It took until the final minutes of the podcast, but finally, we got a Leafs trade to discuss as the deadline inches closer and closer.

Nicolas Roy is now a member of the Colorado Avalanche. In return, Toronto received a first and a fifth. In short order, we both agreed that we liked the return. From the onset, it was evident that Roy wasn’t a fit in Toronto. He never really looked like the guy who won a Stanley Cup in Vegas. Despite that, Brad Treliving did well in getting a solid return.

Meantime, we kicked off the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take by wondering what Treliving was up to. Well, by the end of it, we found out that he’s obviously hard at work. Obviously, we’re not in a great head space. The last few weeks have been a disaster, and again, it’s tough to see this team in this position. They stink. They’re playing out the string. Sellers for the first time in a decade. Gah. At any rate, it will be interesting to see what else they do leading up to Friday at 3 PM ET.

After that, we did react a bit to Wednesday night’s 4-3 shootout loss in Newark. Anthony Stolarz was super making 44 saves, so naturally, we gave him his flower. The goalless drought is now up to nine games for Auston Matthews, who took a shot off the hand late in OT. During the broadcast, he was shown during an intermission with some adhesive tape on his right shoulder. Wonder if anything comes of that. Speaking of which, it was nice to see Easton Cowan get some marquee minutes. The rookie skated with Matthews and Nylander, something we would love to see a lot of down the stretch. The key is to get his confidence up to finish the season.

Brian Burke then dropped by the podcast. As per usual, he didn’t mess around. Burke weighed in on how the Leafs have handled Cowan and explained what typically goes on behind the scenes between a coach and GM during deadline week. The conversation stemmed from Berube telling reporters there would be no “roster management” scratches—only for Bobby McMann, Scott Laughton, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson to sit out against the New Jersey Devils hours later. What’s really going on behind the scenes in Toronto?

Burke says he’s stunned the Leafs find themselves in this position—sellers for the first time in a decade—and admits he’s puzzled by the team’s lack of intensity. He puts the blame squarely on the players, not Berube. Burke also outlined what his deadline approach would be, including maximizing the return on Ekman-Larsson and potentially moving Laughton and McMann if their asking price isn’t met. Plus, Burke weighed in on the big roster questions: whether he would ever consider trading Auston Matthews or William Nylander, why Matthews is a hard no, and why he’d at least listen on Nylander. He also defends Morgan Rielly, saying the market has unfairly turned on him, before giving his honest take on whether this Leafs team can turn things around quick

Lastly, we gave our quick thoughts on Leafs/Rangers before the Roy trade hit the wire. It was a positive conclusion to the show, so, that’s good.

We won’t be in our conventional 11 AM time slot for deadline day. Instead, we’ll be doing a deadline recap show starting at 4 PM ET. Talk then!

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