Leafs’ DNA ‘needs to change,’ GM says as free agency looms for Marner, Tavares

Brad Treliving has a busy summer on the horizon as several of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ key players, including forwards Mitch Marner and John Tavares, will see their contracts expire and are headed for free agency.

The Maple Leafs general manager finally had a chance to meet with reporters on Thursday to conduct the annual year-end chat on the club’s state of affairs.

The press conference comes about two weeks after the Leafs were pummelled 6-1 by the Florida Panthers in the seventh game of their playoff series, providing another disappointing exit to the season.

“When you keep getting the same result, there’s some DNA that needs to change,” Treliving said. “And so that’s on me now going forward and our staff.”

Since the season came to a close, Treliving’s boss Brendan Shanahan has been axed and he will now report to the man carrying the axe, MLSE president Keith Pelley. Treliving said his new superior has told him that he will not be meddling in the club’s day-to-day affairs.

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“Keith’s made it very clear: ‘Your job is to go out and do the things that you see fit with your staff to get the team where we want it to go,’” Treliving said.

While Toronto was quick to make the Shanahan change, there could be plenty of other moves on the horizon as well, with Tavares, Marner, Max Pacioretty, Steven Lorentz and Jani Hakanpaa set to become unrestricted free agents.

Matthew Knies, Pontus Holmberg and Nicholas Robertson will all become restricted free agents this summer.

The majority of Leafs fans will be focused on whether Tavares and Marner will return next season, though, and Treliving would not say whether either would be offered contracts by the club heading into the summer.

“We’re going through that process right now,” he said, adding that he spoke with Marner and Tavares recently.

“My discussion with Mitch is let’s all take a step back. Let’s take a deep breath. I got to decompress a little bit,” Treliving said.

“We’re going to meet as a staff. I’m going to be in touch with Mitch’s representative and all of our players’ representatives and determine what’s best. Now, Mitch has a say in this as well. So this isn’t the world according to Brad.”

1:06 MLSE President and CEO Pelley not ‘deciding who we draft and what free agents we sign’

It was a similar story with Tavares, the former Leafs captain, who passed over the ‘C’ to Auston Matthews last summer, as the 37-year-old is approaching the end of a storied career.

“I’m a huge John Tavares fan, had a really good discussion with him. We got to take a step back, meet with our group. How do we best move forward? What are the costs?” he said.

Treliving added that the team is looking to move quickly to re-sign Knies, whose role on the team grew immensely last season.

The Leafs’ boss said he is currently meeting with scouts and staff to plan for the upcoming NHL draft, as well as free agency.

He is not expecting to make wholesale changes, but the roster at season’s end will not be the same as at the beginning of the 2025-26 season.

“The margins are really, really thin.… I don’t believe that you have to go and change 20 players, right?” Treliving said. “It’s not always about that. It’s what can we do to help our guys. What can we do to find guys that can help?