The Toronto Maple Leafs’ general manager spoke to reporters Thursday morning following the team’s latest Stanley Cup playoffs exit.
Brad Treliving’s news conference comes a week after the Leafs parted ways with longtime president Brendan Shanahan.
Keith Pelley, the head of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto hockey club, said at the time of Shanahan’s departure that he would leave the president’s role vacant and lean on Treliving and coach Craig Berube on a go-forward basis.
The Leafs lost their second-round series against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in seven games on May 18. Toronto hasn’t won a Game 7 since 2004.
Here’s what Treliving said on Thursday.
10:35 a.m. - Will Mitch Marner and John Tavares be offered contracts before July 1?
“No, as I said before, we’re going through that process right now.”
Both of the team’s star forwards will be eligible to become unrestricted free agents on Canada Day.
10:30 a.m. - What happens if Marner leaves?
“That’s what we got to go through here right now. I can’t sit here and give you a definitive answer. We’ve got to, number one, go through the process with Mitch. Right? Our staff is in the process now of looking at all different outcomes, but we’ve got to kind of drive what we think is the best outcome. And like I said, in Mitch’s this case, he’s got a say in the matter.”
10:26 a.m. - First Florida goal in Game 7 was ‘turning point’
“I thought the turning point -- and this is where I come back to -- it was the first goal. I thought when the first goal happened, we almost looked like a team, that was down four-nothing.”
“When it became one-nothing, I felt there was a real tightness of our team. There was a real tightness in the moment. And like I said, champions are the calmest at the most critical time. And that’s an area that we’ve got to get through”
10:25 a.m. On Auston Matthews’ early season injury
“We’re never going to put a player in a position where it’s going to make it worse. He worked through it.”
“In a couple of cases, it progressed. He was able to play through it. You know, when he came back and started playing. From time off, it was better. There would be times it would flare up. He was able to play with it.”
10:22 a.m. ‘I’m a huge John Tavares fan’
“I’m a huge John Tavares fan. Had a really good discussion with him (about free agency). We’ve got to take a step back, be with our group. How do we best move forward?”
10:20 a.m. Marner free agency
“I think Mitch is a tremendous player. We’ve talked throughout the year. You’ve heard me speak. I think he’s a star. We’re in that process right now.
“He’s been a great player here. We’ll have to see how this all works. Do I think Mitch can succeed? Yes, I do.”
10:19 a.m. - On GM duties going forward
“Obviously, without Brendan there, I will be working closer with Keith, as we talked about. Had a relationship with Keith, but didn’t, you know -- Keith and I are, we’re starting that now. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time together. So like any relationship, we’re gonna find our cadence.”
10:18 a.m. - On fan reaction
“We’re in an emotional business. Our fans are emotional. I’m emotional. Nobody wears it harder than me. That’s what makes this place so great. But you have to step back, you have to exhale, and then you have to make calculated decisions based upon the best information you have.”
10:15 a.m. - ‘There will be change’
“Moving forward, we have a good team. We’ve changed. We’ve changed a lot in the last 12 months. There will be change moving forward. That’s just the nature of the business. No team comes back the same.”
10:14 a.m. - ‘That series is going to stay with me for a long time’
“That series is going to stay with me for a long time. The way it ended, will stay with me for a long time. It would stay with me if it was 2-1 and triple overtime. When you think you have a chance to win and you don’t, it stays with you.”
10:13 a.m. - ‘We weren’t able to close that out’
“I believe, the big moment in that series is Game 3. You’re playing against the Stanley Cup champions. You got a chance to get them on the mat. We’re up three. One critical moment. We weren’t able to close that out.”
10:11 a.m. - Treliving applauds Florida
“I want to give a lot of credit to Florida. You know, I haven’t had a chance publicly to say there’s a reason why they’re the champion. There’s a reason why they’re going back again for their third crack at (the Stanley Cup). They’ve set the bar in our division, they’ve set the bar in the league. And that’s what we aspire to."
10:10 a.m. - Game 5 reflections
“We were poor in Game 5, a critical game. It’s a critical game. We were poor in Game 5. Give our guys a lot of credit, in Game 6, winning a tight game on the road to close out a series in another critical game. So credit to the guys in that series.”
10:06 a.m. - Leafs’ defence
“We wanted to have a long defence, ranging defence, make it hard around our net, and a defending defence, you need to move pucks, and that’s an area that we got to continue to to improve in.”
10:05 a.m. - On hiring Craig Berube
“You know, really this season started, if you look at it back to last summer, we made a change and brought in Craig. And really the thought process behind that, before bringing in the coach, was I felt unique. There was a style of play that we needed to get to.”
10:04 a.m. - ‘We fell short’
“We fell short of where we wanted to be, and we fell short of where I thought we could be.”
