Brad Treliving Hints at the Drama in the Leafs Locker Room

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Julien Trekker
September 12, 2023 (9:33)

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Only weeks after he gave a contract extension to Sheldon Keefe, Brad Treliving made a declaration that worries a few Leafs' fans.

Drama in the Locker Room?

The training camp is only starting, yet, Brad Treliving revealed that some conflict could emerge in the Leafs' locker room during the season.

Here's his explanations:

"The ultimate job of the coach is to maximize the performance of the individual and therefore the performance of the team. And there's different ways to do it. Some days aren't all rainbows and lollipops. This is a hard business, and it's a hard league.

And to do great things is difficult, and you have to push people out of their comfort zone. So I think there's always ways that you can push players.

You want to be careful, I've always felt that the hardest conversations are usually best handled behind closed doors. And I don't think a player needs to be admonished publicly to understand if there's something that the coach feels he needs to get better at.

Having said that, it's an emotional game. Things happen. I'm sure there's going to be emotional times this year... When you live in this business and you work in it and this is what you do and you're invested the way everybody is invested, sometimes there's an emotional shrapnel that comes up.

I haven't been through it in Toronto. I'm sure it flies right under the radar in Toronto, and nothing ever gets printed. And there's no headlines for it, I'm sure. But what I found out is, nine times out of 10, that's just a little bit of noise and emotion. You certainly don't want that every day. But to think that you're not going to have some of that every once in a while, we're probably kidding ourselves. But I think you handle your business as men behind closed doors, face to face, and I'm sure that's how a lot of it will be handled moving forward." - Brad Treliving

The Emotional Component

Any sports team that takes things seriously will have an emotional component in the team.

To build a team spirit, you need guys who want to win and don't like to lose. For competitors like profesionnal athletes, losing is tough and brings a lot of negative emotions.

Sheldon Keefe will have to deal with his players in the right way and push them to battle through the tough times.

So, will there be drama in the Leafs' locker room this year? Probably.

Is it a good thing? Yes, absolutely.

As seen on Maple Leafs Daily -
Treliving quote hints at crack down on prima donna behaviour in Toronto