Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Are The Leafs Paying The Price For Brad Treliving’s MISTAKES?? | BB Clips

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

Pinder & Rhett dive deep into the Toronto Maple Leafs’ ongoing struggles, starting with Auston Matthews’ slow start before shifting the conversation to GM Brad Treliving. The guys debate whether Treliving deserves blame after the Leafs effectively lost Mitch Marner for nothing last summer, drawing comparisons to his time in Calgary when the Flames also lost Johnny Gaudreau for nothing, and question whether this is a troubling pattern or an unfair narrative surrounding his tenure as a general manager.VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/I0dUENP-J0U #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #calgaryflames #torontomapleleafs #toronto #leafsnation CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austin Matthews is having a miserable year. He's a hell of a talent. I'm not convinced. Sorry, you stuttered there. What was that? He's a saw hell. He's a hell of a talent. He's a hell of a talent.

But I don't get the feeling that he overly gives a shit about winning the Stanley Cup for the Toronto. Maybe I think he'd like to, but it doesn't seem like his hair's on fire trying to do it at this job. I think there's a lot of other things that go on in his life and life is very. And you can't question his ability. I'm starting to question his ability. I don't. I think he's lost. He is on pace for less than 30 goals.

If he wanted to find some emotion, well, how was McDavid the first month of the year? He looked like a star, not a superstar. Exactly. How's he been lately? Superstar. So when these guys find it. But that's a little different. I think like Austin Matthews is closer to the Joel Farby neighborhood than the Connor

McDavid neighborhood in terms of his points. right now. And I get it. Like, it hasn't gone great, but there was a great article in the athletic published in the last couple days. Basically said, there's probably five reasons that Matthews is having what's on pace to be his worst year ever. One, he's had a lot of injuries the last couple of years. And it's true. He's at a back issue, had his wrist issue. Well, maybe he should take better care of himself. Maybe he should. Stop going into the corner so hard, right? Right? Yeah. The second one was like, okay, well, he's 28 now. Is he one of these guys that's just going to decline early?

I don't know. 32? Oh my God. It isn't. It isn't at all. In fact, you look around and it's like McKinnon's older McDavid, like there's no, these guys are still crushing it. The way they should be taking care of themselves. So that one's probably not it. And then there's the is it the right system under Craig Barube

for him? They're dumping puckson a lot more. He's not getting as many open looks. Okay, I'll put some credence in that, but certainly not everything. I would say the whole mix in Toronto is off from the top to the bottom. I would agree with that. I don't to feel like. You can want to be truculent.

You can want to be tough. You can want this. You can want that. You can want Craig Barrube. You can blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You can mismanage your assets. You could have guys that are soft and don't show up. Willie Neelander.

You can have shitty defensemen. You can have average goaltending. Injuries too. They've tried everything with this core. It's just. The only thing they haven't tried is breaking up the core. And now Marner's gone. It looks like it's worse.

Yeah. And so the fifth thing they said is like, what did Marner do to create score? scoring chances for to the puck for Matthews. And it's like, well,

I think quite a bit. He found him open a lot for good looks. And then the other one that I haven't mentioned is that they're using him like a checking center. I don't think they have another center

that they're giving them the Michael Backlin minutes. He's starting D's own against other teams. There's an approach from some coaches that that's a thing to do. And it's like, well,

you better not misread that because if you are turning a 50 goal guy into a 20. Yeah. It's like if you had to pick between the Jonathan Huberto that had 115 points in Florida or the checking middle six winger that we've got in Calgary, which one would you rather have?

Oh, but he's playing hard and he's... He has played hard and that's fine. You'd just rather have the 104-15 point guy. That was my sarcasm. Yeah, no, I got it. And that's kind of... If Conroy wasn't an idiot, he'd trade for this guy and pick him up. Come on, Craig.

Go get him. Austin Matthews. Yeah. I said they wanted Anderson, just swapsies. Easy peasy. No, the Leafs only have to open up. Flames only add $10 million of caps. We just gave the least $10 million of cap space.

Don't spend it. You love Toronto. God, it's going to be good. It's the second Edmonton. It's awesome. Second Edmonton. Well, yeah. I hate it.

It's a shit hole. I think the insiders have suggested Toronto is a place that Rasmus would be open to going. There's obviously some old teammates there, the Christanves and Kelly yarn croaks of the world. Whatever. Whatever. But Rassman's whatever he wants, but they got to get something in return. Haven't we had that same discussion where it's like, well, that's great. We want Rassals and go to Toronto.

Austin Matthews, obviously. That's how you get the 10 million cash chase for the least. I don't know that that's happening. I was someone was thinking that they got trade Matthews. Well, you know what you should do? You should wait until they come into your office after the contracts up and say, I'm not resigning here, so thanks. Then that's better.

That's all that's Then we'll work a sign and train Because the guy that's running things Has to have that approach a few times And again last year with Marner That's what I mean And here is after the few times On and on

And can't trade him He's too good while I'm leaving The problem there is How many guys Has that happened to true Gio for nothing Uh Move Monahan

Monaghan for And plus So less than nothing That's not really the same the first with him, but it's, you could chuck. Cichuck for nothing. Goodro. No, not Cucch for nothing.

Gadro for nothing. Marner for a third line. A lot was an RFA though, so. They got a first, a top pair defenseman and the highest scoring left winger in the league for him. It was the contracts that followed that were the problem. The return is fine. You just, they traded for 115 point guy. I guess it's just, and it's as much.

He's going to lose guys. And there are tough situations and what are you going to do with Marner last year and you understand it? But it's like, well, you have to reach down and give him a tug and say, well, I can't lose you for nothing. If they had traded Mitch Marner. Now, I don't know what the no trade situation was. So, Tree had two years there. The first year he arrived. So he should have dumped him then.

There was an ability to trade Mitch Marner. The second year of Tree was Marner's final year and he had full control of the situation. And they were working on a deal to get ranting in that included him going to Carolina. But it didn't happen. You didn't get them. You lost them for nothing. You essentially got Nick Waugh. That's it.

You got nothing for it. It was a sign and trade and they got a bottom six set. That's the trend I'm saying. Yeah. I guess there's always tough situation. You lost your captain in Calgary, Mark Giordano, knowing full effing well, you were going to lose them. Yeah. For nothing.

You didn't do something. You just let them for nothing. Goodrow, I don't know who's responsible, but you lost Johnny Goodro for Zip. And you lost Mitch Marner in Toronto for Nick Wah. Nick Waugh. No. No. That's not a way.

Yeah. That's horseshit. It's getting hot out there for. It should be hot. Our old pal to living there. And you're right, it should be. Because this is now, this is the group that he's built. It's not all his team, but he's overhauled the blue line with his type of player.

He's got the two goalies. I actually like the goalies. They've just been hurt. The D-Man are old. They're big. They don't move the puck well, and they're also hurt. And the forward group looks thin all of a sudden. Well, how do you not resign Marner?

Gone. Wasn't going to, yeah. Like, it's... Was that a Marner decision? Because it didn't seem to me that Marner was that annoyed with Toronto. He wasn't... I think everyone was ready to move on. And especially when they came to him with the deadline and said,

waves so we can move you here and then the deal didn't go through. That's... Yeah. If you got ran. for him. I think you're singing. You're whistling. But that's mismanaging around understanding your player. And what it is is what we heard here. Because I can say, I can say I'm Craig Conroy. I want Austin Matthews. Yeah. Well, good for fucking you. So what? So do I. Yeah. Go get them or don't

who cares. Yeah. Like, oh, I'm going to get Randen for murder. No, you're not. Did you talk to him about it? Oh, you didn't. Oh, but I was working on a deal. for antinan. Yeah, but he wasn't going to go. Do you remember how many stars? What are we talking? Your living was in on but couldn't close the deal on in Calgary? It's like Stone, Ike. If I text you about a pizza order,

am I in on pizza? Or like, what do you? Yeah. Until the pizza arrives, Jack, you haven't paid the pizza debts. There's no debt paid by Jack. Like, don't tell me that, yeah. Oh, I'm in on everything. No, you're not. So is every GM. And if they're not, then they're shitty. Yeah, being in on a guy is this.

same as pointing out the hot chicken high school. I can call Mark Berzman right now and ask about Rasmus Dahlin. Does that mean we're in on Rasmus? Yeah, it's fair. It's, I don't know how it ends there. I wouldn't be surprised if the coach NGM or not. I'm cleaning house.

Yeah. And probably he's not, what's Matthew's got left? Probably got a year or two left at 14. So he won't be allowed to move Matthews. If you're moving Matthews, then you're not, if you're tree and you're going to,

ownership's and I have to move Matthews, the ownership's going, that's fine, but you're not doing it, you're gone first. There's no way I would. And I'm not trying to run a guy. No, I agree the entire. You go and watch how our organization here in Calgary was left, and then you go and look at what is going on in Toronto. It's disaster. Both are disasters. And you can tell me that you tried and this. Yeah, absolutely. But so can he and so can Jack and so can I. We can do the same job. I like Brad and I think he's a great dude. He is in one right now. And the track record is starting to look like there's a lot of deals where he turns a dollar into 80 cents.

And the more of those you make, all of a sudden you're look at this nice big pile of money. It's down here. And that's kind of what happened with assets. If you had traded partner, you would have got huge return and your Toronto Maple Leafs are. They're better than there now. I know that. They're better than Nick Wolof. Yeah.

And then the whole trade man of these thing is like, has there been a much? moment in Austin Matthew's career where he's worth less than he is today. No, but I don't, I don't know if it matters. Do you know what I mean? Like, well, I mean, you're going to get a little bit less. And if he was on a 70 goal pace, you wouldn't be talking about trading him and you'd be able to get the moon from. I don't know.

But if he was on a 70 goal pace, that you know, I'm doing a lot better. Exactly. And so. And that's why it's a tough spot. But it's, we won't know because we don't ever get all the info. I just, I have a hard time. believing that because he's having a slow go, the Leafs are going to end up with one less first round pick.

I just, I don't buy it. People know what people are worth. There's a certain return that Matthews is going to bring. Okay. So let's put on your GM out. Pick a team you want to be GM of. I'm Calgary. Okay.

So you're interested in Austin Matthews. You're watching him score it like a. Don't, no, I'm just, I'm not, I'm not, listen, we're going to play the game. I'm not getting Maddie. I'm not trying to put you in a corner. Are you confident that this guy's scoring 50 again or not? Yes. Okay.

I am two. But I'm sure there's some spots where it's like, huh. Then don't trade for. Why isn't it working? And that's why the track record's too good. It is. Yeah. I still think he's a superstar.

It's just a miserable bleeping year, which is kind of matching up with the whole team there. I have never thought he was a Leafs heart and solar ever. He's not one of those Ontario guys. that burns to play there, right? My expectation was that he was going to sprint out of town. Get to Arizona as soon as possible. And he has it too, fair.

I still believe he does want to, but. It might be easier now when the team's not racking up 110 points or whatever they did in the regular season forever. And I'm okay with it. Go wherever you want. Toronto, you have one hell of an asset. Tree, you're going to be the guy. If you're the guy that gets, you better not F it up. Mm-hmm.

You better not F it up. he's in one. They've got to turn it around or it's going to be curtains quick. I can't imagine they would let him do it because the optics of it are just terrible. No. No, you're not. It feels like only in a market like Toronto. Could you become a lame duck GM this quick?

And I can afford to go pay another guy $5 million. And I actually think Barubi's a good coach, but Barubi needs a certain style of team. And I don't think what was designed in Toronto is that. It does not resemble the St. Louis Blues of 18 or whatever the year. No. Now, and the other thing is, Perubi's coached for a long time.

Yeah. One good run. Yeah, a real good run. The best of the best run. In-term. Right? Like, came out of nowhere, won a cup. Awesome.

What's the rest of, I don't know, and I kind of maybe should do some research run in my mouth, but it's like, I don't think his record anywhere else is stellar and superb, is it? I mean, it's been a solid run in St. Louis for the Cup.

That's the resume. I know, but how are the other years? Fine. Yeah, not dominant. But again, he's got his ring. I'm not here to say that Craig Burbby is the best coach or the worst coach. He's probably a good coach in the middle. I agree with you that the pieces for the puzzle probably aren't the type of puzzle he wants to make. And I also think there's clearly a disconnect between the stars on the team and the coach right now.

They lost again the other night. and Barubi came out for the second time in like a week and said, look, you got to ask the guys in that room. I don't know why they're not emotional investing. And I don't disagree. And then they go to the stars and they say, no, no, we're happy with a group. You're going to stick to the process. That's a disconnect.

Where have we heard that before? Places where coaches don't last long. Yep. And if you're smart, GM, you actually could look inside the room and go, okay, I'm not buying your guys as bullshit because I can see the results on the ice. I may trust the coach because he's just flat out saying, repeating what he's seeing out of the play. They're not trying hard, Mr. GM.

What do you want me to do? Now, the GM can go, well, that's your job. Get it out of them. The other thing a GM can do is go or say is, huh, he's right. They can lie to me and say they enjoy playing together and they love it in Toronto and we're good and everything's fine. Not playing like it.

But you're not showing me that. Yeah. The proof. It's the pudding. Proof. Truth? Neither. Truth poop.

Right. The pudding's in the bottle, the bucket. I love pudding. Lightning in the pudding. I love pudding. Pistachio. It's delicious.