The Toronto Maple Leafs entered the NHL trade deadline as sellers for the first time in many years, and general manager Brad Treliving is holding himself accountable for the direction that the team is headed.
"I'll take responsibility," Treliving told media, including Sportsnet, following Friday's deadline. "We met earlier in the year - through about the 20-game mark - where we got off to a slow start. The failures here start with me. And once we get through the end of the season, there'll be all sorts of evaluation. But to start parsing through it right now ... we've got games to play."
The Leafs are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign. Toronto, which is 27-25-11 with 65 points, currently sits seventh in the Atlantic Division and eight points back of the final wild-card spot.
The Leafs wound up shipping out three forwards ahead of the deadline and acquired a handful of draft picks in exchange.
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| 2026 3rd-round pick* | F Bobby McMann |
| 2026 4th-round pick | F Scott Laughton |
| 2026 5th-round pick* | F Nicolas Roy |
| 2027 1st-round pick* | |
| 2027 2nd-round pick* |
* conditional picks
"I know there's lots of speculation and all sorts of things out there," Treliving added. "The market speaks. At the end of the day, we were trying to be as active as we could to obtain and acquire as many young assets as we could, and we were able to do what we were able to do."
Treliving, whom the Leafs hired in May 2023, is in his third season as general manager.
