{"id":5752,"date":"2026-04-15T11:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/5752\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:03:26","slug":"inside-the-stunning-fall-of-the-maple-leafs-chaos-dysfunction-and-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/5752\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the stunning fall of the Maple Leafs: Chaos, dysfunction and AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 It spoke to the gravity of the situation that he felt compelled to be there at all, inside the war room at the Toronto Maple Leafs\u2019 suburban practice facility ahead of the March 6 trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Seldom does a finely tailored suit from the C-suite rub shoulders directly with scouts who spend hundreds of days pounding the pavement each year looking for players, but there was Keith Pelley, the president and CEO of MLSE, overseeing the action.<\/p>\n

Pelley had never taken that approach with the NBA\u2019s Toronto Raptors or MLS\u2019 Toronto FC, the two other big-league clubs he oversees, nor had he been in the room on trade deadline day a year earlier when Brendan Shanahan was still president of the Leafs. But he was concerned by the direction the team was taking under general manager Brad Treliving and felt it necessary to get a first-hand view at how the front office operated under pressure and arrived at decisions.<\/p>\n

Pelley viewed himself as merely an observer, but others there felt differently. He didn\u2019t sit in silence. He peppered the team\u2019s scouts with questions, demanded more \u201cassets\u201d in trade conversations, and tossed out opinions and ideas.<\/p>\n

As one team source put it, fans would have been surprised to see just how involved a non-hockey executive was that day.<\/p>\n

Pelley didn\u2019t come empty-handed either. He had notes that included possible trade returns that Leafs staff members believed were generated by Large Language Models and Artificial Intelligence \u2014 tools that have become increasingly influential at the top of MLSE but hadn\u2019t been part of the usual process with its NHL team.<\/p>\n

Pelley later brushed away any suggestion that he tried to use AI to influence the Leafs\u2019 deadline approach when questioned by The Athletic. What he witnessed that day, however, was a front office that, to him, appeared disorganized and directionless.<\/p>\n

It would soon cost Treliving his job.<\/p>\n

There is no shortage of blame to go around for a season that saw the largest year-over-year points decline in 109 years of NHL hockey in Toronto and a team that wildly underperformed its own expectation of Stanley Cup contention.<\/p>\n

But how did it all go so wrong? How did the Leafs crash out in such staggering fashion: from the NHL\u2019s longest running postseason streak to the near-bottom of the standings and the first playoff absence in a decade?<\/p>\n

The Athletic spoke to more than 20 sources inside the organization and around the league to better understand what prompted the stunning fall of the Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n

A depleted roster <\/p>\n

The shadow of one person loomed over the opening of training camp, and he wasn\u2019t even there. Mitch Marner, who chose to leave the team after nine seasons in the summer, had gone to the Vegas Golden Knights on an eight-year contract.<\/p>\n

Marner\u2019s exit was years in the making. But it wasn\u2019t until the very end \u2014 until it was too late \u2014 that the Leafs, led by Shanahan, seriously considered a future without him.<\/p>\n

Now he was gone. So was Shanahan, in large part because of how the Marner situation had been handled. Those two cornerstones, part of helping Toronto to a nine-year playoff streak, were not replaced in any way that mattered.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, it was weird for everyone without Marner, a do-it-all superstar whose chatty, enthusiastic dressing room presence had been a constant.<\/p>\n

But they were also ready to move on. Days into camp, captain Auston Matthews mused that reporters had only two weeks left of questions about his ex-teammate.<\/p>\n

There was hope. Hope that newcomers Matias Maccelli, Nic Roy and Dakota Joshua could replace at least some of Marner\u2019s production. Hope that goaltender Anthony Stolarz \u2014 newly minted as part of the team\u2019s future after signing a four-year contract extension and now the undisputed No. 1 goaltender with Joseph Woll on a leave of absence \u2014 could replicate a 2024-25 season that saw him post the league\u2019s best save percentage.<\/p>\n

Things started slow. But after a sloppy home win over Nashville to pull the Leafs back to an early 2-2 record after an uneven first week, Pelley sat with Craig Berube in the coaches\u2019 room. Pelley exuded optimism about the team and its leadership group.<\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/p>\n

\n MLSE president and CEO Keith Pelley voiced his support for the Leafs\u2019 coach and GM on several occasions. (Nick Lachance \/ Toronto Star via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Berube and Treliving were the right people<\/a> \u201cto hopefully take us to the promised land,\u201d Pelley said.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for the promised land to look further away than ever.<\/p>\n

Days later, Stolarz ripped his team\u2019s performance<\/a> in the kind of blunt manner that goaltenders rarely, if ever, use \u2014 let alone six games into a season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the first two periods we kinda let them walk all over us,\u201d Stolarz said following a loss to the Seattle Kraken.<\/p>\n

Even for a Leafs team that always started slowly only to blast their way to 100-plus points during the regular season, this was proving to be no ordinary October. The roster looked old and slow and meaningfully weaker without Marner, with the top line and power play taking big hits.<\/p>\n

On his own for the first time in Toronto without Shanahan and leaning more on trusted advisors such as assistant GM Derek Clancey, Treliving believed he had rounded out the forward group without the 102-point man and altered the \u201cDNA\u201d of the team in the process. But his offseason additions were proving underwhelming \u2014 not like other offseason trade targets, including Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, might have been.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe beat down every door,\u201d one front-office source said of a summer where the NHL\u2019s trade market never really heated up.<\/p>\n

Even small decisions \u2014 such as sending David K\u00e4mpf to the minors and choosing Cayden Primeau to back up Stolarz \u2014 backfired. Multiple injuries to Chris Tanev, meanwhile, left a defense that received no offseason upgrades without its top defenseman and veteran conscience.<\/p>\n

Berube struggled to make the diminished pieces fit, instill accountability or find answers for mushrooming problems, even amid a soft, home-heavy early schedule. The campaign was only a month old, but after an 8-7-1 start that flattered the Leafs, Toronto\u2019s underlying numbers were horrible, marking them as one of the weakest defensive teams in the NHL.<\/p>\n

Dubbed an \u201cincredible asset\u201d by Pelley the previous spring, Berube gathered the group for a meeting not long after the team touched down in Boston in early November. Stiffer defense and more diligent puck management were required, he said.<\/p>\n

His words had little impact.<\/p>\n

The following night at TD Garden, a house of many nightmares over the years, the Leafs quickly fell behind 3-0 to the Bruins and then lost Stolarz for the game \u2014 and the next two and a half months \u2014 to a mysterious injury<\/a> the team never fully revealed.<\/p>\n

Then 6-foot-7, 255-pound defenseman Nikita Zadorov ran down Matthews in the second period. The Leafs captain left the game.<\/p>\n

Cracks in the culture<\/p>\n

Off the ice, cracks in the culture were beginning to show.<\/p>\n

Things had changed with Shanahan gone and Pelley overseeing the operation. For one, cost cutting seemed a rising priority.<\/p>\n

In March 2025, MLSE cut 10 percent of its workforce. Then, Pelley didn\u2019t replace Shanahan or Masai Ujiri as presidents of the Leafs and Raptors, respectively. In the summer, the Leafs chose not to hire a replacement for Rich Rotenberg atop their sports science program, opting instead to have an assistant strength and conditioning coach fill his duties.<\/p>\n

For the first time, team staff started to hear reminders that new majority owner Rogers Communications Inc. was a publicly traded company that closely watched the books.<\/p>\n

It was partly about results. If all the spending in the Shanahan era produced only two playoff round victories, could the team not cut back on a budget that still topped their NHL competitors? Could they spend smarter?<\/p>\n

Amid the losing, the Leafs scrapped the much-loved fathers\u2019 trip in November for what were presumed by those around the team to be financial reasons coming from above. (An organizational source said it was a team decision prompted by a desire to hold the rookie dinner in Chicago that month.) Later in the season, the trip was hastily rescheduled for late March, but with \u201cmentors\u201d instead of fathers. Pelley strained to make clear internally that he had no role in the earlier cancellation.<\/p>\n

A staple on the NHL calendar around the league, teams almost always hold the family or mentors-focused trips earlier in the season to make sure they don\u2019t distract from the more meaningful stretches of schedule to come. Because of the late notice, some players chose not to bring anyone on the mentors\u2019 trip at all. And, unlike in years past, staff members were not permitted to bring a guest.<\/p>\n

The staffing cuts and trip cancellation came amid other changes, heightening a perception among players and staffers that the team was determined to save money. Player discounts \u2014 covering everything from team gear at Real Sports Apparel to meals at Real Sports Bar & Grill \u2014 were cut from 50 percent to 30 percent, the same rate other MLSE employees received. Ticket prices for friends and family members went up.<\/p>\n

The changes were small in the scheme of things, but indicative, when coupled with the other cost-cutting measures, of a team doing a little less for its players.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the AHL affiliate Toronto Marlies, after years of flying to drivable destinations such as Laval, were suddenly taking the bus to more games.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeith changed a lot of s\u2014,\u201d said one staffer, \u201cand I don\u2019t think it was for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, the Maple Leafs went to increasing lengths to monetize the team<\/a>, including offering a $956 price tag for young fans to wave a flag before home games, among other experiences up for sale as part of the new \u201cFan Access\u201d program.<\/p>\n

As the team struggled, empty seats<\/a> became more frequent at Scotiabank Arena. Average attendance for the 2025-26 season would end up as the lowest in the history of the building for the Leafs in a non-pandemic season.<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/p>\n

\n Craig Berube had a rough second year in Toronto, from a losing streak that cost an assistant coach\u2019s job in December to a gym accident in January. (Nick Turchiaro \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Coach in distress<\/p>\n

Hired in the lingering glow of a Stanley Cup win with the St. Louis Blues to bring a more hard-nosed approach, Berube seemed to have everything go his way in his first season in Toronto. With sensational goaltending, a deadly power play, four stars who could break open any game, and one strong defensive pair, the 2024-25 Leafs had the NHL\u2019s best record in one-goal games and went 35-1-1 when they entered the third period with a lead.<\/p>\n

All that good fortune disappeared in Year 2.<\/p>\n

As the losses mounted, Berube looked increasingly desperate to save the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cF\u2014ing skate with the puck!\u201d he growled at William Nylander, a frequent target of his criticism, during a profanity-laced practice.<\/p>\n

Treliving threw support behind his beleaguered coach.<\/p>\n

While Treliving derided his team\u2019s performance as \u201cvanilla,\u201d he blamed himself for the scuffling. In the offseason, he had wanted to add a top-six forward to help fill the Marner gap, as well as a defenseman who could prime the offense. Neither effort panned out.<\/p>\n

At one point, the Leafs discussed a Nick Robertson for Egor Chinakhov swap with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but their offers fell short. They dangled a second-round pick around the league, looking for short-term help. They also contemplated re-acquiring Luke Schenn. However, save for a waiver claim on Troy Stecher in November, the Leafs GM made no moves to rescue his flailing squad.<\/p>\n

According to league sources, the Leafs were consistently in on the final stages of trade talks like those for Chinakhov, but were never able to close deals that might have helped stem the bleeding. The skilled forward was eventually dealt to Pittsburgh in late December for second- and third-round picks and produced 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games as a Penguin on their top line.<\/p>\n

Executives with other teams said they found Toronto frustrating to deal with, as their trade calls often felt like tire-kicking rather than serious discussions.<\/p>\n

A month later, signs of a serious divide between coach and players began to spill into the open.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsk those guys, not me,\u201d a steaming Berube said<\/a> when asked about his team\u2019s lackluster effort in a shutout loss to the Washington Capitals in mid-December.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys\u201d and their coach then lost in Nashville and again in Dallas, falling to 15-15-5 on the season after a stretch of five losses in six games. With the fewest power-play goals in the league and the least time spent in the offensive zone of any team, the Leafs were dead last in the Eastern Conference approaching the halfway mark.<\/p>\n

They would end up being outshot more than any team in the league and the most times by 25 shots or more in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Speculation over Berube\u2019s job security, with two and a half years remaining on his contract, ramped up.<\/p>\n

Two days before the Christmas break, a coach was indeed fired; before the flight home from Dallas, Treliving relieved Marc Savard, the assistant coach in charge of the power play, of his duties.<\/p>\n

Treliving would later describe it as \u201cchange that we could make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berube fought hard for Savard to be on his staff when he joined the Leafs. The two played together briefly in Calgary and coached together in St. Louis. Berube was gutted Savard had taken the fall for the power-play failures. \u201cIt\u2019s on me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m the head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Treliving backed his coach again, even as it was clear they weren\u2019t on the same page. While Treliving indicated Derek Lalonde \u2014 who had joined the staff as a replacement for Lane Lambert in June \u2014 would now run the power play, a somber Berube said that wouldn\u2019t be the case. It would be an all-staff effort.<\/p>\n

Treliving really did believe in his head coach. According to Pelley, the GM never approached ownership about replacing him. The Leafs had won the Atlantic Division in Berube\u2019s first season behind the bench and management hoped this was a temporary blip.<\/p>\n

Calm before another storm<\/p>\n

It was the middle of January and the Leafs \u2014 with a power play finally showing signs of life under new assistant coach Steve Sullivan \u2014 appeared to be turning their season around. They had just done the unthinkable, becoming the first team to beat the league-stomping Colorado Avalanche in Denver since October.<\/p>\n

Oasis\u2019 \u201cWonderwall,\u201d the team\u2019s victory song, and Daya\u2019s \u201cHide Away,\u201d a tune the Leafs liked to play specifically for lovable rookie Easton Cowan, blared from their dressing room at Ball Arena.<\/p>\n

The win over the Avs was the Leafs\u2019 eighth in 10 games, vaulting them back into a playoff position. \u201cIt shows that we can compete with anybody in the league,\u201d Berube said.<\/p>\n

Three days later, Roy led the team\u2019s stretch at Las Vegas\u2019 T-Mobile Arena in his first return to the city since he was sent to Toronto in the blockbuster sign-and-trade that ended Marner\u2019s run with the Leafs.<\/p>\n

But facing Marner seemed to inspire no special emotion. The Leafs were, if anything, annoyed at the idea the game should have extra meaning.<\/p>\n

Matthews told TSN\u2019s Mark Masters before puck drop that he was done with the Marner questions after his longtime sidekick playfully flung a puck his way in the pregame warmup. As Marner was booed by a smattering of Leafs fans in his own building, his new team beat his old one, with Toronto blowing four two-goal leads and losing in overtime. Adding injury to insult, the Leafs lost Nylander in defeat.<\/p>\n

\"Mitch<\/p>\n

\n The Leafs attached no special meaning to facing Mitch Marner for the first time in January. (Ethan Miller \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

As quickly as the good vibes appeared, they were gone.<\/p>\n

A week later, ahead of Marner\u2019s highly anticipated return to Toronto, Berube lifted his blue ball cap at the morning skate and revealed gruesome damage: 50 stitches across the top of his forehead and a black eye from a lift bar falling on his head in the team gym at Scotiabank Arena the previous day.<\/p>\n

Despite considerable fan and media fanfare building the game up, the Leafs again played down the significance of facing Marner. The Golden Knights pumped five goals past Stolarz while fans sarcastically cheered Marner every time he left the ice to end a shift.<\/p>\n

Two days later, the Leafs were crushed by the Avs on a Sunday afternoon while snow pounded the city in record fashion. Still out with an injury, Nylander looked on from the press box and flashed his middle finger in frustration when the TV camera turned his way.<\/p>\n

He was fined $5,000 by the NHL, and later issued an apology on his Instagram account, adding that he was \u201cjust frustrated\u201d a day later.<\/p>\n

Dysfunction central<\/p>\n

After he decided to let Shanahan go and not hire a replacement, Pelley said he intended to work more closely with Treliving and Berube. By late February, however, he had only been around the team sporadically.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Pelley\u2019s appearance at a Feb. 24 practice was notable. With the deadline nearing and the Leafs still holding out playoff hopes, Pelley and Treliving chatted as the Leafs prepared to return from the Olympic break.<\/p>\n

Among the things they had discussed during the break was a potential contract extension for Treliving, who had one year remaining on his deal.<\/p>\n

There was even talk among some in the front office that perhaps they could be buyers ahead of the March 6 deadline, moving out some of their rental players while adding younger pieces who could help with a playoff push. But there was disagreement in the front office over that unorthodox plan, given their slim postseason hopes.<\/p>\n

In a letter sent to season ticket holders, Pelley cast blame for the team\u2019s \u201cups and downs\u201d on injuries and a condensed schedule. He said the Leafs couldn\u2019t reveal their \u201cteam strategy until the appropriate time\u201d in the interest of \u201cprotecting competitive advantages.\u201d<\/p>\n

What he didn\u2019t seem to realize was the ups were over.<\/p>\n

The Leafs stumbled out of the break with two consecutive losses in Florida while Cowan sat as a healthy scratch. A few nights later, Berube pointed to his head and his heart following a particularly spiritless loss to the Senators and said, \u201cI can\u2019t give guys this or this.\u201d<\/p>\n

With only days until the deadline, it was now undeniable Treliving had to sell.<\/p>\n

A few days later, the misalignment continued when Berube said after a morning skate that no players would sit against the New Jersey Devils for trade purposes. The Athletic revealed shortly thereafter that three players \u2014 Bobby McMann, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Scott Laughton \u2014 would indeed sit that night. Management had made the decision that morning, but the coach hadn\u2019t been made aware.<\/p>\n

Scratched again the following night, Ekman-Larsson grabbed a box of popcorn before he took his seat next to McMann and Laughton in the upper reaches of Madison Square Garden and looked on while his Leafs were flattened by the sad-sack Rangers.<\/p>\n

It was the Leafs\u2019 second six-game losing streak of the season \u2014 and they weren\u2019t done.<\/p>\n

Treliving was absent from that two-game road trip and receded from view in the weeks that followed. His absence didn\u2019t go unnoticed by staffers who were looking for leadership in a time of turmoil.<\/p>\n

The Leafs GM, with his job in jeopardy, was preparing for what would be a pivotal trade deadline. A day early, Treliving notched an early win by scoring a first-round pick from Colorado for Roy.<\/p>\n

He was prepared to make a much bigger splash involving the one core piece without trade protection, 23-year-old Matthew Knies.<\/p>\n

The Leafs GM engaged in trade talks involving Knies with a handful of teams in the hopes of landing a rich return. Treliving also tried and failed to turn Ekman-Larsson into a tidy haul of draft picks, and approached Matthews and Nylander to discuss the team\u2019s intended direction.<\/p>\n

Most vexing, even shocking, for his front office was how little interest rivals seemed to have in Laughton or McMann, two low-cost rentals who\u2019d priced their way out of staying in Toronto.<\/p>\n

With only 30 minutes to go, Treliving emailed the NHL\u2019s other 31 GMs to inform them the Leafs were trading Laughton.<\/p>\n

Pelley would later tell MLSE staff in his weekly \u201cPelley\u2019s Page\u201d internal newsletter that the team hadn\u2019t drawn any offers on either McMann and Laughton with just 15 minutes to go until the 3 p.m. ET deadline.<\/p>\n

In the nick of time, the Laughton deal \u2014 which netted Toronto a second-round pick \u2014 got across the line. So did one that sent McMann to Seattle for picks in the second and fourth rounds. Conversations around Knies continued until the last minute, too, with marquee Canadiens and Sabres prospects in play. Pelley later lauded the young talent of both rivals, and in doing so named several trade targets in the Knies talks, such as Michael Hage, Adam Engstrom, Jacob Fowler, David Reinbacher, Konsta Helenius and Radim Mrtka.<\/p>\n

Looming over the deadline-day action was Pelley and another non-hockey executive not in the room but playing an influential role nonetheless: Humza Teherany, the chief strategy and innovation officer at MLSE.<\/p>\n

The belief among staffers was that Pelley\u2019s AI musings were coming directly from Teherany, who has become one of Pelley\u2019s most trusted advisors. One organization source said Teherany had \u201chis fingers in all of the (MLSE) teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

That included the Raptors, who had embraced the support of MLSE\u2019s Sports Performance Lab, which included everything from AI to analytics to biomechanics, and found success from it.<\/p>\n

The Leafs staff, conversely, were found to be resistant to what the tools might offer, which explained why Pelley would later call for a more \u201cdata-centric\u201d head of hockey operations.<\/p>\n

The end of the line<\/p>\n

Ekman-Larsson could only wonder what happened. How, with his wife days from delivering their second child, had the Leafs sat him but not moved him after all?<\/p>\n

He sighed heavily when asked if there were any fences to mend at the end of deadline week. That was followed by a pause and an uncertain reply: \u201cI don\u2019t know. \u2026 It was pretty tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid it all, the losing was reaching new lows. The Leafs\u2019 winless streak hit eight games on March 10 in Montreal, the franchise\u2019s longest since 2015.<\/p>\n

Just when the organization thought things couldn\u2019t get any worse, they did in the next game.<\/p>\n

\"Auston<\/p>\n

\n The team\u2019s failure to come to Auston Matthews\u2019 defense sparked an internal reckoning. (John E. Sokolowski \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas, nicknamed \u201cThe Butcher,\u201d threw his left knee out in an apparent attempt to clip Matthews. As the Leafs captain lay crumpled, the four other Leafs on the ice \u2014 including Morgan Rielly and Nylander, the two longest-serving members of the team \u2014 did not rush to Matthews\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n

He would later require season-ending knee surgery.<\/p>\n

The Leafs\u2019 inaction provoked a reckoning internally, from players to coaches to management, on how a team that was supposed to be tough above all else under Berube could fail to act with their captain lying on the ice.<\/p>\n

By the end of the month, Pelley was conducting one-on-one meetings with staff members and asking questions about the team\u2019s culture and leadership in a manner that left some uncomfortable, as if they were being made to betray confidences.<\/p>\n

Who Pelley chose to talk to seemed to some staff to be random, with one team source remarking that the CEO\u2019s investigations could have been more widespread. Pelley considered it a valuable information-gathering exercise, one that would help determine whether the team had the right front-office structure in place.<\/p>\n

The determination was clear: They did not. The end had come for Treliving.<\/p>\n

The writing was on the wall before Pelley summoned the Leafs GM for a meeting in Toronto while the team continued a road trip in Anaheim.<\/p>\n

The CEO and the GM had already had what was described as a \u201cdifficult conversation\u201d during the period when Pelley was mapping out the path forward with ownership, one that might have included Treliving keeping his job.<\/p>\n

Treliving was officially fired on March 30. Initially, MLSE intended to make the announcement publicly at 11 a.m. the following morning, but Pelley said Treliving urged them to move on it right away.<\/p>\n

That explained how a return visit against the Ducks that was supposed to be about retribution on Gudas became something else entirely. Just one hour and 23 minutes before puck drop \u2014 weeks after the trade deadline and a month after a contract extension was discussed \u2014 MLSE announced that it had \u201cparted ways\u201d with Treliving.<\/p>\n

The move sent shockwaves through the organization. Not because it was surprising, but because of how haphazard the handling of it all seemed \u2014 including both the timing and execution of such a major decision.<\/p>\n

Pelley didn\u2019t join the Leafs in California to deliver the news \u2014 Berube informed players during their pregame meeting \u2014 but instead held a news conference 4,000 kilometres away in Toronto the next afternoon.<\/p>\n

Wearing blue Maple Leafs-colored glasses, Pelley spoke vaguely about problems with culture and \u201calignment,\u201d but refused to offer specifics. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have alignment through all aspects of our business,\u201d he said during a widely panned news conference.<\/p>\n

It effectively marked the end of one of the most chaotic, dysfunctional seasons in Maple Leafs history \u2014 a campaign that has raised great uncertainty about the future of a franchise that will soon become wholly owned by Rogers.<\/p>\n

Who will be the next GM? MLSE\u2019s search is active \u2014 and Teherany is involved in the process. Will Berube be back next season? What about Matthews?<\/p>\n

For all involved, it\u2019s been a stunning fall: from perennial regular season juggernaut and playoff disappointment to the NHL basement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, really, I don\u2019t really know how to explain it,\u201d Nylander said. \u201cI can\u2019t believe we\u2019re in the position we\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 It spoke to the gravity of the situation that he felt compelled to be there at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,5020,5021,5019],"class_list":["post-5752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-nhl","tag-sports-business","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}