Maple Leafs Lowest Hanging Fruit Had to Fall: Now What?

After a road trip that felt like it went on for a week too long, the Toronto Maple Leafs finally made a move. Not a big one. Not a structural one. But it was the easiest one they could have made. On Monday night, assistant coach Marc Savard was shown the door.

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On paper, there’s logic here. Savard ran the power play, and the power play was a mess. Dead last in the league. Thirteen-point-three percent. Those numbers cannot be defended — at least not on their own. But they do come with a context, which I’ll explain later.

If you’re looking for accountability, the power play is an easy place to point.

The Maple Leafs’ Problems Extend Far Past the Power Play

But that’s also the problem. The power play works within the larger team picture. To me, this feels less like solving the issue and more like grabbing the lowest-hanging fruit. You make one move, so you don’t have to make others.

You buy time. You ignore the elephant in the room to quiet the noise. You tell everyone, “Hey, we listened. We did something.” But, unless I’m totally off the mark, no one has actually changed the foundational issues.

If the Maple Leafs were rolling at five-on-five, playing good hockey, but couldn’t score with the man advantage, this would be a different conversation. But they aren’t. They’re at the bottom of the Atlantic. They’ve lost four of five. The issues are broader than one assistant coach and one broken unit.

Seems to Me the Wrong Maple Leafs Guy Is Still Standing

That’s why it’s hard to shake the feeling they fired the wrong guy. Or, more accurately, they fired the only guy they could.

Brad Treliving made the call, and that matters. He built this roster. He pushed hard to reshape what he keeps calling “Maple Leafs DNA.” Maybe that phrase sounded meaningful, and if the team were winning, who would care? But now is the perfect invitation to define and pin down what it actually means.

Big? Tough? Hard to play against? Fine. But those traits haven’t translated into wins, cohesion, or identity.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: Treliving isn’t going to fire himself. That move has to come from above, and until it does, everything else feels like good theatre. Coaching changes, assistant shuffles, tweaks around the edges—they buy time, not solutions.

Time to Turn the Job Over to Brandon Pridham

I wrote earlier today that I’d like to see Brandon Pridham given more control over roster construction. Not because analytics are magic, but because at least they make some sense. Math doesn’t care if a player “looks like a Maple Leaf.” It cares if a player you bring in helps you win in specific situations. There’s a big difference between saying a guy feels right and showing why he fits.

Marc Savard might not have been blameless. But he was convenient. And convenience has a long history in this organization. The real decisions are still waiting.

Related: Did the Maple Leafs Really Miss Out on a Game-Changing Winger?