Maple Leafs News & Rumours: Hildeby, Laughton, Berube & Treliving

Scott Laughton provided the lone Maple Leafs goal, but the game drifted away in the third period after Sam Steel’s early goal stood as the winner. It was a quiet, frustrating end to a trip that never found its footing.

Item One: The Power Play Is No Longer a Slump — It’s a Problem

At some point, you stop calling it bad luck. The Maple Leafs went 0-for-4 on the power play in Dallas, dropping them to a league-worst 12-for-90 on the season — a stark 13.3 percent. That’s not a small sample size. That’s an identity issue. Against a team like the Stars, who play tight defensively and protect the middle of the ice, special teams are supposed to be the equalizer. Instead, Toronto’s power play has become something opponents survive rather than fear.

What makes it harder to swallow is that the opportunities were there. Auston Matthews had a clean breakaway early after stripping Thomas Harley just inside the blue line, only to be denied by Oettinger’s glove. Late in the second period, the Maple Leafs had three prime chances in rapid succession — shots by Troy Stecher and Laughton from close range, followed by a Simon Benoit attempt that never made it through. Those moments felt like turning points, the kind where a power-play goal changes the mood of the bench. Instead, they reinforced a growing sense of inevitability.

The troubling part isn’t just that the goals aren’t coming — it’s that the power play doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. Is it a puck-movement unit? A shooting gallery? A net-front chaos group? Right now, it looks like a collection of talented players waiting for something to break. And when that happens night after night, the pressure doesn’t just build externally. It creeps inward.

Item Two: Christmas in Toronto Can’t Be Happy for Craig Berube

Head coach Craig Berube’s hockey team has been flat, disconnected, and joyless. Take away an eight-second miracle against the Chicago Blackhawks — without Connor Bedard — and this group has lost three in a row and four of its last five. You can argue they’ve played better in stretches, and that’s fair. But they’re stuck, and they’re losing while being stuck, which is the dangerous part.

The standings still offer some cover. Toronto sits at 15-15-5, dead last in the Atlantic Division, but not buried. In theory, there’s time. In theory, this can still turn. But dig into the numbers on Natural Stat Trick, and the optimism drains quickly. The team is near the bottom of the league in expected goals, shots, and scoring chances. The Maple Leafs look less like an underachiever and more like a team being propped up by goaltending and the occasional bounce. That’s not a foundation — it’s a delay.

Which brings us to the uncomfortable question Brad Treliving can’t avoid much longer: Is Berube still reaching his room? The top players look frustrated. Nobody seems to be dragging the group forward. The overall feel is of a team waiting — for confidence, for clarity, for something to snap them out of it.

Waiting is dangerous in the NHL. With one more game before Christmas, the margin is thin. A strong stretch quiets the noise. Another lifeless one may force a decision nobody wanted to make this early.

Where All This Leaves the Maple Leafs

Dallas earned the win. They’re structured, confident, and getting elite goaltending. Oettinger even picked up an assist for good measure. For the Maple Leafs, though, the bigger story is what followed them home: another loss, another quiet night from the top of the lineup, and another game where the power play failed to provide a lifeline.

Road trips don’t define seasons, but they do expose fault lines. And right now, the Maple Leafs’ special teams — especially with the man advantage — feel like the one widening the fastest.