The Leafs are getting close to the moment where the season ends the debate
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
According to James Mirtle, the Maple Leafs have only a couple more losses in the tank before the inevitable -- a changing of the tide in more ways than one.
Losers of five straight and winless on their last homestand, the Toronto Maple Leafs don't have much time to turn it around. They have a western road trip coming up and while they could get lucky with a game or two; their recent play says otherwise.
It's accelerated the debate about whether the team should buy or sell and for every game they fail to show up, the more people think it's time to really make a big change.
Toronto's running out of breathing room when it comes to buy/sell debate
One of those people is well connected to the team, as The Athletic's James Mirtle laid it all out for the Maple Leafs and GM Brad Treliving.
Mirtle explained that Toronto is running out of time quickly and that a couple more losses means that a sale should be started immediately -- and could lead to Treliving's undoing:
Another two or three losses in the next week should be enough to put up a “for sale” sign; don’t know if...Treliving will go that route while his team still has a shot at the playoffs. It’s fairly clear that his job is in jeopardy.
The team plays Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton over their next four games. Luckily for them, three of those four teams are near the bottom or in the basement of the Pacific Division but that doesn't mean it's easy.
Toronto has to pretty much be perfect or its's time to start selling
They've gone 2-1-1 against those teams this season and the only real 'easy' game the team has to look forward to is Vancouver; all the others are going to be a grind and they have to get at least six points out of eight to even keep pace at this rate.
If that's the case it's time to look at who the team's pending free agents and stragglers are and see who is going to buy. Names like Matias Maccelli, Bobby McMann, Calle Jarnkrok, Scott Laughton, Brandon Carlo, and Simon Benoit are all potential candidates and we could see a much different team in a couple months.
There's no reason to spend what little assets the team has left in order to make a push for a nonexistent spot. This is not a playoff team and certainly not a contender; their play all season proves that.
Of course the team can always turn it around and we've seen them do it before though that feels like wishful thinking and far from the reality of the situation.
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