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Brad Treliving Reveals How the Maple Leafs' Identity Has Changed Without Mitch Marner
With Mitch Marner leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs, the franchise has transformed its identity, and general manager Brad Treliving is the first to acknowledge it.
For years, the Toronto Maple Leafs have had a reputation for being a soft team. Overall, it's a fair criticism as they mostly had skilled players with little grit.
With the hiring of Craig Berube, the team has become a lot more physical, much to the delight of fans. It should come as no surprise that the team is fresh off one of its best seasons in years.
Now, the team is going to be without Mitch Marner, one of the softer players the team has ever had. With that in mind, the identity of the franchise is shifting yet again.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are different without Mitch Marner
Recently, Leafs general manager Brad Treliving was asked about this identity shift and whether or not it is real.
While Treliving does acknowledge that a lot of the players have remained the same, there is no denying that things are changing from a mindset perspective.
Treliving even gives a lot of the credit to Craig Berube, who is particular about how his team plays.
I think there's a lot, but let's not kid ourselves: there's a lot of the same personnel and talent, so you're very mindful of that. I think one of the things head coach Craig Berube really instilled was playing behind people, being harder to play against at both nets, and that was the focus of our whole coaching staff throughout the year.
They've really tried to tie that into the talent of our players. We're fortunate to have world-class players, and I wouldn't say it's been a hard sell at all. The thing that we're fortunate about is that our top guys are also our hardest-working guys. They put in the most time, they work at their craft the hardest, they lead the way by example, so those were the nuances that I thought Craig Berube and the coaching staff tried to really focus on.
They've really tried to tie that into the talent of our players. We're fortunate to have world-class players, and I wouldn't say it's been a hard sell at all. The thing that we're fortunate about is that our top guys are also our hardest-working guys. They put in the most time, they work at their craft the hardest, they lead the way by example, so those were the nuances that I thought Craig Berube and the coaching staff tried to really focus on.
Going into this season, it will be interesting to see just how real the identity shift actually is. If one thing is for certain, it is that the fans want accountability.
Without Marner on the team, we might just see a lot of that, which will only be positive for this team.
As for Treliving, he still has his work cut out for him when it comes to seeking out players.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 4 | 135 ANSWERS Brad Treliving Reveals How the Maple Leafs' Identity Has Changed Without Mitch Marner Do you believe Brad Treliving is right about the Toronto Maple Leafs? | ||
| YES | 102 | 75.6 % |
| NO | 33 | 24.4 % |
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