replacement. Who might succeed Treliving as general manager?

After Monday’s announcement about parting ways, a bigger question looms: Why should anyone in Toronto be left with a belief that Keith Pelley is capable of saving this sinking ship? Toronto’s win over the Anaheim Ducks in overtime on Monday is not the talk of the town.

I mean, it was Pelley who pushed former president Brendan Shanahan out the door 10 months ago. At the time, Pelley said, “My role is to try to create a culture and a chemistry within that organization that builds a culture of winning championships.”

Pelley said it was “go time” for the Leafs back in October when he spoke to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. He beamed with a vote of confidence for Treliving and head coach Craig Berube: “I think we have two leaders, in Brad and Chief, to hopefully take us to the promised land.” The president and CEO of MLSE was either wrong then, or he’s wrong now. Either way, he’s got a difficult task ahead of him.

Leafs and Treliving Part Ways

Treliving bears full responsibility for the decisions that took the Leafs from first to almost last in the Atlantic Division. Berube will inevitably have to answer for his role, too. However, placing all of the blame on just two people for this catastrophic season seems a tad harsh. At the end of the day, someone has to take the fall for Toronto missing the playoffs for the first time in the Auston Matthews era.

One has to wonder how much influence Pelley has behind the scenes, dating back to Shanahan’s firing. Some think Pelley had a big role in the moves Treliving made at the NHL trade deadline. If that is the case, why not fire Treliving before the deadline?

Pelley is two years into his job at MLSE, after a 10-year stint running the PGA European Tour. Before that, he was a television executive and president of the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts.

Now that he’s made two drastic front office changes, Pelley is on the clock to reconstruct the Maple Leafs heading into the summer. Could Matthews’ future with the organization be hanging in the balance? The possibility of a lengthy rebuild is not out of the question. Pelley and his bosses are on a path they didn’t plan to go down.

Pelley’s Role Going Forward

“My role is to be a sounding board,” Pelley said in May. “My role is to try to create a culture and a chemistry within that organization that builds a culture of winning championships. So that’s the way I look at it. I look at it as a holistic leader that can provide support and guidance from a leadership perspective, from a cultural side.”

It was two years ago when Pelley took the podium after Toronto got eliminated by the Boston Bruins in Round 1 and said he didn’t take this job to sell more jerseys. Fast forward to last season when he spoke of the pressure he felt while watching the Leafs get dismantled 6-1 in Game 7 on home ice by the Florida Panthers. He said, “I think we have to be on the pathway to winning the Stanley Cup.”

So, when Pelley speaks Tuesday afternoon in Toronto, it will be fascinating to hear what his plan is now. The future looks bleak in Toronto.

This article first appeared on Inside The Rink and was syndicated with permission.

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