Craig Berube's Recent Experiment Suggests Brad Treliving Must Make a Trade
Craig Berube and the Toronto Maple Leafs are forced to revert to old ways as defensive experiments fail to spark change, a sign that change may need to come by trade.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has reverted his defensive group back to their original pairings, with Berube going back to square one as the team still hasn't found the right duos as 2024 comes to a close.
Morgan Rielly is one player getting criticism as the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to search for the right defensive pairings, with some giving questions over how long Rielly can continue being the Leafs top choice on defense.
JD Bunkis and Sam McKee on Sportsnet 590's 'Leafs Talk' show had concerns over Rielly's play this season, and has concerns that not only is he struggling to showcase he's still capable as a 1D, but Bunkis goes as far as to call Rielly a "liability".
You gotta start doing something other than being a liability.
Sam McKee agreed with Bunkis, and said that Rielly has been given a "pass" over his game and hasn't been given the same criticism that the top forwards on Toronto have gotten in the past few years.
Like, there's a certain faction of Leafs Nation that is hard on him, but I do think, like, as the "number one defenseman" on this team, highest paid defenseman on this team, and for some of his regular season stuff that he's had over the past few years.
I don't think he gets it that bad but with the lack of a Timothy Liljegren, the lack of a Justin Holl, the lack of a Jake Gardiner, being the highest paid guy on the D-core.....
He's had issues before, he can dig out of them, we know the playoff stuff, like we know how good he can be in the playoffs, but this is not going away this conversation."
Is A Trade For A Defenseman Imminent For Toronto?
Along with analysts like Bunkis & McKee, Leafs fans have also latched criticism on Rielly for his play, wanting more out of a defenseman supposed to be a #1 option for Toronto.
Rielly, with just four goals and 18 points in 34 games this season, is on pace for his worst season in years.
The problem is that it's easy to look at Rielly and question if he's a #1 defenseman, the issue is finding someone else on short notice who can potentially take over.
There's no one currently on the team who looks like they'll be able to slot into a leading role in the lineup, and they don't have any high-tier defensive prospects either.
Toronto doesn't have a first round pick in the 2025 Draft, so that may not be a solvable solution at least for the time being.
Except for a top youngster like Bowen Byram, there isn't a lot of rumored trade options with #1 defenseman potential, much less a likely first line option.
The big issue is that, where Rielly is struggling, it doesn't start and end with him either.
In the Leafs most recent game against the New York Islanders, tracked data shows Rielly as Toronto's second best defenseman behind Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
The four lowest ranked players are all defenseman, with Jake McCabe in particular having a relatively tough outing, with Simon Benoit, Chris Tanev, and Conor Timmins right behind.
Toronto will likely be looking at the trade market for help, though the team will need to wait until the NHL Roster Freeze has finished, and the team needs to do something before the March deadline.
But the team will need to concede that without paying a steep price, they're looking at only a band-aid to put on a stab wound.
