Button on the Maple Leafs' roster future, Pelley's impact and McDavid's stance in Edmonton
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What insights does Craig Button offer on the Maple Leafs' future?
Here's our TSN director of scouting, Craig Button, joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Craig, where do you stand on the perceived disconnect, the coach, the room, how Craig Berube maybe handles this down the stretch?
Well, first, before I get to any of that, I'm tipping my cap. I'm tipping my cap to Jeff O'Neill. Because the way he's dressed today, that's got to be a tribute to Chuck Norris.
Yes. I dare you to knock it off. Exactly.
Got the same tanning bed and everything.
See his smile?
well done mr o'neill well and you look fabulous jeff i know you had a well-deserved little uh respite you look great so where does it come here's what happens when your team is garbage and i'm talking about on the standings and you know i'm not talking about his people i'm talking your team's struggle right like tell me what team that's been really bad like functions well Like, tell me.
No, you're right. It doesn't happen.
You talk about a rookie, like what rookie gets to have a say, right? Well, tell me what bad team has ever functioned well.
Yeah, it doesn't happen.
It doesn't happen. The players don't care. The fans don't care. Like, that's what happens with bad teams.
You're right, and that's precisely what's happening here, and it's not exclusive to hockey. Every single sport's the same thing. The position Berube's in, where I'm sure he's been around the game for 40 years. He knows the way the things work, and I'm sure he's kind of aware of what is possibly waiting for him in five or six weeks. If you're the GM, we're... He is under, I would say, a very similar microscope and probably on the same precarious ground right now, and I'm speaking of Brad Treeliving. But how often are the GM and the coach talking about trying to get to the finish line with some class here, trying to keep everything on the rails? How can they handle this behind the scenes?
Well, what you do behind the scenes is after every game and when you're on the road, you go, hey, let's go have a beer and let's talk about how bad it's been. Like, honestly, like, let's stop kidding ourselves here. Brad Trey Living knows that he's under the gun, that everybody's there talking about who might be the new GM, that Keith Pelley might be looking at a new thing. Jonas Siegel writes an article today about Austin Matthews maybe being the guy that could be leaving. You don't think Keith Pelley is not reading this? Like, let's get right to the heart of the matter here. This is a dysfunctional team right now. And it's a dysfunctional team where nobody knows what the future is. Not Austin Matthews, not Keith Pelley, not Craig Berube, not Brad Treleving.
So, yeah, you're trying to get to the end. You're trying to kind of console one another. You're trying to say, hey, geez, what went wrong over a beer or two or whatever number you want to stop at. But this is what happens when your team just falls – I don't want to say falls apart because that's not the right way to put it. It's just you look and you go, okay, what are we going to hang our hat on? What are the Toronto Maple Leafs going to hang their hat on over the next month? Nothing. What?
Wow, yeah.
Right, Jeff. Like, there is nothing to hang your hat on.
How does Keith Pelley influence the Maple Leafs' organizational decisions?
So you're sitting there waiting for the shoe to drop. And how that shoe drops, that's where Craig Bruby's at. That's where Brad Trevelyan is at. And if it comes with, hey, no, we're going to have you guys do it. Tell us what you want to do. But at the end of it all, there's just so much uncertainty surrounding this team starting at the top.
Well, that's where I was going to go, Craig. Everyone seems to think, okay, it's foregone conclusion, X, Y, and Z is going to happen. But I think what you need to do is obviously, and it's been a slow, painful death here. We were talking about it like, you know, I can understand it's the last five or six games or whatever, stuff like that. But it's been a lot longer. And now you're hammering right to the end of the season. But you have to figure out what's going to happen at the end of the season, whether new president, new manager, new coach.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What insights does Craig Button offer on the Maple Leafs' future?
0:00–3:17
2
How does Keith Pelley influence the Maple Leafs' organizational decisions?
3:17–6:22
3
What is Connor McDavid's perspective on the Oilers' current situation?
6:22–9:56
4
How do bad teams maintain functionality in sports?
9:56–12:37
5
What strategies can the Maple Leafs adopt to improve their performance?
12:37–16:08
6
How does team structure affect coaching decisions in hockey?
16:08–19:11
7
What factors contribute to the dynamics of a hockey organization?
19:11–21:06
Speakers
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