Weekly Takes - Monday, April 6th Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, April 6th Edition 

1. Brad Treliving’s tenure in Toronto will go down as one of the greatest failures in Toronto sports history, as outside of his 2024 offseason, he was a disaster, turning a Stanley Cup contender into a lottery team.

The good news is Keith Pelley realized this. Breathe, everyone.

2. Now that Treliving is gone and Craig Berube will surely be next, here are my top choices to replace both…

President and/or General Manager…

• Mike Gillis (Former Canucks GM)

• Jason Spezza (Pens AGM)

• Doug Armstrong (Blues GM) (if he becomes available)

• Sunny Mehta (Panthers AGM)

• Lawrence Gilman (Blue Jackets VP of Hockey Ops)

• Evan Gold (Bruins AGM)

• Darren Yorke (Hurricanes AGM)

• Kevin MacDonald (Avs AGM)

• Chris Pronger

• Mark Hunter (Knights GM)

• Kevyn Adams (Former Sabres GM)

• Doug Wilson (Pens Senior Advisor)

• Dean Lombardi (Flyers Senior Advisor)

• Mike Johnson (TSN Analyst)

A mix of current GMs, former GMs, assistant GMs, and media members. Interview them all and determine who the best fit is.

David Polie, Rob Blake, and, of course, Peter Chiarelli, do not interest me. Blake may be worth an interview but that is about it.

Head Coaches…

• David Carle (University of Denver)

• Jay Pandolfo (BU)

• Peter Laviolette (Former Rangers HC)

• Bruce Cassidy (Former Golden Knights HC)

• Jeff Halpern (Lightning AC)

• Todd Nelson (Penguins AC)

• Manny Malhotra (Canucks AHL HC)

• Jay Woodcroft (Ducks AC)

• Jeff Blashill (Lightning AC)

They also need to consider agents and former players who have never coached before – the Canadiens model. No stone should be left unturned. They have to nail these hires.

3. I was disappointed with the media’s reaction to Keith Pelley’s press conference on Tuesday.

I know they dislike him on a personal level, but outside of his silly statement about being surprised that the Sabres and Habs are good, I thought it was a great press conference.

The next head of hockey operations will need to be analytical. They are going to consider everyone and everything. He himself does not want to be involved in hockey decisions. That is not “winging it” as one talking head wrote. That is going into this process open-minded. The way it should be. 

4. Pelley being criticised for calling for a retool, rather than a rebuild, is silly too.

I understand the argument for a full blown rebuild. I strongly disagree with it, outside of Auston Matthews coming to you and demanding a trade. The purpose of a rebuild is to draft Matthews and William Nylander. They already have those players and do not have their pick in 2027. 

This is a slam dunk decision.

5. Must do’s for whoever the new head of hockey operations is come the summer…

Must Do’s…

• Fire Berube and Mike Van Ryn on the coaching staff

• Overhaul the player development and Marlies staff (fire Hayley Wickenheiser, Ryan Hardy, Jon Gruden, Derek Clancey, etc)

• Overhaul the Sports Science department

• Trade and/or buyout Max Domi and Morgan Rielly 

• Find a top-six right winger and top-nine centre

• Find two top-four defencemen

• Trade one of Anthony Stolarz/Joseph Woll

Of course, if Matthews says he wants out, a lot of this changes. 

6. The ideal Leafs lineup for 2026-2027…

Forwards…

Matthew Knies - Matthews - Vacant 

Easton Cowan - John Tavares - Nylander

Matias Macceli - Vacant - Nick Robertson 

Dakota Joshua - Jacob Qullian/Bo Groulx - Vacant

Steven Lorentz 

Defence…

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Vacant

Jake McCabe - Brandon Carlo

Vacant - Chris Tanev

Troy Stecher

Goaltending…

Woll/Stolarz 

Dennis Hildeby 

Injecting a top-five pick onto this team would do wonders, but alas.

At the end of the day, the new head of hockey ops will not have an easy job. Filling the holes listed above will not be easy, and even then, it is not as though the bottom-six or surrounding defensive core is amazing.

But a healthy Matthews, Knies, and Tanev, a second-year Cowan, a more established Macceli and Joshua, and no Berube, Domi, Rielly, Simon Benoit, and Philippe Myers (aka: deadweight and additions by subtractions) will make this team significantly better even before any additions. 

I truly do believe this team can get back to being a playoff team.

7. The “additions by subtractions” is where analytics truly come into play, by the way. 

All week on OverDrive, we listened to Jeff O’Neill bitch and moan about analytics, saying how they point out all the obvious things that “good hockey men” see with their eyes.

Well, unfortunately, despite Treliving and Berube being “good hockey men”, the Leafs acquired and iced horrendous players at the bottom of their roster and it was simply too much for them to overcome when they were trying to be competitive earlier in the season.

Kyle Dubas, meanwhile, is paying Anthony Mantha $2.5M to score 30 goals and gave up 2nd and 3rd round picks to acquire Egor Chinakhov, who has scored 30 points in 38 games for Pittsburgh.

The margins of a roster are so, so important.

8. As for the idea of trading Knies, I just cannot fathom it.

He is the one player at the top of the lineup that offers you a different dynamic. He has shown up in the playoffs. He is young and on a great, long-term contract. 

Never say never, if, say, the Habs offered Michael Hage, Bryce Pickford, and a first-round pick, but man.

9. The most frustrating part of the end of the Leafs season (outside of not tanking) has been not giving some of their Marlies a shot.

Are the likes of Ryan Tverbeg, Luke Haymes, Henry Thrun, and William Villeneuve, at the very least, serviceable callup options in 2026-2027? There is only one way to find out.

So disappointing that the organization has decided to simply go through the motions instead.  

It is one thing to not want to tank, as Pelley does not want to do. It is another to simply go through the motions. Make the best of a bad situation to close out the year. 

10. My takeaways from the Jays’ first plus week of the season…

• Their starting pitchers are going to give them a shot to win every day. It is a shame what happened to Cody Ponce, as it was clear that his stuff, at worst, would play in the bullpen, but once Trey Yesavage returns, they are going to be elite. They just cannot afford any more injuries to their rotation until then.

• The bullpen has been as advertised and then some (Braydon Fisher and Mason Fluharty look as though they have taken a leap), but it is nice to see Jeff Hoffman look as electric as he has. It was hilariously unfortunate that he blew the save on Opening Night, but the bullpen looks to be a strength. (Brendon Little aside, he needs to be sent down for Adam Macko. It improves the big league team and gives Little a chance to figure it out)

• The lineup has been the issue. They are not playing close games against the Rockies and White Sox because of their pitching staff – they are playing close games because their offence has been situationally awful. I do not expect that to continue, so everyone can breathe. The pitching staff will keep them in ball games until they figure it out at the plate.

• With that being said, a right-handed bench off the bench is going to be a must at some point soon. Nathan Lukes just does not fit on this team. Myles Straw simply cannot be batting 7th in the lineup. (Tyler Fitzgerald is a player absolutely worth taking a flier on)

• Friday’s loss to the White Sox may go down as the worst loss they will suffer all season. Unfortunate, but I will bet that the defence, over the course of 162 games, will win them a lot more games than they will lose.

• The issue with the slow start is not even that it is an indicator of what is to come, but rather a missed opportunity to take advantage of an easy schedule out of the gate. The good news for the Jays is, after their series with LA, the schedule is damn easy throughout April. Lots of time to take advantage, more so when only the Yankees have come out of the gate hot in the AL. Breathe.

11. For as big of an offseason as it is for the Leafs, it is every bit as big for the Raptors.

Scottie Barnes is a co-star on a championship team. Collin Murray-Boyles is a rising star. But in general, this team is largely who they are. They are capped out. Their core, Murray-Boyles aside, are in their prime.

Something has to give. They are the definition of mid.