{"id":460748,"date":"2025-01-13T18:04:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T23:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=460748"},"modified":"2025-01-13T18:04:47","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T23:04:47","slug":"this-isnt-fantasy-hockey-toronto-maple-leafs-general-manager-provides-job-description-for-potential-newcomers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/13\/this-isnt-fantasy-hockey-toronto-maple-leafs-general-manager-provides-job-description-for-potential-newcomers\/","title":{"rendered":"“This Isn’t Fantasy Hockey”: Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Provides Job Description For Potential Newcomers"},"content":{"rendered":"

For several months, the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> have been looking for a middle-six centre<\/a> to acquire. Toronto’s management made comments about what they are looking for and potential options. General manager Brad Treliving talked about realistic options<\/a> for the Maple Leafs<\/a> to trade for before the March 7 deadline. Treliving faced the media on Monday at practice ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Stars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Treliving Looking to Remain “Realistic”<\/h2>\n

There have been plenty of rumours<\/a> regarding the Maple Leafs’ search for a centre<\/a>. Several big names have been floating around such as Ryan O’Reilly<\/a>, Ryan Strome<\/a>, Yanni Gourde<\/a>, Brock Nelson<\/a> and even Jonathan Toews<\/a>. However, Treliving’s comments give the impression that he wants to lower expectations and come back to reality. He mentioned that it isn’t realistic to find a player with the skillset of Auston Matthews<\/a> or John Tavares<\/a>, but, Treliving wants a good player.<\/p>\n

The Leafs’ general manager added a brief job description when a reporter asked about the type of player Toronto is looking for. The team continues to take pride in its ability to keep the puck out of the net this season and its penalty kill. Toronto currently has the third-best penalty kill in the league at 83.6 percent. They’ve taken grand steps in the defensive categories compared to last season. They were nearly a bottom-10 team in both goals-against average and penalty-kill percentage. Therefore, Treliving would like to keep that theme going and he shared that he’d like a player who can play on both sides of the puck.<\/p>\n

However, Treliving admitted that the team needs to improve in the scoring department. Since Dec. 28, the Maple Leafs are 17th in terms of scoring goals<\/a>. In addition, the Leafs are in the bottom half of the league when it comes to converting on the power play. In the last five games, Toronto has scored twice on 12 opportunities with the extra man. Therefore, Treliving added that this potential new acquisition can contribute offensively. Toronto has had a shortage of depth scoring this season. There are 153 games between Connor Dewar<\/a>, Ryan Reaves<\/a>, David Kampf<\/a>, Pontus Holmberg<\/a> and Max Domi<\/a>. However, they only add up to seven goals out of the teams’ 135 total.<\/p>\n

Internal Options Over External<\/h3>\n

In this post-practice media availability, Treliving proposed the idea of internal solutions and options down the stretch. \u201cA lot is made about the trade deadline, but you\u2019re always looking for ways to improve your team. It\u2019s not always about external moves,\u201d Treliving said. Here, he is referencing the opportunity for players in Toronto’s system to step up and be the answer.<\/p>\n

In a salary-cap world, teams need players on entry-level contracts to step up as cheap pieces. That is exactly what Treliving alluded to. “Having good young players on entry-level or lower-cost deals is important for success,” he said. Toronto has Matthew Knies<\/a> who is currently in the final year of his ELC<\/a>. Knies has been a huge piece for the Leafs this season despite a scoring drought along the way<\/a>. He is third on the team in scoring with 16 goals in 42 games.<\/p>\n

The Toronto Marlies<\/a> and Fraser Minten<\/a> were mentioned in this presser. Minten is another player who would be able to contribute on a cheap contract. He also fits Treliving’s description of a two-way player who has scoring upside. In 11 games with the Maple Leafs<\/a> this season, Minten scored two goals and recorded two helpers. While he may not be ‘Plan A’ for Toronto’s general manager, he’s still an asset.<\/p>\n

Treliving also commended the Marlies for having a great season so far. They are 12th in the entire AHL in points percentage. In the minors, Minten has five goals and 10 points in 15 games for the Maple Leafs affiliate club.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For several months, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been looking for a middle-six centre to acquire. Toronto’s management made comments about what they are looking for and potential options. General manager Brad Treliving talked about realistic options for the Maple Leafs to trade for before the March 7 deadline. Treliving faced the media on Monday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5141,"featured_media":460758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,4547,4548],"tags":[1594,7347,965,3885,5868,5951,6127],"class_list":["post-460748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leafs","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-brad-treliving","tag-fraser-minten","tag-nhl-trade-deadline","tag-nhl-trade-rumours","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-analysis","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-news","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-rumours"],"modified_by":"Andre Leal","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460748"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460759,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460748\/revisions\/460759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}