The move to fire Brad Treliving by the Toronto Maple Leafs, as belated as it was, was largely a cleanup operation. The move wasn’t so much about going in a different direction. It was about attempting to right several wrongs.
Leafs fans are seeing the gradual teardown of the club that former President Brendan Shanahan built. And it’s Shanahan’s last mistake that the organization is still dealing with. Jettisoning Treliving was a major part of that.
But the final mistake the organization is dealing with lies behind the bench. When the Maple Leafs dismissed Sheldon Keefe, the move seemed like a necessary one. The Leafs just couldn’t get over the hump. So, a new voice had to come to turn things around.
That was Craig Berube. Despite a great first season, Berube is a mistake that the Shanahan regime inflicted upon the club.
The mistake wasn’t necessarily hiring Berube. The mistake was hiring the wrong coach for the team’s specific roster construction. It’s tough to point at a specific coach and say, “That’s the guy.” But it’s certainly far easier to point out Berube’s not the guy.
That said, the Maple Leafs need to fix the mistake that was bringing Berube into the mix. Unfortunately, correcting that mistake is not as easy as it seems.
Firing Berube Won’t Solve Anything on its Own
So, firing Berube would be the right move, right? Well, not so fast. The Maple Leafs can’t just fire Berube without actually having a plan in place. All too often, fans have seen the organization make reactionary moves.
It’s those reactionary moves that led to this mess in the first place.
Dismissing Berube makes sense for the Maple Leafs if there’s a suitable replacement in the mix. Otherwise, chucking Berube would mean opening the door for the organization to scramble during the offseason, trying to find someone to take over.
The last thing Maple Leafs fans want to see is a summer of running around trying to put out a fire. The idea of coming up with ad-hoc solutions should be a thing of the past. If the club can count on a logical candidate to take over, that’s a different story.
If the organization can’t find a worthwhile replacement for Berube, the best course of action might be to just keep him in the mix for one more season.
Maple Leafs New GM to Decide Berube’s Fate
Maple Leafs CEO Keith Pelley was adamant about his reluctance to dictate orders for the organization. In his first presser following Treliving’s dismissal, Pelley outlined the fact that Treliving’s successor would be the one to decide the coach’s future.
While that may seem like a reasonable posture, it’s also a politically correct way of distancing himself from the situation. It was a tacit admission that Pelley and others in the higher echelons don’t really know what to do.
Again, it might seem like the politically correct thing to say. But it clearly delineates how the Maple Leafs need an adult in the room. That adult will likely be the next person to take over the President of Hockey Operations role. Additionally, whoever takes over the GM role will also need to do some serious adulting.
The hope is that the adults know what they’re doing and can turn the ship around in one season.
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