There’s some DNA that has to change.
That was how Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving described the state of his team back on May 29, some 11 days after the Leafs starting booking tee times following a second-round playoff exit against the Florida Panthers.
“That’s one thing that I found,” Treliving said at the time. “If you keep getting to the same result, and that’s not to dismiss a lot of the good that happened up to it, there’s some DNA that needs to change.”
There was no wondering why Treliving spoke the way he did that day, something that has not changed in hindsight.
The Leafs had failed again to take their regular-season success and put it to use in the Stanley Cup playoffs. A first-round series win against the Ottawa Senators — just the second time Toronto advanced past