Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving isn’t committing to extending John Tavares or Mitch Marner.
The Maple Leafs were eliminated in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Florida Panthers. After the playoff exit, many hinted at major changes to the roster. However, days after the loss, Tavares claimed he had already spoken to Treliving and is confident he will be back.
Tavares finished his seven-year, $77 million deal with the Maple Leafs and is hoping to be back. However, at a press conference on May 29, Treliving is noncommittal on extending him right now.
“I’m a huge John Tavares fan. Had a really good discussion with him,” Treliving said Thursday. “We’ve got to take a step back, meet with our group. How do we best move forward? What are the costs? All those things that go into a contract and everything else. How does it fit within the puzzle? So, we’ll see how that happens over the course of the next couple of weeks.”
When asked if that means the Maple Leafs won’t extend Tavares before July 1, Treliving wouldn’t even get a contract offer.
“As I said before, we’re going through that process right now,” he said.
Tavares recorded 38 goals and 36 assists for 74 points in 75 games. In the playoffs, he had 5 goals and 2 assists for 7 points in 13 games.
Tavares Plans to be Back With Maple Leafs
At the Maple Leafs’ playoff exit, Tavares made it clear he wants to be back.
When asked if he wants to re-sign with the Maple Leafs, he said yes. He then said he had spoken to the front office and is optimistic he will be back.
“Obviously, my contract is done, but we’re coming up soon for decisions to be made and things like that,” Tavares said. “There’s still a lot of focusing on the season here and the difficulty of not playing today and those sorts of things… Very optimistic that we can work something out where I’m back, but obviously haven’t put a lot of thought into it as obviously it’s only been a couple of days.”
Tavares is from Toronto and left the New York Islanders in free agency to sign with his hometown team. The hope was he would help the Maple Leafs get over the hump and be a Stanley Cup contender but that didn’t happen.
Maple Leafs GM Says DNA Has to Change
After another early playoff exit, Treliving gave a harsh outlook on the Maple Leafs’ future.
The Maple Leafs’ general manager said the team needs a DNA change in order to get over the hump.
“There’s some DNA that has to change in our team,” Treliving said. “If you keep getting to the same result, there’s some DNA that needs to change. That’s on me going forward. We’ve now started the planning, and it’s early, for putting a team together for 2025-26.”
Treliving feels like the Maple Leafs are close but need to make some changes to get better.
“There’s some experience you get from that, but ultimately, sometimes you just have to change. I felt there was a real tightness of our team,” Treliving said. “Champions are the calmest at the most critical time. That’s an area we’ve got to get through.”
Toronto hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967.
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