Is the Brad Treliving SHOCKWAVE Just the BEGINNING for the Toronto Maple Leafs?

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network, and if you haven't heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join. It's called the Everydayer Club, and one of the things that you get as a member is an ad-free version of the podcast that you're listening to right now. It works with whatever podcast app you already used, same episodes every day, just no ad. There's also a member's only group chat for fans of your team, plus a lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everydayer Club link in the show notes. On today's episode of Lockdown NHL, Brad Tree Living is now former Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager. What do the Maple Leafs do next, and where does Bruce Cassidy come into play? You're Lockdown NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the

1:04Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, I'm Seth Topall, he's JD Young, and welcome to Lockdown NHL. On today's show, we will take a look at who could be the next head coach fired in the NHL, and where does Bruce Cassidy end up next? We will also talk about John Torturella, taking the reins in Vegas and what he can do to help propel the Vegas Golden Knights. Did they need propelling? We'll also talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs making the decision to relieve Brad Tree Living of his duties. What have they done? You've had duties in the same set. Are they done? Are the Maple Leafs done? Spoiler alert? No. My name is Seth Topall, host of Lockdown, while joined by JD Young of Lockdown, Sharks, and JD normally, anytime you get John Torturella front and center in the NHL, that's top billing

2:06for that particular show, but just coming down the pipeline. This affects the Leafs' ultimate addition, right? Yeah. This is the one situation that would upset, and you SERP, John Torturella making his return to the coaching circles, Brad Tree Living gone. The Toronto Maple Leafs have had enough, and they are going in a different direction. I guess, first off, not a stunner, perhaps, but interesting timing that they would do this on the same day of a game, and like an hour before the game started, and that they would do this with like 10 games left in the season. Maybe. There, because you think about, too, like you have Nashville, who's actively looking for a GM. Right, we're going to talk about some other guys who could, other teams who could be looking for GMs.

3:06They probably just want to get ahead start, because like, what does it matter the last, you know, two weeks of the season here, especially for a team that kind of really needs to finish in the top five in the draft standings to keep their first shot picked this year. So yeah, I think for them, it makes total sense here, like if it was me and I was the owner of the Leafs, fire the GM, I'd fire the head coach, I'd pull up like my, my nephew or something to run the team for the last like two weeks of it. So like behind the bench, anybody who is going to be part of the future, Phantom injuries, like the tank would 1 million percent be on, because you're trying, like this team needs a one, a talent injection in a bunch of different places, but to like, it's, it's just time, man, like this, this, this franchise is just, it's always something with this franchise.

4:07And yeah, I think this, this, this made a lot of sense. And the timing might be a little bit weird now, but you're going to have a serious competition. I think there could be like four or five GM openings this summer, and I think you're going to have some serious competition to try to get someone in here to try to clean up this mess. You know, it's funny because this reminds me a lot of what Kyle Dubas stepped into with Pittsburgh, where this is not a small project. This is going to be a major, major change because it just feels like this Toronto Maple Leafs team has nothing left to give. They have given everything that they had. You brought Craig Barubian to try to show them a different way to go about it. And it's been an abject failure. And at this point, the roster is just not good. The top level guys are not playing well, but that's because they're being, I think, pulled into the mud by the rest of the roster.

5:07So at this point, it's, it's time, it is, it is time for this to become a major project. And so yeah, I certainly agree that, you know, getting ahead start is worth it. It's going to be really interesting to see what like the first steps are. Do you end up going with Austin Matthews first? Do you end up, you know, do you go with some of the supporting guys? Do you go William Neelander first? It feels like, it feels like it's time to build a new foundation for this roster. Do you build around Matthew Nies? I mean, he's had stretches this year, but he certainly hasn't looked as good as he did last year. I, what do you do? That's like, it's, it's such a, it, like, I treat leaving, I, like, I just, I don't think he ever expected this to happen this season because you look at, like, if you're a, a GM

6:10whose team is on its way to picking in the top five or top 10, you're usually like trying to acquire as many, like, sell off whatever you can, acquire as many assets as you can throughout the season. Like, and we kind of, I know this year was a little bit weird and stuff, but like, you kind of, like, we kind of knew the leaves were, were done this year. Like, this, it just wasn't, but you know, my trades, this team made since the summer. Three, three trades, one on March 5th, two on March 6th, the trade deadline. Why was it he, like, something, like, you, you, something, like, you, like, either start selling off pieces early, right? And I know it was a weird market and you had the, like, still other GM's made a bunch of deals and stuff. Like, what, like, why were you not trying to at least, like, at least you could have gone to ownership, like, hey, you know, I know it wasn't our season, but look at some of

7:13the assets I acquired, like, here's the plan going forward, et cetera, et cetera. But you do wonder, you do wonder if Austin Matthews maybe had a word with ownership. It was like, we got to do something different here, right? I know right now he's dealing with his injury and, you know, coming back from that, but you do wonder if a word from his group got to ownership and was like, we got to change some stuff here. And if it's, you know, tree living and you, again, if you're Craig Baroube, like, you might as well just start cleaning your office right now, because I think, what, is it 24 hours after the first game, give or take, or less than, I would say the under on 24 hours after the first game, the final game before he's like, no, yeah, it's just, yeah, it's a cost situation on a bad team where the superstar players haven't lived up to expectations and it feels like every switch they try to, you know, pull to try to find something

8:15in the bottom six or support players, just none of them work. And we see some more situation in Edmonton, but like, their star players are just way better than the Maple Leaf star players. And they're able to kind of overcome it, but yeah, and then plus you're playing, you know, in Toronto, which is like the craziest of markets in the entire league. So that just magnifies everything by a thousand percent. So yeah, just say, yeah, it's, do not envy the next GM who's walking into this. Would you like to know the number of players that are signed two deals that run either two, 20, 30 or beyond? It's, it's a lot, it's, it's Morgan Riley, 20, 30, and that's, that's seven and a half million per. Yep. Jake McCabe, 20, 30, that's 4.51, 3 million per. Chris Tanov, 20, 30, 4.5 million dollars.

9:17Chris Tanov, who's 36 right now, yeah, it's, it's got that they're going to have to buy him out. Matthew, no, who caused on that bad point, too? Matthew Nies signed to a deal through 20, 31 at 7.75 million. He's 23. You can live with that. Yes. William E. Lander signed to a deal through 20, 32 at 11 and a half million dollars per. No mood cards on that one. And then Ossie Matthews is going to be wanting more money here soon or rather later, too. And he's making 13.25 million dollars as it is. Yeah. So, yeah, next summer, next the 20s, summer 2027, Matthews is eligible for an extension. And then you also forgot, Anthony Solars, the goalie, who's signed a new deal this season. And he's signed through 20, 30, making 3.75 million. So, yeah, man, yikes. Oh, a good thing like you have a bunch of first round picks and stuff to potentially build

10:23or oh, that's right. You owe two first round picks coming up here. So between, yeah, it was a Boston and Philly get those picks, I believe, if I recall correctly. Yeah. You know, the movie, you know, the movie margin call where they, oh, so it's a kid stumbles upon a formula that leads to a major Fortune 500 company having to sell off like all of their, all of their bonds and dividends that they have because they are extremely radioactive. And if they don't, it will crater the market, it feels like Toronto right now. But then like, as far as the deadline goes, like the guys that you could even look at moving, Max Domey, but he's got two years left on his deal, Dakota Joshua's got two years left on his deal, Cali yarn croak is an unrestricted free agent. So it's like they have too many guys that are just locked into long to like, are you gonna,

11:28are you going to shop all over Ekman Larson at the deadline? He was reportedly teams were interested in his services, but I guess they wanted too much and stuff. And yeah, Brandon Carlo, that trade looks absolutely horrible. Yeah. Yeah, it just, it feels like everything they have touched has turned to just gunk. So not, not a banner, not a banner and not a banner tenure for Brad tree living. And so don't worry, he'll get a job as an assistant GM for somebody coming up this summer. So he's going to take over for Kelly McCrim and Vegas. Ooh, what did you imagine? Mitch Marner just like, can't, can't keep getting away with that. Just, Marner turns a corner and tree living, just like night, it's just, it's the Michael just like, no, any time like I see, no, no, it's funny, for Toby, not only did the maple

12:38leaves make the decision to move on from Brad tree living. That one was a little easier to explain. What the Vegas Golden Knights decided to do in bringing John Torturella in in favor of Bruce Cassidy is a little more complex. And so when we come back, we're going to take a look at the reasons that Vegas decided to make the move. And if it's going to be enough to float them past the first round in the playoffs, we'll discuss. As we continue today's episode of locked on NHL, after this, today's episode of locked on NHL is brought to you by Robinhood. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robinhood prediction markets. It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter Robinhood prediction markets changes the game. It's people moving the action. So in momentum shifts, you can move with it.

13:41I always knew the game, but never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge. Now I can actually take part live in a market powered by people. You're no longer just a spectator. Play by play you decide. Trade every play with Robinhood now available across the US. Download the Robinhood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involve significant risk. It is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Welcome back to today's edition of locked on NHL. Once again, we thank you for making locked on NHL your first listen each and every day. We are your team each and every day as well. If you're looking to level up your locked on experience, the every day or club is the perfect way to do so with ad free editions of your favorite locked on shows and the exclusive members only discord server locked on every day or club is giving you a step up in your

14:41locked on experience. You can find all of your favorite shows every day or clubs by going to the show notes for your favorite locked on show you'll find for information there. So click the link join and be married. The locked on every day or club bringing you an elevated look at your favorite locked on shows. Brad tree living gone Bruce Cassidy gone by the Vegas golden nights. Now this one is I got to say this one is way more of a shock because is it it's Vegas man. I mean, I I understand the I understand the reasoning behind it because if you're Vegas, you're expecting to you're expecting to be a little higher up in the standings than you're currently are. My counter is that the problems with the roster are GM problems, not coaching problems.

15:42Yeah. This was a great so J fresh on hockey great does a lot of analytic stuff great since the Olympic break Vegas rate third in five you five expected goal share shot share and shot attempt share. So they were creating operate they were shooting a lot they were creating a lot they were holding the other team like to, you know, not shooting basically they also allowed the fewest shots against per 60 and the third fewest expected goals against their last and shoot yet 6.8% and second last and save percentage at 86.9% so they just extremely unlucky and they goal tenders couldn't make a save. But the torts thing is really funny, especially with the timing of it, right? It games left, which I joking thought they didn't want to burn his ELC this year, so that's why he's playing. He's only gets nine less than nine games for torts, but here's the Vegas schedule, though,

16:47going forward. They're playing Vancouver on Monday night as we're getting ready as we're recording to get ready to start this game. And they play Calgary, Edmonton, that's okay, that's a good one there. Vancouver, Seattle, Colorado, who might be like nothing to play for the last three games of the season, Winnipeg, and Seattle, like torts is just walking into this like, it's like this, this, you know, schedule gets some of the worst teams in the NHL here. It is going to be like, look, he fixed the problem, guys, everything's good here. Don't look behind the curtain or anything like that. So it'll be interesting to see like torts and stuff and kind of, because like he's been, you know, like, he's on, you know, the flyers, like that flyers team, you know, was it up and coming or kind of a rebuilding team and like, it's been a while since torts has been handed a roster kind of like this. I will be intrigued to see his impact on it, but again, like, I don't know what you can

17:52do to just like, shoot the puck better and make a save better. Is that what you do? Like, yeah, I'm just like, can you, can you make a save here for me, Aiden Hill? Well, Anne's like, I just, we know John Torturella as being a guy that can coax more out of a roster. Yeah. Yeah. In particular, a little younger roster. This is a heavy veteran group. It's like super veteran. Yeah. It's like Mitch, like Jack Eichel, Mark Stowe, who's like seated and done everything. Like, what's Torturella going to do to Mark Stowe, other than just say, I guess, he's just going to do the, the bear cool is what's wrong with your legs, speech. Yeah. Don't go on long-term injured reserve. We're not letting you. We're not letting you at this point. Yeah, I like, it feels, it feels like the issues with Vegas are more roster construction like you said than they are, like, the team is just not.

18:53Gold tending. Yeah. Gold tending. And gold tending. But I'm going to put that under roster construction a little bit more than, like, then, I mean, who could have seen Aiden Hill not able to say healthy and then all of a sudden the big contract you give him after a ridiculous playoff run? We could have seen that aging like milk because it looks like it's aging like milk. This is exactly how Dean Everson got fired from the Minnesota wild is the gold tending was bad at the beginning of the season. You can push as many buttons as you want. You can throw things. You can be super encouraging to players. You can go every possible way you want. And if the goalies aren't making saves, it doesn't matter. Nothing matters. It doesn't matter in the slightest. Nope. What you do. Nope. And how many times have we seen gold tending prop up bad coaching, right? Where it's just like, yep, you know, you look at like, yeah, I mean, plenty of teams

19:56where it's just, you know, bad gold tending. I mean, great gold tending, propping up, you know, a bad roster, like the flames last year, right? That flames roster was terrible. They rode dust and wolf to almost a playoff. And then now look at the gold tending went away this year and now the flames are one of the worst teams in the NHL like it's, yeah, it's, yeah, you do. I know our, the guys over at Lockdown Gold Knights, they were pondering if Vegas gets knocked out early is Kelly McCrimming gone. And again, we have seen this, this franchise, this front off is like, they do not care. They are going to make the right decision where they feel the right decision further franchise. They don't care about the noise. They don't care when anyone else thinks, um, you know, uh, like I, if, if you're Kelly McCrimming, like you better hope this works here, uh, and if and towards can at least get them, you know, out of the first round into the second round, the good thing is you play in a horrible

20:59Pacific division where you're gonna probably play in like, uh, you know, either Edmonton or, or Anaheim in the first round. And it's not like anybody in the Pacific is world beaters here. So, but yeah, uh, if you're Kelly McCrimming, you're probably not feeling, you're probably not sleeping really great right now knowing that this, uh, you could be the next one here. Yeah, because you, you only get to play this card once or twice as a general manager before then you become the card that's played. Yep. So, yes, John Torturella has a large pedigree as far as, uh, being a head coach goes, but again, a lot of it is contingent on having a younger roster that he can kind of coach up. Yeah. What are you gonna, what are you going to tell these guys that they don't already know? Yeah. And if you are a veteran player, like if you're a Jack Eichel, do you want to coach riding you like crazy if you are making like, do you want to coach

22:06nitpicking what you're doing at the season? Eichel, who like just want a gold medal, uh, like for Team USA is a Stanley Cup champ. It like came here and brought a Stanley Cup Championship to Vegas. Yeah, uh, maybe though, maybe they, like, they just need a new voice and stuff. And it's like Bruce Cassie's like at a great coat like Bruce Cassie is going to have the pick of the litter of jobs that we'll talk about that here in a second. But like, yeah, it's an interesting decision at a very interesting time here, uh, for Vegas who, to, you know, like, to flip this lever and see if the, this can actually get the team going here. But it's gonna be fun. Uh, it always is. It's always is Vegas. There's always something, man. Let's not delay this speculation any further. Let's just hop right into it. And, uh, when we come back, we'll take a look at possible next destinations for Bruce Cassie, who is going to pull the trigger and, uh, yank their general manager or head coach,

23:10or both, who's making moves, we'll discuss as we finish today's locked on NHL after this final segment of today's edition of locked on NHL. Once again, we thank you for making locked on NHL your first listen each and every day. Make sure to like and subscribe so you don't miss out on any new episodes throughout the week. JD, let's recklessly speculate to finish today's episode of who is going to be next. And I think we can safely say with Brad tree living being relieved of his duties. Craig Ruby is gone, the moment, the regular see, you know what's gonna happen? They're gonna give him a thank you coach Barubi in like the third period of the final game of the year. Just actually get skedded a tweak at schedule. There's wrong. It's just yeah, one billion percent. That would be so maple leaves to just a schedule to tweet wrong. It's gonna happen though. Oh yeah, it's going to happen. I like it has to you feel like like it would have cut.

24:13We're going to kind of do this all at what like kind of one. But you feel like the maple leaves here, especially if you know, depending on the GM, but like Cassidy feels like like the coach that you'd want there, right? Because especially with the roster, you have a lot of guys who've been kind of underperforming here. You know, you have a lot of some veterans and stuff like that. Like it feels like Cassidy would be like the the that would be like a great land is spot for for him is that maple leafs at a roster that I think, you know, I never rubes. Craig Barubi, but like I think Cassidy would be would would be a really great landing spot there. So yeah, I think so too. They they he is more of a he's more of a veteran coach that is capable of just capable of just putting the pieces where they need to be. Um, here's a line up. Here's an interesting one. Just down south for me. LA Kings, interim coach DJ Smith, a roster that is constantly kind of

25:17underperformed, right? You feel like they've never like the coaching has always kind of held them back. And like, yeah, you got a pen Aaron coming in, like maybe a pen Aaron can be your kind of like your star player here for a couple seasons. Like I like that would make a lot of sense for me. Like a team that that's trying to kind of take that next step here and stop being the Minnesota wild of the Pacific. I've just getting to the first round and getting crushed. I know. Sorry. Getting crushed by the Edmonton Oilers every for every year. But like that could make a ton of sense there. Wow. I was not expecting to have the rug pulled out from under me in such a divisive fashion spot the line. It's not wrong. But I reserve the right to just not be super happy about it. That's fine. Again. You could certainly make the case. You could certainly make the case for the Kings.

26:22Because now they have they've bounced around a little bit as far as GM's go as far as coaches go. And you may want to just take the opportunity before you get too vested to get make sure you got the right guy. Make sure you have what you think is a solid fit going forward. And that feels to me like that would be kind of a Lindy Ruff to Sheldon Keith. Now I know that we're going to talk about the devils here in a little bit. But you're going to you're going from one high profile coach to another. Now DJ Smith obviously is kind of the in between there. But I can see the Kings making that decision to be like let's just get our guy and let's just get the pieces put together and figure out the rest as we go. I got a I got a spicy one. I got a really spicy one. Shoot.

27:24Montreal, Canadian. You have Martin Tans, St. Louis, who's been a great coach for them, right? You know kind of guiding them through this rebuild here. But you know like it's a very competitive Eastern conference. What if you get knocked out the first round and you realize like St. Louis is taking us as far as we can go. We need that guy. We need that guy to kind of take us over and you know yes it's a younger roster. But like although it's a younger roster like a lot like these guys have been around. You know you think about like Cole Coffield has been here like Suzuki. He feels like he's bowed 25 and also has played 15 years in the league at the same time. You know I know again you have some some young players here but like doesn't that like for a team that's right on the on the cusp of being kind of like that next team. I could like that one makes make some said that it's I think it's spicy but I really like that one too. See I here's how I would play that out. I would

28:26allow the general manager to go get a bona fide goalie. And then say it. Fowler like Fowler is good man. Like I think he's going to be the guy next. Oh yeah dude Fowler like having watched Fowler a fair amount especially in his Boston college days. Like Fowler is like going to be like a upper tier goalie. Like it's it's not it's it's going to be a matter of win not for him I think. Yeah. I really high on Fowler. I see what you're I see the route you're you're taking I just I don't see it being very likely given that they are I said it was spicy. I said it was spicy but very much is is this the season that the Iser plan finally gets put on indeed. I could see that one like yeah there could be a lot of like GM's if you're worried about like Iserman right you think that's Gerald in in New Jersey. Drury's like already packing up his stuff like that one

29:28office better be cleaned up. Front office executives in New York are like why are you still here your your key card still works. How did you get into the building? If you don't leave the building you can't worry about getting locked out so I got a spicy one for you. Yeah. Yeah. Jared Bednar. If they get bounced in the first round or something like especially see the the problems are they're going to have like I because I don't see like the what I don't see Dallas catching them now right yeah. Okay where are the points as a recording yeah it's too many points it's six points now and they have they have two games in hand so yeah they're they're probably is they're going to get like a team like LA or Nashville or something like that they're going to get a cupcake first round opponent where they're going to like even if they just screw around for five games they're going to like take care of them you know yeah but I just don't

30:28I don't think Colorado is granted they did make some changes on the coaching staff but like the everything has they they didn't have the panic goalie moves like they did last year yeah like the goal tending has just been good this year yeah and they tell me they a lot of injuries in that and it's like they were so good early on that like now when they lose a couple games it's like oh oh is it time the panic in Colorado it's like they set the center way to way too high to begin the season so I think you'd have to like a monumental collapse in the first round this has to be like sharks red wings like 94 type of thing where you're like for him to get fired there yeah I would that would be shocking it would have to take something like that where it's like you get you get beat by like yeah like Nashville and you know and or it's like you could totally see this series going seven games every game Colorado wins is like five to two and every game Nashville wins

31:29is like a two to one UC Saurus just goes absolutely ham wins you a series type of thing yeah like that that's what I think that's what it would take him then then you would maybe have the conversation but he's built up too much good will like he's still like he's still one of those like five coaches like I think one of five that's coaches in NHL so yeah I think I would agree and I don't I don't think Colorado is a I think they're too good of an organization to make no they're not gonna panic like that yeah they're not going to make that big of a reactionary type move they're not going to go the Vegas route no so what other what other coaches you think are very much like yeah well up until the month of March I would have said what about Jim Montgomery and St. Louis they did it again they did it again it's always too little too late uh they did again camfowler but there goes our hopes of it the camfowler player coach one day one day the camfowler player coach um you do wonder we were talking about this before and the

32:34Rangers right if jury this is my Sullivan just be like thanks I'm out guys certainly could I don't want any part of this um yeah he could be like I was brought in here to coach a team on the rise not a development thing yeah it is funny how you like bring it out Pittsburgh's like really good this year with like a roster that a lot of us that was going to be the worst one of the worst teams in NHL and they're firmly in the playoffs mix here and then he goes to the Rangers and that was supposed to be the final piece and yeah the final piece to getting the top three pick so yeah um yeah like you look at kind of like I'm trying to Edmonton like you never know Edmonton right like we kind of touched on that one too uh I think Bruce Cassie right there would be a great fit for Edmonton they wanted to upgrade from knob lock I know like knob lock just brought you to you know you like you just went to the Stanley Cup and you could maybe like in a very weak

33:35pacific you could make it through again but um you do wonder if McDavid who has all the power is just like yeah get me Cassidy something like that so but that's gonna be fun I think there's gonna be a lot a lot of changes in front offices slash coaching this offseason it's gonna be yeah it's gonna be fun uh yeah it's gonna be a very active offseason to say the least not only coaches GMs but players as well um feels like there's gonna be a lot of trades yeah for agencies gonna for agents gonna be it actually like actual free agent class is gonna be really boring but I think it's gonna be a very active trade uh because I think most teams are gonna realize that's the way to acquire players is we need to we need to from now on refer to free agency as free agent see see they're all in red and see one free agent just signs like see look one free agent they're all sea level free agents just no yes no we literally just on the

34:40first day of free agency just literally one player signs one player uh Elevated Freeman easy job that day yeah don't uh don't don't feel like you have to stay at work the whole day no just yeah just do you yeah if you work from home today it's fine we yeah yeah we got it we got it so yeah uh it's gonna be fun it's gonna be fun yes it will be uh it'll be a lot of fun that is gonna do it for today's episode of locked on NHL once again we thank you for making locked on NHL your first listen each and every day uh for more breakdown on the bread tree living news and the Bruce Cass day news make sure to check out locked on Maple Leafs and locked on golden nights for your daily reaction to both moves we've got new episodes of locked on NHL every Monday through Friday as part of the locked on podcast network your team every day