Brad Treliving cites lack of collective buy-in as a reason for Maple Leafs struggles

The team entered the season expecting to contend for the Stanley Cup after losing Mitch Marner and aging further. The season ended with a fifth-last finish in the NHL and led to organizational changes, including the firing of the general manager on March 30. The general manager said injuries and early goaltending losses were not sufficient explanations because other teams also face injuries. He pointed to a fall off in performance and a lack of buy-in. He also said that even when the team won on the scoreboard, it was not winning in shot share, controlling play, or driving play. The team ranked near the bottom in advanced metrics and was often outshot and outplayed.

""I certainly think that, you can look and say there was injuries, the beginning of the year, we had lost the goaltenders. But everybody goes through injuries. To me, those were an excuse," he said. "There was a fall off there. We didn't have the buy-in.  You can debate how we played a little bit. The biggest challenge for me - and I talked a little bit about it in November - was even the games we won on the scoreboard, we weren't winning. Whether it be shot share, controlling play, or driving play.""

"The Leafs were near the bottom of the league in just about every advanced metric, and how they looked on the ice might have been even more difficult to stomach on a nightly basis. They were routinely outshot, out-possessed, outplayed, and usually came up on the short end of the stick. Former head coach Craig Berube may have been able to find success in his first season in charge, but the numbers back then were also bad and foreshadowed a major regression, which ended up being the case."

"Going into the season, the consensus among the fans, media, and the team was that they could still compete for the Stanley Cup despite losing Mitch Marner and the roster getting a bit older. That ended up not being the case as the Leafs fell to fifth last in the NHL, resulting in many changes to the organization in recent weeks which included the firing of Treliving on March 30th."

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