Leafs Face Urgent Issue That Brad Treliving Must Address Immediately
The Toronto Maple Leafs desperately need to add offense to their bottom half, and Brad Treliving has to act quickly or risk a complete failure of a season.
It's no surprise the success of the Toronto Maple Leafs has been due to their superstars producing at a torrid pace. Led by Mitch Marner with 38 points, the team has been successful for the first third of the season.
However for all their successes, the Maple Leafs have had to do it relying on Marner and company, as the rest of the offense has been non-existent this season in a worrying trend that hasn't shown signs of stopping.
Toronto Can't Rely Only On The Core 4
The Core 4 of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares account for a staggering 59% of Toronto's goals; and while it's commendable to see the superstars playing to their potential, it's bizarre to see such a lack of production elsewhere.
The team has capable scorers like Nick Robertson, Max Domi, Max Pacioretty, and Pontus Holmberg are all able to put the puck in the net, but looking at the stats from the bottom-six they have been barely visible on the ice at least offensively.
It's terrible production from veterans like Domi and especially Robertson, who after such a strong start with five goals in the preseason, he's been nothing short of a disappointment for the Leafs.
But it's not all on Robertson although he plays a big factor, the whole bottom six has scored only 0.37 goals this season compared to the 0.90 last season which saw at least some lower-tier production.
Brad Treliving has several options he can explore when it comes to the trade market, but he needs to make a move soon. He doesn't need to break the bank, and he can end up finding what he needs from an offense and defense perspective.
But if he doesn't make a move, Toronto is going to find themselves on the outside looking in with another disappointing season if they don't figure things out, and this time he won't have a head coach to fall back on when things get hairy.
