Maple Leafs need to catch up to Keith Pelley’s expectations

“”It’s go time”-Izzy Mandelbaum”-Keith Pelley. Following the recent Board of Governors meeting in New York, Keith Pelley sat down with Piere LeBrun of The Athletic and provided some votes of confidence in both Brad Treliving and Craig Berube. Not the usual votes of confidence you hear before the hockey operations department is shuffled out the door and a long rebuilding process begins, but what seemed like a genuine appreciation for the way the hockey bosses conduct themselves and a sense of relief that they are on the same page when it comes to the direction of the club.

The main takeaway here is the final quote in the piece, and Pelley states: “You know the age of this team. It’s go time. And I think we have two leaders, in Brad and Chief, to hopefully take us to the promised land.”

That’s what needs to be explored a bit further and where the pressure is on the Leafs to meet that “go time” expectation.

First, it’s a cold dose of reality that we’re back to talking about the Maple Leafs as an aging team. Generously, Matthews and Nylander are in the late part of their prime and there is little reason to believe that any drop off is imminent. Matthew Knies certainly has established himself if not as a star about the closest thing to one as you can be and is entering his prime as a reliable contributor, so that’s a reason for some optimism, but when you look at the blueline it is a very different story. Four of the top six, and in fact the four minute leaders are all north of 30 in age and there are signs of slowing down. Toss in the age for players like Tavares, Jarnkrok, Domi, and Laughton and the Leafs are a lot older and slower than we’ve seen over the past decade (I guess the natural aging process and not turning over your core will do that.) Suddenly, “go time” seems less about the Leafs being ready to win now and more about it being now or never.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done to make the Leafs ready for “go time” and averaging 3.75 goals against in the first four games and Anthony Stolarz starting slow puts a giant question mark next to one of the Leafs’ biggest strengths last season, (fully acknowledging the season couldn’t be any younger and the game against the Rangers has already started to kill that narrative) Toronto needs to rectify their team defence challenges and optimistically, that should could with players like Nic Roy and Brandon Carlo gaining more experience in the Leafs lineup and a healthy Scott Laughton joining the club in the coming weeks.

Pelley acknowledged the decision to move on from Marner and the need to do something different but part of that acknowledgement came with a call to use the cap space created from his departure wisely and until more has been seen from this Leafs team, it’s not certain if they are meeting that target and presumably further adjustments are required. There seemed to be a subtle nod to Kampf’s contract still hitting the team and potentially the ongoing pressure of more expensive depth like Domi, Jarnkrok, Joshua, Robertson, Ekman-Larsson, and Maccelli to produce.

The statement, “There’s no question we didn’t have as much cap room last year at the playoff (trade) deadline, that perhaps we needed to make a move that might have even taken us further. But we’re really conscious of cap room. We definitely have flexibility. And it’s go time now for us,” seems to come with the awareness that Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo weren’t ideal targets but also raises the question why the Leafs chose to part with two first round picks, Fraser Minten, and Nikita Grebenkin in order to make two moves might not have been as ideal as one big splash, but that’s a topic for another day. The point is, Pelley believes something bigger is possible now and wants the Leafs to go for it. While I believe Pelley’s confidence in Treliving is genuine, there seems to be a higher standard in place, which should also be encouraging for Leafs fans.

“Go time” is probably a throwaway line from a CEO who was pouring out of all day meetings and wanted to say something to generate excitement. It is also a publicly set expectation and a requirement that improvement over last season has to be shown.