Leafs talk 3

01 Apr 2026 11:44:06
Thoughts on Pelley presser.

I only caught part of it, but what I essentially got out of it was he wanted to glaze our rivals and TFC and the Argos, which I found weird and out of touch. Then he said we were going after Dubas 2.0 lol.

Bottom line, all he did was say what everyone was thinking: he has no clue what he’s doing, and he even stated I will have no part in building the team aka I’m taking no blame if it goes back to before Matthews era.

Only saving grace will be who they bring in as GM; hopefully he’s a stud, or I don’t see anything positive ahead

04 Apr 2026 21:46:53
I just have this feeling that he was blowing smoke up people's butts. He had to be careful regarding addressing the not tanking issue. The League frowns on that. Regarding having the foundation pieces still in place, that is classic blowing smoke. He is not going to panic #1 the fans that are fans of those foundation pieces, #2 not blow his chance at finding the right President and GM. If it was public knowledge the team was going to blow up and rebuild then right away those new people would be at a disadvantage in trade negotiations knowing that those players need to be moved. I believe they are in negotiations for permission to talk to certain people for those jobs and maybe have been for a while now.

I just get this feeling that if there are some big moves made it will come out of left field like the first Rantanen trade and catch everyone off guard.

Pelley has been an executive for a lot of years and one thing about executives is they are very adept at talking out of both sides of their mouths. They can tell a Vice-President one day he is doing a great job and 3 days later fire and replace him without losing a minute of sleep. They can protect the major shareholders by giving a glowing report to all the minor shareholders. So him saying we are doing a Retool could actually mean a Rebuild. Time will tell.

31 Mar 2026 21:32:02
I’d love to hear other people's opinions on this but why are we not losing right now? We have a chance to get a too high end draft pick and now we decide to win? You can never convince the players to do that but why are we not trying out more Marlies? Give different guys PP1 time? Put Nylander on the PK? Crazy because it feels like we’re gonna finish 6th - 8th last in the league and we are just helping Boston get another beauty pick.

Love to hear thoughts on this…….

31 Mar 2026 21:52:31
Hey Clarky! I was hoping to see more Marlies as well. I guess after the trade deadline Teams are limited to 4 for the remainder of the season. They are allowed emergency recalls other than that. I agree.... I think we are going to screw ourselves out of that pick.

Some guys are trying to finish strong and hopefully hang on to staying a Leaf. Not to mention.... It seems everytime Matthews is out we end up with a 4% higher winning ratio than when he is in the lineup. Crazy.

01 Apr 2026 09:44:28
Agree with each of you; this is a perfect time to view various AHL players from Barbolini to Villeneuve.

Seven games left: insert 3 players for 3-4 games each and you’ll know better what you have.

Haymes, Valis, Tverberg and King up front and Villeneuve, Webber and Thrun on D would work for me.

01 Apr 2026 10:39:15
I forsure would like to see more blueliners get a look at very least, but correct me if I’m wrong: are the Marlies not playoff bound? They might not want to move to much around in that case.



But as a whole this team is directionless and I don’t think anyone cares enough to do what’s right for this team. If there ever were “hockey gods” now would be the time.

01 Apr 2026 21:12:49
RandySears.... Hope your vacation is going good. We can't just keep calling up Marlies. Like I said a few comments ago. We are only allowed so many call ups after the Trade Deadline.

31 Mar 2026 21:19:34
Why are we talking Bruce Cassidy? He looks like he runs the same system Berube does. Don’t work for this team. Why Doug Armstrong? What have the Blues done to say wow I want that GM?
The most important over anything else is Nylander, Matthews and Reilly need to go or it doesn’t matter who the coach is. It will be the same soft result.

31 Mar 2026 16:16:20
Now that reliving is gone which I’m kinda surprised tbh seemed like they were gonna keep him, it’s time to trim the fat, hire a GM and President, get rid of the 5 AGMs and replace the entire coaching staff.

I'm truly intrigued by where they might go. The leafy thing to do would be going and getting the “experienced guy cough cough Armstrong”, but I want to see a GM who is given the ability to make moves.

The Leafs need a Bill Zito type GM idk who that would be, but I think if they are serious they will not just recycle the same play book. I’ve already mentioned my vote in Jim Nill, but idk if he leaves Dallas unless the Stars don’t win this year

31 Mar 2026 15:56:16
@Goat
I like Jim Nill as well, but I think we need to hire someone sooner.

Obviously do a full search, starting today if it hasn't started already. We need to hire someone quickly, so they have more time to evaluate and set a direction moving forward.



If Dallas has a long playoff run, Jim Nill won't be available till mid/end of June. That's cutting it too close to the draft and FA, IMO.

I'm not sold on Armstrong either, but there seems to be a lot of smoke around him.

How about Doug Wilson?

31 Mar 2026 02:25:38
Tredeadthing is gone.
Thank goodness.

Berbooby stays until next GM is hired.

Doug Armstrong.
Then he hires Cassidy.

31 Mar 2026 10:07:23
Hope it’s not Armstrong the Blues are worse than the Leafs they need to go get “the guy” like Nill.

31 Mar 2026 13:29:24
I mentioned him sometime ago but the Leafs should go hard after Ryan Jankowski who is one of 3 assistant GMs in Seattle. This guy is the reason that Utah has so many good prospects from when he was with them as well in Arizona as head of scouting. Google his name and click on his Eliteprospects profile. He has been around for a while and started young. He knows young talent. Comes from a blueblood hockey family, His dad played 20 years at all different levels of pro hockey including a couple cracks in the NHL.

His brother played 4 years at Cornell, his one nephew is playing in the ECHL, his other nephew is Mark Jankowski who plays for Carolina, and his uncle for crying out loud was Hall of Fame 8 time Stanley Cup winner Red Kelly.

With a family like that Ryan Jankowski lives and breathes hockey and he would be the ideal choice to build this team.

30 Mar 2026 23:16:24
Fire Treliving and Berube. Hire Chiarelli (Nill if you could) and Cassidy (immediately).

31 Mar 2026 13:32:00
Yikes!!!!!! Chiarelli???? His trade record speaks for itself!

29 Mar 2026 22:46:31
Oh so teams do fire coaches.
Cassidy gone in Vegas.
Yet berbooby is still coaching the Leafs.

29 Mar 2026 22:39:26
I would fire Berube right now and back up the truck to dump money onto Cassidy's lawn. If they really believe it is just a retool not a rebuild (I am not sold), then you might as well grab your guy right away.

30 Mar 2026 08:53:57
Part of me thinks the Leafs are scared to fire Berube now and get that coaching bump and miss out on a top pick but the other part of me is saying this is Brad unable to make a decision when needed again.

30 Mar 2026 17:37:47
I don't think they won't let Berube go all by himself. It will be a GM and Coach dismissal within 24 hours of the last game. No point putting in a coach until they get the right GM who will pick his guy.

31 Mar 2026 13:34:37
Well I was wrong... they let Tre go first. Now it opens up the questions... Is Berube back next year if Doug Armstrong ends up as the next GM or President of Hockey Operations?

27 Mar 2026 20:50:33
More of a comment on our Managemrnt and the big mistakes that were made at last years trade deadline giving away 2 1st rd picks for duds. If he wouldn’t have panicked and kept them. This summer he could have grabbed a serious RFA with an offer sheet.

Look at who’s available it’s mind blowing. Carlsson, Gauthier, Bedard, Robertson, Fantilli, Clarke, Edvinsson, Nemec. It’s crazy. I’m sure if Armstrong was our GM last year he would have seen it and not done what Trev 💩 did.

27 Mar 2026 22:16:59
Hindsight is 20/20. Always easy after the fact to analyse. At the time most people were pumped we won the Laughton sweepstakes as they referred to it at the time. Even some were excited with the Carlo trade. I wasn't as I was and still am a Minten fan and hated to see him go. No-one was panicking as much at the trade deadline because they thought Marner was also not going to leave. So yeah it was a overpay, but we weren't the only teams trying to get both of those players, so who knows.

My problem with Treliving was not as much those picks and yes they have hurt us huge, but his inability to chase any real worthwhile free agents or to address the Reilly issue. It's not like Reilly suddenly went downhill, it has been a progression and last summer would have been better to have done a trade than for another year of him declining and now we have a player we almost have to give away or use as a throw in on a trade to get rid of that Contrract.

27 Mar 2026 22:26:28
Hindsight is definitely 20/20. I liked the Carlo trade, but was never a fan of Laughton. I change my mind on both of those (although an overpay for Laughton).

28 Mar 2026 11:47:03
It is only a mistake because of how this year has gone and hoe last year ended. If the Leafs had of beat Florida and made it to the Conference final (which they were one win away) and this year not been a mess, hardly anyone is complaining about those trades.
Also, lots talking about offer sheets. They are so rare. It's not like it was definite the Leafs would do them if they had the asset compensation. Most GM's have never offer sheeted a player.

Historically speaking, it is highly unlikely the Leafs would offer sheet anyone. That goes for all teams.
As for Rielly, yes, it would be nice to move on. He has a full NMC. He controls what happens and has said int he past he wants to stay. Unless that changes, Leafs are stuck with him because you can't send him to the minors either. It's either he accepts being moved or he is bought out.

30 Mar 2026 09:04:51
Throwing the idea of offer sheets is a stretch. It’s so uncommon for those to happen. If you want to know where this all fell apart I’d say Tavares first year with the Leafs…. They overpaid for a guy right before the big 3 were up for deals and I think they all used JT’s contract as leverage.

Then I’ll go back to trading Kadri at 4.5 mill per for a bag of pucks. They had Matthews Tavares and Kadri up the middle. Let that sink in. The Leafs then struggled to draft well and neglected the blueline for most of Matthews and Marners and Nylander youthful years that’s where this went wrong to me and now with money hungry Rogers running the show it’s hard to see this team doing what they need to to become the team that can be competitive again but we will see.

To me the first moves are simple fire Berube and the entire coaching staff. Then move Brad to president seems more like a business guy then a hockey guy then bring in Jim Nill and Cassidy just my opinion tho

30 Mar 2026 19:14:58
I was so incredibly 😞 nted after last season's deadline. My top price on either of those pieces would've been a second. I would've rathered us do nothing. But I was in the minority and there would've been people calling for his head had he stayed pat last year.

26 Mar 2026 05:40:33
Checklist for The Leafs this off season.
1) New President
2) New GM.
3) New Head Coach. Todd Nelson, my pick. Dudes an Assistant in Pittsburgh. Been winning Calders over the last number of years.
4) Assistants who can teach these guys on how to play a new game and not the same old Dump & Chase.
5) Analytics. Or as I like to call it money puck.

Go sign some free agents based on their Money Ball or puck stats.
6) Sign some international guys who washed out of the NHL over the last few years. Keifer Bellows showed promise before he went to Nashville and then Europe. Zachary Senyshyn
Jakub Zboril
Nail Yakupov
7) The Art of any good Coach is to get the best out of his players night after night.

26 Mar 2026 16:42:13
Nice Choice. I remember reading a article on him a few years ago and forgot all about him. The dude knows how to as you put it get the best out of the players. 3 Calders with 3 different teams. He was no slouch as a player as well. Good solid defenseman, just played in a era where the NHL was loaded with D-men. (It tended to go in waves like that for awhile and some good guys just never got that chance.).

I agree with looking at a few guys from Overseas. I mentioned him in a earlier post but I would like to see Josh Leivo given a good long look again. Yes he was in the KHL but....that is still a damn good league and 90 goals in 164 games is nothing to sneeze at.

26 Mar 2026 01:23:52
Daxon Rudolph - This might be a guy the Leafs take a long hard look at was reading scouting reports and he seems to check all the boxes

NHL ready size 6'3, 206 lbs
Two-way
Physical
Mobile
Heavy shot

28 goals this year.

Some report project him as a top pair potential… no other dman in the top 10 have those numbers. Just might have to trade to draft him since the Leafs refuse to just tank.

26 Mar 2026 03:33:41
If they don't tank, then Boston gets the pick.

26 Mar 2026 07:48:57
@LL I’m aware but could they trade into the top 10? Sharks are a team that want to get better now, not draft another prospect.

26 Mar 2026 16:53:49
I think the Sharks have a plan that Mike Grier is sticking to and that is to keep adding young talent and in this draft there are some top end Defensemen available that they can keep building upon. Verhoeff, Reid, Carels, Smits and ... you mentioned him earlier, Goat...

Rudolph. Any of those 5 could crack the San Jose lineup as they are short on signed D-men. The Sharks did well this year and the last 2 weeks they just got hammered by the schedule and the teams they had to run up against. Some of the hottest teams in the league.

25 Mar 2026 12:14:22
Leaving today for 6 weeks.

Visiting my daughter with my two grandsons and her husband in Southern France. Then to a resort in the Canary Islands for 12 days.

Yeah, sun and warmth!

I will check in from time to time and want to pose the question about UFAs.

Who do you folks want to go after and at what price?

How many should we target and do you have a second choice if one doesn’t work out?

I’ll start the ball with Tuch and Raddysh.

If I don’t sign Raddysh for 5x5 I go after Andersson.

If I don’t get Tuch at 10x4 I go after Nick Schmaltz.

There are 4 or 5 others I’d go after as well.

Your turn. Thanks.

25 Mar 2026 12:25:33
Nick Schmaltz is not available, Randy. He signed 2 weeks ago with Utah for $8 and 8 years.

25 Mar 2026 23:47:33
Raddysh is one of those trap contracts. He’s had one good year and he want 6+ million. I’d rather the Leafs stay away.

26 Mar 2026 16:55:13
I agree, Goat... Raddysh has not shown signs of being this player before so it is a real crapshoot to gamble if it's a one off.

26 Mar 2026 19:08:23
The interesing Dilemma for Tampa with Raddysh is that they would like to keep him at $4 to 5 million. There are a few teams that are looking to offer him $7 to either get him or to force Tampa to use almost have of their Small salary cap available for next year to have to offer him $6 million which with no state tax works out to about the same Take Home pay for him.

The dilemma is now that they still have to fill a couple roster spots which at the League average salary around the forecasted $3.85 next year leaves them with literally $0 of Salary cap.

Other than asking a major player to waive a trade right (Which they don't want to do) the only player with any major value in the league with one more year that they can trade him is J.

J. Moser. This is where the major part of the Dilemma comes in. J. J. Moser is the reason Raddysh is having the season he is having. He is elite at covering for Raddysh Defensive liabilities. So what do they do? Keep Moser and find a new young partner at Entry level salary and let Raddysh go and keep their Salary cap in check or keep both and put their back against the wall for Salary, or Trade Moser?