In November, Maple Leafs General Manager Brad Treliving gave his head coach Craig Berube the dreaded vote of confidence. Treliving publicly stated, “I have all the faith in the world in him.”
As we are six days before Christmas, and the NHL roster freeze among players now is in effect for the holiday season, the eyes will be now on Treliving to possibly do something at the coaching position to change things up in the Ontario capital for one of the most storied franchises in professional hockey. Unfortunately for Berube, there could be a lump of coal in his stocking from Treliving on Thursday.
Poor hockey in three of the last four games
The Maple Leafs have lost three of their last four games dating back to December 11. The struggles started in a 3-2 Maple Leafs home loss to the San Jose Sharks last Thursday. In this particular game, Toronto could not protect a one goal lead in the final two minutes. Defenseman John Klingberg of Gothenburg, Sweden tied the game at two, and then Alexander Wennberg won the game for San Jose at 2:49 of overtime.
Next came the Maple Leafs loss to the Edmonton Oilers a week ago. Here we saw greatness from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, as they had three points each. Berube’s post game comments to his players were the following: “I talked to the team after the game. Our leaders got to take control of it a lot more than they are right now.” The speculation that the three players Berube was referring to were Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly according to Charlie McAfee of Hockey Patrol. The bottom line is the Oilers best players were a zillion times better than the Maple Leafs best players.
Then in the Maple Leafs’s last loss, they simply could not find a way to beat Logan Thompson in a 4-0 loss to the Capitals. Yes, Thompson is an elite goaltender and should be Canada’s no. 1 at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo, but the Maple Leafs once again put in a lousy effort. When asked about his players’s lack of passion, Berube stated, “ask those guys, not me.”
Where are the Maple Leafs in the standings?
The Maple Leafs only have 35 points. That is the third fewest points in the East. Only Columbus and Buffalo have less as they have 34 points.
