Leafs reportedly used AI to come up with trades this season

Yesterday Jonas Siegel, Chris Johnston and James Mirtle released a scathing expose on the Toronto Maple Leafs for The Athletic. The article goes on to describe how things went off the rails so quickly for the team this season and the role that new CEO Keith Pelley had to play in it all.

Siegel, Johnston and Mirtle reportedly interviewed 20 members of the Leafs' staff to get their read on things and... well... some of the anecdotes reveal just how dysfunctional this franchise is.

Read below for some particularly revealing excerpts.

On cheaping out on the annual Father's Trip:

Amid the losing, the Leafs scrapped the much-loved fathers’ trip in November for what were presumed by those around the team to be financial reasons coming from above. Later in the season, the trip was hastily rescheduled for late March, but with “mentors” instead of fathers. Because of the late notice, some players chose not to bring anyone on the mentors’ trip at all. And, unlike in years past, staff members were not permitted to bring a guest.

On charging players more to buy tickets and merchandise for family and friends:

Player discounts — covering everything from team gear at Real Sports Apparel to meals at Real Sports Bar & Grill — were cut from 50 percent to 30 percent, the same rate other MLSE employees received. Ticket prices for friends and family members went up.

On the ridiculous rumor that they were charging fans $1000 to "hold the flag" during warmup ceremony:

At the same time, the Maple Leafs went to increasing lengths to monetize the team, including offering a $956 price tag for young fans to wave a flag before home games, among other experiences up for sale as part of the new “Fan Access” program.

On former GM Brad Treliving's inability to make meaningful change to the roster this season:

At one point, the Leafs discussed a Nick Robertson for Egor Chinakhov swap with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but their offers fell short. They dangled a second-round pick around the league, looking for short-term help. They also contemplated re-acquiring Luke Schenn. However, save for a waiver claim on Troy Stecher in November, the Leafs GM made no moves to rescue his flailing squad.

Executives with other teams said they found Toronto frustrating to deal with, as their trade calls often felt like tire-kicking rather than serious discussions.

On failed trades concerning 23 year old Matthew Knies:

He was prepared to make a much bigger splash involving the one core piece without trade protection, 23-year-old Matthew Knies.

Conversations around Knies continued until the last minute, too, with marquee Canadiens and Sabres prospects in play. Pelley later lauded the young talent of both rivals, and in doing so named several trade targets in the Knies talks, such as Michael Hage, Adam Engstrom, Jacob Fowler, David Reinbacher, Konsta Helenius and Radim Mrtka.

On Treliving's firing and how it has handled by Pelley:

By the end of the month, Pelley was conducting one-on-one meetings with staff members and asking questions about the team’s culture and leadership in a manner that left some uncomfortable, as if they were being made to betray confidences.

Who Pelley chose to talk to seemed to some staff to be random, with one team source remarking that the CEO’s investigations could have been more widespread. Pelley considered it a valuable information-gathering exercise, one that would help determine whether the team had the right front-office structure in place.

Treliving's firing move sent shockwaves through the organization. Not because it was surprising, but because of how haphazard the handling of it all seemed — including both the timing and execution of such a major decision.

Pelley didn’t join the Leafs in California to deliver the news — Berube informed players during their pregame meeting — but instead held a news conference 4,000 kilometres away in Toronto the next afternoon.

Wearing blue Maple Leafs-colored glasses, Pelley spoke vaguely about problems with culture and “alignment,” but refused to offer specifics. “We didn’t have alignment through all aspects of our business,” he said during a widely panned news conference.

This sounds to me like a classic case of management having too much power and not enough knowledge of day to day operations. Sound familiar? It's a scenario that plays out on the jobsite throughout the world, it's just crazy to think that a team with as much money and adulation as the Toronto Maple Leafs could fall victim to this also.

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised though... the guy running the show is a classic corporate Stooge.

Need more proof that this guy doesn't have an original thought in his head?

The Toronto Sun reports today that Pelley was using AI prompts to construct trades for the Leafs and that he attended team meetings with those AI results in hand and offered up strong opinions on the moves the team should make.

From the Sun today:

Pelley took the bold step of attending the team’s pre-NHL deadline meetings last month, armed with in-house AI figures on possible deals and offering strong opinions.

Pelley’s infatuation with AI comes from the many resources MLSE poured into its own lab as part of the worldwide trend. It has shaped the rebuild of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and Major League Soccer’s TFC, MLSE’s other key properties.

Good grief...

The Leafs are in for a long period of suffering, aren't they?