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Ex-Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle reflects on lessons from infamous Game 7 loss to Bruins
Photo credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 4, 2025, 09:15 ESTUpdated: Dec 4, 2025, 09:12 EST
What can the Toronto Maple Leafs of today learn from the (not so distant) past?
That was the question on Wednesday, as former Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle joined Off the Roster, a brand-new local sports podcast from The Nation Network.
With Craig Berube (somewhat) on the hot seat right now, a discussion on coaching in Toronto inevitably led to the infamous Game 7 loss in 2013, where the Leafs blew a 4-1 lead over the Bruins with Carlyle behind the bench. Now over a decade since, Carlyle spoke in depth about his perspective on that infamous moment.
“There’s a lot of things that happened that you look back on,” he said. “Everyone will say you should have called a timeout, you should have did this, you should have did that. … There are always some things that you look back at and think maybe I could have done something different, but you can’t change what happened.”
A former player himself, Carlyle spoke Wednesday about how the joy of coaching is getting to stay so close to the game after hanging up your skates. At the same time, it means the frustration of not being able to jump on the ice and help the team when things are going south as they did in that particular playoff game. Ultimately, it came with a major takeaway that is quite pertinent for the Leafs today.
“Sometimes it’s on the players,” he said. “Sometimes the players, especially young players, have to go through those situations, and they’ve gotta be the ones that are gonna make the difference out there.”
Still, Carlyle ultimately takes accountability for the loss, reflecting on one lesson he took as a coach on how Toronto could have been more forward.
“If there was one thing that I could say was a mistake that I made in that situation, it’s that we weren’t aggressive enough,” he said. “We sat back. And that was the one thing I’m very, very sorry about. We weren’t aggressive. Specifically off an opening draw to send two men off the forecheck, no, we only sent one.”
The lack of bite in their game has been something the Maple Leafs have struggled with for a long time, ultimately hurting them come playoffs. It’s something Brad Treliving and Craig Berube have been working on addressing, to somewhat mixed results.
Check out the full episode with Randy Carlyle here and be sure to tune into Off the Roster with Cabbie Richards, Lindsay Dunn, and Dan Riccio weekdays at 10am ET for all things Toronto sports!
PRESENTED BY OFF THE ROSTER
Introducing Off The Roster—Toronto Sports, Unfiltered! Toronto sports fans, your new favourite conversation has arrived. Hosted by Cabbie Richards, Lindsay Dunn, and Dan Riccio, Off The Roster dives into the city’s legendary plays, brutal trades, OG jerseys, celebrity tweets, and everything in between. Raw, fun, and totally unfiltered, this is Toronto sports like you’ve never heard it before. Tune in live every weekday morning on the Nation Network YouTube channel, or catch episodes wherever you stream podcasts. Proudly brought to you by our founding partner, PROLINE. Off The Roster—the new sound in the 6ix.
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