Brad Treliving has taken responsibility for his team’s turbulent 8-9-2 start.

The Leafs GM addressed the media on Tuesday morning in his quarterly press conference. That’s where the conversation started on the latest edition of Leafs Morning Take. All in all, Treliving wants to see three things moving forward: 1. Get back to being a connected group, 2. A more consistent effort, and 3. More enthusiasm in the group. To be frank, he didn’t say much that jumped off the page. By far, the most noticeable thing he said was that he thinks the team has been too vanilla, which is very valid. Sitting here on November 18^th, the Leafs have no identity.

After breaking all that down, we previewed the match-up with the St. Louis Blues, who took both meetings with their former coach last season. Joseph Woll, who’s a Missouri native, will start in goal. Meantime, Troy Stecher will make his Maple Leafs debut and Jacob Quillan, fresh off being recalled from the Marlies, will play his second NHL game. He’s expected to centre the third line alongside Matias Maccelli and Bobby McMann. Yeah, this team’s ravaged by injury right now. It’s pretty. Bottom line: They need to bear down and find a way to win this game. Of course, the Leafs are winless in five (0-4-1), and believe or not, after Buffalo beat Edmonton on Monday night, Toronto’s now tied with Buffalo for last place in the Eastern Conference (18 points).

TSN’s Jamie “Noodles” McLennan then dropped by the show once again. Firstly, we got his reaction to Treliving’s press conference. The vanilla comment really stood out for Noodles. He thinks that’s about Toronto’s lack of identity early on. On top of that, we took about Berube’s status after Treliving gave him the vote of the confidence. Furthermore, Noodles dished on the crease, Woll’s return, and everything surrounding Anthony Stolarz so far this season. Lastly, he dished on all the injuries and gave his prediction on if the Leafs will be able to get out this hole.

Zack Phillips and Jay Rosehill will have you covered on the Wednesday edition of Leafs Morning Take. Join them for a full recap of Leafs/Blues. Plus, they will look ahead to Thursday night’s date at Scotiabank Arena with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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