Terry Koshan defines Brad Treliving’s time as general manager ‘unsuccessful’ after firing

The Toronto Maple Leafs had an eventful Monday evening, both on and off the ice. 

General manager Brad Treliving was fired 80 minutes before puck drop, as the Maple Leafs squared off with the Anaheim Ducks for the first time since Radko Gudas’ knee-on-knee hit that knocked captain Auston Matthews out for the season. Toronto put together one of its most resilient wins of the season, coming back from 3-1 in the third period to eventually win 5-4 in overtime. 

On Tuesday, Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun joined Leafs Morning Take with Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill to discuss the timing of Treliving’s firing, a look back at his three years in Toronto and how he thought the Maple Leafs responded on Monday night. 

“If the belief was that Treliving was starting to get an idea this was going to happen, perhaps it isn’t surprising, but in the moment it definitely was. You don’t see this very often, never mind the timing, but you can probably count on one hand how many general managers are let go with eight games remaining in the regular season, no matter how bad it’s gone,” Koshan said. “I guess this gives Keith Pelley a head start on the GM search, and there absolutely needs to be a thorough search done now.”

As for how Koshan viewed Treliving’s tenure as the general manager of the Maple Leafs, a time that saw Treliving lead the club to a regular-season record of 139-92-27, Koshan provided a blunt assessment. 

“An unsuccessful tenure because you aren’t judged on the regular season. You’re judged by what happens in the playoffs and what you’ve done most recently, and 2025-26 has been an absolute disaster in all regards,” Koshan said. “Treliving’s moves last summer did not work, and it’s hard to believe that three years went by this fast. I think there was quite a bit of optimism when he took over from Kyle Dubas, but it just didn’t happen, and you move on.” 

As for on the ice Monday evening, the Maple Leafs got their pound of flesh in response to the previous meeting against the Ducks on March 12 at Scotiabank Arena. 

“I thought the response was fine, good on Max Domi for making amends right away,” Koshan said. “We can discuss the fact that Gudas didn’t have much interest in fighting back, but Domi got the revenge the Maple Leafs were looking for. You look at the passion last night from top to bottom, and you question where has that been on a regular basis. It’s something that’ll keep Craig Berube up at night and be one reason he’ll lose his job in a few weeks, and it has to be incredibly frustrating for the coaching staff, knowing that these guys have it in them.”