Maple Leafs Had 'Brutal' Team Meeting, Per Elliotte Friedman

Via The Athletic's Joshua Kloke, forward Steven Lorentz confirmed the meeting took place on a day off. He made clear the purpose of that meeting didn't have to do with criticizing players.

“There’s highs and lows in every season but it just seems like the lows feel extra low right now,” Lorentz said. “So sometimes you just bring the team together. And it’s not always critical. Sometimes it’s just kind of, trying to pick up the other guy in the locker room. Those are good things. You call those meetings and it’s players and coaches only.”

Head coach Craig Berube, meanwhile, downplayed the timing of the meeting but not the urgency of it, considering the Leafs' precarious start to the season.

Whatever the intent, the response fell short. The Leafs followed the meeting with a 5–3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday and a 4–3 overtime defeat to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

Friedman said the performance after such a meeting was “concerning.”

“When I heard that, and then I saw how they played, for the most part, against Boston on Tuesday … they were bad for a lot of that game, really bad,” Friedman said. “And it had to be concerning that you have that kind of meeting, and that’s the response you had.”

Toronto now sits 14th in the Eastern Conference with an 8–8–2 record and will visit the Chicago Blackhawks (8–5–4) on Saturday, puck drop set for 7 p.m. ET.