Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving speaks at the teams practice centre in Toronto on May 29, 2025. (Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Toronto Star via Getty Images
Traditionally, NHL teams wait until their seasons have concluded before they start making major personnel changes.
But just one day after the Vegas Golden Knights sent shockwaves through the coaching fraternity by replacing their Stanley Cup-winning coach Bruce Cassidy with John Tortorella, the Toronto Maple Leafs cut ties with their general manager, Brad Treliving after nearly three full seasons.
The Landscape
It’s no surprise that Treliving’s job security was tenuous. The team’s ownership structure changed last year after Rogers Communications acquired the 37.5 percent share of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment that had been previously held by its Canadian telecom and media rival, Bell Communications. Amid the changes, veteran sports executive Keith Pelley took over as MLSE’s new president and CEO in January of 2024, eight months after Treliving assumed the GM duties from Kyle Dubas.
He wasn’t Pelley’s man but when the new boss arrived, the Maple Leafs were a good team that wanted to be great. Auston Matthews was on his way to his third Rocket Richard Trophy with a career-high 69 goals. Even better, the team was on the way to its eighth-straight playoff appearance after having finally won a round in 2022-23, and coming off back-to-back 110-point seasons.
In 2023-24, Treliving’s first year at the helm, the Leafs took a small step backward. They finished with 102 pionts and were bounced in the first round yet again. That led to the coach Sheldon Keefe being replaced by Craig Berube after four-plus years in charge. Meanwhile, the GM went shopping for gritty players who could fit into Berube’s defense-first coaching style.
Early returns were pretty good. The Leafs bounced back to 108 points, won their division for the first time since 2000 in a non-Covid year, and beat the Ottawa Senators in six games in their first-round playoff series. But with expectations raised, they couldn’t get past the Florida Panthers despite 1-0 and 2-1 series leads. After a devastating 6-1 loss in Game 7, the next head to roll was that of longtime team president Brendan Shanahan.
Shanahan was not replaced, which brought Treliving closer to Pelley in the reporting hierarchy. His seat got hotter after the Leafs got out to a tepid start, and the temperature continued to rise as the team slid down the standings..
At the end of November, Toronto had a .500 record and was four points out of a wild-card spot. At the end of January, the team was .536 but had fallen eight points out. And after eking out an overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, Toronto is .513 and 11 points out of playoff contention.
Even Monday’s win in California comes at a cost, as the outcome of one of Treliving’s boldest trades comes under sharper scrutiny.
The Trades
On Mar. 7, 2025, Treliving acquired 28-year-old defenseman Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins. With the trade deadline looming, prices were high and so was the pressure. To add a big right-shot blueliner in the prime of his career, Treliving surrendered promising prospect Fraser Minten, a fourth-round pick in 2025 and a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 draft.
Minten has been a solid add in Boston. Addtionally, per PuckPedia, the details of the trade conditions are convoluted and dependent on the final outcomes of other deals.
The bottom line is that while Treliving assumed he was trading away what would be a late first-round pick as his team continued to compete for the Cup, the Leafs now find themselves near the bottom of the league standings. And while many teams that trade first-rounders in these situations will include a condition that they can keep their pick if it’s in the top 10 or subject to the draft lottery (top 16), Boston gets Toronto’s first-rounder this year — in a draft with some impressive talent — as long as it falls outside the top five.
After Monday’s games, the Leafs have the 11th-worst record in the NHL. Unless they’re rescued by a low-odds draft-lottery win, they’ll need six teams to pass them in the standings over their seven games if they hope to keep that valuable selection for themselves.
The Carlo trade isn’t the only one that has aged poorly. As another example, Treliving also paid a high price when he acquired depth center Scott Laughton at the 2025 trade deadline, giving up a multi-piece package that included a first-round pick in 2027. Laughton logged just 16 points in 63 games with Toront0 before Treliving flipped the 31-year-old impending free agent to the Los Angeles Kings on Mar. 6, getting only a third-round pick back in return.
Is Hindsight 20/20?
Making the optics even worse in hockey-mad Toronto, Dubas is beginning to gain traction with the moves he’s making in his new role as general manager and president of hockey operations with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Dubas hasn’t just found a way to keep franchise icons Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in the fold and performing at a high level. He has also made a series of savvy moves that have re-stocked his team’s draft cupboards with young talent and gotten great performances from many of the veterans that he has acquired.
After beating the New York Islanders 8-3 on Monday night, the Penguins are sitting second in the Metropolitan Division, poised to return to the post-season for the first time in four years.
Why Now?
While the writing may have been on the wall for Treliving, the timing of his departure is a bit curious. The announcement came shortly before the Leafs continued their four-game road swing in Anaheim on Monday night.
“Brad Treliving is a man that we all have deep respect and appreciation for, both as a hockey executive and as a person, but it was determined that the club must chart a new course under different leadership,” said Pelley in his statement. “The organization is grateful for all that Brad has contributed in his nearly three years with the Maple Leafs, and we wish him and his family the very best.”
What’s Next?
The Leafs’ roster situation for this summer is currently relatively tidy. The marching orders for the new GM will be to engineer roster adjustments that will boost the team back into contention and, most urgently, chart a course forward with Matthews.
Turning 29 in September, the captain has two years remaining on the four-year deal he signed under Treliving at cap hit of $13.25 million per season. But as the Vancouver Canucks learned this year with Quinn Hughes, if a star player indicates that he’s not intending to re-sign when his current deal expires, the best course of action may be to act quickly.
After 10 years in Toronto, it’s hard to imagine the 2016 first-overall draft pick playing anywhere else. But Matthews’ two most recent seasons have been among the least productive of his career. And after wining a gold medal as captain of Team USA at the Olympics in Milan in February, the possibility looms that the Arizona native may want to finish out his career playing south of the 49th parallel.
As for job candidates, that picture should come more clearly into focus in the ensuing weeks. And the Leafs likely won’t be the only team looking to fill a GM vacancy. Other jobs should open up around the end of the season.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolschram/2026/03/31/toronto-maple-leafs-fire-gm-brad-treliving-in-third-nhl-season/
